Clarence Edward Heise was a Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe 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 a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 who played in with the St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

.

Heise was originally in the Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 organization. In August 1933, Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey

Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...

 called his counterpart with the Cubs, William Veeck, Sr.

William Veeck, Sr.

William Veeck, Sr. was a sports writer and baseball executive. He was president of Chicago Cubs from 1919 to his death in October, 1933. Under Veeck's leadership, the Cubs won three pennants, in 1918, 1929, and 1932....

 and offered him two pitchers—Heise and Bill Lee

Bill Lee (right-handed pitcher)

William Crutcher "Big Bill" Lee was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1934 through 1947 for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Braves....

. According to Bill Veeck

Bill Veeck

William Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...

, one of Rickey's favorite tricks was to offer another team two players and trust that the other team would take the wrong one. In the case of Lee and Heise, Rickey knew that all but one Cubs pitcher was right-handed, and expected the Cubs to take Heise, a left-hander. However, on the advice of chief scout Jack Doyle

Jack Doyle (baseball)

John Joseph "Jack" Doyle was an Irish-American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned 17 seasons, mainly in the National League.He was born in Killorglin, Ireland, and emigrated to the U.S...

, the Cubs took Lee.

The trade proved to be one of the most lopsided trades of the 1930s, and one of the few instances where Rickey, well-known for fleecing other National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 teams, got fleeced himself. Heise appeared in only one game, allowing three hits and three runs in two innings of relief, and never played again. Meanwhile, Lee won 169 games in 14 years, 139 of them with the Cubs.

Heise was born in Topeka, Kansas

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

 and died in Winter Park, Florida

Winter Park, Florida

Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...

. His son, Jim

Jim Heise

James Edward Heise was a Major League Baseball pitcher.Heise attended West Virginia University. He was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1956, and played briefly for the Senators in 1957....

, played for the Washington Senators

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

in 1957.

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