Friday, January 26, 2018

Nevers Say Never

Ernie Nevers, who played his entire career with the St. Louis Browns, and just caught the tail end of the George Sisler-Ken Williams-Baby Doll Jacobson era, is the only major league baseball player to have a football team named after him. Read all about it in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune. The team was called “Ernie Nevers’ Eskimos”.  

So when you see Vikings fans swooning over Case Keenum or Sam Bradford, realize that Minnesotans four generations ago were rooting for Ernest Alonzo Nevers, the pride of Willow River, MN.

Nevers was also later a Cardinal.  A St. Louis Cardinal?  No not that kind of Cardinal.  A Chicago Cardinal.  Confused yet??

Nevers was also signed right out of Stanford by manager George Sisler.  The Sporting News of Thursday, January 7, 1926 speculates it was a one elite college man to another thing” which enabled Sisler to outbid the New Giants who had already announced in late 1925 that they had Nevers all-but sewn up.