THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ALMANAC INTERVIEWS

ED ERAUTT

BORN: Edward Lorenz Sebastian Erautt on September 26, 1924 at Portland, Oregon

DATE OF INTERVIEW: JULY 14, 2005

TOPIC: PITCHING IN BLUES STADIUM IN KANSAS CITY

Introduction

Six-foot, 186 lb. right-hander Ed Erautt was the American Association’s top winning pitcher in 1952 for the second-place Kansas City Blues under manager George “Twinkletoes” Selkirk when he posted a record of 21-5 (.808) with a league-leading 20 complete games, two shutouts and a 3.00 ERA. With 210 innings of work, Erautt claimed 104 strikeouts against only 57 bases on balls, leading the club in each category in his only season in the American Association,
his finest year in professional baseball.

Erautt’s professional baseball career began with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1942 and the Salem (Oregon) Senators of the Western International League. After spending 1944-45 in the military, Erautt rejoined the Hollywood club where he posted his first of two career 20-game wins with a record of 20-14 and an ERA of 2.76. The following season he was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds where he won 4 games against 9 losses. His final season in the bigs came in 1953 with Cincinnati and the St. Louis Cardinals. Erautt finally shelved his glove in 1957 after posting a combined 5-5 combined record and 2.39 ERA with the
San Diego Padres and Vancouver Mounties of the Pacific Coast League.

Ed Erautt now lives in La Mesa, California.

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“Baseball Saved My Life”

Do you remember what your record was that year?

Counting the regular season it was 21-5.

That’s what the book shows too. 20 complete games. Did you know you had 20 complete games?

No, huh-uh.

What do you remember about Blues Stadium in Kansas City?

It was a hot place. And how. It sat way down from the street and boy, it was ten degrees hotter down there. I know some of the games was one-hundred and thirty degrees.

How did you deal with that?

Just gotta bear it, that’s all (chuckling)...you get so you get used to the heat.

So you actually get used to that kind of heat?

Oh, Yeah...You might see spots in front of your eyes after eight and a half innings but you got through with it. As long as you don’t get in trouble, then you’re alright.

And when you say “get in trouble” you mean “pass out”?

No, well, when they start gettin’ rowdy on you, base hits and everything. Yeah, I’ve seen a lotta guys after the fifth inning they had to get out of there, they were dizzy and everything, but for some reason it never did bother me...(chuckling)...I don’t know why, but... And I got all the day games there too. Every game I pitched there was a day game, either Wednesday or Sunday. Real hot! (chuckling)

That brings up a question I wasn’t planning on asking. Did the Blues have a pitching rotation they stuck to back in ‘52? And how did you fit into it?

Oh, Yeah. We had four starters, and I was one of em. There was Cereghino, Cicotte, and I can’t think of that little left-hander, Art Shallock, that’s him, and Tom Gordon was there for awhile, yeah.

Was Rex Jones a starter?

Sometimes, but mostly in long relief...It just dawned on me a couple of years ago that I had all day games there!

What did you like better, pitching during the day or at night?

Oh, I liked day better, always have.

OK, now Ed, you have an unusual last name. How do you pronounce it?

AIR-ott. It’s the only name in the country like that.

You were born in Portland, Oregon in 1924, so you’re just a little over 80 years old. How are your memories?

Pretty good. I haven’t lost my memory.

What you do to keep yourself so sharp?

Well, just work around the house. I used to go for long walks all the time, work around the house. Right now the wife’s pretty bad off so I gotta stay home with her.

So you’re not able to get quite as much exercise now?

No, no.

Because you have to take care of your wife?

Yeah.

What is your wife’s name?

Ruth.

And how long have you been married?

57 years.

Fifty-seven years?

Yeah (chuckling). Doesn’t seem possible. Nowadays it’s not, no.

Wow, Ed, that’s fantastic. I have to tip my hat to you. You really take the cake with that! Now, was she around when you were starting your baseball career?

Yeah, she was born in Portland, Oregon too.

OK, so did you know her for awhile before you got married?

Only a couple of years, that’s all.

Looks like you started out with Hollywood in 1942.

Yeah.

Then you went on to Salem.

Yeah, Western International League, Salem, yeah. Went there to get some work.

And you went back up to Hollywood, and that’s AAA, right?

Yeah.

Hollywood Stars. Who was your manager there?

Let’s see, in ‘42 it was Oscar Vitt, and in ‘43 it was Johnny something...

[note: Charlie Root managed Hollywood in 1943]

When you were with Salem what was your manager’s name.

Charlie Peterson.

