The 3-Foot-7 Pinch Hitter Who Walked on Four Pitches

On August 19, 1951, between games of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park, Bill Veeck pinch-hit a 3-foot-7, 60-pound batter named Eddie Gaedel for the St. Louis Browns. Gaedel wore jersey number 1/8. Veeck had measured his strike zone in a tight crouch and clocked it at an inch and a half tall.

The trick was that Gaedel didn't hold the crouch. He stepped in doing what Veeck later called "a fair approximation of Joe DiMaggio's classic style," feet apart, bat cocked, looking like he might actually swing. Detroit pitcher Bob Cain laughed on the mound, then threw the first two pitches as legitimate strike attempts. Both went high. The next two were lobbed in half-speed and also went high, because there was nowhere lower to put them. Gaedel walked, was replaced by pinch-runner Jim Delsing at first, and bowed off to a standing ovation from 18,369 fans.

American League president Will Harridge voided the contract the next morning, ruling that Veeck was making a mockery of the game. The deeper consequence is the one nobody mentions when they tell the story: every player contract in the major leagues now has to clear the commissioner's office before the player can appear in a game. The rule exists because a Browns owner once tried to win a game by making the strike zone disappear.