A SELF-ASSURED SLINGER FROM THE STATE WHERE THE TALL CORN GROWS

from The Farming Families (IA) April 2023

The right care. The right place. The right time.

Name a baseball player from Plymouth County who won 19 games for the Cincinnati Reds in his rookie year. He was described as the “biggest pitching find of the season.” In 44 games, the rookie pitched 260 innings and his ERA was a remarkable 2.01.

Stumped for an answer? That’s because it was 114 years ago.

Strangely enough, this local star was born in a town which no longer exists. Harry Gaspar was born in Quorn, Iowa, in 1883. Not long after, when the railroad missed Quorn, the town of about 300 people picked up and moved to the new town of Kingsley.

Harry’s parents, John and Mary Gaspar, were grocers who had moved to Quorn from Dubuque County, Iowa. John’s parents, Nicholas and Catherine Gaspar, were farmers who left Luxembourg in 1846 and settled in eastern Iowa.

According to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), “Pitching for Kingsley, the tall right-hander first gained the notice of the pros when he won an exhibition game against Sioux City of the Western League sometime in 1905. With baseball already entrenched in Iowa culture, local fans recognized and valued budding talent.”

From 1906-1908, Harry played for several minor league teams, including Dubuque, Wausau and Freeport in Wisconsin, and, finally, for Waterloo.

A four-line blurb in the Cincinnati Enquirer on January 17, 1909, noted Harry’s signing under the headline of Baseball Gossip: “Harry Gaspar, the big Red recruit from Waterloo, Iowa, has sent in his signed contract, with the strange news that he is in fine shape and expects to make good.”

Harry told the Waterloo Courier in January he was keeping in shape in Kingsley “by hard work, such as painting barns, pailing the cows, etc.” In spring training, he convinced Reds manager Clark Griffith to put him on the big league roster when he quickly developed a good curveball which had been missing from his repertoire.

SABR said his true introduction to fans came on April 17, 1909: “Early in 1909 Reds fans saw real promise in the 6-foot, self-assured slinger from the state where the tall corn grows. In the second inning of an April 17 home game with Pittsburgh, he came in to relieve veteran lefty Ed Karger, who had allowed five runs. Shutting down the opposition, Gaspar worked through the ninth while his teammates helped him register his first big-league win, an 8-5 victory. Sportswriters still regarded him as unpolished, but remarked on his strength and natural ability. By early August, when The Sporting News decried the Cincinnati club’s lack of pitching, it named Gaspar as one of only three in fine form.”

As the summer went on, Harry was one of the league leaders in wins and his name showed up in news- papers from New Jersey to Washington State. “Harry Gaspar” was being reported in the same breath as future Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson. Special attention was drawn to the fact the other league leaders were playing for postseason-caliber teams, while Harry was playing for a sub-.500 team. He finished the season with a win-loss record of 19-11 and he pitched 19 complete games.

Previewing the 1910 season, a sportswriter for the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote: “Who would have predicted last spring that Harry Gaspar, coming from a Class D league, would lead the Red pitchers in victories? He had a fine record in the minors, but no one thought that he would at once jump into prominence as one of the leading pitchers of the National League.” And he proved to be a workhorse again in 1910. He was injured by batted balls repeat- edly from spring training to the end of the season, yet he continued to be durable, pitching in 275 innings in 48 games, with 16 complete games. His season record was 15-17 and his ERA was 2.59. Cincinnati as a team was again below .500.

In the offseason, Harry started Gaspar Studio, a photography business in Le Mars. His wife, Coyla, ran the shop when he reported to spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in March 1911. The Reds were now paying him a salary of $4,500.

Statistics from BaseballAlmanac.com point to the fact that Harry still knew how to eat up the innings. He pitched in 253.2 innings over 44 games. His record dropped right along with the Reds who sank further in the standings in 1911. His record for the year was 11-17 with an ERA of 3.30.

Harry returned to the club in spring 1912. But the SABR story says, “By June … It was obvious that he just wasn’t up to his usual standards; in four decisions, he captured only one win.” It’s hard to pinpoint what was going wrong, although they had a new, untested manager on the field; and, at home, Harry and his wife had a new son, Leo. He only appeared in seven games for the Reds in 1912, with a record of 1-3. In June, he was released to Toronto of the International League, but he only played in 12 games for the Maple Leafs before returning to Le Mars.

In 1913, Harry stayed at home, playing for the Le Mars semi-pro team and other small-town amateur clubs. He also managed the Le Mars team. “On one July day in 1913, he pitched two games in as many Iowa towns, shutting out Pisgah 5-0 at Morehead in the morning and then traveling a hundred miles to a carnival in Oto, where he won an afternoon game for Danbury against Hornick, 8-6.”

Harry joined the Sioux City Indians of the Western League in 1914, and the SABR article said, “His 25 wins and 7 losses pointed to a strong comeback.” He also played and managed during parts of the seasons from 1915-1917. In his final professional game in June 2018, he shut out Joplin 1-0 on just 74 pitches with no walks.

He continued to play and manage for local semi-pro and amateur teams. He ended his playing days in 1922 with the Alton team. The next year, Harry, Coyla, Leo and daughter Jean moved to southern California, where he co-owned and managed a bowling alley in Santa Ana. He died at his home on May 14, 1940, and was buried at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, Calif.

SOURCES

• Society for American Baseball Research. sabr.org/bioproj/person/harry-gaspar/