Al Lawson

Alfred William Lawson

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 161 lb.

• Debut May 13, 1890
• Final Game June 2, 1890
• Born March 24, 1869 in Clerkenwell, England
• Died November 29, 1954 in San Antonio, TX USA

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Biographical Information

Alfred Lawson had a few brief forays in professional baseball, both in playing briefly in the National League with the Boston Beaneaters and Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1890 and in an attempt to start a "major league" in 1908.

Lawson was a promoter and a huckster. He had some success in early aviation, though, in the end, his attempts at design innovations failed and contracts to deliver US Mail went unfulfilled. He purported to have reached dietary insights that would allow humans to live to be 200 and claimed to have solved physical mysteries on a par with Einstein's Relativity. He later started his own religion and university, leading to an investigation by the US Senate.

In the midst of this sort of empty self-promotion, Lawson maintained an interest in baseball and made a stab at starting an eight-team professional league in December of 1907. The Union Professional League took the field in April of 1908 with teams in Baltimore, MD, Brooklyn, NY, Elizabeth, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Paterson, NJ, Reading, PA, Washington, DC, and Wilmington, DE. On May 23rd, the Paterson team went under, and the team transferred to Allentown, PA, but just a few days later, May 28th, the entire enterprise collapsed with Wilmington holding first place.

The DC manager was Arthur Irwin and the team played at Union Park at 15th St. and Florida Avenue, NE. Players involved included Frank McDermott, likely the later major leaguer of that name (Red McDermott) and Wyatt Lee, likely the former major leaguer of that name (Watty Lee). Another player by the name of John Gilbert may have been John "Jackrabbit" Gilbert.

As a player, Lawson's charm and unreliable nature were already apparent, with his 1890 season being indicative. He was in St. Augustine, FL to begin the year and when Cap Anson brought his Chicago Colts to the city for spring training that February, Lawson impressed the major leaguers as one of the locals brought in to play against them. When the Brooklyn Bridegrooms came to town that March, Lawson umpired several games between the two major league clubs and pitched one game for Brooklyn against Chicago, losing 8-4. That notoriety helped him get a job with the Wilmington Peach Growers of the Atlantic Association. While there, after a pre-season game on April 14th, Lawson insisted on borrowing teammate Jack Millman's shoes, which led to a fight between the two that resulted in a broken ankle for Millman after he was thrown to the ground by Lawson. There was said to be no ill will between the two afterwards and Lawson started Wilmington's league opener on April 19th, though he was suspended afterwards for indifferent play. He was reinstated and played twice more with the club before being released, which may well have been his hope.

Despite that rocky stint, Lawson failed upwards and got a trial with the Boston Beaneaters, who Wilmington had played on the day of Lawson's fight with Millman. While his trial was not a disaster - he pitched a complete game in a 7-2 loss to the New York Giants - he was not kept on by Boston, where they claimed that his self-conceit was too much and his pitching was not up to par. Coming now with some major league pedigree, the desperate Pittsburgh Alleghenys proved willing to give the youngster another shot at the big leagues. On May 28th he started the first leg of a double-header against the Philadelphia Phillies, but he lasted less than 2 innings. He then faced the familiar Chicago Colts on June 2]nd, completing the game, but receiving poor support in a 14-1 loss. That would be the end of his major league career. 1890 was the season when there were three major leagues, with the Players League competing directly with the National League in the same cities; as a result, teams were sometimes short of players and were willing to give untested players like Lawson a shot.

A few weeks later he appeared with the Cobleskill Giants, making his New York State League debut on June 26th against the Utica Pent-Ups. He was greeted unceremoniously, getting knocked out in the 5th inning of a 23-8 defeat. He was given another shot, however, and responded with his best start with Cobleskill in the 4th of July afternoon game against Oneonta, losing 2-1 in ten innings. After winning 8-5 against the Troy Trojans on July 8th, he considered leaving the team, but changed his mind so as to avoid being put on the blacklist, and pitched three more times with Cobleskill in July. In all he went 2-3 with the club before being released. He next got a shot with the Albany Senators in the same league, but lost all three games he pitched between July 31st and August 7th.

Afterwards he played one game in September with the Harrisburg Ponies, after which he left town for whereabouts unknown and nobody in Harrisburg “seemed very much concerned”. Those whereabouts turned out to be Wellsville, NY, a member of the very minor Western New York League, where he played a handful of games during the remainder of September, alongside John McGraw, then in his first year in organized baseball. In October he was back in Wilmington, making plans to form a league in Florida and by December was in Ocala, FL, having recruited a team, including McGraw and some of his former Cobleskill teammates to play against locals and any big league teams that went south for the winter and spring training season. Those plans ultimately changed to become a tour of Cuba and a team in Gainesville, FL in 1891.

Lawson's colorful life began in England, but his family moved to Canada when he was young, then settled in Detroit. His brother, George Lawson, was even more of a huckster, self-promoter and confidence artist.

Reference

• Jerry Kuntz: "George H. Lawson: The Rogue Who Tried to Reform Baseball", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 37, 2008, pp. 42-50.
• Jerry Kuntz: Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Times and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2009.
• William Wagner: "DC Had Baseball Times Two", in The Washington Post, March 26, 1989.
• England and Wales Birth Index

Related Sites

• Al Lawson at the SABR Bio Project