Bill Cissell/pagetext

From SABR Encyclopedia

Chalmer William Cisell was a middle infielder who was purchased by the Chicago White Sox in 1927 for a then-record sum of $123,000 in cash and players (Ike Boone and Bert Cole). His 17-year professional career, which began in 1925, included nine seasons in the majors. He also managed the Pacific Coast League's Portland Beavers for most of the 1935 campaign. Cissell was considered one of the top players in the PCL, but once he reached the majors, he failed to live up to his billing and was considered a bust, earning him the nickname, "The $123,000 Lemon."

Alcohol abuse was widely blamed for his failure to reach the stardom predicted for him, and his drinking plagued him for most of his life. Six years after his professional career ended, Cissell was offered a job as an electrician at Comiskey Park, and he proved to be a good worker. Tragedy struck, however, in 1948 when he was stricken with Buerger's disease, which made it excruciatingly painful for him to walk and unable to work.

By the time he was discovered living in a tiny, one-bedroom apartment with his 13-year-old son Gary, he was destitute and malnourished and suffering from hardening of the arteries. Despite his poor condition, Cissell's prognosis looked promising and he fully recovered from the nerve inflammation in his legs, but during his hospital stay he suffered a heart attack on March 5, 1949 and died 10 days later at the age of 45.

He’s buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in his home town of Perryville, Missouri.

Contents 1 Minor League Career 2 Major League Career 2.1 Chicago White Sox 2.2 Cleveland Indians 2.3 Boston Red Sox 2.4 Philadelphia Athletics 2.5 New York Giants 3 Awards and Accomplishments 4 Off-the-Field Controversies 5 Tragic Ending 6 External Links 7 Sources

Minor League Career

Cissell began his career in 1925 with Des Moines of the Class A Western League before being sold in 1926 to Portland of the Pacific Coast League for an alleged record sum of $13,000 and two players. The shortstop enjoyed his best season to date in 1927, batting .323 with 225 hits, 112 runs scored, and 18 steals, impressing scout Danny Long so much that he convinced White Sox owner Charles Comiskey to spend $123,000 in cash and players to acquire Cissell, which was a record at the time. It was during his time in Portland that his wiry 160 lb. frame and defensive range earned him the nickname "Spider Bill."

After spending seven years in the majors with the White Sox, Indians, and Red Sox, Cissell, now a second baseman, was sent back to Portland in 1935. He played a solid second base for the Beavers, batting .316 and rapping out 204 hits, and took over as manager on June 1 after Buddy Ryan resigned his post a day earlier.

After refusing to play for Portland in 1936, Cissell was traded to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League and enjoyed three very good seasons with them, especially in 1936 when he batted .349 with 15 home runs, was named the team's most valuable player, and finished second in the league's MVP voting. In 1939, he went back to the PCL, this time playing for the Hollywood Stars, and was named his team's MVP for the second time in four years. After slightly more than two seasons in Hollywood, he was traded to the San Francisco Seals in 1941 and finished out the season with them before retiring from professional baseball. He finished his 10-year minor league stint with a career batting average of .305.

Major League Career

Chicago White Sox

Cissell joined the White Sox in 1928 and was under tremendous pressure from the start, especially after being dubbed the "$100,000 Beauty" by sportswriter John B. Foster. Despite the enormous pressure, the rookie appeared to handle it well; Foster compared him to former Giants second baseman Larry Doyle, calling him a “replica” of Doyle, but with a better glove. But Foster didn’t stop there, also likening Cissell’s "splendid disposition" to Doyle’s, which earned the latter the nickname "Laughing Larry." It was the same disposition that earned Cissell his second sobriquet, “Smiling Bill.”

On paper, Cissell's first season wasn't much to look at, but sportswriters were impressed enough to give him four votes in that year's MVP balloting, tying him with slugger Harry Heilmann, among others, for 15th place. That would be the highlight of his stay in Chicago. He spent four full seasons with the White Sox, but never lived up to his billing, forcing the team to give up on him in 1932. On April 24, he was traded along with Jim Moore to the Cleveland Indians for Johnny Hodapp and Bob Seeds. During his time in Chicago, he batted only .261 with an anemic .298 on-base percentage, and only Mark Koenig had a lower fielding percentage among AL shortstops than Cissell's .937 mark from 1928-1932.

Cleveland Indians

Ironically, as soon as the White Sox jettisoned Cissell to Cleveland, he became the player everyone thought he would be, at least for one season. He batted .320 for the Indians, and finished the season at a career-best .315 with career highs in home runs (7) and RBIs (98). He was also moved to second base and he improved his defense considerably, leading all AL keystone men in range factor (6.23). For his efforts, he earned 10 MVP votes and finished tied for 11th in voting with Dale Alexander.

