WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.379 Welcome in, everyone. We we usually spend our 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.099 time together examining, you know, world famous 00:00:05.099 --> 00:00:07.799 figures or sweeping geopolitical shift. Exactly. 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:11.300 Or massive technological breakthroughs. But today 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:15.279 we are turning the lens toward a beautifully 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:20.210 obscure. Just incredibly specific slice of American 00:00:20.210 --> 00:00:22.829 sports history. It's a very distinct shift in 00:00:22.829 --> 00:00:25.170 scale for us today. Yeah, it really is. We're 00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:29.390 focusing on one single individual and more specifically, 00:00:29.410 --> 00:00:32.789 just one fleeting window of time in that individual's 00:00:32.789 --> 00:00:35.369 life. Right. But the implications of this story, 00:00:35.469 --> 00:00:37.810 what it says about legacy, about memory and how 00:00:37.810 --> 00:00:40.250 we measure a lifetime. I really think it's going 00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:41.869 to resonate with you in ways you might not expect. 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:44.840 I totally agree. So the subject of our deep dive 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:48.079 today is James Edward Morgan. Better known as 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:49.979 Red Morgan. Universally known as Red Morgan, 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:51.920 yeah. He was an American baseball player, and 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.240 his career is the absolute quintessential textbook 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:57.700 definition of a cup of coffee in the big leagues. 00:00:57.820 --> 00:01:00.399 A very dream cup of coffee. Right. We are going 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.079 to explore how a man can spend less than four 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:05.939 months, literally just a single summer. at the 00:01:05.939 --> 00:01:08.579 absolute pinnacle of his profession, and yet 00:01:08.579 --> 00:01:11.579 have that brief window define a legacy that stretched 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:15.260 across nearly a century. And to truly grasp the 00:01:15.260 --> 00:01:18.159 weight of Red Morgan's story, you have to first 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.700 look at the boundaries of his life. The timeline 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.299 is just... His overarching timeline is staggering. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:27.140 He was born on October 6, 1883, and he died on 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:31.439 March 25, 1981. Wow. He lived to be 97 years 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:33.590 old. Yeah. And I want you to just sit with that 00:01:33.590 --> 00:01:35.269 for a moment. Just consider the sheer volume 00:01:35.269 --> 00:01:38.230 of human progress contained within those two 00:01:38.230 --> 00:01:40.409 dates. It's almost hard to comprehend. I mean, 00:01:40.409 --> 00:01:42.969 think about the world in the fall of 1883. You 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:45.590 are looking at a society largely powered by steam 00:01:45.590 --> 00:01:47.650 and horses. Right. The internal combustion engine 00:01:47.650 --> 00:01:50.049 was barely a thought. Exactly. The Brooklyn Bridge 00:01:50.049 --> 00:01:52.109 had literally just opened that year. The first 00:01:52.109 --> 00:01:54.129 skyscrapers were barely a concept. And then look 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:56.049 at 1981. It's a completely different planet. 00:01:56.230 --> 00:01:58.569 We had put men on the moon a dozen years prior 00:01:58.569 --> 00:02:00.870 to that. The space shuttle Columbia made its 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:03.010 first orbital flight. in the spring of 1981? 00:02:03.409 --> 00:02:06.049 Red Morgan lived through the dawn of human flight, 00:02:06.250 --> 00:02:08.889 the invention of the automobile, the entirety 00:02:08.889 --> 00:02:11.289 of two world wars. The Great Depression. The 00:02:11.289 --> 00:02:12.789 Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, 00:02:12.949 --> 00:02:15.150 the birth of the personal computer. He essentially 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:17.889 watched the world get entirely rewritten from 00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:21.110 scratch several times over. He really did. And 00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:24.849 within that massive, sprawling epic of a 97 year 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:27.969 life, the thing that etched his name into the 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:31.610 permanent historical record lasted for just 88 00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:37.550 days. 88 days out of 97 years. Yeah. But before 00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:39.650 we get to those 88 days, we have to look at the 00:02:39.650 --> 00:02:41.469 foundation he built. Yeah. Because he wasn't 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:43.349 just some guy who stumbled onto a major league 00:02:43.349 --> 00:02:46.409 field. No, far from it. Red Morgan was a native 00:02:46.409 --> 00:02:50.189 of Neola, Iowa. A Midwest guy. Yeah. And he cultivated 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:53.210 this highly prestigious academic and athletic 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:55.169 background that really, I mean, it set him apart 00:02:55.169 --> 00:02:57.210 from a lot of the rough and tumble ballplayers 00:02:57.210 --> 00:02:59.930 of his era. He attended and played baseball at 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:01.889 both the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown 00:03:01.889 --> 00:03:04.729 University. Which is wild. Having that kind of 00:03:04.729 --> 00:03:07.110 dual collegiate pedigree at the turn of the 20th 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:09.770 century, that is remarkable. Yeah, it wasn't 00:03:09.770 --> 00:03:12.569 the norm. Not at all. College athletics at that 00:03:12.569 --> 00:03:14.930 time were fiercely competitive, but they were 00:03:14.930 --> 00:03:16.770 also a marker of a certain kind of discipline. 