Clyde Engle & Ray Demmitt – 101 Years Ago
I was just looking at Yankees batters from 1901 to 2009, younger than age 26, where they were playing in their first season, and where they played in at least 100 games and had an OPS+ of 100 or more…and here’s that list:
| Rk | Yrs | From | To | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robinson Cano | 1 | 2005 | 2005 | 22-22 | |
| 2 | Gil McDougald | 1 | 1951 | 1951 | 23-23 | |
| 3 | Billy Johnson | 1 | 1943 | 1943 | 24-24 | |
| 4 | Charlie Keller | 1 | 1939 | 1939 | 22-22 | |
| 5 | Joe Gordon | 1 | 1938 | 1938 | 23-23 | |
| 6 | Joe DiMaggio | 1 | 1936 | 1936 | 21-21 | |
| 7 | Ben Chapman | 1 | 1930 | 1930 | 21-21 | |
| 8 | Tony Lazzeri | 1 | 1926 | 1926 | 22-22 | |
| 9 | Bob Meusel | 1 | 1920 | 1920 | 23-23 | |
| 10 | Clyde Engle | 1 | 1909 | 1909 | 25-25 | |
| 11 | Ray Demmitt | 1 | 1909 | 1909 | 25-25 |
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Check out Clyde Engle and Ray Demmitt there back in 1909. Two young Yankees…well…Highlanders, actually – more than holding their own in the first big league seasons.
After the 1909 season, Ray Demmitt was traded with Joe Lake to the St. Louis Browns for Lou Criger – who was a 37-year old catcher best known as being Cy Young’s favorite battery-mate when he played in Boston.
Soon after that, Demmitt was back in the minor leagues – and the Tigers franchise later picked him up in a Rule 5 Draft. He didn’t get back to the big leagues until 1914 when the White Sox bought him from Detroit for $2,500.
During the very near start of the 1910 season, Clyde “Hack” Engle was sold by New York to the Boston Red Sox. Engle would go on to hit a key pinch-hit double in the sixth game of the 1912 World Series. Later in that game, he came back to bat in the 10th inning and hit a fly ball that led to the “Snodgrass muff“.
But, hey, for one season back in 1909, Clyde Engle and Ray Demmitt were rookies who didn’t melt under the glare of playing in New York…if there was such a thing as a glare back then…
