Charles Elmer Ponder (June 26, 1893 – April 20, 1974) was a professional

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He was a right-handed major league

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

(1917, 1919–21) with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. With the Pirates, he pitched a perfect innings of relief in his first outing of the year, against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

in the first game of a doubleheader on July 23; it would be 94 years until another member of the Pirates,

Vin Mazzaro Vincent Michael Mazzaro (born September 27, 1986) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Miami M ...

, threw 5 perfect innings of relief in 2013. In 1920, Ponder appeared in 33 games, with a record of 11–15. His

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) of 2.62, while not the best on the squad, was better than the team ERA of 2.89. He was an aviator and airplane mechanic in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1917 until the end of the war, and he returned to the Pirates a war hero. In 1921, he was doing well with an ERA of 2.19 in innings, when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. His ERA with them went up to 4.74. He was of

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

descent and played with other famous Indian players of his generation such as Ben Shaw, Moses Yellow Horse, Bill Marriot and Virgil Cheeves. He joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and served in World War I. For Elmer Ponder's baseball career, he compiled a 17–27 record, with a 3.21

, and 113

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in innings pitched. Ponder recalled playing an exhibition game in Cuba with

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

as being a post-career highlight, along with his providing financing to former Indian ballplayers from his self-started Ponder Finance company, during a time banks would not provide financing to minorities. His father had owned a bank in Magnum, Oklahoma. Ponder was alumnus of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, where he was a captain and second baseman of the baseball team and played for the basketball team. Ponder was born in Reed, Oklahoma. He married silent film organist, Zelpha Gledhill, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, and they had two children. Elmer Ponder had a successful automobile and finance company in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and he lived there with his wife, Zelpha, until his death at the age of 80.

References

External links

Elmer Ponder
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

(Baseball BioProject) 1893 births 1974 deaths Pittsburgh Pirates players Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Oklahoma Dallas Giants players Grand Rapids Champs players San Antonio Bronchos players Birmingham Barons players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Salt Lake City Bees players Portland Beavers players Oklahoma Sooners baseball players Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1890s-stub