ND to MLB: Ed Walsh Jr.

Back in August at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore, one of the many items I gazed upon and figuratively salivated over was a photo of Hall of Famer Ed Walsh and his sons, Ed Jr. and Bob, in Notre Dame uniforms. The boys were on the team and their father served as an occasional pitching coach during their years there. This Corbis photo and this one from the Notre Dame Archives -- neither of which is the one I contemplated buying but passed because of the cost in relation to my budget that day -- are just as intriguing for a fan like me. I suppose, in the back of my mind, that photo also helped inspire this ND to MLB project.

And so Ed Walsh Jr. becomes the third installment in the series because he was a teammate of the last featured player, Billy Sullivan Jr., on the 1932 White Sox. Sullivan caught Walsh on Sept. 11, 1932, in what Cappy Gagnon describes in Notre Dame Baseball Greats as a publicity stunt by Charles Comiskey. In reprising the roles their fathers had from 1904-12 -- Ed Walsh on the mound, Billy Sullivan behind the plate -- the younger pair established the quartet as the only father-son batteries in history, and for the same club. That one game was the only time that Billy Sullivan Jr. caught Ed Walsh Jr., though they appeared in three other games together, with Sullivan at first base.

Ed Jr.'s Major League career lasted only from 1928-32 (spending 1931 in the American Association), parts of four seasons in which he appeared in 79 games and compiled a record of just 11-24. He then found some success during his four seasons in the Pacific Coast League pitching for the Oakland Oaks. He went 19-15 in '32 and compiled a record of 39-38 before packing it in at the age of 30 in 1935. On July 26, 1933, he put an end to the 61-game hitting streak of an 18-year-old Joe DiMaggio, then playing with the San Francisco Seals. DiMaggio went 0-for-4, though his sacrifice fly in the ninth won the game for the Seals.

If Ed Walsh didn't have the same name as his father and hadn't pitched for the same team, he probably wouldn't have had a baseball card for me to pursue some 73 years after his death. (He died at just 32 in 1937 of "an acute heart ailment induced by chronic rheumatism," according to his obituary in The New York Times. He lapsed into a coma at his parents' home in Meriden, Conn., and is buried there.) This card, part of a 1960 Fleer set of "Baseball Greats," mistakenly shows Ed Jr. in the place of his father. The error was never corrected, and because my goal with this project is to first try to obtain an image (a period image if at all reasonable) of each former Notre Dame player with one of his big-league clubs, this card fits the bill, even if it is a mistake.

ND to MLB: Billy Sullivan Jr.

I hadn't intended to go this long between my first and second post looking back at Notre Dame baseball players who reached the Majors, but other things -- other posts, other interests -- kept pushing it back. I do hope to take some time to work ahead on a few to have in written and in reserve to keep things fresh around here.

These "ND to MLB" posts won't have any particular order to them. I'll choose who to feature on a whim, or if something leads me to a certain player or inspires me. That's the case with Billy Sullivan -- actually, that would be Billy Sullivan Jr., as it turns out.

Somehow, when I first searched eBay for a Billy Sullivan item, I neglected to double-check the years involved. Most of the lots available are for the elder Sullivan, the catcher who made his name for the early-20th Century White Sox. So without cross-checking, I went ahead and bought a 1961 Fleer card showing Sullivan in a blue Chicago uniform, arms reaching out as if awaiting a hug, catcher's mitt on his left hand.

Somewhere along the line, though -- and after I'd received the Fleer card -- I realized that the famous Sullivan of the early 1900s was not the one who played at Notre Dame. Both played catcher, and both had stints with the White Sox, but the son debuted, with Chicago, in 1931, while his dad played his last game in 1916. Thankful that the Fleer card wasn't too expensive, I shrugged it off and came across a reasonably priced autographed index card to serve as my Billy Sullivan, ND '31, artifact. There was nearly another Sullivan for whom I would have had to track down a card or photo: Billy Jr.'s brother, Joseph (which is also the middle name of both Billy Sr. and Jr.), turned down a contract offer from the White Sox to pursue a law career (as noted in the penultimate paragraph of this bio).

Sullivan bounced around during his career, playing for the White Sox, Reds, Indians, Browns, Tigers, Dodgers and Pirates, with his longest stint the three years with Chicago to begin his career. With St. Louis in 1938, he had the lone hit (a bunt single, according to Cappy Gagnon in Notre Dame Baseball Greats) in the first of Bob Feller's 12 career one-hitters.

What prompted me to go with Sullivan now was a recent post on Seamheads discussing Sullivan Sr.'s curved bat, which had been passed down to Junior. It's a fascinating read, so I encourage you to check it out. I also learned from that post that the Sullivans were the first father-son duo to play in the World Series, Billy Sr. in 1906 with the White Sox, Junior in '40 with the Tigers. And because that bit of trivia couldn't happen until the offspring reached the Fall Classic, it was Billy Jr.'s accomplishment that established the precedent -- another notable Major League moment for a Notre Dame man.

Finally, just as I was finishing up this post, I went searching for a photo of Billy Jr. to include and came across an amazing collection of artifacts obtained at an estate sale after Sullivan's death in Sarasota, Fla. (scroll down below the photos or search for "Billy Sullivan Jr." for the beginning of the archive).

Among the highlights:

If I ever needed confirmation that the index card I bought was signed by Billy Sullivan Jr., I think this contract provides a pretty strong case.

Billy Jr. had a copy of the same Fleer card of his father that I bought.

A letter from Hank Greenberg.

A new phone number announcement from Hank Greenberg's wife, Caral (nee Gimbel, of the Gimbel's Department Store family).

There's so much more to look at it could take all afternoon. It's amazing, some of the things you can find when you're least expecting it.

Billy Sullivan, 1942, from Crosley-Field.com