Jimmy Wacker

Charles James Wacker
(Demon Jimmy, The Demon Southpaw, or The Pride of Jeff)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 9"

• Debut April 28, 1909
• Final Game April 28, 1909
• Born December 8, 1883 in Jeffersonville, IN USA
• Died August 7, 1948 in Evansville, IN USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Having all but written his own ticket to the Bigs the previous year by going 27-8 to lead Punch Knoll's Evansville River Rats to the Central League pennant, the Pittsburgh Pirates' Jimmy Wacker made his major league debut on April 28, 1909, against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. Despite allowing just a pair of unearned runs in that two-inning relief stint, Wacker never did appear in another big league game, spending the remainder of that season with the Milwaukee Brewers, a team which contended for the American Association pennant.

One unforeseen but, in retrospect, not surprising bi-product of Wacker's ill-fated year-long foray above the B level is that, in the years since his death, the increasingly obscure "Demon Jim" has come to be listed as "Charlie Wacker" in many in-print and almost all online resources. This, however, does not alter the fact that during his career, contemporary articles almost universally deferred to Wacker's evident middle-name preference, using either "James", "Jim" or, most frequently and famously, "Jimmy". It is perhaps not coincidental that the only significant departure from this trend occurs during 1909 and early 1910, during Wacker's relatively brief and undistinguished MLB and AA auditions, with none-the-wiser local writers presumably, and not unreasonably, employing his given name by default.

Further reading

Articles

• "Wacker Goes Up", The Courier-Journal, June 25, 1906. [1]
• "Notes of the News in Jeffersonville", The Courier-Journal, July 7, 1906. [2]
• "Jimmy Wacker Seriously Ill; Operated Upon for Appendicitis and May Die", Mount Carmel Republican-Register, June 1, 1907. [3]
• "'Demon Jimmy' Wacker", The Fort Wayne Daily News, May 8, 1908. [4]
• "Climax of Baseball Romance; Wacker Weds Miss Elikofer", The Evansville Press, July 25, 1908. [5]
• "Wants Wacker", The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 16, 1908. [6]
• "The Reason: Why Jimmy Wacker Has Not Joined the Reds", The Cincinnati Enquirer, September 21, 1908. [7]
• "Wacker Butcher", The Dayton Herald, February 5, 1909. [8]
• "Wacker to Show that Pencil's Mightier than the Bat--Read Saturday's Sports", The Evansville Press, February 24, 1909. [9]
• "Jimmy Wacker Won't Last with the Reds", The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, February 25, 1909. [10]
• Jimmy Wacker: "Wacker Size-Up of Everything Good in Current Sports: Before Train Time Sallies; Much Depends on Covington; Here's the Way to Fool Batters; M'Cormick's advice to J. Ryan", The Evansville Press. February 27, 1909. [11] & [12]
• Jack Ryder: "Spring: Weather Made Reds 1st Outdoor Practice Very Gingery; Wacker Is Sturdily Built", The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 2, 1909. [13]
• "Wacker Clouts Like a Donlin", The Evansville Press, March 5, 1909. [14]
• "Spade May Join Pirates", The Gazette Times, Apr 9, 1909. [15]
• "Wacker Makes His Bow", The Gazette Times, Apr 29, 1909. [16]
• "Jimmy Wacker Is Subject to Recall", The Dayton Herald, May 25, 1909. [17]
• Manning Vaughan: "John J. Sells Pitcher to Dayton Ohio Club; Charley Wacker Is Released by Manager McCloskey to Central League Team", The Milwaukee Sentinel, February 2, 1910. [18]
• "Wacker's Services Assured As Veteran", The Evansville Press, February 16, 1910. [19]
• "Jim Wacker Has Changed", The Evansville Press, April 1, 1910. [20]
• "Wacker Begged for Another Chance at Stogies and Made Good", The Dayton Herald, May 7, 1910. [21]
• "Jim Wacker Shows Great Form Against Nap Colts", The Dayton Herald, April 7, 1911. [22]
• "Jimmy Wacker May Be Released As His Stuff Is Weak", The Evansville Press, April 27, 1911. [23]
• "Pair of Rare Plays Beat J. Wacker Out of Heavers' Battle", The Dayton Herald, June 8, 1911. [24]
• "Jimmy Wacker Has Chance to Twirl in Connecticut", The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, February 29, 1912. [25]
• "'Jimmy De Wack' On Way to Springfield", The Evansville Press, April 21, 1913. [26]
• "Jimmy Wacker, Pitcher, In These Parts Again", The Princeton Daily Clarion, May 17, 1913. [27]
• "Wacker Will Try to Come Back", The Evansville Press. March 23, 1914. [28]
• "Dayton's Central League Baseball Team 20 Years Ago; Photo Taken When Club Went Picnicking on an Off Day", The Dayton Daily News, March 30, 1930. [29]

Books

• Tom Blackburn and Henry A. Meyer: Evansville, 1812-1962, Evansville Sesquicentennial Commission, Evansville, IN, 1962, p. 70. [30]
• David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen and Michael L. Neft: "Pitchers 1901-1919 Spe-Wal", The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2006, St. Martin's Griffin, New York, NY, 2006, p. 120. [31]
• Pete Cava: Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014. McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC. pp. 209, 210 [32], [33].