OT: Family Pride - New Discovery!

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Posted By: Jason L

As many of you who have read my posts may recall, I have mentioned that I had a couple cousins play MLB in the 30s and 40s, and I recently discovered that my wife is related to Hank Greenberg through marriage.

Well, I had an amazing discovery today!

One of my casual research habits is to simply browse through the indexes of baseball books at book stores, looking for references to my cousins. I picked up a used book, titled "The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book" by Gerald Astor. I didn't figure to find anything, but sure enough, there in the Index, it said that Jeep Handley was mentioned on page 222. So I flip to it, and it is in the middle of a piece on Jackie Robinson, written by Roger Kahn.

Here's the quote, in Kahn's words, as he relayed an interview he had conducted with Jackie in 1952:
He didn't like to dwell on the bad times he'd gone through-racial abuse, bean balls and the rest. Instead, he talked about the good times that lightened his heart. He appreciated the friendship of his teammates, men like Pee Wee Reese and Carl Erskine. He said that the first opposing player who wished him well was Jeep Handley, who played infield for the Phillies in 1947. "Hank Greenberg talked to me too, but Handley was the first."

I almost peed my pants! Needless to say, I bought the book...

I know that was off topic,...thanks for indulging me!
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Posted By: Damian Anderson

Jason,

I wouldn't say OT. Great post, thanks for sharing!!

Be Well,
Damian

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Posted By: Matthew

Jason, how about a Gene Handley that played for Hollywood in the early 50s? Related?

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Posted By: Jason L

Gene is Lee's brother. Gene also made it to the majors, but only for parts of a couple of years...Gene spent most of his time as an infielder in the PCL...Gene also served as a scout for the Cubs...he discovered Steve Trachsel...I could bore you with plenty of details!
Here's a couple pics:

Gene's Bowman PCL card, then Gene's 1952 Mother's Cookies card, and then a pic of the brothers taken during 1940 Pirates Spring Training (gene on left, Lee on right)
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Posted By: barrysloate

Jason- just pulled out my copy of the book and read the reference. Being the first opposing player to congratulate Jackie, under all the difficult circumstances he faced, is something to be proud of.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Great post, Jason. Thank you!

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Posted By: Jack Richards

What a great story, Jason, especially during Black History Month. Someone should create the Lee Handley Award, to be bestowed upon the professional athlete who does the most to promote racial harmony. Bravo to Lee Handley!!!

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Posted By: Jason L

Thanks for taking the time to read all this....I have to say that, family member aside, it has been a great baseball learning experience to focus on one player, and see where it takes me...

Also, I have to say the more I think about it, the more significant I find this to be.
I wish I could say I knew the man, but unfortunately I never got a chance to even meet him, as he died young, and the year before I was born, I believe.

Lee's professional career spanned an interesting time, from what I have been able to piece together.
He was one of the first ever free agents in 1936, when Landis declared a small group to be free agents due to some discrepancies they had with their clubs...all the way until 1960, when he is on record for having been included in the trade that brought a rookie named Don Zimmer to the Cubs...and now to learn of this distinction is quite a remarkable piece to the puzzle...
He apparently was a little bit of a hot-head at times, and my grandfather tells the story of how he finally made it down to a ballgame to watch him, at Wrigley, and Lee got tossed from the game real early for some sort of dispute with a call or something...grandpa was ticked! Joe Garagiola mentioned him for a similar reason in one of his books.

At any rate, wouldn't it be great to have such an award!?!...wasn't someone doing a mainstream docu-drama about Jackie these days? wonder if I could contact them with that story and see if Lee can't be worked in, as a historical reference?...

I am planning on creating some sort of website to include all my research...cards, magazine, contracts, photos, stories, etc...


edited for some spelling

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

GREAT story, Jason!

-Al

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Posted By: Denny

Jason,
Thank you for passing on such a great part of baseball history. I recalled this when reading about Mr Robinson's life. It's always Grand to hear the Positive Stuff, especially when it was during a time of standing up for your beliefs when you're in the minority and for the most part you won't gain any popularity. Your cousin Jeep was a real Man!
I would love to hear more OT's like this....

Life's Grand,
Denny Walsh

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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Posted By: Mark Lutz

I've been lurking on and off for the past year but I thought I'd post today because of your post about Lee Handley. Back in about 1968 or 69, when I was 9 or 10, I became acquainted with your cousin Jeep Handley. He worked in the sporting goods department of a department store in Pittsburgh and once I found out that he was an old ballplayer I went in to talk with him quite a few times. He was a friendly and dignified man. He would tell me stories about the old time Pirates, give his views on current players, tell some jokes, and generally showed a lot of patience with me. He even authenticated the autographs on an old Pirates team baseball that my father picked up in 1940. I'm sure your family has told you lots more about him but it really stirred up a very fond memory when I read your post. thanks. Mark

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Posted By: Steve

Great story! Things like this make collecting so much more fun, it seems to put you a little closer to the players you are collecting.

Thanks for sharing!

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Posted By: Jason L

and Mark - thank you very much for sharing that!
It is very gratifying to hear that others have good memories of him, and all anecdotes have tremendous value to me
Thank you again.
Jason