A 1952 photo of 80-year-old Bill “Brick” Devereaux holding a picture of the 1898 Santa Cruz club in the Pacific Coast League.
The Oakland Tribune said Devereaux was able to remember the first and last names of every player in the photo “but one, Cristall, a pitcher.”
Devereaux said the other ten players, in addition to him and Cristall, were Jack “Ike” Walters, Lyle Gorton, Charles “Buck” Francks, Ernest “Kid” Mohler, Julius Streib, Bill Dunleavy, Pete Lohman, George “Hardy” Hodson, Walter “Judge” McCredie, Henry “Smilin'” Schmidt.
Devereaux who spent 1894 and ’95 primarily as a pitcher for teams in Lincoln, Nebraska and Troy, Kansas, told the paper after those two seasons he ‘refused to go east again,” and spent the next 17 seasons playing for California based clubs. He only left the state to play for a team once, spending his final year in pro ball, 1914, in Calgary, Canada.
Devereaux was something of an eccentric during his playing day. Del Howard told a story about Devereaux, late in his career, to The San Francisco Call in 1921:
“Brick swiped six bases during the battle (against the San Francisco Seals) and promptly claimed a world record. ‘Not bad for an old man, eh?’ He chuckled.
“(Seals Manager) Danny Long, sitting on the Frisco bench shouted over ‘Record, where do you get that stuff? When I was with the Baltimore Orioles I stole seven bases myself in one game. Read it up.'”
Howard said Devereaux “grew red as a beet,” but didn’t respond.
“Next day, when he came up for the first time, Devereaux hit an easy grounder to short and was out at first base by 20 feet. Instead of stopping, he turned first at full speed, dashed for the Frisco bench and slid feet foremost into the visitors’ pile of bats scattering them in all directions and throwing dust and cinders in Long’s face.
“Brick rose and carefully brushed off his uniform.
“Well, I’m the best base stealer in Alameda County, anyway, Danny.”
Note: In the original posting, I misidentified the team shown as the 1902 Oakland Clamdiggers–I misread a caption on an old newspaper photograph. Thanks for the sharp eye of Jeff Dunn from Santa Cruz who brought the error to my attention.
Baseball History Daily 