Red Borom Biography

From Semipro Ball to the Big Leagues

The struggle to make it to the show can be a long, difficult, and trying way-of-life. Edward "Red" Borom symbolizes that struggle and vividly recalled, "I had what I thought was a good season for my first full year, but two months later I was released. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever make it, but I decided to keep trying."

Join Baseball Almanac as we fondly Remember Yesterday's Heroes through the moving writing of Jim Sargent and the stirring words of Edward "Red" Borom - who decided to "keep trying" and went From Semipro Ball to the Big Leagues.

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"In January 1943 I was drafted and taken into the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. The commandant there was a real baseball fan, and we had several major league players, outfielder Pete Reiser, pitcher Ken Heintzelman, and infielder George Archie." - Edward "Red" Borom

Red Borom Biography

Edward

From Semipro Ball to the Big Leagues | Red Borom | Yesterday's Heroes

Most of the former ballplayers we read about were well known or at least regulars on their respective big league clubs. But since ball clubs have 25-man rosters, the majority of players were neither stars nor regulars. Instead, they played backup roles, riding the bench and waiting for their turns while the starters played the game.

But often the backup players are almost as good as the regulars. In any event, due to injuries, hitting slumps, pitching woes, and managerial strategies, the best teams are often the ball clubs that have good second-line players ready to step on the diamond and play regularly, if only for a short time.

Also, when you study the history of baseball, you learn that in order to succeed and become a regular, a player has to have the right combination of abilities as well as be in the right place at the right time on the right team with the right manager. In other words, the success of a player's career can depend as much upon timing as upon talent.

Edward A. "Red" Borom is a classic example of young men who came of age in the 1930s dreaming about playing major league baseball. But often it was tough to make a professional team, let alone the big leagues, during the Great Depression of the Thirties.

1945 Detroit Tigers [Borom Third Rown 2nd from Right]

Red struggled for years to move up the ladder of professional baseball. In 1944 he won a brief shot at the Big Show. In 1945 he played in 55 games for the Detroit Tigers and hit .269. The Bengals won the American League pennant over the Washington Senators. Detroit went on to win the World Series in seven games over the Chicago Cubs.

Borom did not play a major role in the fall classic. Instead, since managers usually go with their time-tested regulars, Red rode the bench. He did get into game one. With one out, the bases empty, and the Tigers trailing 9-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Red grounded out for pitcher Les Mueller.

"I hit a ground ball up the middle, off the glove of pitcher Hank Borowy," Borom recalled. "The shortstop, Roy Hughes, threw me out on an extremely close play. I thought I had a base hit."

Red also pinch-ran for catcher Bob Swift in game three, another Detroit loss. Borom did not get to play in any of the Tiger victories. But Detroit won the fall classic in seven games, and the Texan owns a World Series ring to prove it.

In 1946, with veteran players returning from military or naval service in World War II, Borom failed to make Detroit's roster. Undaunted, he played several more years of minor league ball. When his pro career was over, he played several seasons of semipro ball-ending his career at the same level where he began in 1934.

But Borom's baseball career differed from those of most ballplayers. Red played for six championship teams-including the Tigers in 1945.

"I've often been asked what was my biggest thrill in baseball," Red explained in a 1997 interview. "I always reply that when Hank Greenberg hit the bases-loaded home run against the Browns [in September 1945] and we were behind 3-2 at the time. I was the runner on third, and when I saw the ball headed for the seats and knew we were in the World Series. Nothing could surpass that."

In the end, Borom, a smooth-fielding, left-handed batting shortstop-second baseman compiled a respectable lifetime minor league average of .270 for 1,076 games, not counting playoffs. He also hit .250 in 62 games in the big leagues.

Red Borom

In addition, the redhead spent years playing semipro ball. The hustling infielder helped his Boeing Aircraft team win a national semipro championship in 1942 and his Sinton, Texas, club win a national semipro title in 1951.

Born on October 30, 1915, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of Edward H. and Mary Borom, Red grew up in Atlanta. He attended Boys High (renamed Henry Grady High in 1947) and played baseball every chance he got. In his senior year, the school's team included pitcher Jim Bagby, while Tech High had shortstop Marty Marion and pitcher Hugh Casey. All of those players later made the big leagues.