00:03:17.469 --> 00:03:19.770 you know, a strategic understanding of the game. 00:03:19.930 --> 00:03:22.210 He was getting reps at high -level institutions, 00:03:22.490 --> 00:03:25.610 learning the intellectual side of baseball alongside 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:27.770 just the physical mechanics of it. And he also 00:03:27.770 --> 00:03:30.169 spent time grinding it out on the amateur circuit, 00:03:30.310 --> 00:03:32.229 right? Oh, yeah. During his time in the Midwest, 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:34.590 he played for an amateur club called the Neola 00:03:34.590 --> 00:03:36.830 Aarons. And the thing you have to understand 00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:40.090 is that the Nyala Arons weren't just some neighborhood 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:42.409 pickup team. Right. They were a big deal. They 00:03:42.409 --> 00:03:44.830 were widely considered one of the absolute top 00:03:44.830 --> 00:03:47.490 amateur clubs of their time. The amateur and 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:50.090 semi -pro circuits back then were incredibly 00:03:50.090 --> 00:03:53.210 intense. You had entire towns staking their pride 00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:56.110 on these games. It was fierce. So Morgan was 00:03:56.110 --> 00:03:58.849 forged in a very competitive fire long before 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:01.310 he ever turned professional. We also have a surprisingly 00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:03.430 clear picture of him physically, which is interesting. 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:06.099 Oh, yeah. The records. Right. The administrative 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:08.879 records from that era captured his exact build. 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:12.139 He stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed in 00:04:12.139 --> 00:04:15.599 at 180 pounds. Very solid. And we know he threw 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.110 the ball right -handed. It paints a picture of 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:21.089 a solid, sturdy athlete, well -built for the 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:23.930 rigors of the early 1900s game. Oh, and this 00:04:23.930 --> 00:04:26.449 is my favorite part of the whole story, tucked 00:04:26.449 --> 00:04:28.949 right alongside those highly specific physical 00:04:28.949 --> 00:04:32.629 metrics, is this massive, glaring omission in 00:04:32.629 --> 00:04:34.850 the historical record. It's so funny. We know 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:37.149 his height. We know his weight to the exact pound. 00:04:37.250 --> 00:04:39.689 We know his throwing arm. But it is completely, 00:04:39.829 --> 00:04:42.810 totally unknown which side of the plate he batted 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:45.610 from. We have no idea. None. It is a profound 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:47.459 paradox. when you really think about it. It really 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:50.060 is. You have a man who reached the absolute highest 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:53.259 tier of his profession. The administrative bureaucracy 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:56.060 of Major League Baseball diligently logged his 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:58.879 birth date, his physical dimensions, eventually 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.540 his date of death. They tracked every single 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:03.319 time he stepped up to the plate. Every single 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.579 one. Yet the human element, the actual physical 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:08.639 stance he took, whether he looked at the pitcher 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:11.160 from the left side, the right side, or both, 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:14.569 has completely vanished from human memory. It 00:05:14.569 --> 00:05:17.509 is like looking at a brilliantly detailed painting 00:05:17.509 --> 00:05:20.629 where someone has just accidentally spilled a 00:05:20.629 --> 00:05:23.230 drop of solvent right over the subject's face. 00:05:23.310 --> 00:05:25.589 That's a great way to put it. It forces you to 00:05:25.589 --> 00:05:29.790 consider what society chooses to preserve versus 00:05:29.790 --> 00:05:32.689 what slips away. Right. We are so obsessed with 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:35.370 quantifiable data, you know, height, weight, 00:05:35.509 --> 00:05:38.540 dates. But the qualitative details, the kinetic 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.100 reality of how a person actually moved through 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:43.379 the world, those things are incredibly fragile. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:45.720 They disappear so fast. It makes you wonder what 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.259 vivid everyday realities of our current lives 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:50.259 are going to completely evaporate from the historical 00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:52.759 record a century from now, simply because no 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:54.459 one thought to write them down in the official 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:56.660 ledger. Exactly. Like we just assume someone 00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:59.000 will remember, but they don't. No, they don't. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:01.410 Well, regardless of how he held the bat. The 00:06:01.410 --> 00:06:03.430 results he got with it eventually pushed him 00:06:03.430 --> 00:06:06.569 into the professional ranks. After his collegiate 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:09.870 and amateur days, Morgan took a crucial stepping 00:06:09.870 --> 00:06:13.490 stone into the minor leagues. In 1905, he suited 00:06:13.490 --> 00:06:15.910 up for the Providence Clam Diggers. The Clam 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:18.610 Diggers, a team name that perfectly captures 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:21.430 the hyper -local flavor of early 20th century 00:06:21.430 --> 00:06:24.250 minor league baseball. It's the best name. It 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.670 really is. And the Providence Clam Diggers served 00:06:26.670 --> 00:06:28.990 as the immediate launching pad for the most defining 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:32.180 summer of his life. Because following that 1905 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:34.959 campaign in Providence, Morgan was acquired by 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:38.500 the Major Leagues. June 20th, 1906. That is the 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:40.620 day Red Morgan made his Major League Baseball 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:43.160 debut with the Boston Americans. A huge day. 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:45.899 But looking at the roster situation for Boston 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:47.660 that summer, it doesn't look like they just needed 00:06:47.660 --> 00:06:49.879 an extra guy on the bench to eat up some innings. 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:52.459 No, no, no. The context of his arrival is everything 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:55.500 here. Morgan was brought into a high -stakes... 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.540 crisis management situation. Right. He was called 00:06:58.540 --> 00:07:01.180 up specifically to replace Jimmy Collins. And 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:03.339 Collins wasn't just the third baseman. He was 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:05.620 the player manager of the Boston Americans. Literally 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:08.560 the boss. Collins had suffered an injury, which 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.579 left a massive crater in the organization. They 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:13.319 didn't just lose their infielder. They lost their 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:15.480 on -field general, you know, the architect of 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.540 their game plan. So put yourself into Red Morgan's 00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:20.709 cleats for a second here. Oh, man. You are a 00:07:20.709 --> 00:07:22.930 22 -year -old kid fresh off a stint with the 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:25.649 Clam Diggers. You walk into a major league clubhouse 00:07:25.649 --> 00:07:28.970 in the summer of 1906, surrounded by hardened 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:31.670 veterans. Those who've been around. Yeah. And 00:07:31.670 --> 00:07:34.529 your assignment isn't just to survive major league 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:37.250 pitching. Your assignment is to physically stand 00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:40.370 in the spot vacated by the manager. You are taking 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:42.750 over the defensive responsibilities of the guy 00:07:42.750 --> 00:07:45.290 who runs the team. The psychological weight of 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:47.939 that must have been suffocating. Seriously. Every 00:07:47.939 --> 00:07:50.160 veteran in the dugout, every reporter in the 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:54.160 stands, every fan holding a scorecard is scrutinizing 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:56.839 your every move. They're comparing you to a beloved 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:00.000 player manager. Exactly. If you bobble a ground 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.060 ball, if you strike out looking, you aren't just 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:05.579 a struggling rookie. You are the guy feeling 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:08.319 to fill Jimmy Collins' shoes. But he managed 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.759 to shoulder that weight. Let's look at the exact 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:13.560 window of time he spent in the majors. His career 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:17.120 started on that debut day, June 20, 1906, and 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:19.220 his final appearance in a major league uniform 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:22.540 fell exactly on his 23rd birthday. October 6, 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:25.660 1906. Right. A timeline of roughly three and 00:08:25.660 --> 00:08:29.420 a half months, a grand total of 88 games played 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:31.980 at the absolute highest level of the sport. And 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:35.519 over those 88 games, Red Morgan accumulated 307 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:38.779 at -bats. Out of those 307 trips to the plate, 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:42.159 he secured 66 hits. That leaves him with a career 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.320 batting average of .215. Okay. He also scored 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.639 20 runs. Now, if you view a .215 batting average 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:50.840 through a modern lens, it's pretty easy to dismiss 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:52.860 it as mediocre. Right. Today, that might get 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:55.059 you sent back down. Exactly. But you have to 00:08:55.059 --> 00:08:58.320 contextualize those 66 hits within the realities 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.059 of 1906. The dead ball era. This was the heart 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:02.779 of the dead ball era. Pitchers were practically 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:04.899 weaponizing the baseball. Oh, it was brutal. 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:07.379 It was scuffed. It was covered in tobacco juice 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:09.820 and dirt. It was soft by the third inning. Hitting 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:12.500 a baseball in 1906 was an entirely different 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:14.700 physical challenge than it is today. You couldn't 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.139 even see the ball half the time. Right. So managing 00:09:17.139 --> 00:09:19.980 66 hits against the premier pitching of that 00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:22.600 era, under the crushing pressure of replacing 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.480 the player manager, that is a testament to genuine 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:28.159 skill. And when he did connect, he wasn't just 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.720 slapping singles. Out of those 66 hits, he tallied 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:35.419 six doubles, three triples, and exactly one major 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:38.200 league home run. What home run? Just one. And 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:41.919 he also drove in 21 RBIs and swiped seven stolen 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.299 bases. That single home run is a fascinating 00:09:45.299 --> 00:09:48.179 data point. Isn't it? In the dead ball era, hitting 00:09:48.179 --> 00:09:50.080 the ball out of the park was a rare monumental 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.480 feat of strength and timing. Very few players 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.210 hit for power back then. For Morgan to register 00:09:56.210 --> 00:09:58.470 a home run means he had the capacity to genuinely 00:09:58.470 --> 00:10:01.590 drive the ball. He had real pop. He did. And 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:03.809 the stolen bases indicate he had the speed and 00:10:03.809 --> 00:10:06.509 the baseball IQ to read elite pitchers and catchers. 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:09.350 He was providing a multidimensional contribution 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:11.909 to the Boston Americans. He wasn't a superstar 00:10:11.909 --> 00:10:14.230 carrying the franchise, obviously, but he proved 00:10:14.230 --> 00:10:16.769 empirically that he belonged on that field. He 00:10:16.769 --> 00:10:19.090 was a legitimate Major League Baseball player. 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:21.460 But, you know, the reality of professional sports 00:10:21.460 --> 00:10:24.679 is that circumstances can shift instantly, entirely 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.240 outside of your control. Always. And for Red 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:29.480 Morgan, the end of his time in the majors was 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:32.860 incredibly abrupt. Moving into the 1907 season, 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:36.320 Jimmy Collins returned from his injury. Yep, 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.980 the power dynamics in Boston shifted again. The 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:41.759 boss was back. The boss was back. Collins actually 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.559 stepped down from his managerial duties in 1907, 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:47.610 but he wasn't ready to retire from playing. He 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:49.970 wanted his spot at third base back. Naturally. 