George Frazee
George Donald Frazee, listed on Baseball Reference as “G. Frazee” with the Shreveport Sports in the Texas League in 1928, was a three-sport star at Texas Christian University.
Born November 21, 1904 in Fort Worth, Texas, Frazee played outfield for the baseball team, halfback and fullback with the football team, and was a guard on the basketball team from 1923-1925. After graduation he played basketball with a team representing the Fort Worth, Texas YMCA which played throughout the Southwest and Mexico.
It’s unclear where Frazee played baseball in 1926 and ’27, but in 1928 he started the season with the San Angelo Red Snappers in the West Texas League, there are no surviving statistics for his time there, but after being transferred to Shreveport he hit .301 in 32 games. Frazee signed with Shreveport for the following season.
On January 24, 1929 Frazee was flying from Ft. Worth with World War I flyer Willoughby Alvous “Al” Henley and another Fort Worth man, to attend the opening celebration for San Angelo’s new airport. The United Press wire story said:
“Tragedy marred the formal opening of the municipal airport today, claiming the life of Al Henley…one of the nation’s most skilled pilots. Henley, Donald Frazee, professional baseball player, and W.E. Shytles…were killed when their cabin monoplane crashed in an attempted landing.”
The Brownsville Herald said:
“He was an outfielder, fast, big and aggressive. Shreveport lost an outfielder who was certain to make good this year.”
Chief Wano
William “Chief” Wano was born on Oklahoma’s Pottawatomie reservation on May 12, 1896. He played semi-pro ball in Oklahoma City and in the army while serving with the 79th Infantry, 15th Division at Camp Logan, Texas. After his discharge in early 1919 the twenty-three-year-old began his professional career with the Tulsa Oilers in the Western League.
Wano struggled during his first season, hitting just .195, but joined the Little Rock Travelers in the Southern Association the following season—and along with fellow Oklahoman, and former classmate and teammate at the Chilocco Indian School– Moses “Chief” Yellow Horse; he helped lead Little Rock to the pennant.
William Wano, back, fourth from right, at Chilocco Indian School
Wano was a consistent hitter throughout the 1920s (.317 in 11 seasons in class-A leagues), but was an erratic fielder and never made it to the major leagues.
After hitting .331 for the St. Joseph Saints in the Western League in 1930 Wano left organized baseball, first playing semi-pro then he accepted a position managing Ben Harjo’s All-Indian Baseball Club—Harjo was a millionaire and full-blooded Creek. The team, based in Harjo’s hometown Holdenville, Oklahoma, barnstormed the Midwest and Southwest, and with Wano as player-manager won the Denver Post Tournament in July 1932.
Chief Wano
Wano quit two months later after a dispute over two players Wano signed. Harjo hired Jim Thorpe to manage the club the following season.
Wano moved to Dallas after his career. According to The United Press he spent World War II working at the North American Aircraft plant in Dallas, and living at the home of Kal Hill Segrist Sr., his former Dallas Steers teammate (and father of Kal Segrist, who played with the New York Yankees in 1952 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1955).
On July 30, 1945 Wano was in the Dallas City Jail (reports varied on why he was there), when according to The Dallas Times-Herald another prisoner “slugged Wano on the chin, Wano fell, striking his head on the concrete floor.” Other reports said Wano was trying to break up a fight when he was hit.
William “Chief” Wano died that night in Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. A month later a grand jury chose not to indict the man who threw the punch.
Gene Gaffney
Eugene “Gene” Gaffney was one of the better hitters in the Florida State League during his brief career (1920-23), he was also a manager’s nightmare.
Gaffney hit .335 in 60 games for the league champion Orlando Tigers in 1921, but was suspended for several days in July by Manager Joe Tinker.
The following season he joined the Jacksonville Indians, managed by former major leaguer George Stovall. The team struggled, and Gaffney, had his only sub .300 season, hitting just .277. And, according to The St. Petersburg Evening Independent, a car caused a major riff between the outfielder and his manager:
“Has a baseball player a right to ride to and from the park in his own automobile? George Stovall says no. He suspended Gene Gaffney because Gaffney had bought an automobile and insisted on being his own bus.
“Stovall insisted he should parade to the park in the team bus. Gaffney told Stovall to go jump; that if the team would win enough games so that he wouldn’t be ashamed to wear the uniform on parade it might be different. At last accounts Gaffney was off the ballclub, but riding his automobile to his own intents and purposes, while Stovall still was trying to get the rest of the Jacksonville team somewhere on the field.”
Gaffney played just one more season; he hit .357 for the Daytona Beach Islanders in 1923.
After baseball, Gaffney tended bar in Orlando until August 12, 1937—The Associated Press said:
“Gene Gaffney, about 43, local bartender who once led the old Florida State League in batting, was believed today to have been the victim of foul play.
“His automobile, its windshield shattered and other windows broken, was found mired in mud on the shores of an almost inaccessible lake just across the Orange County line in Seminole County, with evidence of a struggle having taken place.
“His eye glasses were found in the mud about 20 feet from the car.”
Gaffney’s body was found the following day. His death was ruled a homicide.
Baseball History Daily 
2 Responses to “Tragic Exits”