Benny Kauff Baseball Phenom And Outcast

By Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr

Benny Kauff was a major league hitter, fielder, and base runner of great talent. He played with the Indianapolis Hoosiers and Brooklyn Tip-Tops, of the short-lived Federal League, in 1914 and 1915. Often compared to Hall of Famer Ty Cobb, Kauff was a multi-talented outfielder, who could hit for power. His career was abbreviated because of a car theft arrest in late 1919. Benny was later acquitted of the charges by a grand jury in New York City. However, baseball commissioner Landis effectively "boycotted" the slugger. Landis told him not to play baseball for the New York Giants again. Benny had been signed by the John McGraw managed Giants after the Federal League folded following 1915. Various court appeals failed, and Kauff was never allowed to play baseball again. He was active for only a portion of the 1920 regular season. My E-book discusses Kauff's heritage, his parents, ancestral facts, etc., drawn from U.S. Censuses of Pomeroy, Ohio. I have acquired an immense amount of information from contemporary newspaper accounts, i.e. New York Times, Washington Post, from the 1920s and earlier. Kauff is certainly an enigma to baseball fans. It is uncertain what career numbers he might have achieved if he been allowed to play into the 1920s. His was an abridged career, like that of the Chicago White Sox outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr
• Release date: Mar 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301859627

Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr

I am a soon to be retired Duke Medical Center library researcher, who enjoys writing. I have been writing on Wikipedia for years and have begun to writeebooks. My pastimes include selling books on EBay, genealogical research, baseball (Pittsburgh Pirates), collecting antique furniture and coins, and spending time with Kingsley, my cocker spaniel.

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Benjamin Kauff

Baseball

Phenom And Outcast

Smashwords Edition 2013

Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.

Benjamin Benny Kauff played major league baseball with the New York Giants from 1916-1920. Before this he was with the Indianapolis and Brooklyn teams of the short-lived Federal League. He played five games for the New York Americans in 1912, his first major league baseball experience. He was a five-tool star with a hard-to-find combination of speed and power. He batted and threw left-handed. His 5’8" frame was a stocky one. Benny was born on January 5, 1890 in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio.

Figure 1 Pomeroy Bend, Pomeroy, Ohio His father, William Kauff (born May 1863), was a coal miner of German descent. He was from West Virginia. His parents were from Virginia. Benny Kauff’s mother, Hanna Pierce (born July 1863-1910), was an Ohio native. She married William in 1885. Benny was the oldest of two children. His sister, Bessie Mae was born in November 1892. In June 1900 the Kauff family lived in Salisbury, Meigs County, Ohio. Figure 2 Map of Salisbury Township, Meigs County, OH Benny and Bessie were in school.

In May 1910 the Kauffs lived on Fry Street in Salisbury. The 1910 U.S. Census records that William managed a coal mine and Benny was a coal mine laborer. Benny quit school when he was 11. He and his father formed a partnership in the mining business. Hannah and Pearl (born 1896), another daughter, also lived in the Kauff home.

Benny began playing weekend baseball for area Ohio teams. By 1909 he was a versatile star for the Keystones, a local baseball club. He once said, In my first game I caught for three innings, pitched for three innings, and then caught for three more innings. His pitching was proficient. It gave him a chance to play with the Parkersburg, West Virginia team of the Virginia Valley League, in 1910. Without the advantage of official statistics, Kauff is said to have compiled a 14-4 pitching record. He had a .417 batting average and 87 stolen bases for Parkersburg.

Benny Kauff trained with the Yankees in Atlanta in March 1912. He was a slugging outfielder the American League club obtained from Bridgeport. It was the second spring he accompanied the New York team to Atlanta. In 1911 he was assigned to Bridgeport manager, Gene McCann to obtain seasoning. Kauff sent his signed contract to Yankees management on January 20, 1912.

Benny's batting average with Bridgeport in 1911 was .294. He was just 20 years of