Charlie Dexter
From BR Bullpen
Charles Dana Dexter
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 7", Weight 155 lb.
- School University of the South
- Debut April 17, 1896
- Final Game September 27, 1903
- Born June 15, 1876 in Evansville, IN USA
- Died June 9, 1934 in Cedar Rapids, IA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Charlie Dexter is the only major leaguer to have come from the University of the South (through 2006), where he attended in 1894. By age 20 in 1896, Dexter was playing for the Louisville Colonels as the starting catcher. After that season, he mostly played outfield. He was two years younger than Honus Wagner, who came up as a rookie the following year in 1897. Wagner and Fred Clarke and other Colonels players eventually ended up on the Pittsburgh Pirates when the Louisville franchise folded, but Dexter was traded to the Chicago Orphans in December 1899.
Frank Selee became manager for the Orphans in 1902, and Dexter was traded in midseason to the 1902 Boston Beaneaters, where he closed out his major league career at age 27 in 1903.
In 1906 he was with the Des Moines Champions, playing first base and hitting .333 for a team that won 97 games. One of the star pitchers for the team was a young hurler named Ed Cicotte. In 1909 he played, apparently as a backup, for the Minneapolis Millers.
He is in the Evansville Sports Hall of Fame.
It is said he committed suicide at age 57.
See 1903 Photograph of Charlie Dexter with the Beaneaters.
