William J. 'Kid' Gleason

WILLIAM J. “KID” GLEASON JR. was born October 26, 1866 in Camden NJ to William Gleason and his wife, the former Ellen Mars Ivins. He was one of ten children born to the Gleasons. His father was a Civil War veteran who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a foreman on the railroad’s Camden docks. The Gleason family lived at 646 John Street in the 1870s, this street was later renamed Locust Street. The Gleasons were living at 404 North Front Street, near the northwest corner of Front and Linden Street when the Census was taken in 1880.

William J. Gleason’s father worked as a foreman with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which operated trains out of the Market Street Ferry Terminal, near the Gleason home, which by 1887 was at 212 Bridge Avenue, where they lived through 1888. He had also served with the Camden Fire Department from 1872 to 1874, and would serve again from 1872 to 1877, as did his uncle Alfred Ivins. His mother’s brothers-in-law Barton Lane, James M. Lane, and John Streeper all served at various times with the Fire Department as well, Streeper and James M. Lane both with much longer times in public service outside of the Fire Department.

In the early 1880s, still a teenager, William J. Gleason played for a number of semi-pro clubs, including the Young Merritt club, a youth version of sorts for the Merritt Baseball club, which was sponsored by Camden businessman and one-term state senator Albert Merritt. Another young man from the same neighborhood was Bill Eagan, both would go on to play major league baseball. Sadly, Eagan’s problems with alcohol derailed his career and life. The Merritt club was disbanded after the 1883 season. Another player who was often a teammate of William Gleason was J. Wesley Sell, a crack third baseman who went on to be Camden County Sheriff and county treasurer.

William Gleason appeared in Camden newspapers in 1885, for baseball and for two barroom fights where both he and Bill Eagan were involved, one in April, the other in September. Gleason pitched for at least two teams that season, the Kenney club, sponsored by bar-owner John P. Kenney of 18 South 5th Street, and the Howard team, owned by druggist J. Griffith Howard.

After playing ball in and around Camden, he went with another Camden ballplayer, Charles Alcott, to Williamsport in the Pennsylvania State Association league in 1887. Both men later played for the Scranton team in the same league later in the same season. At season’s end he returned to Camden and played for the Camden club alongside of Bill Eagan.

William Gleason reached the major leagues in 1888 as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Nicknamed Kid in part because he was 5’7” but mostly for his enthusiasm, Gleason would go on to play 22 seasons in the majors, and remained in the game as a coach and manager until his death in 1933.

Kid Gleason’s first eight years in the big league were spent mostly as a pitcher, although he made occasional appearances in the outfield and at second base. He began as a pitcher with the Phillies. His best season on the mound was 1890. After two losing seasons, he blossomed in 1890 when desertions to the Players’ League stripped the Phillies of their regular starters. During the 1890 season he started 60 games, running up a record of 38 wins and 17 losses, with an Earned Run Average of 2.63 for the Phillies. His 38 wins is the Phillies single season record, one which will never be broken. He never approached that level again, although he twice more topped 20 wins. He won 24 and lost 22 for Philadelphia in 1891, and was sent to St. Louis before the 1892 season. He continued as a pitcher, although with reduced effectiveness until 1894, when he was sent to the Baltimore Orioles during the middle of the season. When the distance from the mound to the plate was increased in 1894, he was basically through as a major league pitcher.

The Orioles won the pennant that year, and would for the next two seasons as well. Manager Ned Hanlon recognized Gleason’s talent in the field and at the plate, and made him the Orioles’ starting second-baseman for the 1895 season. He responded by hitting .309, scoring 90 runs, with 14 doubles, 12 triples and 19 stolen bases for the Orioles. Traded to the New York Giants for Jack Doyle in 1896, he remained with New York until 1900. While with the Giants, where he was named team captain. According to some reports, he was the first to order an intentional base on balls as a way to bypass a strong hitter. In 1897 he had his best offensive year, hitting .319 with 106 RBI.

After the 1900 season, Kid Gleason was involved in a strange incident. Gleason and the Giants, along with the Brooklyn Dodgers, took a boat to Cuba for a series of exhibition games. On the boat trip over, Outfielder Tom O’Brien and Gleason were told that if they drank enough sea water they would be sick, but would then be cured of any sea sickness. Both O’Brien and Gleason became violently ill following the prescription, but O’Brien was so affected that all his internal organs were damaged, and he never recovered, passing away in Phoenix AZ on February 28, 1901.

In 1901 Kid Gleason jumped to Detroit in the new American League. He played there for two years, returning to the Phillies in 1903, where he for all intents and purposes finished his career as an everyday player in 1907. He appeared in two games as a replacement for the Phillies in 1908. Kid Gleason spent 1908, 1909, and 1910 for the most part as a minor league player-manager. In 1911 he took a job as a coach with the Chicago White Sox, and appeared in one game as a player in 1912. When the White Sox won the American League pennant and the World Series in 1917, he was given much credit for the achievement.

Kid Gleason was out of baseball during the 1918 season. He was named manager for the 1919 season, and won the pennant by four games with an 88 and 52 record. The White Sox were a fine team with many great players, but there was a cancer in the clubhouse. Upset by the low pay and meanness of owner Charles Comiskey, several White Sox players, when approached by gamblers, agreed to throw the 1919 World Series.

Kid Gleason took the White Sox through the 1920 season, finishing second by three games to the Cleveland Indians. Talk of a possible fix in the 1919 Series had continued through the winter months into the 1920 season. In July, Gleason ran into gambler Abe Attell at a New York bar. Attell confirmed Gleason’s suspicions about the fix. “You know, Kid, I hated to do that to you,” Attell told Gleason, “but I thought I was going to make a bundle, and I needed it.” Attell revealed that Arnold Rothstein was the big money man behind the fix. Gleason went to the press with the story, but was unable to convince anyone—because of fear of libel suits—to print it.

The Black Sox, as it was called, scandal broke wide open in September of 1920. Team owner Comiskey suspended the compromised players with a few games left in the season. The Sox lost these games, and the pennant. Gleason was absolved of any guilt in the affair, and continued as White Sox manager until 1923. His teams however, stripped of many of their better players, did not fare well, and Gleason’s White Sox would not be better than a .500 ball club after 1920. He was let go as manager after the 1923 season. After two seasons away from the major leagues, Kid Gleason was offered a position as a coach with Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. He would return to the World Series with the A’s in 1930 and 1931. Seriously ill during most of 1932, Kid Gleason passed away from a heart ailment in Philadelphia on January 2, 1933. He was buried at Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia PA.

Kid Gleason’s younger brother, Harry Gleason, played parts of five years in the major leagues as well, for Boston and St Louis in the American League, from 1901 through 1905. Another brother, Isaac “Ike” Gleason, was well known as a player, manager, and especially as an umpire in local baseball circles.

Kid Gleason was inducted into the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

I think they’re the greatest ball club I’ve ever seen. Period.

During the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, while on the witness stand after an exhaustive cross examination addressing cheating among ballplayers which culminated with the question, “Well. What do you think of these players of yours NOW, Mr. Gleason?”