Herman A. Schaefer, nicknamed “Germany,” was born February 4, 1876 in Chicago, Illinois.
An infielder with decent range and an average bat, Schaefer had impeccable timing and was always willing to entertain the crowd. He gained his greatest notoriety for “stealing first base,” a maneuver that led to a rule change.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 06 of the 2010 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of February.
February 4
1876 Tigers second baseman Germany Schaefer was born on this day.
Herman A. Schaefer, nicknamed “Germany,” was born February 4, 1876 in Chicago, Illinois.
An infielder with decent range and an average bat, Schaefer had impeccable timing and was always willing to entertain the crowd. He gained his greatest notoriety for “stealing first base,” a maneuver that led to a rule change.
After a few years playing semipro ball in Chicago, Schaefer signed on with a semipro club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1898. His outstanding play with that team spurred an offer from Kansas City of the Western League, where he played for parts of two seasons, mostly at shortstop.
In 1901, his contract was acquired by St. Paul of the same league, and after a solid performance he was purchased by the Chicago Cubs late in the season. He made his major league debut on October 5, 1901, and banged out three hits in five at-bats in two games.
Back with the Cubs in 1902, the 25-year old Schaefer played third base but lost his job in mid-season due to a terrible .196 batting average. He did partake in a bit of history on September 13, when he played third base in the game that featured Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance in their familiar spots in the infield together for the first time. However, after the season, the Cubs returned Schaefer to St. Paul, where he spent another season before the Saints released him in February 1904.
Schaefer then signed with Seattle of the outlaw Pacific Coast League, but after the PCL reached a peace agreement with organized baseball, a dispute broke out over his services and he was ultimately assigned to Milwaukee of the American Association.
In his lone season with the Brewers, Schaefer honed his defensive skills, improving his range and accuracy while also perfecting several daring baserunning plays he would later employ in the majors. One Milwaukee observer described Schaefer: “He was a well-built chap, wearing an astonishing pair of shoulders, and showed rare speed and fighting ability.”
In 1905, the struggling Detroit Tigers were in desperate need of middle infielders. Schaefer, purchased from Milwaukee, joined the team and fit in immediately, most notably with Charley O’Leary, a fellow Chicago native and infielder. The two were best friends both on and off the field, and later briefly teamed in a vaudeville act. In his first season with the Tigers, Schaefer proved his worth. Schaefer led American League second basemen in putouts, while hitting .244 with nine triples.
Schaefer always enjoyed performing in front of his hometown crowd, and on June 24, 1906, he turned in one of the most memorable games of his career. Schaefer was called on to pinch hit with two outs in the ninth, a runner on base, and his Tigers down by a run. According to teammate Davy Jones in The Glory of Their Times, Germany announced to the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, you are now looking at Herman Schaefer, better known as ‘Herman the Great,’ acknowledged by one and all to be the greatest pinch-hitter in the world. I am now going to hit the ball into the left field bleachers. Thank you. “Facing Chicago’s Doc White, Schaefer proceeded to hit the first pitch into the left field bleachers for a game-winning homer. As he made his way around the diamond, Germany supposedly slid into every base, announcing his progress as if it were a horse race as he went around. After hook-sliding into home, he popped up, doffed his cap, bowed, and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this concludes this afternoon’s performance. I thank you for your kind attention.” Newspaper accounts of the game confirm the dramatic baseball details but not the fanciful embellishments offered by Jones.
Once while facing Rube Waddell, one of his favorite targets for verbal abuse, Schaefer reportedly launched a long home run out of Philadelphia’s Columbia Park and razzed the left-hander as he trotted around the bases. Carrying his bat with him, Schaefer pretended it was a gun, “shooting” Rube as he moved from bag to bag.
Among Schaefer’s other supposed antics: during a steady rain he once appeared at the plate wearing rubber boots and a raincoat, and he once ventured to the plate sporting a fake black mustache. In both instances, his outlandish behavior reportedly resulted in his ejection.
In addition, Schaefer was a master of the hidden-ball trick, which he performed in the 1907 World Series.
In 1907, Schaefer was named captain of the Tigers, whom he helped to back-to-back pennants. Germany was one of the few Tigers who befriended Ty Cobb, and he was a key figure in the Tigers late-season drive to win the 1907 pennant.
Despite his popularity in Detroit, late in 1909 Schaefer was traded to Washington, for whom he played through 1914.
In 1911, he enjoyed his finest offensive season, batting .334 in 125 games.
During his last few years with Washington, Germany spent more time in the coach’s box than on the field. He was an accomplished sign-stealer and heckler, qualities integral to coaching during the era.
On at least one occasion Schaefer stole first base. On August 4, 1911, in the bottom of the ninth, Schaefer stole second, hoping to draw a throw and allow teammate Clyde Milan, who was on third with the potential winning run, to steal home. White Sox catcher Fred Payne didn’t fall for the gambit, however, so Schaefer, now on second, took his lead toward the first-base side of the bag and promptly stole first on a subsequent pitch.
Sox manager Hugh Duffy came out to argue, and while Duffy argued with umpire Tommy Connolly, Schaefer scampered for second again. This time Schaefer got caught in a rundown, as had been his intention, and Milan dashed for home, where he was nipped to end the inning.
Schaefer and his teammates then argued unsuccessfully that the play should be nullified because the White Sox had ten players on the field, although Duffy hadn’t been an active player since 1908. The official scorer credited Schaefer with only one stolen base, but he “had a perfect right to go from second back to first,” umpire Connolly insisted after the game. It has been widely reported that Schaefer also stole first base on another occasion, against Cleveland in 1908, although the details usually given are contradictory and the incident is almost certainly a fabrication.
Schaefer continued to fine tune his crazed antics as a player/coach. Umpire Silk O’Loughlin chased him from a game in Chicago on June 8, 1912 for eating popcorn in the coach’s box, and Schaefer also began to perform tricks, like tight-rope walking the foul line and using two bats to “row across the grass.”
His performances were later incorporated by baseball clowns Nick Altrock and Al Schacht. While he enjoyed drawing laughter, Schaefer defended his comedic coaching as important to team success. Schaefer later said to The Sporting News in 1912, “Is humorous coaching of value to a team? I think so. It is valuable for two reasons. It keeps our fellows in good spirits, and it sometimes distracts the opposing players…I guess [Clark] Griffith thinks so also, for he encourages me in my tomfoolery.”
After a stint with Newark in the Federal League in 1915, Schaefer served as player and coach for the Yankees in 1916 and Indians in 1918. Ever the comedian, when the First World War broke out, Schaefer announced he would change his name to “Liberty” Schaefer, much as sauerkraut had been renamed “liberty cabbage.”
John McGraw hired Schaefer as a scout in 1919.
Germany Schaefer died on May 16, 1919 in Saranac Lake, NY at the age of 42.
Detroit sportswriter Malcolm W. Bingay eulogized: “Germany Schaefer was the soul of baseball itself, with all its sorrows and joys, the born troubadour of the game.”
A large part of this biography comes from the SABR Baseball Biography Project written by Dan Holmes. It can be found online at http://bioproj.sabr.org
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Base coach
One of the two uniformed team members positioned in the coach’s box at first base and third base to direct the batter and baserunners and to relay signs. Syn. wig-wagger.
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