Lawrence P. Ressler (August 10, 1848 – June 12, 1918) was an American professional

baseball 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 ...

player.

Biography

Larry Ressler was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France on October 10, 1848, and came to the United States in 1857. He enlisted in the 213th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment at 14, and served for one year during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, before his mother arranged to have him discharged due to his age. Before playing baseball professionally, he worked as a molder. He was the captain and manager of the Reading Actives in the minor leagues, and for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

during the 1875 season. He was the first French-born

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 ...

player. In later life he managed hotels, and was a police sergeant and civil servant. He was active in Democratic politics. Larry Ressler died from

gastritis Gastritis is the inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It may occur as a short episode or may be of a long duration. There may be no symptoms but, when symptoms are present, the most common is upper abdominal pain (see dyspepsia). Othe ...

at St. Joseph's Hospital in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...

on June 12, 1918.

References

External links

Major League Baseball players from France Washington Nationals (NA) players 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen 1848 births 1918 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Erie (minor league baseball) players Sportspeople from Alsace-Lorraine Reading Actives players Union army soldiers {{US-baseball-outfielder-1840s-stub