In January of 1913, as Harry Monroe Welchonce was preparing for his fourth attempt to stick with a major league club, The Washington Herald said:
“Welchonce is one of the most unfortunate young men that ever tried to get a steady job in the majors.”
He did not make his professional debut until he was 25-years-old. He worked as a telegraph operator for the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad while playing amateur ball in Pennsylvania until 1909 when he signed to play with the Steubenville Stubs in the Ohio-Pennsylvania League.
Harry Welchonce
A .321 hitter over seven minor league seasons, Welchonce was purchased by three major league teams—The Phillies, Dodgers, and Senators—and went to spring training at least five times with big league teams, but earned just one 26-game trial with Phillies in 1911. He hit just .212 and made two errors in 17 games.
After failing to make the Senators in 1912, he hit a Southern Association leading .333 for the Nashville Volunteers, earning himself another spring trial with Washington. The Washington Times said of him:
“(Welchonce) is said to have the abilities of a major leaguer without the inside adornment. In other words, he is easily disheartened. This is said to have caused his failure with the Phillies three years ago.”
While under the headline “Welchonce is Hard Luck Guy,” The Herald attempted to explain his big league failures:
“Welchonce is one of the most unfortunate young men that ever tried to get a steady job in the majors. He has always batted for more than .300 in the minor leagues, and he has the natural speed and ability to make good in the majors.
“Welchonce is a telegraph operator, and his hard luck really dates from several summers ago. He was seated at his key at Indiana, PA, one afternoon, when a thunderstorm came up. A bolt of lightning shattered a tree outside his office and he was a long time recovering from the shock…He joined the Phillies (in 1910), and his dashy work made a big hit in the training camp at Southern Pines (North Carolina)
“The team had been there only about a week when lightning struck the hotel and a ball of fire ran down into a room in which Johnny Bates, Welchonce, (Lou) Schettler, and (Jim) Moroney were sleeping. The players were all badly scared, and the shock was such that Welchonce did not get over it.”
A contemporary account of the incident in The Philadelphia Inquirer said all four players were badly shaken and that “Welchonce was the first to recover his speech.” The Associated Press said all four players “were covered with plaster and debris from the ceiling,” and that Schettler “could not talk for two hours.”
Adding to Welchonce’s woes in 1910 was an injured shoulder, or as The Philadelphia North American put it: “(He) still plays with a wrenched shoulder and it affects the fleet youngster’s batting. He can only get a very ladylike swing at the sphere.”
The Phillies sent Welchonce to the South Bend Bronchos in the Central League. He hit .315, leading South Bend to the pennant.
The Times picked up the story:
“(In 1911) he took the training trip to Birmingham, Alabama (with the Phillies).Again it looked as if Harry would give (John) Titus a hard battle for right field honors. Then came more hard luck. One of Earl Moore’s cross-fire slants struck Welchonce in the head, and Harry went to a hospital in Birmingham for several days. “
The contemporary account in The Inquirer said that he did not lose consciousness, but “was sick to his stomach,” and quoted a doctor saying he suffered from “nervous shock.” When he was released from the hospital three days later, the paper said, “He looks weak and colorless.”
He failed to make the Senators again in 1913 and was released to the Atlanta Crackers in the Southern Association again and led the league with a .338.
Welchonce returned to Atlanta in 1914, and so did his “hard luck.”
He was hospitalized at the end of the April with pneumonia and was out for much of May. By late June, The Atlanta Constitution said he was “Back in Stride,” and he was again hitting above .300. But his season came to end in August when he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. The Atlanta Journal said he “Went to Ashville, North Carolina for the mountain air,” and treatment.
Atlanta held a benefit game and various other fundraisers and presented Welchonce with a check for $883.10.
Welchonce recovered, but not enough to rejoin the Crackers the following season. He returned to his job with the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad and managed the company’s baseball team.
He returned to pro ball in 1915, accepting an offer from the to be player-manager of the Texas League club.
Welchonce, 1915
He played fairly well, hitting .297, but the Giants were a last place club and Welchonce became ill again in August and retired from professional baseball.
He again returned to the railroad and management of the company baseball team until 1920, when poor health necessitated a move to the West. He settled first in Denver where he was employed as an accountant, and later Arcadia, California where “Hard Luck” Harry lived to age 93. He died in 1977.
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Tags: Atlanta Crackers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Central League, Dallas Giants, Harry Welchonce, Jim Moroney, Johnny Bates, Lou Schettler, Nashville Volunteers, Ohio-Pennsylvania League, Philadelphia Phillies, South Bend Bronchos, Southern Association, Steubenville Stubs, Texas League, Washington Senators
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