Never mind Joe DiMaggio. Where have you gone, Ben Hunt? Or Billy Ott? Or even Joey Jay?
Searching for missing and dead ballplayers-so many of them obscure and forgotten-sounds like a lonely, morbid task, but somebody`s got to do it.
And that somebody is Bill Haber, a 50-year-old Brooklyn baseball historian, who prefers to see his unique hobby as one of mystery, not morbidity.
”When I first started looking for missing ballplayers in 1969, there were approximately 350 to 400 players in the Baseball Encyclopedia whose whereabouts and presumed deaths were unaccounted for,” said Haber, who reports his death findings to the Hall of Fame, the Sporting News official baseball guide and the encyclopedia. ”Today, I`ve gotten the list down to 31, all of whom are presumed dead because of the passage of time. Their deaths just went unrecorded.”
Then there are those of more modern vintage who simply have disappeared-but are believed to be alive.
Joey Jay is perhaps the most familiar name in that group. A two-time 20-game winner with the Cincinnati Reds in the early 1960s, Jay has been among the missing for 20 years. Autograph seekers consider Jay to be No. 1 on their most-wanted list and have since enlisted Haber to find him.
”Jay`s been a tough one,” Haber says. ”His mother lives in Oldsmar, Fla., but apparently she won`t give out any information on him.
”There have been a lot of rumors about Jay-that he made some bad investments, that he got in some sort of trouble. Nothing has ever been substantiated, but the one that`s most prevalent is that he`s in the witness protection program.”
One only can presume that if Haber can`t find Joey Jay, then Joey Jay can`t be found. It`s a wonder the IRS hasn`t enlisted Haber, considering the painstaking efforts he makes in searching for lost players.
”I`ll try to first establish the names of a player`s parents,” Haber said. ”For that, I`ll write to the records office in the state capital of his birthplace. Then I`ll use that information to locate the parents or their death records. The obituaries usually mention surviving relatives and their current residences.
”Another source of information is the Social Security Death Index, which I have access to through a fellow baseball researcher. Anyone who ever registered for Social Security is in that index, and if they`re deceased the index will show that.”
That may have helped provide a breakthrough on Bob Conley, a 1958 Phillies pitcher who lived much of his life in Newport News, Ky. ”A few months ago, a Bob Conley with a social security number obtained in Kentucky and birthdate only a few days different from the ballplayer came up deceased in April 1985,” Haber said. ”Unfortunately, no place of death was in the record.”
Haber estimates that he spends $3,000 of his own money each year on phone calls, postage and fees to various records agencies and libraries for photocopies of birth and death certificates.
”In my longstanding search for Ben Hunt, a pitcher for the Red Sox and Cardinals in 1910 and `13, who disappeared in Oklahoma 70 years ago, I sent $10 to a genealogist in Oklahoma,” Haber said. ”The genealogist found that Ben Hunt sold property in Oklahoma in 1909 and left the state. The $10 beat the cost of going there in person.”
Some of Haber`s most wanted:
– Joey Jay: A top starting pitcher for the Braves and the Reds in the 1950s and `60s who gained acclaim as the first Little Leaguer to advance to the major leagues. While in the majors, he wrote an article called ”Don`t Trap Your Son In Little League Madness.” Jay won 21 games in 1961, tying Warren Spahn for the league lead, and beat the Yankees in Game 2 of the `61 World Series. And he has been missing for more than 20 years.
– Bob Giallombardo: A Brooklyn native who appeared in eight games as a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958. Attended Lafayette High in Brooklyn and last was reported to be living in the borough. However, none of the Giallombardos in the Brooklyn phone directory have any knowledge of him.
– Robert Burns (Bob) Conley: A pitcher who appeared in two games for the Phillies in 1958, he owned a restaurant in Newport News, Ky., after retiring from baseball. There is an unconfirmed report that he died in April 1985.
– Hal Griggs: A pitcher who once lost 18 straight games in the minors, Griggs appeared in 107 games with the Washington Senators from 1956 to 1959. His son lives in Pompano Beach, Fla., and says he is not sure of his father`s whereabouts except that he thinks he was living in Tucson.
– Billy Ott: A Manhattan-born outfielder who attended St. John`s and appeared in 32 games for the Cubs in 1962 and `64. He was last reported 20 years ago working as a policeman.
– – –
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts or deaths of these players can contact Bill Haber, 1518 East 29th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11229.
