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Hey, it's Jay Keith. And it's

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now! All right for this mini episode I

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have a little treat that tickled my heart

2:35

and I hope it does for you too.

2:37

But Helen I will say it does involve

2:39

going down a rabbit hole about baseball so

2:42

no worries if you want to duck out

2:44

of here and I can handle the rest.

2:46

Bye! Oh Helen! All right well here we

2:48

go. Okay, so this is a tale that

2:50

does involve baseball, but it really is more

2:52

about needing to know answers and about how

2:55

wonderful it is to connect with like-minded people,

2:57

some of whom have podcasts, who have a

2:59

passion for researching things that ultimately probably don't

3:01

matter, but also kind of do. So, as

3:03

y'all probably know, we started doing our podcast

3:05

for the radio, and when we did so,

3:08

we added an online quiz for our listeners

3:10

with trivia questions that you get to play

3:12

in each of our guest topics..com/go fact yourself.

3:14

You'll find a quiz for every new episode

3:16

that we release with a bonus trivia questions

3:18

that you get to play with. Anyhow, back

3:20

in October, we had one to write about

3:23

Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series game winning home

3:25

run, which was a topic of Josh McDermott

3:27

from the Walking Dead when he was a

3:29

guest on our show. I thought I would

3:31

start out and write an easy one asking

3:33

what was Kirk Gibson's nickname, which of course

3:36

was gibby. Well, so for each question we

3:38

write. We also had

3:40

a little fun fact

3:42

or frill as they

3:44

call it in the

3:46

game show biz And

3:49

I thought well, who

3:51

else had the nickname

3:53

Gibby because I had

3:55

heard it used other

3:57

times So I looked

3:59

through baseball reference comm

4:01

wonderful website And I

4:04

found seven players all

4:06

had been nicknamed Gibby

4:08

And I noticed that

4:10

all of them had

4:12

the last name of

4:14

Gibson except for John

4:17

Gibbons And then there

4:19

was another player named

4:21

Earl Pruis PRU

4:23

ESS and his nickname was also

4:25

Gibby and I wondered why did someone

4:27

named Earl Pruis have the nickname

4:29

Gibby, but all I found online

4:32

were more references to the fact that

4:34

Gibby was his actual nickname Including

4:36

an actual autograph with his using that

4:38

nickname, but no explanation as to

4:40

why so I thought this would be

4:42

the perfect question for my very

4:44

favorite podcast called effectively wild effectively wild

4:46

doesn't just cover the usual baseball

4:48

stories But it loves taking these odd

4:50

left turns and detours into anything

4:52

related to baseball culture and history And

4:54

since they also make episodes in

4:57

the off -season, which we were approaching

4:59

at the time When there is very

5:01

little actual baseball content to cover the

5:03

topics get really Beautifully weird and

5:05

it's one of my favorite things about

5:07

the show now We've had co -host

5:09

Meg Rowley on as a guest

5:11

on go factor self before and over

5:13

the years I had developed a

5:15

correspondence with her co -host Ben Lindberg

5:17

Usually when we're in a panic trying

5:19

to find a baseball expert and

5:21

he's been very helpful with that And

5:23

we've been able to help them

5:25

with some stuff as well. Anyhow so

5:27

on October 31st. I wrote this

5:29

to Ben Okay, Ben. It's time to

5:31

fill the podcast with questions for the

5:33

off -season According to baseball reference seven players

5:35

have been nicknamed Gibby all of whom

5:37

had the last name Gibson except for

5:39

John Gibbons and Earl Pruis. Why was

5:42

Earl Pruis nicknamed Gibby? I even saw

5:44

an autograph where he put his nickname

5:46

in quotes. Thanks. Jay Keith Stratty Van

5:48

Stratten So I sent that off the

5:50

topic left my mind completely and then

5:52

nearly a month later I think it

5:54

was the day after Thanksgiving no less.

