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1912 Retirees
The follow players retired from the Arizona League after the 1912 season. Not a lot of standout players hanging it up this year. Lots of interesting stories on Cup of Coffee guys this year (one of the things I like about tracking a league like this). Some notes follow the list
John Butler retires ...
Pat Carney retires ...
Charlie Case retires ...
Jimmy Austin retires ...
Kid Elberfeld retires ...
Elmer Flick retires ...
Billy Gilbert retires ...
Pug Bennett retires ...
Bill Hallman retires ...
Topsy Hartsel retires ...
Nick Carter retires ...
Otto Krueger retires ...
Paddy Livingston retires ...
George Magoon retires ...
Jake Atz retires ...
Doc Mcjames retires ...
Harry Mcneal retires ...
George Merritt retires ...
Billy Milligan retires ...
Fred Mitchell retires ...
Wiley Piatt retires ...
Rip Cannell retires ...
Dick Scott retires ...
Ed Siever retires ...
Harry Smith retires ...
Bill Clancy retires ...
Luis Castro retires ...
Clarence Currie retires ...
Red Dooin retires ...
John Durham retires ...
Bob Ewing retires ...
Jim Hackett retires ...
Dad Hale retires ...
Pete Lepine retires ...
John Mcmakin retires ...
Danny Murphy retires ...
Ed Wheeler retires ...
Jesse Whiting retires ...
Lave Winham retires ...
John Deering retires ...
Norwood Gibson retires ...
Hunter Hill retires ...
Charles Moran retires ...
Frank Roth retires ...
Bill O'neill retires ...
Rube Vinson retires ...
Hub Hart retires ...
Jack Himes retires ...
Bris Lord retires ...
Charlie Malay retires ...
Oscar Graham retires ...
Ed Holly retires ...
George Mcbride retires ...
Dutch Meier retires ...
John Kelly retires ...
Mike Welday retires ...
Paddy O'connor retires ...
Dode Paskert retires ...
Jack Rowan retires ...
FLG: Ed Mcnichol retires ...
JER: Claude Elliott retires ...
JER: George Stovall retires ...
KAY: Honus Wagner retires ...
PAY: Bobby Wallace retires ...
PAY: Ed Smith retires ...
BIS: Bob Edmondson retires ...
CAR: Roy Thomas retires ...
CAR: Mal Eason retires ...
CAR: Jim Murray retires ...
NOG: Dan Mcgann retires ...
NOG: Elmer Stricklett retires ...
NOG: Fred Smith retires ...
NOG: Ed Hahn retires ...
PHX: Nick Kahl retires ...
TUC: Charlie Jones retires ...
YUM: Tom Mccreery retires ...
• Jimmy "Pepper" Austin didn't stick around the AZL very long, being drafted in 1909. He only had seven big league at-bats in five regular season games with Bisbee, all his rookie season. But in the playoffs that year, Pepper jacked two home runs for the Prospectors. He was released after 37 AAA games in May 1910 and never got on with another team. "Hey, I'll always have those two home runs to tell my grandkids about," Austin said.
• Kid "The Tabasco Kid" Elberfield retired from Bisbee after a long career as the team's starting shortstop. He collected 1,480 career hits and played on two AZL championship teams.
• Elmer Flick had the top batting average in the Northern League (.358) during the first year of the AZL. He retired with 1,690 career hits.
• Harry McNeal got traded six times between April 1909 and July 1910. The oft-injured pitcher was bouncing around the minor leagues at the time and never made it back up the majors. His last big-league pitch came in 1905. "I think people just liked to tack me onto the end of their trade deals, just for fun," McNeal said.
• Reliever Billy Milligan, who played for Kayenta since that team's inception, had just two big-league wins and 10 saves, but was named to three AZL All-Star Games. Interesting quirk of the game. "It must have been my personality -- of the fact that we just weren't that good in Kayenta most years."
• Wiley "Iron Man" Piatt pitched 141 complete games in his career, with 14 shutouts.
• Pitcher John Durham never won a game in 32 major league appearances. He retired with an 0-6 record and a 12.55 ERA. He did have one big-league save.
• Reliever Jesse Whiting appeared in 25 big league games in 1902 and 1903 but never got a decision. He spent the rest of his career in the minors trying to get one more chance at the big show. He stepped away when that shot never came. Interestingly he was 2-for-2 as a hitter in the bigs, with two RBIs and a run scored.
• Shortstop Ed Holly appeared in just two big-league games, both with Tucson. He was 0-for-5 with a strikeout...
• John Kelly, a centerfielder, also had just five at-bats in the bigs, with Kayenta. But he went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. "I'm not sure why they didn't leave me up there. I was producing," he lamented. Kelly hit .296 in his last year of AAA.
• Honus Wagner, a shortstop with Kayenta since 1901, was named to seven All-Star games and earned three Field General awards. The Flying Dutchman was a .282 career hitter with 1,564 hits.
• Another long-time starting shortstop, Bobby Wallace of Payson, stepped away from the game. Wallace finished with 1,583 career hits, beating out his buddy by just a few.
"It won't be the same not seeing guys like Wagner, Elberfield and Wallace out there every day at short," Commissioner Victory said. "They were anchors in our league for a long, long time."
Wallace won two league titles with the Longhorns, though he played sparingly in the 1912 series victory (14 at-bats, three hits). Harry Spratt is the new club leader at short.
• CF Roy Thomas won seven Field General Awards, all with the Lake Havasu-Carefree franchise. He was a career .246 hitter, with 1,442 hits in all.
• Dan "Cap" McGann joined the 1,500-hit club in his final year with Nogales. The 41-year-old (!!) first baseman retires with 1,527 hits and a career average of .254. He had a cool 777 RBIs.
• RF Tom McCreery won the 1907 Big Stick Award while playing for the Yuma Prisoners. He never really had a great season after that...
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