Eddie Plank: A Gettysburg Celebrity
by Diana Loski
Edward S. Plank (1875-1926)
(Adams County Historical Society)
After the men in blue and gray met at Gettysburg, the debris and human detritus of battle took a long time to fade away. It was many years before Gettysburg returned to its pastoral serenity. It was to this latter version of Gettysburg that David and Martha Plank, who lived on a farm just north of town, welcomed their fourth child, Edward Stewart Plank, on August 31, 1875.
Born one hundred and fifty years ago, Eddie Plank grew up on his parents’ farm in Gettysburg with his brothers Luther, Ira, and Howard, and his two sisters, Martha Jane and Grace. Always interested in sports as well as the hard work that farm and town life necessitated, Eddie likely had no idea he would become one of baseball’s star pitchers – and nationally famous. Even more notable was the fact that, when Eddie earned national recognition, he always wore his Gettysburg heritage for all to see.1
When not helping his father with the family grocery store in town or doing the chores at home, Eddie practiced pitching, throwing fast balls into haystacks to develop his speed and curve balls. Even as a youth he was known for his brutal pitches on the mound. Nevertheless, Eddie planned on living life on a farm in Gettysburg – a town for which he held affection all his life.
Eddie Plank attended the Gettysburg Academy, rather than Gettysburg College – he took classes at the Academy so that he could play baseball for the college. A left-handed pitcher, Eddie Plank was known to competitive teams as “the Grim Reaper”, because opposing batter could rarely hit once Plank was on the pitcher’s mound. In 1898, a local journalist described Plank’s abilities by writing, “There is lots to Plank, in size as well as ability. He is a regular giant for a youngster, and if there’s anything he can’t do with a baseball…it will take an Edison or a Marconi to discover it.” A professional baseball scout discovered Eddie during a game at Gettysburg College, when Gettysburg played against Bucknell University in the spring of 1901, when Plank was already 26 years old. Eddie was immediately sent to the major leagues.2
According to local legend, the manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack, had come to watch another player on the Bucknell team. He noticed Eddie Plank instead – and was so impressed that he signed a contract with the Gettysburg pitcher that same night. David and Martha Plank’s son began his career by leaving at the Gettysburg train station on Carlisle Street – the same depot where Abraham Lincoln had arrived and departed from Gettysburg in 1863. Eddie pitched his first game in Washington, D.C., playing for the Philadelphia Athletics.3
“It looks as though Connie Mack has picked a good one,” a reporter commented during Plank’s first season. It proved to be an understatement. With precise control and sweeping curve balls, Plank led the Athletics to one victory after another. Some of the headlines of those days read:
“BREWERS HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR PLANK”, “PLANK’S PITCHING DOWNS MILWAUKEE”, and “DETROIT BATSMEN UNABLE TO SOLVE THE DELIVERY OF PLANK”.
One sportswriter and eyewitness to Plank’s ability wrote, “His speed was something to be marveled at.” He came to be known as “Gettysburg Eddie”, and again put the town of Gettysburg in the national headlines.4
Eddie was proud to be from Gettysburg. When he came home for visits, he enjoyed reunions with his family at Little Round Top. When Connie Mack came for a visit, Eddie took him for a tour of the battlefield. Connie Mack loved Eddie Plank like a son, and said as much. At a banquet honoring Eddie at Gettysburg’s Eagle Hotel, Mack said that Plank was “a young man without vices”, and “a great role model for young people.” Team mates were fond of Eddie too. His quiet dignity and affability made him an easy acquaintance and friend. Even batters who opposed him considered him a friend. “He was the toughest pitcher I ever faced,” said Ty Cobb, one of the greatest hitters of the game, and a man not inclined to give out compliments.5
Plank enjoyed continual years of success with the Philadelphia Athletics. Considered Connie Mack’s “great southpaw”, he led the A’s to six pennant victories. He played in the 1913 World Series, and was the MVP of that series. In addition to his excellent pitching, Eddie could also hit the ball, and boasted a .235 average – an accomplishment not seen too often with professional pitchers. In eight of his seventeen seasons playing professional baseball, Eddie Plank won twenty or more games per season. Of his seventeen years in the game, 1912 was his best year, when he won 23 games out of 30, and pitched a .627 average.6
In 1915, Eddie Plank was traded, much to his disappointment, to the St. Louis Terriers. He played in St. Louis for three seasons. That year was also a significant year for Eddie, as he married a local girl, Annie Myers. A year later, in 1916, their only son was born. He was named Edward Stewart Plank, Jr.7
In 1917, Eddie learned that he was about to be traded again – this time to the New York Yankees. Not wanted to start over with a new team, he decided to retire. He refused many lucrative offers, and returned home to Gettysburg.
