Piracy on the Baseball Seas

Library of Congress

Louis W. Bierbauer, "the best-known and most popular ball player Erie ever turned out," was not only a local baseball phenom, he also helped give the Pittsburgh Pirates their name - as the club scooped him up in a "piratical" way from the Philadelphia Athletics.

He was the "king of second basemen," affectionately known to residents of Erie as "Our Looie," and, as described by the Erie Daily Times in the early 1900s, "the best-known and most popular ball player Erie ever turned out." As fate would have it, he also was the inspiration for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys professional baseball team's switch to a new name: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

His name was Louis W. Bierbauer, born in Erie to German immigrants on Sept. 28, 1865, mere months after the end of the Civil War. At the time, baseball was already the most popular sport in the United States and he learned to play the game on vacant lots around Erie. He threw with his right hand, but batted lefty, and while he was a natural talent, he also had an unrivaled work ethic when it came to playing ball.

In 1884, still only a teenager, he joined the Interstate League's Erie Malleables baseball team as a catcher. "Erie base ball stock is on the rise," the Erie Daily Times reported that year, noting that the team was "well supported" by the young Bierbauer's efforts. The following season, they wrote that the Malleables would "be equal to anything which has ever represented Erie on the diamond field" with the team's "nucleus of a strong nine." Over the following year, Bierbauer played for a handful of teams around the region, including in Ontario, as well as with the Erie Olympics team in a short-lived league that played against Youngstown, Dayton, Springfield, Lexington, and Frankfurt.

In April 1886, at age 20, he made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association of Base Ball Clubs (AA). He switched to second base, taking advantage of his speed and lightning quick reflexes. According to one account, he grumbled about the change, but after one game, his talent for the position was clear.

"A Philadelphia crowd never saw second base played as Bierbauer played it," a teammate said afterwards. "Nothing was too hot for him. ... [He] worked as if he had been born in that position." Bierbauer stated that he felt guilty taking someone else's position, but before long, he was being hailed as "the greatest second baseman in the American Association."

He was very self-critical despite his success. The Philadelphia Press reported how he'd be "very much grieved" anytime he made an error and his teammates relayed how he simply wouldn't stop going on and on about his previous game's errors until he had a chance to redeem himself in the next game, always quipping beforehand, "Now I wonder if the Lord is with me or against me today?'"

Around this time, he married. They had a son, whom they named after him. Bierbauer was very much a family man and always spent the off-season back in Erie at their home on Liberty Street, keeping his game sharp by practicing in a local gymnasium. He also still played local games, which generated significant buzz. Before one Oct. 1888 game, the Erie Daily Times argued that "his playing alone will be worth the price of admission."

During the 1889 season though, tragedy struck. In early July, Bierbauer's wife (only referred to as Mrs. Bierbauer in articles, including in her obituary) was struck with a serious illness. She held on for nearly two weeks, but died on July 19. Despite the loss, he played exceptionally well the remainder of the season.

After the season's end, there was turmoil in his professional career too. Ballplayers had organized to rebel against the AA as well as the National League of Professional Baseball Club (NL) in what was described as a "wage war" over stagnant and insignificant pay while franchise owners were raking in record profits. Further, the players alleged, these owners had complete control over players and often blacklisted, even from the minor leagues, any perceived rabble-rousers.

Lou Bierbauer, affectionately known to Erie residents as "Our Looie," is pictured here with the 1896 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. He is in the top row, third in from the left.  (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The Erie Daily Times sided with the players. "If we may judge the country at large by the sentiment in Erie, there is an active popular sympathy with the efforts of the players to escape from the bondage of the League managers, and to reap for themselves the profit which is derived from their exhibition of skill in the national game," the editors stated.

Many ballplayers, including Bierbauer, left the two leagues in protest and joined the newly formed Players' National League (PL), sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood League. Attendance profits would be split among investors and the players. Bierbauer signed with the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders. He batted over .300 that season and was regularly complimented in the newspapers for his defense. "There's one of the greatest players that ever stood on a diamond," one spectator said of Bierbauer that season.

The financing unfortunately wasn't working out and the new league ceased operations after a single season. For the 1891 season then, it was decided that players from the PL would automatically revert back to the teams they were on in their previous leagues. As for Bierbauer though, his name had been left off the Philadelphia Athletics' reserve list of previous ballplayers. In what the papers called "The Bierbauer Controversy," this caused a lot of confusion and speculation about his future. Editors of newspapers questioned if the AA and the Athletics might attempt blocking him from joining another team. On Feb. 5, Philadelphia's manager met with Bierbauer, offering a large salary in hopes of getting a contract officially signed. Bierbauer declined. It was reported that he was "determined not to play with the Athletics" and said he would sit in the bleachers first.

When Philadelphia's omission became public, numerous teams attempted to secure Bierbauer. In the Jan. 3, 1891 issue of Sporting Life, he was called the "most sought-after ball player in America" whose "ability as a batter, baseman and baserunner, combined with his exemplary habits, make him a valuable acquisition for any team."

