Henri Bertrand

Henri S. Bertrand de la Vigne
(Hank, Count)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height, 6' 3", Weight 218 lb.
• School St. Lawrence University, Georgetown University
• High School Riordan School

• Born March 18, 1912 in Tupper Lake, NY USA
• Died November 10, 1994 in Minneapolis, MN USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Henri Bertrand pitched one season in the minors, going 14-9 for the Salisbury Senators of the Class D Eastern Shore League, a Washington Senators affiliate. He then returned to school to pursue a master's degree in history at St. Lawrence University. He was then inducted into the U.S. Army and served for five years during World War II, then became a career officer, also serving in the Korean War and Vietnam War.

He was a multi-sport star in high school and played basketball as well as baseball at Georgetown University. He actually first attended St Lawrence University, before transfering to Georgetown, where he was 23-2 as a pitcher.

He would be otherwise completely forgotten except for the fact that at the time newspapers made some hay about the fact he was a French nobleman and that his full name was Count Henri Bertrand de la Vigne, making him "the only titled pitcher in baseball history". He was apparently a descendant of Henri-Gatien Bertrand (1773-1844), a general under Emperor Napoleon I and aide-de-camp to the Emperor who accompanied him in exile at Saint-Helena. However, the genealogy leading to great-great-grandson Henri "Hank" is a bit hazy, as he is said to be descended from one of the general's sons who was sent to serve in Canada "then under French control" (which, of course, ended in 1763, long before that) and whose family settled in upstate New York. Also, the Bertrand family was not an old aristocratic one "dating back to the XIVth Century", but one whose title was of recent vintage, dating back to Napoleon. In any case, the link between the pitcher and the general still needs to be proven.

He is buried in Fort Snelling cemetery in St. Paul, MN.

Related Sites

• Article from Diamonds in the Dusk
• Georgetown Basketball History bio