His game completely fell apart in 1933, however, and he ended up losing his starting job to a 24-year-old backup third baseman with only 10 games of experience at second. Cissell batted only .230 and finished last among AL second basemen with a .947 fielding percentage. His season ended on September 15 when he underwent an appendectomy at New York Post Graduate Hospital a day after the Indians arrived in New York to play the Yankees. Less than a month after his surgery, Cissell was dealt to the Boston Red Sox on October 12 for southpaw journeyman hurler Lloyd “Gimpy” Brown.

Boston Red Sox

Despite the acquisition of a much better player in Max Bishop, Red Sox manager Bucky Harris gave Cissell the starting job at second base in 1934. He improved his batting average to .267, but was the team's worst hitter and one of the three worst in the entire league. He also finished second-to-last in fielding percentage. Boston gave up on him quickly and dealt him to Portland for Jack Wilson on February 1, 1935.

Philadelphia Athletics

After two years back in the minors, Cissell was drafted by the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1936 rule 5 draft. He appeared in only 34 games with the A's in 1937, however, batting .265 and displaying excellent range at second base before being returned to Baltimore on June 11.

New York Giants

On August 1, 1938, the New York Giants acquired Cissell from Baltimore for infielder Blondy Ryan and cash. He spent the rest of the season with the Giants, batting .268 in 38 games and fielding splendidly. During his brief stay in the National League, Cissell led the circuit in range factor at 6.48 and was second in fielding percentage at a career-best .977. Alas, his 38-game cup of coffee with the Giants would be his last taste of the majors. On December 6, New York sold the soon-to-be 35-year-old infielder to the Hollywood Stars of the PCL, where he’d spend the next two seasons playing second base.

Awards and Accomplishments

• Prior to his baseball career, Cissell, an army corporal stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, won 18 silver cups and 53 medals riding a horse whom he named "Chance" in honor of former Cubs first baseman and manager Frank Chance.

• Named second team all-league by Western League managers in 1926.

• Earned four votes in 1928 AL MVP balloting and finished tied for 15th.

• Paced AL shortstops in assists, putouts, and range factor in 1929.

• Earned 10 votes in 1932 AL MVP balloting and finished tied for 11th.

• Paced AL second basemen in range factor in 1932.

• Finished fifth among all second basemen in 1932 Sporting News All-Star poll.

• Finished fifth among AL second basemen in 1933 All-Star voting.

• Finished eighth among AL second basemen in 1934 All-Star voting.

• Named Baltimore Orioles team MVP in 1936, and finished second in International League MVP voting.

• Named Hollywood Stars team MVP in 1939.

Off-the-Field Controversies

Only two days after the 1927 deal between Portland and Chicago was finalized, the new White Sox shortstop found himself on the wrong side of a woman scorned, 20-year-old Valley Junction, Iowa telephone operator Bernice Ryner, who filed charges of seduction against Cissell with Polk County Sheriff Park A. Findley. Cissell was indicted, but was nowhere to be found. A nationwide search failed to uncover his whereabouts until he was discovered and arrested in St. Louis on November 9.

According to Ryner, she and Cissell met on New Year’s Eve 1926 and dated steadily before he departed for Portland’s training camp two months later. Cissell had promised to marry her and she began making preparations to join him in Portland, but he failed to send her train fare. Then he promised to come to Des Moines in August, but failed to appear. The bride-to-be was understandably upset; not only did Cissell’s promise of marriage appear to be hollow, but she was also carrying his baby. It wasn’t until she gave birth to their son, Chalmer Jr., that she decided to file charges.

Cissell had two choices: face felony charges of seduction or marry Ryner and have the charges automatically dismissed. He chose the latter and tied the knot in Valley Junction on November 15.

Two years later, the White Sox were in Ennis, Texas, enjoying a post spring training game barbecue thrown by the locals, when Sox skipper Lena Blackburne spotted Cissell, who was clearly inebriated, and canceled a team dance due to Cissell's condition. Cissell charged that Blackburne was “incompetent and tyrannical” and reports out of Dallas, where the White Sox trained, had half the team on the verge of a rebellion. The shortstop later apologized and was reinstated to good standing, but his drinking would continue to be a problem for the rest of his career.

Cissell found himself in some off-the-field trouble again early in the 1938 season when his wife called the police and had him cited for disturbing the peace, resulting in a fine of $11.45. Orioles manager Buck Crouse insisted that he wouldn’t fine Cissell for the infraction because his trouble was “at his home and I haven’t anything to do with a player’s home life,” but C.M. Gibbs reported that Cissell was fined $50 and suspended indefinitely. The Orioles left for Rochester without Cissell and pitcher Bill Perrin, who had also been fined and suspended for getting into a fistfight in front of the city jail, but Jack Ogden wired Cissell the next day and ordered him on a plane to Rochester to rejoin the team.

But Cissell’s off-field issues didn’t end there. On May 28, it was reported that Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ordered that Cissell be placed on the ineligible list after he failed to respond to letters from Landis asking about a financial deal the player had with some one in Florida. When Cissell insisted Landis’ letters had never reached him, the commissioner relented and allowed Cissell to keep playing. Then in late October, Cissell was fined $15 after being arrested by Washington D.C. police for causing a ruckus while demanding his suit from a tailor, who refused to release the clothing without a claim check.

