Charlie Bastian

Charles A. Bastian

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6½", Weight 145 lb.

• Debut August 18, 1884
• Final Game August 22, 1891
• Born March 2, 1858 in Philadelphia, PA USA
• Died November 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, PA USA

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Biographical Information

"Charley Bastian is fielding in very pretty style at short and is batting the ball besides." - Sporting Life, July 3, 1889

"Charley Bastian, the old-time second baseman of the Philadelphia team, is now with the Sixth Calvary Corps. He says he would rather fight Spaniards than play ball." - Sporting Life, June 11, 1898, about Charlie Bastian at age 40

Charlie Bastian played eight years in the majors, mostly in the middle infield. He also had a long minor league career, and was still playing in the minors in 1897 at age 39.

He was from Philadelphia, one of two persons of that name living at the city at the time. It appears as though records had listed the wrong Bastian's birth and death details for decades. The ballplaying Bastian, Charles A. Bastian, appears as a 2-year-old in the 1860 census, and then as a furniture polisher in the 1880 city directory. Starting in 1887, he is also listed as a ballplayer, lasting through 1894, then in the 1900 census, his playing career presumably over, he is back to being a furniture polisher. He married a woman named Blanche who is listed as living with him until the 1930 census.

The man whose personal details have long been in Baseball Encyclopedia, Charles J. Bastian, was also alive in 1930, but living single in Pennsauken, NJ, where he died two years later. He was clearly not the ballplayer (and furniture polisher). Charles A. Bastian had presumably died some time after 1930, likely in Philadelphia, but his death record had not been found until 2012, when SABR researcher Richard Malatzky turned up a funeral notice; it was clearly the ballplayer this time, as his wife Blanche was referred to by name in the notice. It is also certain that he was born in 1858, not 1860, and that record was found in 2014.

Further Reading

• "Charles Bastian", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, March/April, 2011, p. 2.
• "Charles Bastian", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June, 2012, p. 1.

Related Sites

• Charlie Bastian's baseball card