Jewel Winklemeyer Ens (August 24, 1889 – January 17, 1950) was an American

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and coach in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, Ens served 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 ...

as a utility infielder (1922–25), player-coach (1923–25), coach (1926–29; 1935–39) and manager (1929–31). He was a member of the

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

champion Pirates and their 1927 National League championship edition. He managed the Pirates from August 28, 1929, through the end of the season, leading them to a 176–167 record (.513) with two fifth-place finishes in the eight-team NL during his two full seasons as skipper. Ens also coached in the Majors for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1932),

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

(1933; 1941) and

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

(1934), and spent eight full seasons (1942–49) as manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, then the Reds' top

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

affiliate. During his 17-year active career (1908; 1910–25), Ens threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet, inches (1.8 m) tall and weighed . After a long career in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

, the native of St. Louis made his National League debut with the Pirates at age 32 in , appearing in a career-high 47

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

. For the next three seasons, he played a total of only 12 games, as he served as an aide to

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

manager Bill McKechnie. In 59 total big-league games and 186 at bats, Ens registered 54 hits, with eight doubles, four triples and one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

, hit off Wilbur Cooper of the

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 ...

on April 15, 1925, and sparking Pittsburgh to an 8–4 win.Information
at Retrosheet He drove in two of his career 24

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

that day. Ens succeeded Donie Bush as manager of the Pirates late in the 1929 season. Pittsburgh was in second place, but games behind the front-running Cubs, when the change happened. Under Ens, the Pirates won four out of five from the Cubs in a head-to-head series at

Forbes Field Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the fir ...

, trimming three games off Chicago's lead, but they ultimately finished the season as runners-up, games out, going 21–14 under Ens. During his two full seasons, and 1931, the Pirates posted 80–74 and 75–79 records, and Ens was replaced by George "Moon" Gibson for the campaign. In subsequent National League coaching assignments, he again assisted McKechnie in Boston and Cincinnati. After his coaching days, Ens enjoyed a successful, eight-year run as manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, making the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

playoffs five times and winning three (1942–43; 1947) Governors' Cup championships. He was still the incumbent manager and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the Chiefs when he died at age 60 in Syracuse, from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, in January 1950. He was elected to the International League Hall of Fame the year of his death.

References

External links

Lamb, Bill, ''Jewel Ens.''

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

Biography Project
The DeadballEra.com
– Jewel Ens obituary * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ens, Jewel 1889 births 1950 deaths American people of German descent Baseball players from St. Louis Boston Braves coaches Chattanooga Lookouts players Cincinnati Reds coaches Cincinnati Reds scouts Dallas Giants players Dallas Marines players Detroit Tigers coaches Houston Buffaloes managers Houston Buffaloes players Indianapolis Indians managers Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball second basemen Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pittsburgh Pirates managers Pittsburgh Pirates players Providence Grays players San Antonio Bronchos players Shreveport Pirates (baseball) players Syracuse Chiefs managers Syracuse Stars (AA) players