Earl Yingling

Earl Hershey Yingling
(Chink)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11½", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut April 12, 1911
• Final Game May 23, 1918
• Born October 29, 1888 in Chillicothe, OH USA
• Died October 2, 1962 in Columbus, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Earl Yingling pitched five seasons in the major leagues, and also played some games in the outfield.

He was a 20-game winner for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1910, posting a record of 22-9 as the Hens finished in second place, their best finish since their awesome 1907 season.

He played for Dayton in the Central League (1906-1909); in the outfield for Zanesville in the Central League (1910); Toledo Mud Hens in the American Association (AA) (1909-1911); Cleveland Naps (1911); Brooklyn Dodgers/Superbas (1912-1913); Cincinnati Reds (1914); Minneapolis Millers (AA) (1915-1916); the Louisville Colonels (AA) (1918); the Washington Senators (1918); the Millers (1922-1923), staying on their voluntarily retired list through 1933.

Yingling never had a winning season as a pitcher in the major leagues, but he added to his value by being able to pinch hit. A .267 lifetime batter, he earned a 13-game tryout in Cincinnati's outfield in 1914 - although that year turned out to be his worst with the bat. He had hit .383 the previous year with the Superbas.

Yingling came up orginally with the 1911 Cleveland Naps when Joe Jackson was a 21-year-old kid, and moved over to the 1912 Brooklyn Dodgers, where Casey Stengel was a 21-year-old rookie. e ended his major league career with the 1918 Washington Senators, where he was one year younger than Walter Johnson.

Apparently Earl also was a forerunner to Curt Flood as taken from an article in Baseball Magazine from the early winter of 1915:

"Apparently, the honor of being called a major leaguer now obsesses the players' minds. The idea of becoming known as a busher appears to horrify and confuse them beyond all sanity or endurance. The very men who once said they’d go anywhere if they got it, now refuse to go to said "anywhere" since they have received it. Complex and confusing, isn't it, Archibald? Two cases in point: Earl Yingling, a most estimable young man, was on the Cincinnati team in 1914. He got in on one of those long-time, unbreakable contracts for a sum said to be $3,600 a year. During 1914 his playing seemed to fall away — he didn't appear to hold out either as a pitcher or as a batsman, a specialty in which he had excelled, and one most unusual for a pitcher. When that cut-down rule was adopted, and the Cincinnati club could carry but 21 men, the Reds decided to count Yingling out. A berth was found for him at Salt Lake City, and he was told to go there, plus the assurance that his salary would not be reduced. He declined pointblank, and the Cincinnati club, it is said, had a hades of a time hunting round till it found a city where Mr. Yingling would settle down for the summer. Possibly he might still be doing nothing but drawing his money if the approach of warm weather hadn't stirred up the love of the old game in his veins and dragged him back to the diamond. Arthur Fromme, early in May, was told by (John) McGraw to report to Jersey City. He, like Yingling, was assured that he would keep right on getting the big money under his long, fat contract — but Arthur balked, balked furiously. Didn't want to be a minor leaguer. Wouldn't be a minor leaguer even for a major league salary. At the time of writing Arthur was still belligerent and unwilling to submit to AA classification, money or no money. Queer situation, isn't it? The cases of Fromme and Yingling are but the fore-runners of many yet to come. What's the idea, and what's the answer?

There are three major leaguers who had the last name "Yingling" through 2006.

Yingling passed away at University Hospital in Columbus, OH and is buried at Lebanon Cemetery in Lebanon, OH.

Career Highlights

• Pitched three consecutive shutouts for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1910
• Was 24-11 for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1910
• Led the American Association with 24 wins with the Minneapolis Millers in 1916

Records Held

• Set record for lowest Bases on Balls per 9 Innings, season, 1913 (0.618), beating out Christy Mathewson's 0.621 in the same year. Record broken by Tom Morgan in 1958 but is still seventh best all-time.

Related Sites

• Earl Yingling at the SABR Bio Project
• Read more about Yingling's American Association career in the Spring 2006 edition of the American Association Almanac: The American Association Almanac