Lew Drill
From BR Bullpen
Lewis L. Drill
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 6", Weight 186 lb.
- School Georgetown University, Hamline University
- Debut April 23, 1902
- Final Game October 3, 1905
- Born May 9, 1877 in Browerville, MN USA
- Died July 4, 1969 in St. Paul, MN USA
[edit] Biography
Catcher Lew Drill outhit Ty Cobb, which is to say that the 28-year-old Drill, on the 1905 Tigers, hit .261 while the 18-year-old rookie Cobb hit .240. The team average was .243.
Drill played four years in the majors, and was an above-average hitter, especially for a catcher. He also hit .298 as a player-manager for Pueblo in 1907.
After his baseball career, Drill became an attorney and, as a protégé of U.S. Senator Thomas Schall (R) was appointed in 1929 to the post of United States Attorney for Minnesota. He gained notoriety when he refused to vacate his office for a Roosevelt appointee until December 1931 when Senator Schall, his sponsor, was killed in a car accident. While he held the post, however, Drill successfully prosecuted Wilbur Foshay, promoter of a holding company that underwent a spectacular crash in the Depression and Roger Touhy, a Chicago gangster who kidnapped William Hamm, Hr., a millionaire St. Paul brewer. Source: Drill's obituary in NY Times, 7/7/1969.
