Edward Francis Lafitte (April 7, 1886April 12, 1971) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played with the Detroit Tigers (1909–12),

Brooklyn Tip-Tops The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team's name came from Tip Top Bread, a product of Ward Baking Company, which was also owned by team owner Robert Ward. They were so ...

(1914–15), and

Buffalo Blues The Buffalo Blues were a professional baseball club that played in the short-lived Federal League, which was a minor league in 1913 and a full-fledged outlaw major league the next two years. It was the last major league baseball team to be bas ...

(1915). Born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

at his family's home located at 319

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

, he batted and threw right-handed.

Baseball career

Lafitte pitched for the Georgia Institute of Technology baseball team in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

. He also was a starter in the first intercollegiate basketball game ever played by Georgia Tech. He made his debut with the Detroit Tigers in 1909. After an 11-8 season with the 1911 Tigers, Lafitte told manager

Hughie Jennings Hugh Ambrose Jennings (April 2, 1869 – February 1, 1928) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won N ...

that he wanted to leave early the following season to resume dental school. Jennings told him if he left early to keep on going. Lafitte did. He became a dentist, but also pitched in the Federal League. Lafitte returned to baseball in 1914 as a member of the

of the fledgling

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

. That season he became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter without throwing a shutout in a 6-2 victory over the

Kansas City Packers The Kansas City Packers were a Federal League baseball club in Kansas City from 1914 to 1915. They finished sixth in 1914 with a 67–84 record, and fourth in 1915 with an 81–72 record. The Packers moved to Kansas City in July 1913 from Coving ...

on September 19. In 1914, he split his final season between the Tip-Tops and the

Personal life

Lafitte served in the U.S. Army during both World Wars. Baseball helped him earn a degree in dentistry, and he practiced dentistry for 42 years in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, retiring in 1961. The

Jenkintown, Pennsylvania Jenkintown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Center City Philadelphia. History The community was named for William Jenkins, a Welsh pioneer settler. Jenkintown is located just ...

resident died at age 85 at his home and is buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery in

. Despite assertions by some authors to the contrary,Dewey, Donald & Acocella, Nicholas (1996). ''Ball Clubs''. HarperCollins Publishers. p. 104; Dewey, Donald & Arocella, Nicholas, ''Total Ballclubs'', (Toronto: Sport Classic Books, 2005), p. 126 Ed Lafitte was not a descendant of the famed New Orleans

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

. Ed Lafitte was the son of James Arnauld Lafitte (born March 31, 1846 in Charleston, South Carolina; died March 16, 1907 in Atlanta, Georgia), who was the son of John Baptiste Lafitte (born June 24, 1822 in Augusta, Georgia; died May 21, 1887 in New Orleans, Louisiana), who was the son of James Bertrand Lafitte (born October 16, 1770 in Tartas, France; died November 13, 1838 in Charleston, South Carolina). Since the pirate

's life span was c.1776-c.1823, it is not possible that Ed Lafitte was his descendant. It is unknown if they were more distantly related.

Notes

References

*Dewey, Donald & Acocella, Nicholas (1996). Ball Clubs. HarperCollins Publishers. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafitte, Ed 1886 births 1971 deaths American people of French descent Baseball players from New Orleans Major League Baseball pitchers Detroit Tigers players Brooklyn Tip-Tops players Buffalo Blues players American dentists Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball players Jersey City Skeeters players Providence Grays (minor league) players Rochester Bronchos players Atlanta Crackers players United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army personnel of World War II Marist School (Georgia) alumni Burials at Ivy Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) 20th-century dentists United States Army officers

Baseball career

Personal life

See also

Notes

References

External links