Atlanta Braves Franchise best catchers: Hank Gowdy

Our parade of Atlanta Braves franchise greats continues with a look at the players who handled great Braves pitching and played the most physically demanding position on the field, catchers.

Like all franchises, the number of catchers with 1000 games under their belt for the Atlanta Braves Franchise is small; four — and three of those did it in the expansion era. The Phillies have the most 1000 game catchers – seven – followed by the White sox with five, then the Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Yankees with four.

Since the birth of the National League, 1,123 players appeared as a catcher 75% of the time and played at least 25 games. Only 140 caught more than 1000 games, and only 106 of the 1000 game catchers have 4000 PA as a catcher.

I didn’t want to be a catcher. It was thrust upon me, as they say in the classics. –  Mickey Cochrane

All of that seemingly useless trivia says that catchers have a short shelf-life. If your team has a guy who stayed healthy and productive for 1000 games, they try to hang onto them as long as possible. The four Atlanta Braves Franchise catchers with 1000 games obviously made the list.

Selecting the fifth catcher proved more difficult than I imagined. Eventually, I settled on a tall slim blonde first baseman who became a key part of the Braves.

Number five: Hank Gowdy

According to his SABR biography, the 1911 Boston Rustlers (yep another one year name no one remembers)  were on their way to an awful 44-107 season when the traded Buck Herzog to the eventual NL Champion Giants.

In return, they received middle infielder Al Bridwell and 21-year old first baseman Hank Gowdy. Bridwell replaced Herzog, and at 27, Boston expected he to man shortstop for the next six years.

Much like the Atlanta Braves acquisition of Ender Inciarte, Gowdy was a throw-in player, a warm body, but one who hit .312 with 11 homers in 493 AB for Texas League Dallas in 1910. Bridwell had one good season, then fell off the virtual cliff at the plate while Gowdy turned into a long term asset.

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The Braves would use five first basemen over the next five seasons, and none were better hitters than Gowdy. However, Giants owner John McGraw had suggested Gowdy move to catcher before the 1911 season, and he made the switch in 1912.

Changing positions didn’t bring much playing time in 1912, and he was still a raw catcher when George Stallings took over as skipper in 1913.

Stallings sent him down to learn to job, and Gowdy did that as well as bat .317/.369/.427/.796 and hit three homers at Buffalo. Based on that, Stallings recalled him to the Braves that September and became the Braves full-time catcher in 1914

Atlanta Braves Franchise’s first volunteer

Over the next two seasons, Gowdy batted .250/.325/.319/.644 with a 100 OPS+ and while catching 118 games each season. The bigger story was the war in Europe.

On April 1, 1917, America entered WW I; on June first, Gowdy made the choice to join the military, becoming the first active Major League player to volunteer.

On June 1, the Braves game in Cincinnati was rained out, and Gowdy took . . .the train to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and enlist in the Army . . . Gowdy was 27, in the prime of his career, and he chose not to wait and register for the draft . . . On June 22 Gowdy played his last game at Braves Field. . . but played in five more games in Brooklyn before leaving the team.

Gowdy served with distinction in the 166th Infantry Regiment and became a part of Pershing’s Rainbow Division, the fighting 42nd, in the battles of Chateau Thierry, Saint Mihiel, and the Argonne as a color sergeant. In Frank Cersi’ s post, Hank Gowdy: Baseball Player and War Hero, he quotes Gowdy’s regimental commanding officer, Colonel B W Hough.

“Every outfit ought to have somebody like Hank. The boys idolize him and he gets them all stirred up with his baseball stories. He helps ‘em forget about the terror of war. He carried the flag and . . . he was one of them who heaved gas bombs at the enemy . . . he was fantastic!”

On Hank Gowdy Day,  May 24, 1919, Gowdy played his first game for the Boston Braves since leaving for the war.

More than 16,000 fans, turned out to honor. . .  he was presented with gifts by Boston Mayor Andrew J. Peters, including: a gold watch and chain, a cigar cutter and $600 in Victory Bonds. Rabbit Maranville and Pat Moran presented Gowdy a trunk full of clothes from his teammates.

The city provided a bronze tablet later installed at the entrance to Braves Field, inscribed “Honor Roll Boston Braves Who Served in the Great War,” and listing the 14 members of the Boston Braves who served.

Appropriately, Gowdy singled in his first at-bat and got his first RBI since 1917, and the Braves beat the Reds 4-1.

Epilogue

Gowdy remained with the Braves until they traded him back to the Giants in June of 1923. The Giants released him halfway through the 1925 season, and he played three years of minor league ball before rejoining the Braves as a player/coach in 1929 and 1930 before retiring at the age of 40, After coaching for the Giants and Reds in the 1930s, before he volunteered again.

Gowdy enlisted and served as a major and recreation director at Fort Benning, Georgia. He trained soldiers on a baseball field that had been dedicated to him in 1925. He may have been the only active major leaguer to serve in both World Wars, first as a player and then as a coach..

Hank Gowdy died where he grew up and enlisted in the Ohio National Guard, his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, on August 1, 1966.

That’s a wrap

Hank Gowdy became an unexpected stalwart of the Miracle Braves, muck like Greg Olson for the Atlanta Braves of the early 90s. Though he never flashed the power he demonstrated in the minors over a full season, his postseason heroics in the 1914 World Series are the reason the Braves won.

He was also a patriot and a true American hero, recognized for his efforts by Boston, Fort Benning, and teams across both leagues. Gowdy was a credit to all the uniforms he wore.