00:10:50.190 --> 00:10:53.009 And the Boston Americans gave the veteran his 00:10:53.009 --> 00:10:55.230 spot. Red Morgan was squeezed out of the lineup 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:57.029 and he never appeared in a major league game 00:10:57.029 --> 00:11:00.009 ever again. Just like that. His 88 game window 00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:03.269 snapped shut right at the dawn of his 23rd year. 00:11:03.710 --> 00:11:05.929 And this is the moment in the story that I think 00:11:05.929 --> 00:11:09.549 reveals Morgan's core character. How so? Well, 00:11:09.549 --> 00:11:12.259 how do you respond? When you reach the summit 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:15.100 of your lifelong ambition, you perform capably 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:18.019 under immense pressure, and then you get pushed 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:19.879 back down the mountain. Not because you failed, 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:22.320 but simply because the old guard wanted their 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.360 seat back. It would be so easy to just be crushed 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.779 by that. You can become embittered. You can walk 00:11:27.779 --> 00:11:30.059 away from the game entirely. Yeah. Morgan did 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:32.759 neither. He pivoted, and he kept working. He 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.360 really did. Following his departure from Boston, 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.379 he joined the Montreal Royals of the International 00:11:37.379 --> 00:11:40.179 League. Right. He also had an association with 00:11:40.179 --> 00:11:42.919 Plattsburgh baseball during this post -Major 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:46.059 League phase. But the most revealing detail about 00:11:46.059 --> 00:11:48.100 his time in Montreal isn't just that he kept 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:51.299 playing. During that 1907 season with the Royals, 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:53.919 Morgan actually served as the team's interim 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:55.879 manager. Which is, just think about the timeline 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:58.960 we just established. It's crazy. His last Major 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.700 League game was on his 23rd birthday in October 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:05.379 of 1906. That means when he is stepping in to 00:12:05.379 --> 00:12:09.100 manage the Montreal Royals in 1907, he is at 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:13.059 most 23 or 24 years old. Managing a professional 00:12:13.059 --> 00:12:15.679 minor league baseball team at 23. It's absurd. 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:17.860 You are looking at a clubhouse full of grown 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:21.120 men, career minor leaguers, guys who are older, 00:12:21.259 --> 00:12:23.620 more cynical, and way more experienced than you. 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.000 It requires an immense amount of gravitas to 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:27.639 stand in front of that room and command respect. 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:30.480 It really does. It suggests that Morgan possessed 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.320 a brilliant tactical baseball mind. The organizations 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.500 he played for recognized his leadership qualities 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:40.580 immediately. It also stands to reason that he 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.240 absorbed a tremendous amount of knowledge during 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.799 his brief time in Boston, just watching how Jimmy 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:48.419 Collins operated. Oh, absolutely. Taking notes 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.269 the whole time. Morgan took the crushing disappointment 00:12:51.269 --> 00:12:54.389 of losing his major league roster spot and channeled 00:12:54.389 --> 00:12:57.169 it into becoming a leader of men before his 25th 00:12:57.169 --> 00:12:59.730 birthday. It is a remarkable display of resilience. 00:12:59.950 --> 00:13:02.110 It is. But, you know, eventually the playing 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:04.610 days and the managing days fade away. The timeline 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:08.009 marches on. Life happens. Let's fast forward 00:13:08.009 --> 00:13:10.169 through the decades and trace the final act of 00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:12.549 his life. Morgan eventually transitions away 00:13:12.549 --> 00:13:15.179 from baseball and settles in New York City. He 00:13:15.179 --> 00:13:16.940 lives through the Roaring Twenties, the Depression, 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:19.600 the mid -century boom, all the way into the modern 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.500 era. As we noted at the top. Right. And he passes 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:25.740 away in New York on March 25, 1981, at the age 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:29.299 of 97. He is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery. But 00:13:29.299 --> 00:13:32.220 the way his life ends is what elevates this from 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:34.620 just an interesting piece of sports trivia into 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:37.919 something deeply profound. Yeah. Decades after 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.360 he last laced up a pair of cleats or filled out 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.519 a lineup card, Morgan achieved the ultimate record. 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:48.220 From April 12, 1979, all the way until his death 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:51.919 on March 25, 1981, Red Morgan held the title 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.919 of the oldest recognized verified living former 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.419 Major League Baseball player. And this title, 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:01.600 it carries a very specific revered lineage in 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:03.759 the sports world. It's a very exclusive club. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.779 It is a crown that gets passed down through the 00:14:05.779 --> 00:14:09.129 generations. Red Morgan inherited the title of 00:14:09.129 --> 00:14:11.789 oldest living player from a man named Sam Edmonston 00:14:11.789 --> 00:14:15.009 in April of 1979. He carried that distinction 00:14:15.009 --> 00:14:17.950 for nearly two full years. And when Morgan passed 00:14:17.950 --> 00:14:20.710 away in 1981, the title transferred to a man 00:14:20.710 --> 00:14:23.190 named Jack Snyder. It functions like this unintended 00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.769 monarchy based entirely on endurance. That's 00:14:25.769 --> 00:14:27.990 a perfect way to describe it. There is a beautiful, 00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:31.149 almost haunting poetry to it. Red Morgan's actual 00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:33.149 major league career, the time he spent fielding 00:14:33.149 --> 00:14:35.269 grounders, taking swings, stealing bases, lasted 00:14:35.269 --> 00:14:37.750 just 88 days in the summer of 1906. It's just 00:14:37.750 --> 00:14:40.289 a flash. But that tiny microscopic fraction of 00:14:40.289 --> 00:14:42.149 his life earned him a prestigious distinction 00:14:42.149 --> 00:14:45.149 73 years later, simply by virtue of outliving 00:14:45.149 --> 00:14:47.269 his entire generation. It's amazing. I mean, 00:14:47.269 --> 00:14:50.570 by 1981, the game of baseball was unrecognizable 00:14:50.570 --> 00:14:52.889 from the sport Morgan played. Completely different. 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:55.710 It was the era of massive concrete artificial 00:14:55.710 --> 00:14:59.429 turf stadiums. Players had multi -million dollar 00:14:59.429 --> 00:15:02.470 television contracts. The designated hitter rule 00:15:02.470 --> 00:15:05.049 had been in place for nearly a decade. And yet 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:07.669 the oldest living tether to the major leagues 00:15:07.669 --> 00:15:11.029 was a man who played when players left their 00:15:11.029 --> 00:15:13.029 gloves on the field between innings. I always 00:15:13.029 --> 00:15:15.490 forget they did that. Right. When the ball was 00:15:15.629 --> 00:15:18.690 practically black with dirt, and when a .215 00:15:18.690 --> 00:15:20.490 batting average was enough to keep you in the 00:15:20.490 --> 00:15:23.190 lineup, he became a living ghost of a game that 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:25.730 no longer existed. It perfectly ties the entire 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:28.669 97 -year journey together. It really does. We 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:31.129 followed a kid from Neola, Iowa through the elite 00:15:31.129 --> 00:15:32.950 academic halls of Notre Dame and Georgetown. 00:15:33.289 --> 00:15:35.889 We saw him battle in the amateur ranks with the 00:15:35.889 --> 00:15:38.350 Neola Aarons and catch his break with the Providence 00:15:38.350 --> 00:15:40.730 Clam Diggers. A Clam Digger. We watched him step 00:15:40.730 --> 00:15:43.769 into an impossible situation, replacing the player 00:15:43.769 --> 00:15:46.460 manager of the 19... 1906 Boston Americans and 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.080 holding his own for 88 unforgettable games, scoring 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:53.000 20 runs, hitting a home run and proving he belonged. 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:55.559 We saw him pivot from a heartbreaking demotion 00:15:55.559 --> 00:15:58.559 to managing the Montreal Royals at just 23 years 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.220 old. And finally, we trapped him to New York 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:04.080 City, where a long life granted him the ultimate 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.840 crown of being the oldest living link to baseball's 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.500 distant past. It is a sweeping narrative hidden 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:11.720 within a very small set of statistics. Really 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.299 is. I want you to think about the 88 days. Red 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.299 Morgan spent in the major leagues in 1906. For 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:19.720 the next 75 years of his life, through multiple 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:22.679 wars, through massive cultural shifts, through 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:24.899 the complete transformation of modern society, 00:16:25.299 --> 00:16:28.700 he was forever introduced, remembered, and defined 00:16:28.700 --> 00:16:31.980 as former major leaguer Red Morgan. That one 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:34.919 summer. That one summer. It makes you wonder 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:38.379 what small window of time, what brief project 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:40.940 or summer in your own life might end up being 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:43.379 the very thing history remembers you for a century 00:16:43.379 --> 00:16:46.019 from now. What a thought to leave on. Thank you 00:16:46.019 --> 00:16:48.059 so much for joining us for this deep dive today. 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:50.620 We love exploring these forgotten corners of 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:52.700 history with you and uncovering the massive stories 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:55.519 hiding inside the fine print. Until next time, 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.919 stay curious, and we will catch you on the next 00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:58.480 deep dive.