Babe Herman Biography

by Stephen V. Rice

 

Babe Herman was “one of the greatest hitters who ever lived,” said Rogers Hornsby [1].  “Babe swung a bat with more ease and grace than any man I ever saw,” said Al Lopez [2].  Called “the Great Hoiman” by adoring Brooklyn fans, Herman tormented National League pitchers from 1926 to 1936.  He is one of only 12 players in the top 50 in career batting average and in the top 50 in career slugging percentage; they are Miguel Cabrera, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Herman, Hornsby, Chuck Klein, Stan Musial, Lefty O’Doul, Babe Ruth, Al Simmons, and Ted Williams [3].
Floyd Caves “Babe” Herman was born on June 26, 1903, in Buffalo, New York.  He was the fourth child of Charles Herman and Rosa (Caves) Herman, who were of German and English descent, respectively [4].  Charles was a carpenter and a house builder.  He moved his family to Los Angeles in 1905, and to Glendale, California, in 1917 [5].  Floyd was a star athlete at Glendale Union High School, earning letters in baseball, football, basketball, and track [6].  He received an offer to play professional baseball for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada League.  Charles found it hard to believe that anyone got paid to play baseball; he wanted his son to build houses with him in southern California [7].  Floyd and another promising youngster, Heinie Manush, went to Edmonton, where they batted .330 and .321, respectively, during the 1921 season.  The Detroit Tigers took notice and acquired the pair [8].
 
Herman was a gangly 6’4” and 180 pounds [9], with long arms and large hands.  He batted and threw left-handed.  In 1922 “Lefty” went to spring training with the Tigers in Augusta, Georgia, the hometown of player-manager Ty Cobb.  Herman brought to camp a vintage 1890s model 54-ounce bat, which he had used in Edmonton.  After Tigers slugger Harry Heilmann explained that Babe Ruth used a 40-ounce bat and that he himself swung a 36-ounce bat, Herman ditched the heavy lumber [10].  Herman’s natural ability was apparent to observers, but he had much to learn.  Tigers coach Dan Howley called the 18-year-old Herman, “Babe” [11].
The Tigers sent Herman to the Omaha Buffaloes of the Western League for the 1922 season [12].  He played first base and the outfield for the Buffaloes and finished the season with a .416 batting average in 92 games.  His father visited him in Omaha on the Fourth of July, and for the first time, watched his son play baseball; Floyd went 5-for-9 in a doubleheader with a home run and three doubles [13].  Twenty-two years later, Floyd would say that this day in Omaha was his greatest thrill in baseball [14].
 
Herman went to spring training in 1923 with the Boston Red Sox (after getting traded by the Tigers), and he impressed manager Frank Chance with his slugging.  In an intrasquad game at Hot Springs, Arkansas, Herman “rattled a tree in remote center field, [with] one of the longest [hits seen there] in years” [15].  Chance sent him to the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association to get regular playing time at first base.  During the first week of the season, Herman clouted four home runs and was hailed as “a new Babe Ruth” [16].  While he continued to hit, his fielding was erratic; moreover, he displayed “an attitude of regal aloofness and lackadaisical indifference” [17] and feuded with Atlanta manager Otto Miller [18].  Atlanta returned Herman to the Red Sox in July [19], and he was reassigned to the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association.  In 145 games for Atlanta and Memphis, he batted .339 with 13 home runs and 100 RBIs [20].  In the offseason, he married 18-year-old Anna Merriken, his high school sweetheart.
 
In May 1924, Herman was acquired by the San Antonio Bears of the Texas League [21].  He batted .349 in 21 games for San Antonio, but he “doesn’t fit in on our ball club,” said Bears manager Bob Coleman.  “He thinks he’s a big leaguer and he sneers at this league” [22].  The Bears sold his contract to the Little Rock Travelers of the Southern Association, and Herman hit .318 in 69 games for Little Rock.  In the California Winter League, he batted .394 in 17 games for “Pirrone’s All-Stars” [23].
 
