Assumed Name

[TonyK]

Communications was not very good in the 1800's so many players played under an assumed name. I imagine this was more common in the minors since there were more teams and they were spread out. I have run across a reporter's reference to the player's real name. Does anyone know of players that did this, or a college player that used another name to protect his eligibility?

Some minor league players also fibbed and claimed they had pitched for a ML team. Back then it may have been impossible for a small city reporter to verify this, but today we can open up an encyclopedia and look up his name. I suspect it helped them make the club and get a higher salary.

[RedSoxVT92]

Heres a few examples:

Jean Dubuc played under the name "Williams" played for one game for the semi-pro team White Rocks in 1908. But Notre Dame(his college he was attending) found out and it cost his eligibility. Notre Dame could have ignored it because he was their best pitcher on their team.

Ed Reulbach played under the alias of "Sheldon" in 1905 for the Montpelier-Barre Hyphens of Vermonts outlaw Northen League.

Bob Smith played as "Robert M. Brown" for the 1914 season for the Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League. He played under this name because the Federal League had made an agrement not to bother any players in the American Association. Bob Smith was playing for the Minneapolis of the American Association, The Buffeds signed him to a two year deal breaking the aggreement. The manager wanted to keep him but he didnt want to show that they had broke the agreement so Bob Smith played as Robert M. Brown. The next year in 1915 he played under his real name Bob Smith. For years people didnt know who Robert Brown was until a reseacher in 1991 found an old article from 1915 about it in the Sporting News and the Buffalo Enquirer.



It was quite common to do this. Esspecially college players who wanted to play baseball all year long for semi-pro teams and make some extra cash on the side.

[TonyK]

Heres a few examples:

Jean Dubuc played under the name "Williams" played for one game for the semi-pro team White Rocks in 1908. But Notre Dame(his college he was attending) found out and it cost his eligibility. Notre Dame could have ignored it because he was their best pitcher on their team.

Ed Reulbach played under the alias of "Sheldon" in 1905 for the Montpelier-Barre Hyphens of Vermonts outlaw Northen League.

Bob Smith played as "Robert M. Brown" for the 1914 season for the Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League. He played under this name because the Federal League had made an agrement not to bother any players in the American Association. Bob Smith was playing for the Minneapolis of the American Association, The Buffeds signed him to a two year deal breaking the aggreement. The manager wanted to keep him but he didnt want to show that they had broke the agreement so Bob Smith played as Robert M. Brown. The next year in 1915 he played under his real name Bob Smith. For years people didnt know who Robert Brown was until a reseacher in 1991 found an old article from 1915 about it in the Sporting News and the Buffalo Enquirer.



It was quite common to do this. Esspecially college players who wanted to play baseball all year long for semi-pro teams and make some extra cash on the side.

Thanks for the info. There are still some phantom ballplayers that nobody knows anything about and they might have been players using a different name. One fellow I had researched was said to be the best pitcher in the league the previous year. That caught my interest since his name wasn't listed in the previous year's box scores. I read through a 1894 newspaper and sure enough it had his assumed name/real name in the notes. Lucky for him he got away with it.

[RaLlY mOnKeY 21]

.....very interesting! I never knew that. Thanks for the info.:dance