Babe Ganzel

Foster Pirie Ganzel

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10½", Weight 172 lb.

• Debut September 19, 1927
• Final Game May 10, 1928
• Born May 22, 1901 in Malden, MA USA
• Died February 6, 1978 in Jacksonville, FL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Babe Ganzel had a great cup of coffee with the 1927 Washington Senators, hitting .438 and slugging .667 in 48 at-bats. He mostly played center field, on a team whose regular was the 39-year-old Tris Speaker in his last full season in the majors. Ganzel was already 26 in 1927, and later played for the Minneapolis Millers from 1932-35, leading the American Association in RBI in 1932.

Ganzel played in the Southern Association from 1924 to 1927 (as an OF) and the American Association from 1928 to 1935 (mostly as a 3B). Overall, his career stretched from 1922 to 1941, collecting 2,032 minor league hits and 421 2B to go with his .317 average.

Ganzel was owner of the Gadsden Pilots in 1941 until selling his interest in the team in June.

His father Charlie Ganzel and uncle John Ganzel were major leaguers, and two brothers were minor league players. Babe debuted in the majors 43 years after Charlie, which is (through 2000 at least) the longest gap between first games played by a father and son in the majors. Charlie had been dead 13 years by the time Babe debuted.

A number of sources say that Babe was given the first name "Foster" after his father's close friend Elmer Foster.

His obituary claims that as manager of Selma, he rarely had his players bunt, which rankled some fans, so one day he had nine players in a row bunt. The obituary claims that all nine got on base.

He supposedly was removed from a game because of a dog while playing for Minneapolis. He chased a dog that came onto the field, got bit, and had to leave.

One source: thedeadballera.com/Obits/Ganzel.Babe.Obit.html

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1936	Jacksonville Tars	South Atlantic League	88-57	2nd	none	Lost League Finals
1937	Selma Cloverleafs	Southeastern League	75-87	2nd	Boston Red Sox & Washington Senators	Lost in 1st round
1938	St. Paul Saints	American Association	90-61	1st	Chicago White Sox	Lost League Finals
1939	St. Paul Saints	American Association	73-81	5th	Chicago White Sox
1940	St. Paul Saints	American Association	69-79	5th	Chicago White Sox
1941	Gadsden Pilots	Southeastern League	25-40	--	none	--	replaced by Russell Maxcy 93-9) on June 16
	Jacksonville Tars	South Atlantic League	30-31	5th	none		replaced Nellie Leach (33-44) on July 8
1942	Jacksonville Tars	South Atlantic League	45-31	--	New York Giants	--	replaced by Vic Bradford (30-28) on July 16