During the 1925 season, Herman batted .316 in 167 games for the Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League, and he attracted the attention of Spencer Abbott, a scout for the Brooklyn Robins (the predecessor of the Dodgers) [24].  Brooklyn acquired Herman from Seattle and assigned him to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in February 1926 [25].  The Millers preferred Ted Jourdan at first base, so they returned Herman to Brooklyn before the start of the 1926 season [26].  On April 14, 1926, Herman made his major league debut with Brooklyn against the New York Giants by drawing a walk as a pinch-hitter.  His first major league hit was a pinch-hit double on April 28 against the Boston Braves.  He was used solely as a pinch-hitter until May 4, when Jack Fournier, the Brooklyn starting first baseman, went down with an injury [27].  Herman took his place and quickly showed what he could do.
 
On May 8 at St. Louis, Herman stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with a man on and the scored tied 3-3.  “The lanky kid,” with an “immense cud of tobacco in his cheek and the ice water that courses through his veins, ... pulled a fast ball into the right-field pavilion” [28].  It was his first major league home run and gave Brooklyn a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals.  From June 30 through July 5, he had at least two hits in eight consecutive games; he batted .556 with 13 RBIs during the streak.  The rookie sensation sprayed hits to all fields, and his .377 batting average, through games of July 7, led the National League [29].  As a first baseman, he was praised for his ability to field sacrifice bunts and throw out the lead runner at second base [30].  When Fournier was healthy and returned to first base, Herman moved to the outfield.
 
On July 9, Herman was held hitless in five at-bats by Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root.  After popping out to the catcher in the seventh inning, Herman, out of frustration, threw his bat down the first-base line.  The first-base coach “nimbly side-stepped and grabbed the club” [31].  In a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates from August 9-11, Herman hit safely in nine consecutive at-bats.  He was one shy of tying Ed Konetchy’s NL record of ten in a row.
 
In the first game of a doubleheader on August 15, the Robins and Braves were tied 1-1 when Herman came to bat with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.  The bases were loaded: Hank DeBerry on third base, Dazzy Vance on second, and Chick Fewster on first.  Herman drilled a pitch from George Mogridge to deep right field, and DeBerry scored the go-ahead run.  The slow-footed Vance rounded third and headed home, only to see that Braves catcher Oscar Siemer had received a quick relay throw and was poised to tag him out.  Vance reversed course and headed back to third.  He made it there safely but was greeted by Fewster at the same base.  To make matters worse, Herman rounded second base and headed to third.  When he arrived, he found two teammates standing there.  Fewster and Herman were tagged out [32].  Incredibly, Herman had doubled into a double play.  His baserunning blunder was simply a rookie mistake, but three men on one base is hilarious, and he was teased about it throughout his life.  Herman liked to point out that Brooklyn won the game and he knocked in the go-ahead run.
 
In games after July 7, Herman batted .268 as pitchers learned his weaknesses, in particular, his willingness to swing at bad balls and his inability to hit a changeup.  He finished the season with the highest batting average (.319) and most RBIs (81) on the Robins and was tied with Fournier for the team lead in home runs (11).  In the offseason, Herman appeared in the MGM film, Slide, Kelly, Slide, as a double in baseball scenes [33].
 
The Robins released the 37-year-old Fournier and pinned their hopes on 23-year-old Herman as their first baseman in 1927.  Herman was a terror in May, hitting .346 with six home runs and 28 RBIs.  On June 1 in Boston, his home run into the right-field bleachers hit the concrete so hard that the ball bounded 50 yards back onto the playing field [34].  His erratic fielding, though, frustrated Brooklyn fans and manager Wilbert Robinson.  On June 24, Herman homered against Boston but made two errors.  Five days later, he drove in a run with a single, but his misplays in the field led to three Philadelphia runs [35].  Robinson benched him for parts of July and August.  From September 7-9, Herman hit four home runs, including two off Jesse Haines of the Cardinals.  “I try to give Herman plenty of slow stuff, but it doesn’t always work,” said Haines.  “He can hit anything” [36].  Herman finished the season with a .272 batting average and led the team in home runs (14) and RBIs (73).  Although he played in only 105 games at first base, he led NL first basemen in errors (21).
 