In the rival NL, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys desperately wanted him. Most of their players from the PL's Pittsburgh Burghers were returning, but they needed a second baseman. In February, team manager Ned Hanlon personally traveled to Erie by train to track down and attempt to sign Bierbauer.

"I think he's the greatest second baseman living," Hanlon told the Erie Daily Times. "He is a phenomenal man. He seems to have the instinct of knowing just where a ball is going to go, and the moment he hears the ball strike the club, he is off after it. He takes all the chances and gets them too."

As described in Alfred H. Spink's 1910 history on baseball, Hanlon "found [Bierbauer] on Presque Isle Peninsula, his favorite 'hang-out.'" Bierbauer was an avid hunter and fisherman and would spend days at a time throughout the winter living out of a shack on Presque Isle. While possibly embellished, according to multiple accounts, Spink crossed the iced-over bay in the midst of a snowstorm to find Bierbauer. After locating him, Hanlon offered him an "attractive contract and a handsome bonus" of $4,500 (about $160,000 adjusted for inflation). Bierbauer signed.

This historic photo shows Exposition Park in Pittsburgh, where Lou Bierbauer – an Erie native who never liked to play too far away from home – spent six seasons with the Pirates, a team whose name he helped inspire. (Photo: Boston Public Library)

The Athletics organization was "very sore" about this. They filed an official complaint to the interleague arbitration board calling Pittsburgh's acquisition of Bierbauer "piratical." A Philadelphia writer referred to it as "piracy on the baseball seas." The board ultimately sided with Pittsburgh and Bierbauer. The "Pirates" nickname, initially meant as an insult, stuck and was embraced by team management and Pittsburgh fans.

Hanlon asked Bierbauer if he wanted to spend the rest of the offseason down south in Hot Springs, Arkansas to play and prepare for the upcoming season. He initially declined. "I believe in hard work at home," he explained, adding, "The boys get down there and there is lots to see and they don't take care of themselves, and when they come back North, they are soft and can't play ball until the season is half over." He further stated that he never had any problems practicing and conditioning in Erie. He had recently remarried to a woman named Jennie Scowden (with whom he'd have two more children) and likely didn't want to spend more time away from his family than necessary.

Eventually, Hanlon convinced him to come down for half the time, but it didn't do Bierbauer much good. He contracted malaria and was put on bedrest for weeks.

His first season in Pittsburgh was a little rocky (some speculated it was due to lasting grief over his wife's death), batting only .206 while also battling a serious injury. At season's end, it's unclear what transpired, but Bierbauer and management clashed, leading the second baseman to demand his release from the team who he felt was "damaging to his reputation." Eventually, they worked it out and even offered him another $4,500 for his second season.

During this season, tragedy almost struck again. Jennie became so ill that Bierbauer refused to leave her side, the death of his first wife certainly still fresh in his mind, and he missed games to be with her while she recovered. When Bierbauer returned, he finally started finding his groove with the team. He was fielding ground balls, turning double-plays regularly, and battling "like a fiend" as he knocked in RBIs. Over the next few seasons, his statistics continued to improve. In 1895, he struggled at the plate once again, but had been off to a promising start in 1896 when he broke his ankle.

That following March, the Pittsburgh Pirates sold him to the St. Louis Browns. Bierbauer was not happy. St. Louis was much further from home, he had a newborn, and the previous summer he had just purchased a restaurant and saloon in Erie. So, he announced his retirement, saying he was "deeply offended" by the decision and would rather be dead than play in St. Louis. He'd stay in Erie and run his business instead.

After a year of playing for Erie clubs and doing some umpiring, he then decided to un-retire and join St. Louis in 1898. After a few games though, he returned to Erie. Over the next few years, he bounced around, playing for teams in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, but the remainder of his years would mostly be spent in Erie where he played on, captained, coached, and umpired for numerous city teams well into his forties. Meanwhile, his son, Louis Jr., described as "the pride of his heart" of his father who he matched in "demeanor and in stature," also played with the Erie Sailors and other minor league teams throughout the 1910s.

Bierbauer secured a job with the Jarecki Manufacturing Company as a molder and then as a nightwatchman for Odin Stove Works. In Jan. 1926, at age 60, he very suddenly became sick and was admitted to Hamot Hospital. He died shortly after of complications from pneumonia.

"Erie athletic circles, as a host of friends in virtually every walk of life, today mourn the death of one who once walked among them as a hero," published the Erie Daily Times. Bierbauer was survived by his wife, Jennie, as well as his two sons and daughter. Former teammates served as his pallbearers during his burial at the Erie Cemetery.

Regardless of any clashes with management, Bierbauer always remained an enthusiastic Pittsburgh Pirates fan — and nearly a century after his death, the team name that he inspired lives on.

Jonathan Burdick runs the public history project Rust & Dirt. He can be reached at jburdick@eriereader.com