Heinie Beckendorf

Playing career

Beckendorf began his professional baseball career in 1903 with the Kingston Colonials of the Hudson River League, playing for them through early 1906. In 1905, he helped Kingston win the Hudson River League pennant. In early 1906, he filed a claim with the National Board seeking release from Kingston's reserve list, arguing that the team had failed to pay him fully and that his contract contained a non-reserve clause. The Board sustained his claim on both grounds in April 1906 and removed his name from the reserve list.

He then signed with the Providence Grays of the Eastern League in May 1906, splitting the remainder of that season between the Grays and the Newark Sailors. During 1907 and 1908, he played for the Scranton Miners in the New York State League, helping them win the league pennant and receiving a silver shaving set from Scranton admirers. At the end of July 1908, the Detroit Tigers purchased him from Scranton with the condition that he report in the spring.

In November 1908, Sporting Life reported that Connie Mack had offered the Tigers $2,500 in cash for Beckendorf, impressed by his ability to get the most out of his pitchers during an examination.

Family and death

Beckendorf married Rose Mallon, a childhood friend from New York, on January 6, 1910. The Detroit Free Press noted that the wedding cast a pall of gloom because Beckendorf was admired by many of Detroit's women. By the 1920 U.S. Census, the couple lived on 96th Street in Manhattan, and Beckendorf listed his profession as none. He died in 1949 in Jackson Heights, New York, and was buried at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.

Did You Know?

• Beckendorf reportedly caught three of the eight shutouts Walter Johnson threw in 1910.
• During a 1909 tour of Cuba, Beckendorf played against integrated Cuban teams Habana and Almendares, and a Cabañas Company baseball card was made of him.
• His 1910 fielding percentage of .988 was 20 points above league average, but his batting average of .146 was 81 points below league average.