LJ baseball: Ed Olsen

Ed Olsen, he of the Babe Ruth and
Ty Cobb baseballs.

By Ed Piper

"My last name is from Norway. It's spelled with an 'e' instead of an 'o' at the end," said Ed Olsen, a member of the La Jolla High Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as the California Community College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.

"He's one of the true legends," chipped in Howard Frank of the veteran retired professional coach as Frank, the present Viking baseball coach's father, operated the scoreboard at the 25th Annual Alumni Game Sat., March 1. Among other stints, Olsen coached at Grossmont College for 22 years.

"Do you want to pick up a (Babe) Ruth ball?" Olsen asked a reporter. Heck, yeah. "Do you want to pick up a (Ty) Cobb ball?" Oh, yeah. This will be possible on a visit to the retired coach's home in Santee.

"Cobb never wore a number," asserted Olsen, who was a manager in the San Diego Padres' organization in 1983 and who managed in the New York Mets' organization, as well. "(Jack) Graney of the Cleveland Indians was the first player to wear number three." A reporter protested that he had read the Bronx Bombers of Babe Ruth fame were the first team to wear uniform numbers, and that that was how Ruth, batting third, got number three. (Online sources state the 1916 Indians were first.)

Olsen went on to name the Yankees in order by uniform number, which corresponded to their place in the batting order: "One, Earle Combs." (The reporter was right, Olsen wrong, over the "e" at the end of his first name.) "Two, Mark Koenig. Three, Ruth. Four, Lou Gehrig. Five, Bob Meusel. Six, Tony Lazzeri. Seven, Joe Dugan. Eight, Benny Bengough." The ninth slot was the pitcher, who changed each day according to the pitching rotation.

An interesting bit of trivia derived from the Internet is that Bengough, though a backup catcher to star Bill Dickey, started on Opening Day of 1929, and that's when the jersey numbers were assigned.