An All-star Chemist Baseball Team Because baseball is the only sport named for a chemical concept, it is natural that chemists and chemistry students should he interested in the National Pastime. Listed below is a team roster of men who have played in the major Leagues since 1900 and who have the same last name as Nobel Laureates in chemistry. The players include members of baseball's Hall of Fame (Jackie Robinson and Mordeeai Brown) as well as those who may be known only to the most devoted fan (Gerard Lipscomb, who played in 36 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1937, and Carl Sumner, 16 games for the 1928 Red Sox).' The first name of the Nobel Laureate and the year the prize was awarded are in parentheses following the player's name. The manager and coaching staff have names of legendary chemical veterans, from days when the grass was real and the hall was dead. Infielders: Outfielders:
Pitchers: Catchers: Manager:
Coaches:
Ken Kuhn (Richard 1938),Jackie Robinson (Robert 1947),Roy McMillan (Edwin 19511,Charlie Ziegler (Karl 1963), William "Woody" Woodward (Robert 1965), Bill Stein (William 1972),Gerard Lipscomb (William 1976) Don Boseh (Carl 1931), Mickey Stanley (Wendell 1946), Carl "Lefty" Sumner (James 194% John "Pepper" Martin (Archer 1952),Terry Moore (Stanford 1972), Dale Mitchell (Peter 1978) John Rutherford (Ernest 1908), Frank "Noodles" Hahn (Otto 1944), George Northrop (John 194% Roy Wilkinson (Geoffrey 1973),Charles "Carl" Fiseher (Emil1902, Hans 1930, Ernst 1973),Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown (Herbert 1979),Jobnnie Wittig (Georg 1979) Don Werner (Alfred 1913),Paul Richards (Theodore 1914), Howard Haworth (Walter 1937). Al Todd (Alexander 1957), Darrel Porter (George 1967), Bob Barton (Derek 1969) Jack Dalton John Boyle, EuEtace "Doe" Newton, Jake Gibbs
The roster could be enlarged by adding two more players named Fischer and by including players who spelled their names almost like chemists: Mike Ramsey (William Ramsay 1904);Bill Buckner (Eduard Buchner 1907);Bill Currie (Marie Curie 1911); Emil Haberer or Clarence Huber (Fritz Haber 1918);Jim Hardin (Arthur Harden 1929). Other o1d:timers include Fred Hafmann, Chris Cannizzaro and (variant spellings) Jerry Davie and Vic Wertz. Bobby Thomson and Eddie Plank nlav on the nhvsirists' team. ,...,......r,.. In addition 11, players who have names in nmmon with chemists, there are players whose names are chemical terms: Fenton . ' h l u c l r ~ "hie; .John Flavin. Rohhy Bond*; Hill Crisrall: Vernm l.aw (as in Law of Multiple Pruponionsl. On your next quiz on nrtds and bares, ask your student.s for thr name of the lnvrball player with the hbghest litetimr pH: Al Kaline. No doubt there are other chemistry-related baseball players who will be discovered by enterprising students. ~
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Details of the players' careers are listed in "The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball," A. S. Barnes and Co., Cranbury, N. J.; "The Baseball Encyclopedia," Macmillan, New York; "The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball," Grossett and Dunlap, New York. These reference works are repuhlished periodically. Howard University Washington, DC 20059
152 1 Journal of Chemical Education
Martin Feldman