Robinson wanted Del Bissonette, a power hitter with a weak throwing arm, to play first base in 1928 and asked Herman to move to right field [37].  Herman was an inexperienced outfielder, but he possessed a valuable asset: “His left arm shoots a ball into the infield like a cannon” [38].  Robinson needed to keep Herman’s bat in the lineup; Herman was one of the most feared sluggers in the league.  His line drives were “literally too hot to handle” [39].  His power to right field produced some of the longest home runs in baseball.  Among the National League’s left-handed hitters, Herman, Bill Terry, and Jim Bottomley had the most power to left field, according to Hornsby [40].  Herman can “drive the ball as far as [Babe] Ruth or any of them,” said Zack Wheat [41].
 
At Boston on April 27, Herman hit three singles and made two “fine running catches” in right field [42].  On May 6 in St. Louis, his game-winning two-run homer was a “terrific clout” that sailed “far over the right-field pavilion” [43].  On July 6 in Chicago, he slugged a three-run homer but made three errors, though one was charged when his perfect throw to third base hit the bag and bounced away [44].  Herman finished the season with a .340 batting average, fifth best in the NL.  He led major league outfielders with 16 errors, but he had a tough assignment in right field, looking into the glaring sun, at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.
 
Herman got off to a fast start in 1929, batting .500 through the first eight games of the season.  On April 30, he was ejected, and subsequently fined, for throwing his bat into the air after a called third strike [45].  On May 15, he smacked a three-run homer off Burleigh Grimes, the first of three home runs he would hit off the Pittsburgh ace during the 1929 season.  Through games of July 17, Herman led the National League with a .404 batting average.  (Meanwhile, his former Edmonton teammate, Heinie Manush, led the American League with a .393 average.)  On July 27 in Cincinnati, Herman crushed a tape-measure home run over the center-field fence off Eppa Rixey; the gargantuan blast traveled close to 500 feet [46].  From July 31 through August 22, Herman batted .456 during a 20-game hitting streak.
 
Herman often released his top hand from the bat during his follow-through, which gave the impression that he swung one-handed.  It was puzzling to observers that he could hit with so much power using this technique [47].  Grover Cleveland Alexander called him a “freak” [48].  “He’s so tall and rangy and can reach so far that he can hit anything, high, low, inside or off side,” said Alexander.  “There’s no real rule for pitching to fellows like that.  Just mix them up and trust to luck” [49].  Giants pitcher Freddie Fitzsimmons warned that it is potentially “fatal to give Babe anything outside because he would drive it back at you” and you may not get out of the way in time [50].
 
In a home game on September 1, Herman swatted an inside-the-park home run against Philadelphia and was greeted by “a shower of straw hats” tossed by cheering fans as he crossed home plate with “a wide grin on his face” [51].  Herman finished the season with a .381 batting average, second best in the major leagues behind Lefty O’Doul’s .398 average.  Herman hit 21 home runs, drove in 113 runs, and stole 21 bases.  He was the first National Leaguer to join the 20-20 club (20 home runs and 20 stolen bases) since Frank Schulte in 1911.  Herman led NL outfielders in errors with 16, but his fielding was much improved.  He credited his tutor, Brooklyn coach Max Carey, for his progress in hitting, baserunning, and fielding [52].  Carey described Herman as “ambitious, willing, eager to learn, and easy to teach” [53].
 
According to a 1927 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn outfielder Harvey Hendrick “seems in constant danger of being skulled by a fly ball in right field” [54].  Someone made the same joke about Herman, and it was repeated in one article after another.  In January 1930, sportswriter William Braucher wrote that it was “an even bet whether Babe caught a fly ball in his glove or on the head,” and claimed that Herman was sent from one minor league team to another because “he caught too many flies on the dome” [55].  According to Herman, he was never struck on the head by a fly ball.  “Contrary to the legends, nobody ever saw him hit on the head by a descending fly ball,” wrote longtime Brooklyn sportswriter Tommy Holmes in 1953 [56].
 
