Frank Saucier won batting titles in three minor leagues and seemed destined for an outstanding career as a major league outfielder when he joined the St. Louis Browns in 1951. But a lingering shoulder injury and service in the Navy during the Korean War limited him to 18 major league appearances over three seasons.
Still, when Saucier died on Monday in Amarillo, Texas, at 98, he held a record of sorts that will almost certainly never be matched. He was the only major league player removed from a game by his manager in favor of a 3-foot-7 circus performer.
His death was announced by Major League Baseball.
The Browns were one of baseball’s worst teams when Bill Veeck became their chief owner in July 1951. Hoping to give fans a reason to show up at Sportsman’s Park, which the Browns shared with the St. Louis Cardinals, Veeck announced that a celebration would take place to mark the 50th anniversary of the American League’s founding when the Browns faced the Detroit Tigers in a doubleheader on Aug. 19.
After the first game, a procession of vintage 1901 automobiles rolled out and the baseball clown Max Patkin performed a one-man skit. Then Eddie Gaedel, standing 3-foot-7 and wearing a miniature Browns uniform with the number ⅛, popped out of a large paper cake.
Saucier (pronounced SO-shay), who was the starting right fielder for the Browns in the second game of the doubleheader, was scheduled to lead off in the bottom of the first inning. But the Browns’ manager, Zack Taylor, who was in on the stunt, called him back. Gaedel, who had signed a one-year contract to play for the Browns without the American League office or his teammates knowing anything about it, was sent in to hit for Saucier.
In an interview with The New York Times in 1982, Saucier recalled the umpire, Ed Hurley, telling Gaedel, “Why, you can’t play in this game.”
“And Zack came out and said, ‘He’s under contract,’” Saucier said. “Hurley said, ‘Let me see it,’ and Zack showed him.”
Gaedel, armed with a little bat, went into a crouch, making his strike zone quite small. Bob Cain, the Tigers’ pitcher, walked him on four straight balls.
Saucier would remember that, as Gaedel made his way to first base, “he stopped two or three times and took his hat off and bowed to the crowd.”
Gaedel was replaced by a pinch-runner, Jim Delsing, who later went to right field to take Saucier’s spot.
When Will Harridge, the American League president, learned of Veeck’s stunt two days later, he voided Gaedel’s contract.
Francis Field Saucier was born on May 28, 1926, on a farm outside Leslie, Mo., the youngest child of Alexander and Margaret (McGee) Saucier. When he was 5, his family moved to a larger farm near the Missouri River town of Washington and an older brother, Clay, taught him baseball fundamentals.
He entered Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 1943; he became a star outfielder and catcher there and joined the Navy’s V-12 officer training program on the campus. He completed his Navy training at the University of Notre Dame, was commissioned as an ensign and saw 38 months of duty in the Pacific during World War II. He then returned to Westminster, where he excelled at baseball and basketball and graduated with a degree in engineering.
Playing for the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League, Saucier hit .343 and was named the 1950 Minor League player of the year. He signed with the Browns in 1951.
During spring training in 1952, he was recalled by the Navy for service in the Korean War. He served until his discharge in April 1954.
Saucier was nearly 28 when he returned to civilian life and presumably too old to contribute much to the Browns. He quit baseball, settled in Texas and spent 38 years as an executive in the oil, gas and chemicals industries.
Saucier, who lived in San Antonio, is survived by his son, John; his daughter, Sara; two granddaughters; and four great-grandchildren. His wife, Virginia Pullen Saucier, died in 2009.
Eddie Gaedel, who continued to make show business appearances after his brief moment in the baseball spotlight, died of a heart attack in June 1961 after he was mugged on a Chicago street. He was 36.
In “My Story,” a 60-page memoir he wrote in 1997, Saucier said that, although “it might have cost me a time at bat,” “Eddie’s antic was the funniest thing I ever saw.”