Did you know Tedd Gullic?

Oh, yeah. Out in Portland. I was the clubhouse boy for the Portland Beavers for about three years. That was like playing a year of pro ball.

How was that?

Well you got to work out with the guys and stuff, and get all the knowledge they tell you and everything. I pitched batting practice to the regulars when I was 15 years old!

Holy cow!

Yeah (chuckles), they wanted to sign me.

So you were talented right from the start.

Well, yeah, all I did was play ball.

And you knew Tedd Gullic who was a favorite of mine because he played with the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1930’s before being traded to Portland. What did you think of him.

Good ballplayer, good hitter.

Good man?

Yeah, real nice.

Looks like you were also in the military for a couple of years, Ed.

Yeah, two and a half years.

Where were you?

Over in Hawaii. Baseball saved my life.

Baseball saved your life?

I was in the infantry and I was in the replacement depot first, and this colonel came there and he loved baseball. There was myself, Hank Edwards from Cleveland, Bill DeCarlo from Boston, they were there too, and he (the colonel) wanted a ball club started, no matter what, just start a ball club, I want baseball here, he said. So we built our own field, and we drilled in the morning and played ball in the afternoon. And anybody that came through the camp that had any pro experience, in the minors or even the low minors, we’d grab em. So we got a ball club together. I got shipped out three times but he canceled the order. He said, “You stay here.” And boy, all the guys, that went out for him... I saw them in the hospital later on, and lots of ‘em were killed and I’da been in that group. So baseball saved my life.

What was your colonel’s name?

I don’t know anymore, but we called him “Step and a Half” because he got wounded in one leg and he had limped on it a little bit so we called him “Step and a Half” (chuckles)...yeah, he was a real nice guy, yeah. He was at every game we played, boy. He loved baseball.

That’s a story, Ed! Was that at Pearl Harbor?

No, I was out by Schofield Barracks, about thirty miles from there. But we played all the teams on the whole island. Navy teams and everything. They had the military world series there. But you oughta have seen the Navy team, oh, boy! I was on the Army team, but their outfield was Williams, Musial and Dominic Dimaggio! What a club. What a club that was. They could tear anybody now-days.

When you got done with the military it looks like you went back to Hollywood of the PCL and you won 20 games. How did you get so good all of a sudden?

I guess I just matured. I got there late, I got there about a week before the season started, and I just was in relief at first and then they started me, that was it, I just kept startin’. But I had determination. I got the thought that I was better than anybody else out there hittin’. Like, I dare ya to hit me. That’s the thought I had all the time.

So you went out there with a vengeance.

Yep.

Can I bring you up to Kansas City in 1952?

The club we had, boy!

Blues Stadium. You said that was one hot place.

You ain’t kiddin’, boy! That one game we played there when Cereghino started, it was 130°. I put a thermometer out on the edge of the dugout and in, oh, about 10 seconds it just busted wide open.

Did you have any idea it would do that?

No, but Cereghino, he was through before he started (chuckling). He said, ‘Oh, man, I ain’t gonna make it.’ It was the first time in my life I ever saw an umpire take off his coat and roll his sleeves up and just had his belly protector and mask, and he said, ‘I don’t care if I get fired, I just wanna get cool.’ He was a real nice guy. First time I’d ever seen that. Bollweg [Don], our first baseman, in the fifth inning we had to take him out, he was dizzy, started throwing up...the sun got to him. Good ballplayer.

He hit .325 that year.

Moose Skowron, I got a kick outta him. He was my buddy (chuckles). Boy, he was strong, that kid.

Well, he was the home run leader in the American Association that year with 31. And he hit .341 that year, Skowron did, with 134 RBI.

Yeah, he could hit.

When you pitched, Ed, is part of the reason why you were able to wrack up 21 wins because you had good run support?

Yeah, most of the time.

Do you pay much attention to baseball these days?

Oh, yeah.

So you know how they cover statistics. They didn’t cover them quite like that in your day.

I don’t believe in records, never have. ‘Cause I seen guys end up hittin’ about .240 and they musta hit 200 line drives at somebody, or hard against the wall, you know, and take the collar, 0 fer 4. Then some guy goes out and gets two, three bloops...(chuckling), beats out a swinging bunt or somethin’, geez. So I don’t believe in records.

I believe you, because you’ve been there. You’ve been to the show. What else do you remember about Blues Stadium?

The grounds were fine. I remember center field being about ten miles away (chuckling) and it had that bank out there in right field there, I remember that.

Was that bank out in right, was that all in play?

No, it was outside the fence.

