HARRY HEITMAN The Rochester baseball team of 1918 was known as the Hustlers or Colts in the local papers. The team that year faded to a fifth place finish at 60-61 for manager Arthur Irwin. But they did have one of the top players in the league: Albany, New York native and right-handed pitcher Harry Heitman [pronounced HITE-man] who won 17 games and lost 8. His ERA of 1.32 that year ranks just a shade above the best "modern" International League ERA ever: Urban Shocker's 1.31 in 1916. Writers referred to the 21-year old Heitman as the "Iron Man"- after he pitched- and won- both games of two June doubleheaders- within 5 days! Just a couple of weeks later, he threw 17 of 18 doubleheader innings during two close losses at Toronto. On July 11th, Harry came within one out from throwing a no-hitter versus Buffalo. And, when Heitman wasn't pitching, he frequently played the field. His 1918 batting average was .336, the second- best overall on the team. Harry was used at third base or in the outfield and seldom hit last in the hitting order. He even led off batting in a game- as a pitcher. But the baseball story of Harry Heitman also includes his time spent in the majors- a story that statistically, is about to be changed. Every year, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) recommends dozens of stat-adjustments for major leaguers. The most-recent list concerns playing records of old timers like Amos Rusie and Cy Young right on up to modern day players including Barry Larkin and Nomar Garciapara. Armed with several layers of documentation, SABR isn't challenged often on their findings. "When I was younger, I thought the numbers were handed down from on high," says Lyle Spatz, the Chairman of SABRs Records Committee since 1991. "But they're riddled with errors… big, small… Hall of Famers and obscure people like Heitman." One of SABR's latest stats challenges involves Harry Heitman's one and only major league appearance. By the summer of 1918 the United States was sending thousands of troops overseas, in what would be the final stages of World War I. In late July, Heitman joined a few other Rochester players and enlisted in the armed forces, leaving the team for the Navy. But before Harry had to ship out, he joined the Brooklyn club (then nicknamed the Robins) for his major league debut. Growing up playing in Brooklyn semi-pro leagues, Heitman had already caught the attention of the National League club. Early in 1918, Brooklyn signed Harry and sent him to the mound in a spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. In three innings the rookie was roughed up for six hits and five runs, including two home runs off the bat of a 23-year old Babe Ruth. Boston romped 11 to 1, but Robins manager Wilbert Robinson still saw Heitman as a prospect and sent him to Rochester for seasoning. Three months later, and just days from entering the Navy, Harry got another chance. Robinson started him in the second game of a July 27th doubleheader at Ebbets Field, versus the St.Louis Cardinals. Heitman's time in the spotlight that day was painfully brief. The first man up, Cliff Heathcote, was ruled safe after hitting a grounder to the third baseman. Bobby Fisher then tripled Heathcoate home. Next up, Gene Paulette singled in Fisher for the second run. Now, future Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby dug in, and tripled to the flagpole- (driving the third run in) sending Heitman to the sidelines. The Robins' Burleigh Grimes came on as the relief pitcher and finished the inning but allowed another run- the fourth run, charged to Heitman- who would also be tagged with the loss. No doubt, his teammates encouraged Harry- that there surely would be a "next time". But although Heitman would go on to play another 10 years of baseball, he never would get another chance in the big leagues. And for whatever the reasons, onlookers and reporters confused Heitman's numbers that fateful day, as the Cardinals routed the Robins 22-7. The major league official scoresheet, The New York Times and The Sporting News accounts all listed Harry yieding four runs, but also recording one out. The New York Sun and New York Daily Tribune actually listed the baseball impossibility of "1/4" for Heitman's innings pitched that day. For decades, baseball statistics and encyclopedias recorded Harry's ERA at 108.00 (based on the pitcher getting one man out with four runs scored). SABR's research found several published accounts confirming that Grimes followed Heitman after four batters. Finally, researchers uncovered what appears to be definitive proof, in the 1918 story of the Heitman game reported by the Brooklyn Eagle. It also reveals a questionable call against Brooklyn, which might have swayed events differently if the judgement had only gone Harry's way… "The poor start made by Harry Heitman in the second game should be discounted and the "Iron Man" of the International Legaue given another big league trial. Umpire Crigler put him in a bad way right off the reel by calling Heathcote safe on what seemed a perfect throw from O'Mara. The Brooklyn lad appeared to lose all of his steam after that one decision. …Fisher tripled to the centerfield wall, Paulette singled to left and Hornsby wafted a triple…Grimes took up the burden right there with three runs across, a man on third and none out". "Since he had no innings pitched...because he faced four batters and all scored, his earned run average should actually be infinity," Spatz says. "We're going about getting that changed in future encyclopedias." And with those numbers changing, 1945-46 Red Wings Manager Burleigh Grimes would be the beneficiary of an additional out (one-third of an inning pitched) previously awarded to Heitman. Grimes ERA for the 1918 season should be lowered- from 2.14 to 2.13. His career ERA would not change- and remain as it reads on his Hall of Fame placque in Cooperstown: a lifetime ERA of 3.52 covering 19 big league seasons. Current major league baseball records show 19 pitchers earning an infinity ERA (not including position player situations- mopping up hopeless games for instance). The worst career performance by a pitcher never retiring a batter is six runs allowed- a record held jointly by Louisville's Bill Childers in 1895 and Doc Hamann of Cleveland in 1922. Harry was discharged from the Navy and returned to play ball for Rochester in June of 1919. But he was unable to duplicate his earlier successes, winning only seven games while losing 11 and hitting just .244. On June 18th, Heitman was already mired in a batting slump, when things got even worse. Pitching in the first inning at New Jersey, Harry tore up his throwing hand after stabbing a line drive- an injury that forced him from the lineup for nearly three weeks. The Hustlers/Colts finished sixth that year. In 1920, Heitman left Rochester to play the first of four seasons in Buffalo of the International League. He finished out his 12-year baseball career with stints in the Eastern League and the New England League. Records show his last professional season was in 1928. And the story of missed statistics and Harry Heitman apparently follow until the end. Heitman died in Brooklyn on December 15, 1958. But, was his obituary ever published? A newspaper strike shut down nine New York-area papers- The New York Times, The Daily Post and others- from December 12th through the 28th! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHAM's Bill Flynn has been covering the Red Wings on Rochester radio since the mid-1980s. His grandfather, George Frank, played for the 1902 Rochester Bronchos. Flynn hasn't missed a Wings home opener in over 25 years and has caught 2, dropped 1, and scrambled to get 3- foul balls at Silver Stadium and Frontier Field