Braucher’s article is an example of the humorous stories that were written about Herman.  In these colorful anecdotes, Herman is portrayed as a zany lunkhead.  People were entertained by them and wanted to hear more of his antics, and so sportswriters obliged.  The only problem is that these stories were 90% fiction.  The real Herman was shrewd and capable.  He was annoyed by these tales, but he learned to ignore them.  People who got to know him discovered that he was nothing like the person they had read about, and they were astonished that so much misinformation had been created and circulated [57].  Dazzy Vance, Chuck Dressen, Wilbert Robinson, and others tried to set the record straight.  Vance said, “Most of those comic stories [about the Brooklyn team] concern Babe Herman, but let me tell you, Herman was a real ballplayer” [58].  Dressen stated flatly, “Herman was a good outfielder.  ...  He was nobody’s fool” [59].  Robinson told a group of sportswriters, “That ol’ Babe wasn’t so good around first base ... but you boys have him all wrong” as an outfielder [60].
 
Herman’s 1930 season was one of the finest in major league history.  His .393 batting average was the fourth highest season average from 1930 to 2014:
 
  1. Ted Williams, .406 in 1941, with 135 runs, 37 home runs, and 120 RBIs
  2. Bill Terry, .401 in 1930, with 139 runs, 23 home runs, and 129 RBIs
  3. Tony Gwynn, .394 in 1994, with 79 runs, 12 home runs, and 64 RBIs
  4. Babe Herman, .393 in 1930, with 143 runs, 35 home runs, and 130 RBIs
 
Despite batting .381 and .393 in successive seasons, Herman was runner-up for the NL batting title both years.  From 1901 to 2014, only six batters have hit over .380 in consecutive seasons: Cobb, Herman, Hornsby, Joe Jackson, O’Doul, and Al Simmons.  Herman stole 18 bases in 1930, tied for second most in the National League, and his .978 fielding percentage was second highest among NL right fielders.  The Robins were in first place on September 15, but lost eight of their final ten games and stumbled to a fourth-place finish.  In the offseason, Herman sold shirts in California and played golf for recreation.  In a round of golf with the great Gene Sarazen, the left-handed Herman consistently outdrove Sarazen [61].
 
Herman’s batting average fell to .313 in 1931, but he led the NL in extra-base hits (77) and ranked in the top five in home runs (18) and RBIs (97).  His numbers were reduced by the deadened ball introduced by the league at the beginning of the season.  Herman was second in the league in stolen bases (17) and outfield assists (24), and his .960 fielding percentage was second highest among NL right fielders.  He hit for the cycle twice during the season.
 