Although he gave up professional baseball, Eddie Plank still remained very much in the game. He helped his brother Ira coach the Gettysburg College team. He joined the Bethlehem Steel League and became their star pitcher. He planned to open a garage on the corner of York and Stratton Streets in town – on the spot where his father had operated his grocery store.
Fate, however, intervened.
On the morning of February 23, 1926, Eddie told his wife he didn’t feel well. Within hours he suffered a debilitating stroke that completely incapacitated him. It was possibly the result of a baseball mishap years earlier when he had been struck in the head by a line drive, although the family tree acknowledged that strokes were a common cause of debilitation in the family’s genetic makeup. In a bizarre twist of irony, his entire left side – including the hand that had made him famous – was paralyzed. His family gathered by his bedside, with prayers for his recovery. He was just fifty years old.8
The next day, on February 24, 1926, Eddie Plank died. When Connie Mack heard the news, he was deeply saddened. He lamented, “I feel like a father must feel when he has lost a son.”9
Eddie’s parents, David and Martha, were still living. Well advanced in years, the couple was devastated by their loss. Eddie’s young son was just nine years old. Plank’s wife, Anna, never recovered from the loss. His death was also a blow to the people of Gettysburg, who considered Eddie one of their own. When Eddie Jr. grew up, married, and had children, he named his son Edward Stewart Plank III. Eddie Plank’s posterity continues to this day.10
Eddie Plank has been considered one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time. Known still as “The Grim Reaper of Baseball” he pitched a total of 410 games, winning 326 of them. He threw 2246 strikes outs and pitched a total of 4503 innings in his relatively short career.11
In 1927, Gettysburg College built a gymnasium in honor of Gettysburg’s greatest athlete. Less than tweny years later, Eddie Plank was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. A plaque there bearing his likeness was unveiled on July 21, 1946. The inscription there reads:
EDWARD S. PLANK
“Gettysburg Eddie”
One of the greatest left-handed pitchers of the Major Leagues. Never pitched for a minor league team, going from Gettysburg College to the Philadelphia A.L. Team with which he
Served from 1901 through 1914. Member of the St. Louis F.L. in 1915 and St. Louis A.L in 1916-1917. One of few pitchers to win more than 300 games in Big Leagues. In eight of 17 seasons, won 20 or more games.12
Eddie Plank was laid to rest in Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery.
“He was Gettysburg’s greatest son, the only one from Gettysburg to attain that kind of fame,” said historian and Evergreen Cemetery superintendent Brian Kennell.13
Eddie Plank graced the town of Gettysburg with his entrance one hundred and fifty years ago, and left it nearly one hundred years ago. While he is still remembered as one of the greatest in the game of baseball, to most of us he is even better remembered as the boy from Gettysburg, known affectionately to so many who knew him simply as “Gettysburg Eddie.”
Sources: The Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY. Edward S. Plank File, Adams County Historical Society (hereafter Plank File, ACHS). Epitaph, Eddie Plank Gravesite, Evergreen Cemetery. The Gettysburg Times, “Banquet to Eddie Plank”, November 12, 1913. The Gettysburg Times, “Obituary”, Feb. 25, 1926. The Hanover Evening Sun, Sept. 1, 2000. Brian Kennell Interview, Evergreen Cemetery, May 8, 2001. Newspaper fragment, n.d., 1911, folder #4024, Plank File, ACHS. Newspaper Fragment, n.y. May 27, Folder #4024, Plank File, ACHS.
End Notes:
1. Plank File, ACHS.
2. Newspaper article, n.d, 1911, folder #4024, Plank File, ACHS.
3. Ibid.
4. Newspaper Fragment, May 27, n.y., Folder #4024, Plank File, ACHS..
5. “Banquet to Eddie Plank” The Gettysburg Times, Nov. 12, 1913.
6. The Gettysburg Times, Feb, 25, 1926. The Hanover Evening Sun, Sept. 1, 2000.
7. Plank File, ACHS.
8. Ibid.
9. The Gettysburg Times, Feb. 25, 1926.
10. Ibid.
11. The Hanover Evening Sun, Sept. 1, 2000.
12. The Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY. A similar stat is found on Eddie Plank’s grave in Evergreen Cemetery.
13. Interview with Brian Kennell, May 8, 2001.