5:56

I was blessed with hearing what you

5:58

are about to hear So buckle up

6:00

and enjoy. It's about 10 minutes and

6:03

then I'll come back and comment on

6:05

it. All right, just Ben here now

6:07

and I have one more email to

6:10

share with you. I wanted to read

6:12

this earlier even though I had no

6:14

answer then. I can't claim to have

6:17

a complete answer now either, but I've

6:19

come closer to an answer. I have

6:21

come closer to an answer. I have

6:24

fallen down a bit of a rabbit

6:26

hole. Thanks to listener and patron supporter

6:28

Jay Keith. According to baseball reference,

6:30

seven players have been nicknamed Gibby,

6:32

all of whom had the last

6:35

name Gibson, except for John Gibbons,

6:37

and Earl Pruce. Why was Earl

6:39

Pruce nicknamed Gibby? Now your first

6:41

question might be, who the heck

6:43

is Earl Prus? And that one

6:45

I can kind of answer. He

6:48

was essentially the moonlight gram of

6:50

the St. Louis Browns. He played

6:52

a single game for the Browns

6:54

in 1920, his age 25 season,

6:56

and the Browns had signed him

6:59

a couple months earlier. I found

7:01

an article in the Shreveport Journal, July

7:03

21st, 1920. Earl Prus to have trial

7:05

with Browns. Earl Prus, who as a

7:08

member of the Shreveport team. that the

7:10

St. Louis Browns have signed him for

7:12

a trial in fast company. Bruce hit

7:14

375 in the Louisiana League and became

7:17

one of the Little Circuit's leading ballhawks.

7:19

Proust came to Shreveport as a left-handed

7:21

batsman, but on the advice of Manager

7:24

Smith, switched his attack to the other

7:26

side of the plate in an effort

7:28

to put more punch in his hitting.

7:30

After leaving Shreveport, Proust again attempted to

7:32

alter his hitting style, but was so

7:35

helpless on a curveball that he switched

7:37

a second time that he switched a

7:39

second time and was a big success

7:41

as a right-hander. So September 15th, 1920

7:43

rolls around, the Browns are up big.

7:45

Some substitutes come to the play. with

7:47

future Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt on

7:49

the mound, he was wearing one that

7:51

day, and Proust drew a walk. And

7:53

even though the Browns were up by

7:55

12 runs, he and the man on

7:57

first did a double steal. A couple

7:59

batters later... Proust scored on an infield

8:01

single and that was that for his

8:04

Major League career. A perfect 1,000 OPP,

8:06

still a base, scored a run, credited

8:08

with 0.1 wins above replacement by baseball

8:11

reference, though zero at fan graphs, and

8:13

he never returned to the majors. Now

8:15

if you go to Earl Proust's baseball

8:18

reference, and he never returned to the

8:20

majors. Now if you go to Earl

8:22

Proust's baseball reference, you get Bob Gibson,

8:25

Kirk Gibson. Kyle Gibson, Charlie Gibson, Norwood

8:27

Gibson, John Gibbons, and Gibby Brack, given

8:29

name Gilbert. And then you have Earl

8:32

Pruce, Earl Henry Pruce, P-R-U-E-S-S-S. I probably

8:34

would have said Pruis, but I know

8:36

better now. Born in 1895 in Chicago,

8:38

died in 1979 in Missouri, how does

8:41

Earl Henry Pruce become gibby? Well I

8:43

did my usual searching in the newspaper

8:45

archives. I found articles about Earl Pruce,

8:48

I found articles about Earl Pruce, I

8:50

found some references, I found. the Hall

8:52

of Fame. I emailed some historians, including

8:55

John Thorne, official historian of MLB. I

8:57

bothered these baseball luminaries with the question

8:59

of why Earl Bruce, who played one

9:02

big league game more than a century

9:04

ago, was nicknamed Gibby, and no one

9:06

could answer the question. The Hall of

9:09

Fame library had books that contained the

9:11

nickname, but no explanation of the nickname.

9:13

John Thorne sent me Gibby's enlistment papers

9:16

for World War I. I have Earl

9:18

Bruce's social security number, but I do

9:20

not know why he went by he

9:23

went by Gibby. and he himself wrote

9:25

gibby in quotation marks. Now one of

9:27

the historians I emailed was Jacob Pumranki,

9:30

former effectively wild guest, and he pointed

9:32

out that Earl appears to have living

9:34

descendants. He suggested that one of them

9:36

might know something. His last living child

9:39

sadly died in 2018. He was also

9:41

named Earl Prus, and he went by

9:43

Dick. You might wonder, are non sequitur

9:46

nicknames a tradition in this family? Why

9:48

did that Earl Prus go by Dick?