Because of a salary dispute, the 28-year-old Herman was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in March 1932.  Brooklyn fans never forgave their team for trading their popular hero.  On June 15, 1932, in Herman’s first at-bat in Brooklyn as a member of the Reds, he homered to center field and received a standing ovation from the fans [62].  He led the Reds in every offensive category in 1932 and was among the league leaders in batting average (.326), slugging percentage (.541), hits (188), extra-base hits (73), home runs (16), RBIs (87), and total bases (312).  He led the major leagues in triples with 19.  His 392 putouts were the most in one season by a right fielder in major league history from 1914 to 2014 [63].  Nonetheless, sportswriters blindly repeated that he is an erratic fielder, at risk of getting beaned by fly balls, and the counterfactual Braucher called him “the worst fly-catcher ever seen” [64].  In the offseason, the last-place Reds traded Herman to the first-place Chicago Cubs for four players and $75,000.  The cash was the key to the deal; Reds owner Sidney Weil was in financial straits [65].
In 1933 Herman’s batting average dropped to .289, but his .502 slugging percentage was third best in the league.  He was among the league leaders in extra-base hits (64), home runs (16), RBIs (93), and total bases (255).  He led the Cubs in nearly every offensive category.  On July 20, he went 4-for-5 with three home runs and eight RBIs in a 10-1 rout of the Phillies.  On September 30, the Cubs defeated Dizzy Dean and the Cardinals 12-2 as Herman hit for the cycle [66].  The Cubs finished the season in third place, six games out of first.  Despite Herman’s significant contribution, he was labeled a “colossal flop,” a “terrible bust,” and a “huge disappointment” by carping sportswriters [67].  “It wasn’t Herman’s fault” that the Cubs failed to win the pennant, said Cubs manager Charlie Grimm [68].  In 1934 the Cubs again finished in third place, and Herman batted .304 with 14 home runs and 84 RBIs.  With a surplus of outfielders, the Cubs traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates in November 1934.
Herman got off to a slow start in 1935 and was used sparingly by the Pirates.  After he had batted .235 in 26 games, Pittsburgh sold his contract to Cincinnati in June.  He rebounded with a .335 average in 92 games for the Reds.  Cincinnati installed lights at its ballpark, Crosley Field, and hosted the first major league night game on May 24, 1935.  In the fourth night game, on July 10, Herman lined a knuckleball from Dutch Leonard into the right-field bleachers in a 15-2 victory over Brooklyn; it was the first home run in a major league night game [69].  Three weeks later, Crosley Field was filled beyond capacity for the sixth night game.  To accommodate the overflow, spectators were permitted to stand on the periphery of the playing field.  With Herman at bat, play was interrupted when fans swarmed across the field.  A blonde nightclub entertainer named Kitty Burke, wearing a flaming red dress, took the bat from Herman and stepped to the plate.  Cardinals pitcher Paul “Daffy” Dean lobbed a pitch to her, and she grounded the ball back to Dean who threw her out at first [70].  After police had restored order, the game was resumed with Herman at the plate.  The Reds won 4-3 in 10 innings.  “The Lady in Red” had quite a story to tell, about how she “pinch-hit” for the great Babe Herman.
 
In 1936 Herman batted .279 for Cincinnati with 13 home runs and 71 RBIs.  The Reds sold his contract to the Detroit Tigers in April 1937.  The Tigers used him as a pinch-hitter for two months and released him.  He then joined the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association and hit .348 in 85 games.  In 1938 Herman played for the Jersey City Giants of the International League and batted .324 in 145 games.
 
In 1939, 20-year-old Ted Williams made his debut with the Boston Red Sox.  The tall, rangy, left-handed slugger drew comparisons with a young Babe Herman [71].  Meanwhile, an old Babe Herman played for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League from 1939 to 1944.  Over that period, he batted .325 as a first baseman, outfielder, and pinch-hitting specialist.  He was also a coach and part-owner of the team.  Off the field, he stayed busy managing his 18-acre ranch near Glendale, where he raised poultry [72].  In 1942 he tutored actor Gary Cooper on left-handed hitting and throwing, to prepare Cooper for his role as the left-handed Lou Gehrig in the film, The Pride of the Yankees [73].  Herman appeared in the movie as a double in baseball scenes.  In 1945 Branch Rickey gave the 42-year-old Herman one last hurrah in the major leagues, as a pinch-hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers from July to September.  Herman retired after the season.
 
In 25 years of professional baseball, from 1921 to 1945, Herman accumulated 3,363 hits with a .329 batting average.  Here are his averages against Hall of Fame pitchers: Eppa Rixey, .357; Jesse Haines, .356; Burleigh Grimes, .327; Carl Hubbell, .283; Dazzy Vance, .278; Grover Cleveland Alexander, .273; and Dizzy Dean, .131. [74].  Herman considered Hubbell, Vance, Dean, Lon Warneke, and Bill Hallahan to be the toughest pitchers he faced in the National League [75].  Hall of Famer Bullet Rogan was the toughest Negro League pitcher he faced; Herman considered Rogan to be much harder to hit than Satchel Paige [76].
 