OK, so it was outside the fence at that time. I’ve spoken with others who played there when that berm was part of the actual playing field.

So they musta changed it, then. Yeah, it was outside the fence.

What did you like about the park?

That center field was a long ways.

How about right field?

About the way it was supposed to be, I guess.

I didn’t think much about the park, I was worried about pitching all the time. You don’t worry about the ball park.

I had a feeling you might say that.

Yeah, when you’re out there you don’t even hear the crowd.

That’s really amazing, that’s the power of concentration. You’ve already said you liked pitching during the day.

Yeah, that one game I pitched there, I guess it was about 130 out there, I lost 17 pounds. Ain’t that somethin’?

In one game?

Yeah, oh, I was soaking wet.

Dear God!

Yeah, (chuckles) seventeen pounds I lost. Boy, I was so weak afterwards, geez.

What did you do during the game that you didn’t get sick afterwards?

Nothin’. I didn’t drink no water or nothin’ during the game. Not a thing.

Man, you’re a rugged guy, Ed!

(Chuckles) Well, after the game I gulped down about three soda pops in a row, just inhaled ‘em down me, I was so dry.

So when the game is over you’re drinkin’ that soda pop quick.

Yeah. That’s why I get a kick outta watchin’ these games nowadays. These guys got drinks on the bench, and eats, and, ohhh, gyyy...geez.

Can you believe it? It doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Nope.

It doesn’t look right, does it?

Boy, when I played, you got caught eatin’ on the bench you got fined.

Wow. Those were the days...back when the grass was real...

That’s right.

These days when you think about the worst temperatures on the field you think of the fields with the artificial turf.

Oh, boy, that’d be worse, oooooo...

I can’t believe you guys got that hot there!

Oh, yeah, it gets real hot down there. Every day game there it was always over 100.

What did you like best about pitching there at Blues Stadium?

When I got the guys out (chuckles).

You had some back up. You had a good team!

Yeah, real good.

George Selkirk?

Yeah, we played the Yankees in an exhibition game, in the middle of the season there, they were comin’ through and we had to play an exhibition game, and we beat ‘em 3-1.

Who was on that Yankee team?

Mantle, Berra, DiMaggio, all those guys. A lot of those guys on the Blues went up to the Yankees the next spring and they stayed there. Skowron, Bollweg, they stayed there, and I’m trying to think, Schallock was there, Gorman, a lot of those guys stayed there.

What about Cal Segrist on that team?

Yeah, second baseman. Good ballplayer, yeah he went up but I don’t think he stayed there though.

Now was that mostly a right-handed hitting lineup or...?

Yeah, yeah. We had Bob Cerv too. Boy, he hit one, let’s see, what park was that, I think at St. Paul, anyway, that ball musta went 600 feet. Geez! Boy, when he hit one, he really hit it! He was so strong.

I wish he would have talked to me, I’d love to hear that from him but he wasn’t interested for some reason. Maybe I caught him at a bad time. He’s living in Lincoln, Nebraska. And you remember him hitting a long one, huh?

Oh, brother! Yeah, it went out to center field, way past the fence, I betcha a hundred feet by a doctor’s office with steps going upstairs, and he hit the top of those steps up there! I’m not sure what park that was, mighta been Minneapolis.

That would be my guess. Nicollet Park. That was a cozy little place, and you get someone like Bob Cerv up there or Bill Skowron...

And we had Marquis (mar KEECE) up there in center field, I forgot him.

Bob Marquis?

Yeah, he could run, boy.

He had the most stolen bases on the ‘52 Blues, 13 stolen bases.

I saw in the paper that Mickey Owen died.

I just looked up his phone number!

Yeah, he was 89 years old. Died some place in Missouri.

I wonder if it was at Mount Vernon, where he was born.

Yeah, that was it.

Who was your catcher when you pitched, Ed?

For while there it was Mickey Owen and then he turned more to coaching. Roy Partee. Partee did most of it.

He died in 2000, I’m sorry to say.

Oh, did he die too? Gyyyy...

What was the worst thing about pitching in Blues Stadium? Or what thing about Blues Stadium would you change if you could have?

Probably they could shorten center field for the hitters, that was a long way out there.

Yeah, that gives ‘em a lotta room to poke a ball over someone’s head out there, doesn’t it?

Yeah (chuckles). Even I hit one over the center fielder’s head once (chuckles). I got a triple!

You even had one home run, according to the book!

I can’t remember that.

Yeah, you hit .227, did you know that?

Gee whiz! In the Little World Series I was the leading hitter... I went six for seven.

