Ike Van Zandt

Charles Isaac Van Zandt

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Debut August 5, 1901
• Final Game October 8, 1905
• Born February 1876 in Brooklyn, NY USA
• Died September 14, 1908 in Nashua, NH USA

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Biographical Information

Ike Van Zandt played three seasons in the major leagues for three different teams. He was primarily a pitcher when he came up in 1901, pitching 12 2/3 innings for manager George Davis on the New York Giants, while appearing in one game as an outfielder. He had a cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs in 1904, appearing in 3 games in the outfield. As a pitcher, he was a submariner at a time when such a pitching style was extremely rare.

Van Zandt was with Nashua when he was drafted by the St. Louis Browns in the 1904 Rule V Draft. He saw his most big league playing time with the Browns in 1905, appearing in 94 games, primarily as an outfielder but including one as a pitcher.

One source notes that Van Zandt was a free-swinger, drawing only 7 walks while having 339 at-bats in the majors. That gave him a lifetime OBP of .242, although to be fair others were not drawing many walks either (the 1905 Browns had a team OBP of .282 and the league OBP was .299).

After his major league days, Van Zandt played in St. Paul, Binghamton, and Albany. He also worked as a cabinet maker and carpenter.

Van Zandt committed suicide at age 31, two weeks after having been expelled from a semi-pro team in Massachusetts on suspicions of game-fixing. Van Zandt (who went under the alias "Cooper"), along with players Lester Sebastian, Buck Shaw, Davey Bascon, Hennan (first name unknown), and Ed McDonald (who went under the alias "Cook") were all expelled from the club.

Related Sites

• Ike Van Zandt at the SABR Bio Project