Al Verdel

Albert Alfred Verdel
(Stumpy)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9½", Weight 186 lb.

• Debut April 20, 1944
• Final Game April 20, 1944
• Born June 10, 1921 in Punxsutawney, PA USA
• Died April 16, 1991 in Sarasota, FL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Al Verdel was a pitcher three years (1944-1946), all in the minors except for a cup of coffee in 1944. Verdel was born on Friday, June 10, 1921, in Punxsutawney, PA. It is not known if he is any relation to Punxsutawney Phil or if he ever repeated the same day over and over. He won 36 games and lost 6 pitching for the Fort Dix, NJ Army Base for two years before his discharge on October 14, 1943.

He was signed by the Philadelphia Blue Jays and appeared in one game for them on April 20, 1944 at age 22. Pitching in relief, he retired all three batters that faced him, finishing the game.

He was sent to the minors with Utica in the Eastern League (1944-1945); Hartford in the Eastern League (1946); Evansville in the Three-I League (1946); and the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association (1946); ending his baseball career at age 25.

In 1945, his best year in the minors, he was (10-8) with an ERA of 3.58. Overall in the minors, he was (21-26).

He was a high school teacher, football coach at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville and athletic director at Bordentown Military Institute. Verdel coached football, baseball and wrestling at BMI. The list of those he coached at the high school level includes Lee Elia, Chris Short and Floyd Little. Mr. Verdel retired to Florida in 1985. He died at age 69 in Sarasota, FL on April 17, 1991 was cremated and is interred at St. Mary's Cemetery in Hamilton, NJ.

Sources

Principal sources for Al Verdel include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Al Verdel at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)