By the time Red graduated in 1934, the Great Depression gripped the nation. Despite offers of two college baseball scholarships, the 18-year-old knew he needed a job.

"That summer I played semipro ball in Atlanta," he recollected. "A teammate had a friend who owned the Jackson, Mississippi, class 'C' team, and I was asked to report for their spring training in 1935.

"Thereby was the start of a real weird season. I was released on opening day of 1935, borrowed a dollar from my roommate, and caught a ride to Meridian, Mississippi, where I'd heard there was a good semipro team sponsored by a cotton broker, John Moss. They had guys like Eric McNair and 'Pap' Williams. I made the team. They paid me $50 a month, and room and board was $20 a month. I stayed there until July, when I received a 1:30 a.m. call from Atlanta. When the landlady woke me, I was afraid someone at home was sick.

"Instead, it was Lee Head, manager of Knoxville in the class A Southern Association. He said a scout recommended me and he wanted to know if I would join the team the next day in New Orleans. I made it to New Orleans. We played seven games in four days, and I went 3-for-4 in the first game. Then the team traveled to Birmingham. After that series, I was released. They'd only signed me to fill in for an injured player.

"So I went home. At that time, Little Rock of the Southern Association was Atlanta. I talked to 'Doc' Prothro, the manager, and I worked out with them for two days. They signed me for the 1936 season.

"Two days later I got a call from manager 'Dutch' Hoffman of Tallahassee in the class D Georgia-Florida League. They played a split season and the club was trying to win the second half. I told Hoffman I'd signed for 1936, and he assured me they'd release me after the season."

Tallahassee finished in first place with a 69-50 record. Borom played the last month of the season, so his statistics are incomplete. But in the playoffs, the Capitols beat the Albany Travelers in seven games to win the title.

Red recounted, "Well, we won the championship, I hit the only homer in the playoffs, and they didn't want to release me. I had to go to Judge Bramham, head of the minor leagues, and he ruled I belonged to Little Rock."

Borom went to spring training with Little Rock in 1936. But within two weeks he was farmed out to Cleveland, Mississippi, in the Cotton States League. There the 5'11" 180-pound spray-hitting shortstop batted .255 in 127 games. Cleveland finished in seventh place with a 57-80 record, and Red's adventures continued.

"I want to add a happening that players today won't believe. We played a Saturday night double-header in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The first game started at six o'clock and went twelve innings.

"The second game started at 9:45 and was a wild one, something like 11-10. We left the ballpark at 1:40 a.m. to hop in the bus and ride 100 miles to Helena to ferry the Mississippi River.

Red Borom

"We missed the ferry by about ten minutes and had to wait an hour for it to return. We crossed into Clarksdale, Mississippi, and still had fifty miles to go to Cleveland.

"We got there at 9 a.m., hung up the wet uniforms in the basement of the high school, ate breakfast at the boarding house, went back to the school to put the wet uniforms on, and got on the bus to go fifty miles for a double-header. Every Sunday was a double-header, 140 games in 120 days.

"We never stayed overnight in Greenwood. So instead of getting the usual $1.25 per day for meal money, when we got back home we were given fifty cents. We'd been going from 4 p.m. the previous day until 9 p.m. when we got back to Cleveland!

"I had what I thought was a good season for my first full year, but two months later I was released. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever make it, but I decided to keep trying.

"In 1937 I went to spring training with Macon in the class B 'Sally' League. In those days each club could carry so many veterans, class men (or players with less than three years experience), and rookies. I all but had the team made, but because of five rained-out games in the '35 playoffs with Tallahassee, I was a 'class man' and was released.

"So I went back to the Cotton States League with Clarksdale, stayed there for a month, and was sold to Monroe, Louisiana, in the same league. After a month there the owner wanted me to take a cut in pay, or he'd release me.

"I opted for my release and caught on with Meridian, where I'd played semipro in 1935. I finished the season there in the class B Southeastern League, and so help me, in the off-season I was released."