No kidding! How was it different pitching in Blues Stadium as opposed to the other American Association parks?

Take Minneapolis, for instance, they had that short right field...real short! And you had to pitch left-handers outside so they couldn’t pull it, ‘cause that was a left-handers’ paradise.

So that was your strategy?

It depends on the park how ya pitch the guy...if the fence was short you pitched just the opposite way.

What do you remember about pitching in Borchert Field in Milwaukee?

Oooh, that place! (chuckling) That park was weird! Center field was the short place there, ya just had to challenge the hitter, that’s all, keep the ball down. That was a weird park.

[note: center field at Borchert was perhaps the deepest in the league]

What made it weird?

The fences weren’t all straight. Left field jogged in, made part of center field short, then jogged out again, oh, God, (chuckling), it was funny, that fence! Center field was so short!

They had to squeeze that outfield into a rectangular city block. They say that you had to get two tickets to Borchert Field, one to see the game from one side and one for the other side to see the things you missed!

I can believe that, yeah.

I wish I would have been to that place. It was ancient. Built in 1888. And virtually unchanged the entire span of it’s life through 1952. So let’s say you were pitching against the Brewers in Milwaukee and facing somebody like Billy Bruton. I’d bet you pitched against Bruton at one point.

Yeah, a lotta times...he was a legger, boy...he could run!

Yes, he was the Brewers’ stolen base leader with thirty in 1952. He led the league in just about everything. How’d you pitch to him?

I just challenged him...he’d pull the ball, punch it to left field, or drag bunt, everything, so i just challenged him. Make him hit the breaking ball...most hitters can’t hit that breaking ball good.

So that’s your job. Give ‘em the best breaking ball you can.

Yep, I’d make ‘em hit the breaking ball.

What was your normal sequence of pitches have been? Say a nice hot day at Blues Stadium, how are you going to come at a batter with the score even?

I’d just challenge him. I’d try not to let him see the fast ball. I threw mostly curve balls, I made ‘em hit the curve.

So would you start off a guy with a curve ball?

Sure, oh, yeah...even 3 and 2 a curve ball.

So you had a lot of confidence in your breaking ball.

But you know to sink it pitching in Kansas City, in between innings during warm ups, I always took about three warm up pitches to the catcher, that was it. Most of the guys would go out there and throw eight or nine pitches, you know, in that heat yet? That takes a lot out of ya. That’s about one or two innings extra you’re pitchin’... I just went out and threw about three or four, that’s it.

Would you do that at the other parks too, or mainly just during a hot Kansas City day game?

Depends on the weather, if it was hot...

So that was one of your hot weather secrets.

Oh, yeah. Save your strength a little bit.

Smart man. What was your favorite thing about pitching in Blues Stadium?

That we were the home team. (chuckling)

The Blues were 89-65 on the season in 1952 under George Selkirk.

He was a great guy to play for, boy. When one of the guys started gettin’ in a slump or something, getting down, you know, he’d say, ‘I got a job all year and I don’t have to worry about the money, so you guys go out and do your best, might get a raise or the same amount...if you get cut that’s your problem, but just go out and give your best.’ He was real good. He never jumped on nobody or anything.

So that’s the way to manage.

Yeah. He’d say, all I want is 100% hustle.

You liked him?

Yeah, he was real good. “Twinkletoes” they called him, that was his nickname in the Yankees...

What was your general impression of Blues Stadium?

I really didn’t care too much for it, sat way down in the middle of the street down there, in a hole practically, you never got no breeze down there, no nothin’...it’d get so still...

So even on days you didn’t pitch you’d just as soon be in some nice air-conditioned room somewhere?

Oh, yeah. Even settin’ in the dugout you’d be sweatin’ like a pig...

What about the clubhouse and the services?

It was alright, we only had one trainer, that was hit. They’ve got everything now, X-ray rooms ... but we just had one trainer.

What could have made Blues Stadium a better place to pitch? There was a lot of foul room there, right? Would you have changed that?

No, I don’t think so.

It was always a single-deck place, throughout its American Association history, that was probably good.

Yeah.

What was the most challenging thing about pitching there?

Throw strikes. That’s the big thing in pitching, [throwing] strikes.

Did the umpiring crews rotate in those days?

We only had three umpires. They didn’t rotate. The guy behind the plate took a beatin’ in the heat (chuckles)...

If you had a certain set of umpires in Kansas City would you see the same guys in a different city?

They travelled to, to different cities.

If a home plate umpire was there for one game, was he the home plate ump the rest of the series?

No, they alternated.

What was your best pitch?

I’d say the curve.

