On Christmas Day of 1949, a seven-year old boy in Williamsburg, Iowa, opened his Christmas presents in anticipation of finding a long-awaited treasure - a Gene Schroer autographed baseball glove. As the box was eagerly unwrapped and opened, alas, all it contained was a Joe DiMaggio glove.

   A Joe DiMaggio glove, the ultimate for millions of American boys, was a bitter disappointment for young Al Schallau. As he writes, "I started crying because I wanted a Gene Schroer autographed glove. It took my dad a long time to convince me that there was no such thing as a Gene Schroer autographed glove".

   Gene Schroer? Who could be more idolized than Joe DiMaggio? Gene Schroer was just a left-handed starting pitcher for the Cedar Rapids Rockets, a non-affiliated team in the Central Association, a middle-of-the-pack team managed by Stan "Packy" Rogers. But Gene Schroer was Al Schallau's idol and no one could take his place, not even the Clipper.

   Who was this hero, this Gene Schroer? And why haven't most of us heard of him? For starters, he was born on August 29, 1927, in Randolph, Kansas. Encouraged and tutored in the baseball skills by an uncle, he found that his strong left arm was able to get batters out in high school and American Legion baseball. Following high school graduation in 1945, he was signed, at $125 per month, to a contract by the Yankees' affiliate in Kansas City. And the scout who signed him? None other than Bill Essick who, thirteen years earlier and scouting in Northern California, had told the Yankees about a young prospect named Joe DiMaggio.

   Several months shy of his eighteenth birthday, the young lefty packed his bags and reported to Wellsville, New York, to play on a Class D team stocked with the lowest professional level of war-time players. Wearing a Red Ruffing hand-me-down uniform, Schroer won five while losing nine, but showed enough to earn a promotion the next spring despite the addition of hundreds of returning World War II veterans to baseball's rosters.

   After beginning the 1946 season with Quincy in the Three-Eye League and splitting his two decisions there, he was sent to Joplin in the Class C Western Association. Ten wins and 115 strikeouts in 140 innings were enough to convince the Yankees that the talent was there, and he spent the following spring training with Kansas City before being sent to Class A Denver in the Western League.

   After having won both of his first two starts, adversity stepped in during the third game as a line drive rocketed back to the mound and struck Gene between the eyes, fracturing his skull and breaking his nose. Looking back at it with humor, he states, "I may have started the only 1-2-6-3 double play in baseball history". Humor was harder to find in the summer 1947 as he spent most of the season recovering from his injuries. Eventually he returned to Quincy and posted a 3-5 record. Describing his feelings of that time he says, "I went back but I had lost some enthusiasm by then".

   Despite the adversity, the Yankees thought enough potential was there to merit a promotion to their Binghamton affiliate in the Class A Eastern League. This stop, however, was short-lived as Schroer bolted the club. His summer was spent pitching for various town teams in Eastern Nebraska, where he earned up to $400 per week versus the $350 per month he had been offered at Binghamton.

   Having gotten his release from the Yankees, he signed with the independent Cedar Rapids Rockets of the Central Association and achieved his greatest success in professional baseball. With a four-seam fastball of great velocity and uncertain direction, Gene was near the top in pitching statistics with a 13-8 record and a 1.92 ERA. But even at 22, success in the Central Association was a far cry from major league baseball, and the fifty-eight minor leagues contained hundreds of prospects closer to the top.

   Several weeks after having drawn the 1950 opening game starting assignment at Cedar Rapids (now in the I.I.I. League), Schroer called it a career. With thirty-four professional wins in six seasons, another career and far greater success loomed ahead. And, once a date with Uncle Sam was completed, Gene Schroer, ballplayer, would be on his way to becoming Gene E. Schroer, Attorney-at-Law.

