Book Review – Boots Poffenberger: Hurler, Hero, Hell-Raiser

Boots Poffenberger – Tigers pitcher 1937-38, Author’s photo

Western Maryland Baltimore Orioles fan and all-around baseball enthusiast and writer Austin Gisriel has authored a recent book on legendary big-league pitcher and Williamsport, MD native Cletus Elwood Poffenberger – known more commonly as Boots Poffenberger.

Poffenberger pitched for the Detroit Tigers in 1937 and 1938, and then also for three games with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939. He tallied a lot of additional years in all levels of the minor leagues, semi-professional ball, Marine Corps teams in WW2 … actually, just about anywhere baseball was played.

Boots might not have been remembered for much more than a good talent who caught fire for a couple of years, apart from being one of the most eccentric personalities imaginable. As Gisriel puts it, “Boots is baseball’s lifetime leader in funny stories per innings pitched.”

Everyone in the Williamsport area who is tuned into the local baseball history has heard of Poffenberger, and some of the old-timers in the area still remember him with a wide assortment of stories.

But the primary source of information for Gisriel’s book was a collection of scrapbooks put together by Boots’ wife that contained just about every imaginable article and piece of memorabilia connected to the local legend. These were in the possession of Boots’ grandson Jeremy Knode and were shared with Gisriel.

In 1937 at age 21, after going 9-1 in 108 innings for the Tigers’ Texas League affiliate Beaumont, Poffenberger was called up to a Detroit team in dire need of pitching help. He made his debut on June 11th against the Boston Red Sox. He came into the game in the third inning and induced a double play, after which he pitched the rest of the game and gave up only one run on four hits. The Tigers came from behind and won the game 6-5. The losing pitcher? Lefty Grove. You may have heard of him.

A month later on the 11th of July he pitched a complete game 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians, beating another pitcher you may recall named Bob Feller.

By the end of his rookie season, Boots was 10-5, though with a 4.65 ERA in 137 innings. So if you’re doing the math, that is 245 innings in a season where he turned age 22 in July. Yes, that was a different era.

But as well as he was performing on the field, it was his activity away from the game that created the greater problems. He was very much a late-night party animal, to be found out at all hours of the evening, often in a bar. There were multiple occasions where he would simply disappear from the team without any notice. By modern-day standards, the Tigers were exceedingly patient with this and did all they could to seek successful ways of remedying the situation. But after two years, it was deemed unworkable.

He was sent to Brooklyn, and in 1939, after only three games he jumped the team in Cincinnati, and was sent packing by the Dodgers. However, in 1940 he played a full season for their top affiliate at Nashville of the Southern Association, amassing a record of 26-9. But Boots never made it back to the big show; and of course the whole country was soon interrupted by WW2.

from AustinGisriel.com

As just one of hundreds of examples in the book of Boots’ eccentricities, he was at one point hired by the Wheaties cereal people to give a live statement one morning of what he was having for breakfast. He had been paid the evening before, and when the time came for his “I’m going to DisneyWorld” type of statement that he was having Wheaties, he said “a beer and a steak!”

Probably Boots Poffenberger needed a prescription for the same thing that has gotten Chris Davis into trouble – a strong dose of Adderall to control impulsive behaviors of ADHD.

Author Austin Gisriel is a huge Orioles fan and has been, like me, following the Birds for close to 50 years. Actually, he lives in my neighborhood. I am not making this up or exaggerating a slight bit when I tell you that his basement family room is a Baltimore Orioles museum and shrine!

The book “Boots Poffenberger: Hurler, Hero, Hell-Raiser” is a great read that is filled with the language and feel of a bygone era of baseball. It is simply a fun book, because Boots was a fun guy that everyone loved, and you will too. To get a paperback copy from Amazon for just $12.49, go to THIS LINK.