(Published Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:12:13 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Chris Schultz Gazette staff
ROCHESTER-It's a record nobody ever will break.
In 1903, Clarence H. "Ginger" Beaumont-a native of Rochester, a small town north of Burlington-became the first batter in the first modern World Series.
Playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he faced legendary pitcher Cy Young and the Boston Pilgrims, a team that would later become the Boston Red Sox.
Despite flying out to center in his historic at-bat, Beaumont played well. Still, the Pirates lost the nine-game series, five games to three.
In this season of renewed interest in the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, Beaumont's story holds special significance. "Ginger"-a nickname born from a head of red hair-broke into the pro ranks in 1889 as a member of the old minor league Brewers.
An early baseball card features player Clarence 'Ginger' Beaumont, who was born in Rochester and later lived in Walworth County.
By the time bad knees ended his career 12 years later, he had played in one more World Series-as a member of a Chicago Cubs team that lost the 1910 series to the Philadelphia Athletics.
When his career ended, Beaumont returned to Wisconsin. He died April 10, 1956, in Burlington at the age of 79 and is buried in Rochester Cemetery.
Although a Racine County native, Beaumont had Walworth and Rock county connections. According to the online Baseball Biography Project (bioproj.sabr.org), he played semipro ball for East Troy and also for Beloit College.
In Beaumont's 1889 season with the Brewers, he switched positions from catcher to outfield, hit .354 and stole 11 bases in 24 games.
In 1899, Beaumont was traded to Pittsburgh, where he played eight seasons. In his first season, Beaumont took over as the team's starting centerfielder, hit .352 and stole 31 bases. In one game, he recorded six hits in six at-bats and scored all six times-a record that still stands.
Clarence "Ginger" Beaumont
In his career with the Pirates, Beaumont won the National League batting title in 1902, led the league in runs scored in 1903, and led the league in hitting three times.
In 1906, Beaumont was traded to the Boston Nationals. He played three seasons there, then one more with the Chicago Cubs, before retiring.
In his career, Beaumont racked up a .311 batting average, had 1,759 hits and scored 955 runs. He had four seasons with more than 100 runs scored and led the league in hitting four times.
When his career ended, Beaumont retired to 177-acre farm near Honey Creek in Walworth County, which he named Centerfield Farm. He and his wife, Norma, raised two daughters and a son.
Beaumont's granddaughter, Jean Cognato of Sarasota, Fla., remembers him taking her there to see the animals, she said.
"He didn't like to farm, but he loved to own the farm," she said. "He rented it out."
Cognato didn't know her grandfather as a professional baseball player. To her, he was a choir director at Honey Creek Baptist Church and an auctioneer whose rapid-fire auction calling impressed her.
"He could do the spiel," Cognato said. "I would run up to him and say, 'Grandpa, sell me something.'"
Cognato said she didn't know her grandfather played professional ball until she was 10 or 11.
"As far as he was concerned, his baseball years were over, and he didn't talk about it," she said.
But there is talk about Beaumont. Rochester residents Frank Steele and Ray Barber, in particular, are avid fans.
Steele, who played baseball for UW-Milwaukee in the 1970s, said he hadn't heard of Beaumont until he moved to Rochester six years ago.
Now, he and Barber want to find some permanent way to memorialize Beaumont in his hometown.
Steele said he wants Major League Baseball to erect a marker on Beaumont's grave to acknowledge his place in baseball history.
"That's the least they can do for him," Steele said.
Short history of Ginger Beaumont
-- Clarence Howeth "Ginger" Beaumont was born July 23, 1876, to Thomas and Mary Beaumont at 104 N. State St., Rochester. The house he was born in still stands.
-- Beaumont's professional baseball career ran from 1898-1910. He played eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, three with the Boston Nationals and one with the Chicago Cubs.
-- He married Norma (Vaughan) Beaumont in November 1901. They raised two daughters, Marion and Janet, and one son, Charles.
-- Beaumont saved his money from his playing career and by all accounts lived comfortably later in life.
-- He is remembered for shoveling walks for neighbors and friends in the winter and for firing up the stove in the local schoolhouse early in the morning.
-- Beaumont's health began to deteriorate in 1948 when he suffered a stroke. A second stroke in 1950 confined him to a wheelchair for the last years of his life.
-- In 1951, Beaumont was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame as a charter member. Two stars of the 1903 World Series-Deacon Phillippe and Cy Young-unveiled his plaque at the ceremony.
-- He was named the centerfielder on the all-star teams chosen by baseball legends Honus Wagner and Bill Klem.
-- He was able to run from home plate to first base in 4.4 seconds, despite packing 190 pounds on a 5-foot-8-inch frame.
-- Beaumont died at 79 on April 10, 1956, in Burlington Hospital. His obituary in The Sporting News, he was called "one of the game's all-time great outfielders." His obit also appeared in Time magazine and The New York Times.
-- The Beaumont Little League in Burlington bears his name, and in 1968 the Old-Timers Athletic Club of Racine erected a flagpole and plaque in his memory.
-- Relatives and friends mounted campaigns in the 1940s and again in the 1980s to get Beaumont into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but to no avail.
-Information from Jean Cognato and the online Baseball Biography Project
