Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Toledo Mudhens’

This weekend I (finally) started digging into my research on Auburn, Indiana native and former big leaguer, Rollie Zeider (November 16, 1883 – September 12, 1967). While I am hardly to the point that I want to be before I begin drafting his bio, I have to say that I am finding him to have been a fascinating individual. Here’s a few nuggets of information I can share now to give you an idea of who he was…

• He played with three “big league” Chicago teams – Cubs, White Sox and Federals/Whales (of the Federal League)
• Nicknames included Polly, Bunions, Sandy and often was referred to as Rollie as well as Rolla
• Entered the NEIBA Hall of Fame in 1965 - some time after his playing days had ended
• His Auburn Reds team often played agains the Fort Wayne Shamrocks
• Managed the Toledo Mudhens in 1919
• He was once escorted from the field by police officers after arguing with an umpire
• Once played in a  24-inning game that ended with a 1-0 score. He was involved in the last play of the game that led to the run.
• He hit the first grand slam at Wrigley Field (which was at the time called Weeghman Field as it was named after the Chicago Whales owner, having been built for the Federal League and not the Cubs).

Lots of other great stuff that I plan to share in the future, but I wanted to give you a taste. Never in my life did I think it would be such fund to sift through papers from the (really) early 1900′s, but I am loving it putting together a timeline of events and information. It’s been fascinating to develop patterns to truly get a feel for who the man was and what sort of player he represented.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of my research as I continue this quest. I am pretty sure there are some area residents who still live in the area and are related to Rollie in some fashion. If anyone has information about him or such relatives, please drop me a line or comment on this post. I’d love to get it all incorporated into the bio that will be the final result of this project.

Thanks.

As previously reported, Tigers rookie Eddie Bonine made his MLB debut today and became the 66th former Wizards player to reach the big show. It wasn’t the best showing, but when combined with the Tigers’ offenseive explosion, it was enough to earn his first MLB win too. Bonine gave up six runs over 5 and 1/3 innings before a capacity crowd of 42,348 at Comerica Park. The Tigers beat the Dodgers, 12-7 and extends Detroit’s win streak to a season-long five wins.

Bonine backed up his reputation as a strike-thrower. Of his 77 pitches, 53 went for strikes, and he didn’t walk a batter. No surprise, because he walked only 14 in 74 1/3 innings at Triple-A Toledo.

The 27-year-old right-hander, had won his first eight decisions for the Toledo Mud Hens this year and didn’t even have a guaranteed spot in Toledo’s rotation when minor league camp began (hat tip to Spot Starters). Today, he replaced Dontrelle Willis in the rotation and earned a big-league victory.

Congrats Eddie. I hope there are many more to come.

It’s official. Former Wizards pitcher, Eddie Bonine will debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers today.

Right-hander Eddie Bonine makes his Major League debut on Saturday as the Tigers continue their Interleague series with the Dodgers. After posting a 9-2 record at Toledo, the Tigers hope Bonine follows in the footsteps of April callup Armando Galarraga and experiences immediate success.

“It’s very exciting,” Bonine said Friday night in a phone interview. “It’s something I’ve been working towards for the last four, five years.”

In the 27-year-old Bonine, the Tigers have a pitcher who excels in the control department. This season he has walked only 14 batters in 74 1/3 innings. Last year at Double-A Erie, he walked 24 in 154 2/3 innings — a 1.34 walks-per-nine-innings average that led the Eastern League.

“He’s an unbelievable competitor,” Tigers infielder and Bonine’s former Toledo teammate Michael Hollimon said. “With that guy, you know what you’re going to get. He’s locked in.”

Bonine will become the 65th Wizards player to make a MLB debut. Read more about that in my earlier post.