9:50

Well, his middle name was Dixon, so

9:53

that was Dixon. started searching, trying to

9:55

find a phone number, other contact info.

9:57

for Amy Proust, Earl's granddaughter, found a

10:00

bunch of numbers that didn't work, found

10:02

one that went through, and I got

10:04

the voicemail, but there was no message.

10:07

So it was just a shot in

10:09

the dark, message in a bottle. I

10:11

left my message, I had no idea

10:14

whether I had the right number, and

10:16

then I was thrilled sometime later to

10:18

check my phone and hear this voicemail.

10:21

And I know I was given the

10:23

answer to this when I was a

10:25

child. I'm going to go through my

10:27

grandfather's sports memorabilia and see if I

10:30

can dig it up and I'll ask

10:32

my cousins as well because there was

10:34

a specific reason for it and

10:36

I just don't know it off the top

10:39

of my head. So let me do a

10:41

little research and get back to you. Thanks.

10:43

Bye. So bless Amy Prue, she got

10:45

this call out of the blue from

10:47

a complete stranger asking about her grandfather's

10:49

nickname, and she immediately started rummaging through

10:51

his papers, calling relatives, trying to determine

10:53

where the nickname came from. And she

10:55

was texting me as she went through

10:57

the scrapbooks. He was a gifted athlete.

10:59

I think the nickname Gibi actually started

11:01

when he played football. We'll get back

11:03

to you when I can find more

11:05

info. And then, sometime later, I ban

11:07

after combing through my grandfather's sports memorabilia

11:09

and articles about him, I couldn't find

11:11

the origins of his gibby nickname. If

11:13

my memory serves, it's possible it started

11:16

as a childhood nickname. He played football,

11:18

baseball and basketball as a childhood nickname.

11:20

He played football, baseball, and basketball as

11:22

a basketball as a childhood nickname. He

11:25

played football, baseball, and basketball as a

11:27

basketball as a basketball as a childhood

11:29

nickname. He played something more definitive, I'll.

11:32

My grandparents retired away from the family

11:34

so we only saw them once or

11:36

twice a year. When we visited, I

11:39

would spend hours going over his World

11:41

War I and sports scrapbooks. I was

11:43

young, but knew both were important. I

11:45

hoped my grandfather would come in to

11:47

tell me about his life. He never

11:49

talked about the war. He saw active

11:51

combat. I think he had PTSD before

11:53

they knew what it was. He just

11:55

wasn't much of a talker. I regret

11:57

how much information was lost, including potentially...

11:59

where the nickname came from, but I

12:02

did learn a lot of other information

12:04

about Earl Prouse. For instance, he was

12:06

an incredible athlete. Well, yeah, he made

12:08

the majors. Of course he had to

12:10

be, but not just in baseball. In

12:12

virtually every sport. Amy sent me a

12:14

picture of a signed photo that the

12:16

great boxer Jack Dempsey gave to Earl

12:18

Prouse, or as he wrote, Gibby Prouse.

12:20

the greatest Chicago all-around athlete of all

12:23

times. That's what Dempsey called him. And

12:25

I can sort of see why. Amy

12:27

sent me some old articles about Earl

12:29

catching up with him later in life.

12:31

One mentions he played pro football, pro

12:33

baseball, and was a pro boxer. Mr.

12:35

Proust had 70 fights and was never

12:37

knocked down. Another source says he fought

12:39

for the fun of it as a

12:41

middleweight from 1915 to 1924. That's while

12:44

he was playing baseball, by the way.

12:46

Had 64 amateur and six professional fights

12:48

losing only one decision. kind of casually

12:50

says, he fell from a cliff while

12:52

in France, this was in World War

12:54

I, and broke his back. And this

12:56

was before he played for the Browns.

