Casey Stengel and the 1909 Kansas City Red Sox

[Runscott]

I recently received a postcard of the Kansas City Red Sox, featuring Casey Stengel. MLB Reference states that Stengel had 4 at bats for the Kansas City Blues in 1910. My assumption was that since he was already in Kansas City, Stengel supplemented his income by joining a semi-pro team. I was wrong about this.

This article Stengel with Aurora in 1911 describes his time playing for Aurora in 1911. It also has a gallery of photos, including one of Stengel with the KC Red Sox - while he's not wearing a sweater as he is in my photo, it's clearly the same player, and he is wearing the same jersey in both photos. This makes sense given that he only played for the team for part of one summer.

Click on the small 'gallery' image of Stengel to the left to get a larger image and the following text below the photo: "Casey Stengel with the Kansas City Red Sox, one season before he came to Aurora. Photo courtesy Baseball Hall of Fame". There is also a website run by Casey Stengel's great-nephew that includes the same photo of Stengel in his gallery of Stengel photos: Stengel with the 1909 KC Red Sox

Phil mentioned that it made more sense to him that if Stengel had played semi-pro ball, he would have done so prior to his professional career. Phil was correct. David Rudd took a look at the postcard today and felt that it is period. Later today he sent me the following article from the Kansas City Times of May 15, 1909 (Thanks, David).



The article comes from a website Stengel KC Red Sox box scores from 1909 which also features several great photos of Stengel while he played sports in high school, along with descriptions (click on the arrows at the top to navigate). Here is the text that accompanies the newspaper clippings shown above:

"In summer 1909, Charles Dillon "Dutch" Stengel played on a Kansas City baseball team that toured as far as western Kansas. Above, The Kansas City Times of May 15, 1909, notified Stengel and other players to meet at the Ninth and Main streets for a trip to Leavenworth, probably by streetcar and interurban. The game was rained out. Below: Six weeks later, the Red Sox, with Stengel listed as pitcher, beat a team in Oberlin in northwest Kansas. The report was in The Kansas City Times of June 30, 1909."

I had planned to visit Kansas City this summer and check old newspapers for evidence that Stengel had played semi-pro ball in Kansas City during 1910. I'm really glad I didn't have to do that, as I would have found nothing, and certainly would not have gone back and checked 1909.