Edward Siegfried Hengel (often misspelled Hengle during his career) was a well-known umpire and manager in the 1880s.
Born in 1855, Hengel managed the Union Association franchise that began the season in Chicago, and relocated to Pittsburgh in August, 1884. His career is occasionally confused with Emery “Moxie” Hengel (also often misspelled Hengle) who played second base for 1884 Chicago/Pittsburgh club, and had a long minor league career. (The two were born two years apart in Chicago, but there is no indication they were related).
Emery “Moxie” Hengel
In 1886 Ed Hengel was an umpire in the Southern Association. On August 5 he was working a game between Savannah and the Charleston Seagulls. The Macon (GA) Telegraph said, in the sixth inning:
“”At this point of the game it became apparent to the audience, as well as to the players of the local team, that Hengle (sic), the umpire, had sold the game to Savannah; but notwithstanding his adverse decisions, the locals kept the Savannah team down to one run till the end of the ninth inning. During the latter half of this inning (Hengel) gave the visitor three runs, letting them score in the following manner: (John “Tug”) Arundel was at the bat. There were two out. He hit a grounder to (Henry “Heinie”) Kappel who stopped it and threw it to first. Arundel had stopped running and left the line when (first baseman Jim) Powell failed to catch the ball”
Arundel then came back onto the field and ran to first, Hengel declared Arundel safe and a run scored; the next hitter, Joe Miller, drove in two more runs, to win the game for Charleston, 4 to 3
The Telegraph said:
“As soon as the crowd caught on to the steal the grand stand and bleaching boards emptied their male contents on the ground, and for five minutes (the umpire) was in danger of getting very badly hurt, if not killed, by the infuriated crowd.”
The management of the Charleston team helped keep the fans at bay until police arrived:
“It were (sic) best for (Hengel) to get transferred immediately as another disgraceful piece of umpiring will cost him some inconvenience. The people of Charleston will not stand another robbery.
“(Hengel) was scared nearly to death; he was as white as a sheet, and it is said begged the crowd, for God’s sake, not to kill him. He did not deny having sold the game when charged with it by a director of the baseball club after he was safe.”
Hengel did not work another game in Charleston that season.
In October of 1887 The Aurora (IL) Daily Express credited Hengel with signing “(Charlie) Hoover crack-backstop of the Western League” for the Chicago White Stockings—within weeks Hoover’s long series of troubles would begin.
Charlie Hoover
Hengel continued as an umpire, including stints in the Tri-State and Pacific Northwest Leagues, and minor league manager for the next decade. While managing the Hamilton (OH) club in the Tri-State League, Hengel saved a young girl from drowning, and “her grateful parents presented him a pair of diamond sleeve buttons.”
Hengel disappears from the newspapers after 1892; he died in Great Britain in 1927; presumably not at the hands of angry Charleston fans.
Note: Henry “Heinie” Kappel does not appear on surviving rosters for the 1886 Charleston Seagulls, but contemporaneous accounts in The Sporting Life and other newspapers confirm he was with the team.
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