What made the curve your best pitch? How was it that the curve became your best pitch?

I think it was because I hurt my wrist...pretty bad, and to this day, I just found out a few years ago that my wrist was separated (chuckles), and it pushed my thumb in, and the thumb has a lot to do with throwing the curve. I got a lot better curve ball when I hurt my wrist. But it also took a lot off my fastball, so...

You had to compensate somehow. When did you hurt your wrist?

In the winter of ‘46. I was playing in a sandlot football game (chuckles) and a guy going back to cover me was trying to get my right arm turned around and he pushed my wrist back, just threw it outta place, I guess...to this day I got a big bump on there. A bone stickin’ up.

So partly because of that your pitching improved?

The curve, yeah.

That’s a great story. Does that explain why you showed so much improvement after you went back to pitch at Hollywood (P.C.L.) after the military?

Yeah. I was a fastball pitcher then.

So in 1946, the year you won 20 games with Hollywood, you were throwing mainly the fastball? Then you got hurt that winter.

Yeah. Then I turned into a curve ball pitcher.

Weren’t you a little worried? You were slated to try out for Cincinnati...

Yeah, I know, I didn’t say anything about it. I went to a specialist and he said, ‘Aw, you just sprained your ligaments and tendons, you’ll be alright. It sure was [sprained], I couldn’t even bend my wrist up! Still can’t!

“You’ll be alright” he said?

Yeah. Didn’t even x-ray it or nothin’.

That’s terrible.

I know it.

What about the crowds at Blues Stadium?

They had nice crowds there, good crowds.

That was a good year for the fans, good attendance.

They didn’t boo much there, not in Kansas City.

Who was the toughest batter you had to face there that year?

I don’t remember half the guys there. To me they’re all tough when I get out to the mound. I just challenge em.

Can you think of anyone in particular?

There was this one guy from Milwaukee, a black guy, I can’t think of his name...

Buzz Clarkson?

Yeah, yeah, he was a good hitter.

He hit .318 and was a versatile fielder too. Jim “Buzz” (Bus) Clarkson. He was a husky guy.

Ed, what did you do after baseball?

I went to work for a school here where I live. I was a maintenance man there. Thirty years. Never missed a day.

No kidding! You are a rugged guy!

All the lifting I did there I hurt my arm, my rotator cuff, I just pulverized it from too much heavy lifting. So I retired about 11 years ago. I’ll be 81 in September. I was the only guy there, boy, I had to do everything.

Wow, thirty years, that’s even longer than you pitched!

Yeah, I know it, it doesn’t seem possible that I was there that long.

Well, your last year in professional baseball was my first year on planet Earth. You were with San Diego-Vancover in in 1957.

That’s when my wrist would bother me in cool weather when I pitched. I just couldn’t get it loose.

And in Vancouver that’s where you’d get a lot of cooler weather.

Any idea why the club moved? You were probably in heaven in San Diego.

Oh, yeah.

And they had some pretty good records, those teams.

Yeah, we had a pretty good club there too. You were 16-12 in ‘54, 18-10 in ‘55...

You know the last two months of the season we only had 6 pitchers? I volunteered about 4 times for the last game of a double-header...it was only seven innings, but I volunteered for ‘em. They couldn’t get nobody else to pitch.

While you were with San Diego?

I told ‘em, ‘Fine, I’ll take it.’

Were you known as a gamer?

I guess so.

Did you ever have a nickname, Ed?

No.

If you were going to give yourself a nickname, what would you name yourself?

Well, the trainer at Kansas City called me “Turtle” (chuckles)...

Turtle??

Yeah, Turtle. I said I looked like a turtle (chuckling)...

How was that?

I just said I looked like a turtle.

Did you clobber him for saying that?

Noooo....

What nickname would you give yourself.

Gee, I don’t know, I got no idea. According to some of the baseball books my nickname was ‘Eddie’, but I changed it to ‘Ed’ because it’s easier to sign autographs when it’s ‘Ed.’

I think they oughta call you “The Gamer”.

Nooo (chuckling)....

Is there anything else you want to add? I’m done with my questions here. You were a really fine pitcher in your day.

Yeah, I coulda been better if it wasn’t for my wrist, darn it.

Do you have kids?

Yeah, we had five but we lost one, he died, and so we’ve only got four now, but we’ve got 22 grandchildren (chuckling).

Are they interested in your baseball career?

Sure.

I’m really glad to have interviewed you.

Glad I could help you.

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All interview transcripts appearing on the website of the American Association Almanac are copyright 2005 by the American Association Almanac and may be used with permission.