From 1946 to 1964, Herman served as a West Coast scout for several major league teams [77].  He resided in Glendale and enjoyed attending games at nearby Dodger Stadium.  On November 27, 1987, he died in Glendale at the age of 84.  Shortly before his death, he said, “I think I could still hit if my legs would hold me up” [78].
 
[1] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 8, 1929.
[2] Tot Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Herman (Gothenburg, Nebraska: Holmes Publishing, 1990).
[3] Baseball-reference.com, visited November 2014.
[4] Ancestry.com.
[5] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[6] Ibid.
[7] The Sporting News, March 11, 1953.
[8] Herman and Manush were signed by Detroit Tigers scout Eddie Herr.
[9] The Sporting News, March 9, 1933.
[10] The Sporting News, March 18, 1953.
[11] Ibid.
[12] During the 1922 season, Herman played eight games for the Reading (Pennsylvania) Aces of the International League.  He was on loan to the team, filling in for an injured player.
[13] Wichita (Kansas) Beacon, July 5, 1922.
[14] The Sporting News, December 21, 1944.
[15] New Castle (Pennsylvania) Herald, March 17, 1923.
[16] Franklin (Pennsylvania) News-Herald, May 9, 1923.
[17] The Sporting News, July 19, 1923.
[18] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[19] Atlanta Constitution, July 10, 1923.
[20] Marshall D. Wright, The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002).
[21] San Antonio Express, May 7, 1924.
[22] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[23] William F. McNeil, The California Winter League: America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002).
[24] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[25] Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram, February 12, 1926.
[26] The Sporting News, December 8, 1948.
[27] Decatur (Illinois) Daily Review, May 6, 1926.
[28] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 9, 1926.
[29] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 8 and July 11, 1926.
[30] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 12, 1926.
[31] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 10, 1926.
[32] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 16, 1926.
[33] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[34] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 2, 1927.
[35] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 30, 1927.
[36] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 7, 1928.
[39] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 5, 1928.
[40] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 27, 1928.
[41] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[42] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 28, 1928.
[43] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 7, 1928.
[44] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 7, 1928.
[45] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 1-2, 1929.
[46] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 28, 1929.
[47] Altoona (Pennsylvania) Mirror, August 15, 1929.
[48] Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Evening News, August 12, 1929.
[49] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[50] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 24, 1939.
[51] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[52] Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) Daily News, August 10, 1929; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 22, 1929.
[53] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 4, 1932.
[54] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 25, 1927.
[55] Santa Ana (California) Register, January 19, 1930.
[56] Tommy Holmes, Dodger Daze and Knights (New York: David McKay Company, 1953).
[57] Except for the Braucher example, this biography does not contain any of the contrived stories to avoid spreading misinformation.
[58] Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) Item, September 5, 1945.
[59] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[60] The Sporting News, December 21, 1944.
[61] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 4, 1931.
[62] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[63] Baseball-reference.com.  In 2014, fielding statistics for right field were unavailable for seasons prior to 1914.
[64] Franklin News-Herald, August 15, 1933.
[65] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[66] Herman is tied with John Reilly and Bob Meusel for the most career cycles (3) in major league history.
[67] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 24, 1933; Woodland (California) Daily Democrat, December 13, 1933; Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 1934.
[68] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.
[69] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 11, 1935.
[70] Olean (New York) Times Herald, August 2, 1935; Xenia (Ohio) Daily Gazette, August 3, 1935.
[71] Newark (Ohio) Advocate, April 1, 1939.
[72] The Sporting News, January 11, 1940.
[73] San Bernardino County (California) Sun, January 11, 1942.
[74] Retrosheet.org, visited November 2014.
[75] The Sporting News, March 11, 1953.
[76] John B. Holway, Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers (Westport, Connecticut: Meckler, 1988).
[77] The Sporting News, December 7, 1987.  As a scout, Herman signed future major leaguers Vern Law, Pat Corrales, and Paul Blair, among others.
[78] Holmes, Brooklyn’s Babe.