   Even during the heady days of early baseball success, Gene knew that there would be life after baseball. Each winter he would take courses at Washburn University In Topeka, Kansas. Following his discharge from the army in 1953, he went back to school full-time and earned his law degree from Washburn in 1957. Early success came as a plaintiff law attorney specializing in personal injury law, and that success has earned a multitude of honors and awards. Among them:

President, Kansas Chapter of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America,
1974-1975
Member, Board of Governors, Association of Trial Lawyers of America,
1976-1979
President, American Board of Trial Advocates,
1991-1992
Listed in the trial lawyers' section of The Best Lawyers in America,
1979-2001
Listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Law

   As senior partner in the Topeka-based law firm of Schroer, Rice, P.A., Gene has earned the honors that go with achievement. But aside from several framed degrees and awards mounted on the office wall, there is little that would testify to his accomplishments. Pictures of his children and grandchildren, some in little league uniforms, take a more prominent place. There are no signs of a baseball career, and even documents from the baseball days are kept in files.

   But there are memories and stories. Although most of his teammates left the game without spending a day in the majors, a few went on to greater things, among whom were Hank Bauer, Jim Greengrass, Jim Dyck, and Bob Cerv. Asked if he has maintained friendships from his baseball days, Gene replied "I haven't kept in touch with any former teammates. I played a little semi-pro baseball one year down in Wichita and Rocky Krsnich was on one of the other teams. I pitched against him some years later, but I haven't really stayed in touch with any of those guys. I think I talked to Hank Bauer once or twice over the years. One time he was on a talk show and I called and asked 'Who was the best left-hander you saw who never made it to the majors?' He mumbled around before I told him who it was".

   When asked if there was any connection between his baseball career and his success as a lawyer, he states, "No, only the competition. You go into a jury, you're fighting. You may not use any fists or dirty words, but you're still competitive. Juries are pretty fair-minded people". Even the competition is tempered, however, as he is an active member in an organization that protects the jury system through the interaction of plaintiff and defense attorneys.

   While happy to reminisce about his baseball career, Schroer becomes passionate about the law and the issues of the day. Topics such as the breakdown of discipline in families, poverty, politics, and economics stir the flames of a man who reads and thinks. While baseball stories bring laughter, weightier topics launch opinions and ideas.

   Gene is the father of four and grandfather of eight from his first marriage. As he approaches his seventy-fourth birthday, he is raising four teenagers (aged 19, 18, 17, and 11) with his second wife. A tornado destroyed the family home in 1966, and the Schroer residence is now a farm outside Topeka where, in addition to his five-day-a-week law practice, he raises cattle and nurtures a yearly harvest of tomatoes.

   Does his future contain any plans? "I'd like to cut down to four days a week and go to some of the towns I played in to see the old ballparks and go through newspaper files". Then, maintaining his love of the legal profession, he adds, "There are lots of stories of funny things that have happened in courthouses. In fact, I've thought of writing a book on that".

   Whatever he does, if history repeats itself, it will be done well. Successful in baseball during his twenties, eminently successful as an attorney even into his seventies, Gene Schroer has used his gifts well.

   And Al Schallau? Well, he became a lawyer also, owning his own law office in Los Angeles. While attending an American Trial Lawyers Convention in the late 1970's, he noticed that one of the speakers was named Gene Schroer who, during his lecture, used his left hand to write and gesture, and Schallau knew he was the man. They met briefly after the lecture and have communicated since. And now, after fifty-one years, he has received the autographed glove he didn't get for Christmas.

   In a world where not all endings are happy ones, this one outdoes fiction. On August 28, 2001, Gene Schroer and Al Schallau made a trip to Cedar Rapids. On that evening, Cedar Rapids' Memorial Stadium closed its gates after 53 years of baseball as the city prepares to open its replacement. To say good-bye to the old ballpark and to honor its past, following the last out of the last inning of the last game, Gene Schroer strode to the mound to deliver Memorial Stadium's final pitch. Waiting to receive it with his new Gene Schroer autographed glove was his fan of over fifty years, Al Schallau.

   The ceremonial closing of Memorial Stadium symbolizes all that is good and endearing about minor league baseball - that unique, personal relationship between the game, the players, and their fans.