 Charley O'Leary
Detroit A.L.
CHARLEY O'LEARY
O'Leary, Charles Timothy
b: 10/15/1882, Chicago, Ill. d: 1/6/41, Chicago, Ill.
BR/TR, 5'7", 165 lbs. Deb: 4/14/04 C
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YEAR TM/L G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
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1904 Det-A 135 456 39 97 10 3 1 16 21 .213
1905 Det-A 148 512 47 109 13 1 0 33 29 .213
1906 Det-A 128 443 34 97 13 2 2 34 17 .219
1907 *Det-A 139 465 61 112 19 1 0 34 32 .241
1908 *Det-A 65 211 21 53 9 3 0 17 9 .251
1909 *Det-A 76 261 29 53 10 0 0 13 6 .203
1910 Det-A 65 211 23 51 7 1 0 9 9 .242
1911 Det-A 74 256 29 68 8 2 0 25 21 .266
1912 Det-A 3 10 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 .200
1913 StL-N 121 406 32 88 15 5 0 31 20 34 .217
1934 StL-A 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
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Total 11 955 3232 317 731 104 18 3 213 164 ? 34 .226
Born into a family of 16 children (11 boys), Charley's path to a career in baseball began at an early age.
At 16, and having to earn his keep to help his family, Charley worked for a clothing company and played on the
company semi-pro baseball team. His talent as a middle infielder and scrappy hitter came to the attention of Charles
Comiskey, owner of the White Sox, who desperately needed to fill their shortstop position. Although O'Leary hit
a paltry .163 that season, he remained on the club as the Sox won that year's pennant. However, late in the same
season, Charley broke his arm from a pitched ball thrown by 'fireballer' and Hall of Famer, Rube
Waddell. Sent down to the minors, Charley eventually surfaced and played for the Detroit Tigers. O'Leary was
the starting shortstop for each of the Tiger's pennant-winning seasons of '07, '08 and '09. Charley didn't need
to hit for average considering the star-laden club of Cobb, Crawford
and company. Eventually, O'Leary was pushed out of his position by Donie Bush and wound
down his playing career. He resurfaced as a coach when Miller Huggins urged Charley to
coach for the up and coming Yankees in 1920. Charley coached with the Yankees for 10 years during which the Yankees
won 6 pennants. He moved on to coach for the Rogers Hornsby-led Cubs in 1931 and the Browns in 1934.
(Editor: By the way, although I have no factual evidence, it was once said that Charley came from the same
O'Leary family who's cow knocked over the lantern which started the "Great Chicago Fire" of the late
19th century. Does anyone have any info about that?)
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