Almost a year to the day that Commissioner Landis threatened to place Cissell on the ineligible list, he found himself facing banishment again in June 1939 when PCL president Wilbur C. “Two Gun” Tuttle got wind of derogatory comments Cissell made about him to an Oakland Tribune newspaper reporter named Art Cohn. While sitting in Jack Fenton’s Oakland tavern, no doubt enjoying a drink or two, Cissell told Cohn, “Tuttle doesn’t know anything about baseball,” and that former major league umpire George Hildebrand would make a better league president than Tuttle.

He also criticized the PCL rule permitting the use of using “too many rookies,” and stated that the International League and American Association were stronger circuits than the Pacific Coast League. And he criticized Commissioner Landis for “gypping” him out of $5,000 when he attempted to procure a chunk of the $123,000 purchase price the White Sox doled out for him in 1927. Cissell’s contract showed that he was entitled to the money, but when Landis asked to see the original document and Cissell was able to provide only a copy, the commissioner told him he couldn’t help him. After conferring with Judge W.G. Bramham, president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the minor leagues’ governing body, Tuttle meted out swift justice and suspended Cissell indefinitely without giving the ballplayer a chance to defend himself. The speed and severity of the punishment should have surprised no one; Tuttle was the son of a frontier sheriff and writer of Wild West fiction that featured men like Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens “riding the fiction range…and shooting off the bad guys…” Apparently, Tuttle viewed Cissell as one of the bad guys. Bramham was even more adamant about punishing Cissell and threatened lifetime suspension “if the remarks attributed to him could not be proved erroneous.”

The adjudicators performed an immediate about face, however, and lifted the suspension only two hours into the penalty after receiving a phone call from Stars vice president Bob Cobb. Bramham ordered Tuttle to investigate the matter and determine if Cissell was quoted correctly before deciding on an appropriate penalty. Cissell didn’t deny the allegations, but insisted he didn’t realize he’d been talking to a reporter at the time.

In the end, Bramham and Tuttle agreed that a lifetime ban was too harsh a penalty. Instead of suspending Cissell, they fined him $200 and placed him on a season-long probation with a warning that future critical remarks by Cissell that found their way into newspapers would result in “severe suspension.” Tuttle explained that he refrained from suspending Cissell because he had no desire to penalize the Hollywood Stars for one man’s actions. But six weeks later, the Stars suspended Cissell themselves for breaking training and though they wouldn’t specify why, rumor was that he’d fallen off the wagon on a trip from Seattle to Portland.

Tragic Ending

In December 1948, Cissell was stricken with what appeared to be Buerger’s disease (incorrectly reported by some as Berger’s disease), an inflammation and clotting of veins and arteries in the hands and feet, which made it impossible for him to walk without excruciating pain. He had also fallen on hard times and was living in a tiny one-room apartment in Chicago with his 13-year-old son Gary, who was supporting both of them with his $7-a-week grocery store job. In addition to the disease, he was malnourished, resulting in a 60 lb. weight loss, and had hardening of the arteries.

When White Sox vice president Charles Comiskey II and general manager Frank Lane learned of Cissell’s plight, they rushed to his aid, called an ambulance and had him taken to Mercy Hospital, and also arranged for Gary to live with a neighboring family so he could continue going to school. Win Clark, secretary of the Association of Professional Baseball Players, issued an emergency check to Cissell to help him get by. After his first day in the hospital, Cissell’s prognosis looked promising. Dr. John P. Waitkus leaned away from Buerger’s disease and towards polyneuritis-multiple inflammation along the nerves, with some hardening of the arteries. Cissell’s condition improved in early February—thanks to treatment and a strict diet, the inflammation subsided and was affecting only one foot from the ankle down, and Cissell had already gained 15 pounds.

Things were looking bright for Cissell in early 1949 as February turned to March. He had fully recovered from the nerve inflammation in his legs and feet and was almost ready to be discharged from the hospital. But he suffered a heart attack on March 5 and was listed in critical condition. Almost a week later Waitkus announced that Cissell was not responding to treatment and was getting weaker. He died the next day, March 15, at the age of 45.

External Links

• Chalmer "Bill" Cissell: The $123,000 Lemon, by Mike Lynch, at Seamheads.com.

Sources

• http://seamheads.com/blog/2009/10/27/chalmer-bill-cissell-the-123000-lemon/, retrieved on 2009-10-31.

According to the July 3, 1941 issue of the Sporting News, Bill Cissell signed with the San Francisco Seals of the PCL on June 28 1941 after having been released earlier that week by the Hollywood Stars of the PCL. He reported to the Seals on July 1, 1941

"New Name on Cissell's Uniform; It is 'Seals'", pg 3. The Sporting News, 1941-07-03.