A Brief Talk with Dick Sipek, the Third Deaf Player in Major League History

In 1945, at age 22, Dick Sipek played his first, and only, major league season. In 82 games with the Cincinnati Reds, the outfielder batted .244, had eight extra base hits, and drove in 13 runs. Sipek, who died less than two years ago, was only the third deaf major leaguer, and, as he says in the short video profile below, the first not to be nicknamed "Dummy."

It's most likely that Sipek would never have played in the majors if not for World War II -- it's probably no coincidence that among those who made the bigs in 1945 were Pete Gray, who had one arm, and Bert Shepard, who had an artificial leg. In 1944, the Reds had called on 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall for mound duty; eight years later, he would really begin his very good major league pitchinig career. In 1945 the Negro Leagues faced a player shortage, too, and Jess Alexander, who like Gray had only one arm, was a beneficiary.

The most recent deaf player to make the majors was Curtis Pride. In parts of 11 major league seasons the outfielder has hit .250, and in his best season -- 1996, with Detroit -- played 95 games, hitting .300 with 10 homers and 31 RBI. At age 38, he didn't fare well in spring training with the Angels this year, and I'm not sure whether he's still playing.

Here's the Sipek video. He tells some good stories -- too bad there's not more to hear.

Comments

[Clifford Blau]

The 1901 NY Giants had 3 deaf players. Sipek obviously wasn't the third ML deaf player. They weren't all nicknamed "Dummy." Of course, Nuxhall probably thinks he was the youngest player in ML history.