12:58

He entered bicycle races. He played some

13:00

hockey. He ran track. In his later

13:02

years, he became an accomplished bowler and

13:05

golfer. And this was all while he

13:07

worked for the Bell Telephone Company for

13:09

38 years as an engineer. Despite never

13:11

advancing beyond eighth grade, he was a

13:13

revered referee. He was an American legion

13:15

official. The guy did it all. Forget

13:17

about two-way player. This guy was at

13:19

least a three-way player. Playing at least

13:21

a three-sports professionally. and so well. Football

13:23

overlapped baseball, boxing overlapped football. Sometimes I

13:26

wonder if he had some kind of

13:28

sports ADD and just got tired of

13:30

it so moved on to the next

13:32

thing. Multisport pro players were more common

13:34

then, but it's still pretty impressive. Another

13:36

article Amy sent lists all these accomplishments

13:38

and more and then says space does

13:40

not permit further details on Prus's sports

13:42

career and we are just skimming it.

13:44

That article tantalizingly also says All during

13:47

his athletic career, Pruss went by the

13:49

nickname of Gibby. How can you write

13:51

that and not include just a few

13:53

more words explaining where the nickname came

13:55

from? Isn't that fascinating? You see, one

13:57

bigly game, and it seems poignant. For

13:59

one day, he reached the pinnacle and

14:01

never got to breathe that rarefied air

14:03

again. But it turns out... That was

14:05

the tip of the iceberg. There was

14:08

so much more to Earl Gibby-Pruce than

14:10

that one big league game. And someone

14:12

who seems obscure now was an absolute

14:14

legend in his time and place. One

14:16

more thing about Gibby. Amy said, my

14:18

grandfather didn't talk to me much about

14:20

his athletic career, but he did tell

14:22

me about his athletic career, but he

14:24

did tell me about the black socks.

14:26

He played them. He was angry after

14:29

they threw the world series because fewer

14:31

people were showing up to his games

14:33

as a result. He wrote. and I'll

14:35

let Earl have the last word. This

14:37

is what he wrote for the Oakdale

14:39

Louisiana Journal, July 8th, 1920. Let's abolish

14:41

this evil. I take the liberty to

14:43

appeal to the men whose enthusiasm waxes

14:45

so high that they wager on ball

14:47

games. Consider the future of the boys

14:49

and young men who attend so much.

14:52

Your broad mind will admit that it

14:54

is a bad example to set for

14:56

the young boys, and I know you

14:58

are interested in their future welfare. Organized

15:00

baseball is becoming more and more a

15:02

clean manly sport. You can help its

15:04

progress by abolishing open gambling. To ensure

15:06

success and to furnish clean sport for

15:08

all, the Oakdale team desires and requires

15:10

the moral support of the entire community.

15:12

I venture to say, and I know

15:14

that many people who enjoy clean sport

15:17

do not attend our games because they

15:19

see evil of open betting. Think it

15:21

over and accept this earnest appeal from

15:23

a ball player who is interested in

15:25

elevating baseball to the highest plane possible.

15:27

Earl Pruce. So thanks for sending me

15:29

on this nickname Chase Jay Keith. I'm disappointed that

15:31

I still don't know why Earl Proust was called

15:33

Gibby, but I'm glad that I know so many

15:35

other things about Earl Proust. Thanks to Amy for

15:38

her help. If she's able to answer the question

15:40

definitively, I will report back. And if you somehow

15:42

have information about Earl Proust's nickname, please get in

15:44

touch. The Earl Gibby Proust tip line is open.

15:46

And if you want to know more about Earl,

15:48

check the show page where I've included some links

15:50

where I've included some links to these articles to

15:52

these articles and documents to these articles and documents.

15:54

Okay, so welcome to the rabbit hole. I checked

15:57

in with Ben this week asking if there's been

15:59

any update and he's said, Nutt. not. So if

16:01

if you know to know why was

16:03

was nicknamed and want want to solve

16:05

this multi -decade, multi -podcast, multi -platform mystery,

16:07

us please do let us know. a

16:09

This is an itch that needs

16:11

a good scratch. we do In the

16:13

you to don't forget, we do need

16:15

you to make this show happen.

16:17

So please do go to join to

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16:25

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16:27

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16:29

be here without you. All right,

16:31

we're going to be back soon

16:33

during you. with even more fun stuff

16:35

for you. We continue to rally

16:37

for the soon Thank

16:39

you again for

16:41

your support with even

16:43

baseball. fun stuff for you. We

16:45

continue to rally for the Max

16:48

Fun Drive. A work

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