Eddie Ainsmith

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

American baseball player (1890–1981)

title: "Eddie Ainsmith" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1890-births", "1981-deaths", "major-league-baseball-catchers", "washington-senators-(1901–1960)-players", "20th-century-american-sportsmen", "detroit-tigers-players", "st.-louis-cardinals-players", "brooklyn-robins-players", "new-york-giants-(baseball)-players", "washington-senators-(1901–1960)-coaches", "major-league-baseball-players-from-russia", "lawrence-colts-players", "lowell-tigers-players", "jersey-city-skeeters-players", "minneapolis-millers-(baseball)-players", "indianapolis-indians-players", "little-rock-travelers-players", "portland-beavers-players", "seattle-indians-players", "toronto-maple-leafs-(international-league)-players", "all-american-girls-professional-baseball-league-managers", "emigrants-from-the-russian-empire-to-the-united-states", "russian-baseball-players", "american-sportspeople-convicted-of-crimes"] description: "American baseball player (1890–1981)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Ainsmith" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American baseball player (1890–1981) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox baseball biography"]

Field	Value
name	Eddie Ainsmith
position	Catcher
image	Eddie Ainsmith 1911.jpeg
bats	Right
throws	Right
birth_date
birth_place	Russian Empire
death_date
death_place	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
debutleague	MLB
debutdate	August 9
debutyear	1910
debutteam	Washington Senators
finalleague	MLB
finaldate	July 21
finalyear	1924
finalteam	New York Giants
statleague	MLB
stat1label	Batting average
stat1value	.232
stat2label	Home runs
stat2value	22
stat3label	Runs batted in
stat3value	317
::

Washington Senators (–)
Detroit Tigers (–)
St. Louis Cardinals (–)
Brooklyn Robins ()
New York Giants () Edward Wilbur Ainsmith (born as Edward Anshmedt; February 4, 1890 – September 6, 1981), nicknamed "Dorf," was a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played fifteen seasons with the Washington Senators (1910–1918), Detroit Tigers (1919–1921), St. Louis Cardinals (1921–1923), Brooklyn Robins (1923), and New York Giants (1924). He batted and threw right-handed. In 1,078 career games, Ainsmith batted .232 with 707 hits and 317 runs batted in.

After retiring as a player, Ainsmith worked as a minor league umpire, a baseball scout, and a manager in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Early life

Ainsmith was born in Moscow. His family came to the United States through Ellis Island when he was young. He attended Colby Academy in New Hampshire. He began his playing career in the New England League in 1908 before joining the Senators in the American League.

Career

The Day Book in Chicago, Illinois described Ainsmith in their May 10, 1913 edition as "a gingery young receiver, throws well, can handle Walter Johnson and is a good batter. But he is not the man to handle a young pitcher like [Joe] Engle". The Washington Times wrote in 1922 that Ainsmith "is a formidable blocker at the plate. He is endowed with tremendous strength like an ancient Greek athlete or a Roman gladiator. It is almost impossible to upset him when he sets himself on the base path." ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Eddie_Ainsmith_-DPLA-_d68a3775bd26d3fed441e3feb5d78b98.jpg" caption="Eddie Ainsmith"] ::

Ainsmith was known for his toughness on the field. Walter Johnson said that if Aimsmith was bleeding from being spiked by an opposing player, Ainsmith would refuse assistance from the team trainer, denying that he was injured. In 1913, as a member of the Washington Senators, Ainsmith was suspended by Ban Johnson for throwing dirt at umpire Peter McLaughlin.

On April 21, 1915, Ainsmith was sentenced to 30 days at Occoquan Workhouse for an assault on a streetcar operator in Washington, D.C.

In 1918, Ainsmith was drafted into the United States armed forces. He appealed to the United States Department of War for an exemption from the draft, but Secretary of War Newton D. Baker ruled that baseball was not an exempt occupation.

Later life

In 1925, Ainsmith promoted a tour of an American teenage female baseball team which he led through East Asia. After suffering financial losses, Ainsmith reportedly abandoned the girls and returned to the United States on his own.

Ainsmith also worked as a scout in the New York Giants organization. In the early 1940s, he provided a scouting report on pitcher Sal Maglie that, though lukewarm, led to Maglie being drafted by the Giants. Ainsmith managed the 1947 Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

References

"Eddie Ainsmith statistics and history". Sports Reference LLC.
(May 10, 1913). "Untitled". The Day Book.
(July 14, 1922). "Up to his old tricks; A good blocker". The Washington Times.
(2008). "Sam Rice: A Biography of the Washington Senators Hall of Famer". McFarland.
(June 4, 1913). "Untitled". The Day Book.
(April 21, 1915). "Eddie Ainsmith jailed". Harrisburg Telegraph.
(July 19, 1918). "Baseball status to be decided". The Ogden Standard.
(July 26, 1918). "Untitled". Monroe City Democrat.
(7 December 1925). "Girl Ball Players Back from Orient". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
(2002). "Close Shave: The Life and Times of Baseball's Sal Maglie". McFarland.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::