Rest in Peace Ed Bailey

Saturday afternoon, the AP reported that Ed Bailey, an All-Star catcher with the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants in the 1950s and early 1960s, died of cancer on Friday, March 23. Bailey was 75 and recently diagnosed with throat cancer.  As the case with many former stars of the Golden Era of Baseball, most modern fans have little recollections of Bailey.  Although one could say that our forgetting heroes from a prior generation is merely a fact of life, reality doesn't make it right.  The passing of the 5-time All-Star should not take place without stopping for a moment to remember Ed Bailey.

Bailey's playing career for the Cincinnati Reds (whose name was officially changed to the Redlegs in those dark and fearful years when McCarthy stalked the halls of Congress - when he wasn't out beating the bushes for a different kind of "Reds") began in 1953 and continued into the early Sixties when he was traded to the Giants.   

His best year at the plate was 1956 when he broke the all-time record for home runs by a Reds' catcher on August 15 when he hit his 21st homer against Chicago.  Bailey went on to hit 28 dingers that year, even as he shared the catching duties with Smokey Burgess.  The record lasted for another 14 years until a Cincinnati backstop with whom modern fans are more familiar - Johnny Bench - slugged 45 in 1970.

Gar (short for Edgar) Bailey's reputation as an outstanding catcher of his generation owed as much to his abilities as a receiver calling a game as to his battingi skills.  Ironically, for someone who enjoyed respect among his peers for knowing the strengths and weaknesses of other hitters in the National League, many in baseball felt that Bailey might take baseball too lightly.  His teammates felt differently.  The native Tennessean entertained his teammates and opponents alike with his "hillbilly-type sayings having to do with fat hogs, etc." - as one former teammate phrased it.  If the picture of Bailey "horsing around" with actress Dagmar in this picture is any indication, Bailey knew how to have fun. 

In We Played the Game (ed. by Danny Peavy), Billy O'Dell, a former pitcher with the San Francisco Giants, felt that the Giants lost something special when the team traded Bailey. "Not only was he a good hitter and receiver, but he also was probably the only really funny guy on the team."

In a game played by too many cardboard corporate cutouts who live separate from teammates, perhaps players should be considered sufficiently successful if they have left memories of solid performances, good humor, and being missed when you were gone. If so, Ed Bailey was a success.

Rest in peace, Mr. Bailey.  You left the game better than it would have been without you.

Comments

[Glenn K. Reed]

I was quite young, but my two older brothers, Dennis and Donald, remember well that my parents, (George and Natalie Reed) were friends with the Bailey's in the mid 1950's and had them over with other players for those classic cocktail parties of the day.
My brother Don was awed by his friends since he received signed balls, bats and gloves, and cards from nearly the whole team.
He managed to contact and visit Mr. Bailey not long before his passing. He remembered Don and our family. And we remember him very fondly.

Glenn Reed