Meet Zack Wheat

I love history of all kinds. US History and baseball history are at the top of my list. I like to gather as much of that history as I can. And Dodger history is peppered with many colorful individuals.

Zachariah Davis Wheat was born in Hamilton Missouri on May 23rd, 1888. His mother, Julia, was a full blooded Cherokee. Hamilton is located about 60 miles northeast of Kansas City. Back in 1888, it was still a wild frontier. Only 6 years prior to his birth, Jesse James was killed by one of his own gang in nearby St Joseph.

Zack was the eldest of 3 sons, all of whom played pro baseball. Mack spent 5 years as his team mate in Brooklyn, and Basil, was a catcher and outfielder in the minors.

Wheat’s dad, Basil, was a descendant of Moses Wheat. One of the Puritans who fled England and founded Concord Mass in 1635. Wheat’s dad passed away when he was 16 and they moved to Kansas City, Kansas. Wheat was reluctant to discuss his Cherokee heritage in an age where 2 of the stars were Jim Thorpe, and Chief Bender.

Wheat got his start as a second baseman for a semipro team. His family was nearly destitute, so Wheat in 1906 set out to make a living playing ball. He went to Enterprise Kansas where he made 60 dollars a month playing ball. He was considered a excellent fielder, but his minor league hitting stats were pretty pedestrian.

He played minor league ball in Ft. Worth, Shreveport, and Mobile. Going home in 1908 after the season, Wheat stopped in St Louis and watched his first MLB game. It was a doozy as Rube Waddell beat Walter Johnson 2-1, in 10 innings and setting a record by striking out 17 hitters.

 On August 29, 1909, the Dodgers purchased Wheat’s contract from Mobile on the advice of scout, Larry Sutton, for $1,200.00. He went on to hit .304 for Brooklyn in 26 games.

In 1910, his first full season, he hit .284, and was among the league leaders in hits, 2B, and 3B. Wheat kept improving, and would sometimes bunt to use his speed for hits, but he argued that he was more valuable to the team swinging away.

He took a day off in 1912 to marry Daisy Kerr Forsman. The team found out the couple had eloped and decorated a “Bridal Suite” on the team train to St Louis. It started a tradition, and Wheat’s family later travelled on the team train with him.

In Daisy, he not only got a wife, but an agent. She later said she made him hold out each year for 7 years, and he got a raise every time. In the offseason, Wheat raised stock and used it as leverage in contract negotiations. He would say, I am a ballplayer in the summer and a farmer in the winter and I aim to be a success at both. By the time he left Brooklyn after the 1926 season, he was making $16,000.00 a year as a player and assistant manager.

He sold mules to the army during WWI. He also had sort of a running feud with his manager. Robinson believed that Wheat was after his job as manager. And there was always a tension between them.

In 1912, Wheat convinced the Robins to sign boyhood friend, Charles Stengel, and they played for a little over 7 years together in the Dodger outfield. He was named Captain of the Robins in 1919.

Wheat became a better hitter when the livelier ball was introduced in 1920. Over the last decade of the dead ball era, Wheat compiled more total bases than any other National Leaguer, and was second to team mate Jake Daubert in hits.

Wheat helped the Dodgers get to the World Series twice, 1916, against the Red Sox, and 1920 against the Indians. He did not do well against the Sox, but was much better against the Indians.

In his 18 years with Brooklyn, they only had a winning team 5 times. In 1925, Charles Ebbets died, and new team president, Ed McKeever named Wheat player manager. Newspapers confirmed the Wheat managed the team for 2 weeks. But McKeever had caught pneumonia at Ebbets funeral and died shortly afterwards, so Robinson went back to managing. Sadly, Wheat’s stint was never entered into the league records.

After the 1926 season, Brooklyn let Wheat walk, and he signed to play with Connie Mack’s A’s. He batted .324 in part time duty. He was released after the year, and signed to play with Minneapolis for 1928. He was hitting .308 when he suffered a bruised heel which put him out for the year, so after the season he hung up his spikes.

In 1931, Steve McKeever hired him as a coach. But feeling threatened by Wheat again, Robinson was colder than ever to his former star. Wheat turned to farming full time, but the Great Depression nearly wiped him out and he had to sell his 160 acre farm for just $23,000.00.

He moved to KC and ran a bowling alley for a while. Then he became a member of the KC police department. On Easter Sunday, 1936, he almost died while chasing a felon, crashing his car and receiving a fractured skull, dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, and 15 broken ribs. He was in the hospital for 5 months.

After hospitalization, Wheat moved his family to Sunrise Beach, Missouri, a resort on the shores of Lake of the Ozarks. Always an outdoorsman, He opened a 46 acres hunting and fishing resort which soon became a popular destination for ex ballplayers.

Wheat would often listen to TV and radio games simultaneously and sometimes would travel to St. Louis to catch a game. He lived in Sunrise Beach the rest of his life.

In 1957, Wheat was voted into the HOF by the Veteran’s committee. One problem, he was not yet eligible, since he had not been retired the required 30 years. But in 1959, he was elected by the committee unanimously. He was 70 and the time and stated it made him feel younger, and very proud. 

The next year though, his wife passed away. Wheat would live to be 83 and died on March 11, 1972 in a hospital in Sedalia, Missouri. He is buried in Kansas City in the Forest Hill cemetery. Not far from where Wheat lies are the graves of Satchel Paige, and Negro League legend, Buck O’Neil.

O’Neil once said Wheat was 170 pounds of scrap iron and grit, but he was always a gentleman. Wheat had tiny feet, size 5 , and suffered through a lot of injuries to those areas when he was a player.

Today, more than 94 years since he last wore the Dodger uniform, Zack Wheat still is the team leader in 10 batting categories, and is tied for first in another.

Career leader in hits, 2404, games, 2322, AB’s, 8859, plate appearances, 9731, TB, 4003, 2B, 464, 3B, 171, 1B, 2068. and HBP with 77. It must be noted that JT is only 4 behind him with 73 since he has been a Dodger.

According to Baseball Registers stats, he is in the top 10 in 26 different offensive categories as a Dodger all time. 84 years after his last game in Brooklyn, I find that amazing. The first real Dodger superstar and all time left fielder in any book, Zack Wheat.