Borom produced a good season in 1937, hitting .279 for Meridian. But the Scrappers finished fifth out of six teams with a 58-78 mark, and the ball club released him.

"In 1938 I was at Montgomery of the Southeastern League, and in mid-season I was traded to Greenville, South Carolina, of the Sally League. After a month there I received a telegram from Judge Bramham saying the deal was called off on a technicality.

"I finished the season with Montgomery and reported back to that club in 1939. Then in spring training I had the only injury I ever had in baseball, a pulled hamstring. By the time I recovered, the club's lineup was set, so I asked for my release."

Ironically, Red played well in 1938, hitting .277 for Montgomery. But the Bombers finished last (60-88) in an eight-team league, and again he was expendable.

"I'd decided life in the 'bush leagues' was not for me.

"But two days later a friend, Rosy Gilhousen, who was managing the Tallassee, Alabama, Indians of the class D Alabama-Florida League, asked me to play for him. I told him I would if he'd predate my released, because this was my last year. We won the league championship, and I went home to Texas, where my family had moved."

Borom played his best minor league season for Tallassee in 1939, hitting .327 in 93. He also played on his second championship team when Tallassee beat Andalusia in seven games of the Shaughnessy Playoffs.

But instead of climbing the minor league ladder, Red was slipping down a few rungs. In 1940 he played one month for Tyler in the East Texas League. By prior agreement, he switched to the semipro club in Mount Pleasant, Texas, where he earned $150 a month during the season.

"We went to Wichita, Kansas, in August to play in the national semipro tournament. We finished second. While there I was offered a job with Stearman Aircraft (later Boeing) to play ball. I earned $90 a month, and it was a year-around job.

"My family moved to Wichita and we lived there for six years, prior to moving to Dallas in 1946. In '42 we won the semipro championship at Boeing."

In the meanwhile, Boeing Aircraft became part of America's huge military buildup during World War II. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, catapulting the U.S. into war.

"In January 1943 I was drafted and taken into the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. The commandant there was a real baseball fan, and we had several major league players, outfielder Pete Reiser, pitcher Ken Heintzelman, and infielder George Archie.

"The following January I was transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, and in March I was discharged because of migraine headaches. I went back to Wichita and planned to work and play ball for Boeing.

"I'd had enough of being shuffled around in the minors.

"Two days after getting home, I got a call from Jack Zeller, general manager of Detroit. Unknown to me, 'Red' Phillips, a teammate at Boeing and an ex-Detroit pitcher, had called Zeller to recommend Chuck Hostetler and me.

"Four days after getting out of the service, I was in training camp with Detroit in Evansville, Indiana. I realized it was wartime, but there were some good players still in the majors. I enjoyed playing in such improved conditions. The ballparks were better than any of the minor league places I'd played."

Red played in seven games for the Tigers in 1944, but he hit only .071. Most of the year he spent with Detroit's top farm club, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League. There Borom averaged .217 but fielded well, while Buffalo finished in fourth place with a 78-76 ledger.

In 1945 Red played the entire season with Detroit, but he made his biggest contribution in September. Subbing for injured second baseman Eddie Mayo, Red batted over .300 during the September pennant drive. Hitting .269 for the season, he cracked four doubles and collected 8 RBI.

"I'm grateful for the chance to have played on a World Series winner, but I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to be with the team the next season."

Borom was hardly alone in his disappointment. For example, Tiger right-hander Les Mueller, who produced a 6-8 record with a 3.68 ERA and who also owns a 1945 World Series ring, was optioned out on opening day of 1946.

Also, Detroit sent catcher Harvey Riebe, who hit .314 as a rookie for the Tigers in 1942 before spending three years in the Army, to Dallas. Like Borom, who batted .278 for Dallas, Riebe enjoyed a solid season (.242 BA, 4 HR, 32 RBI) and helped the Rebels win the Texas League Title.

With sluggers like Clint Conatser (.280 BA, 13 HR, 70 RBI), Dallas defeated the Atlanta Crackers in four straight games-winning the first two in Atlanta, 13-3 and 3-0.

RED BOROM SPARKS DALLAS TO VICTORY declared the caption on the newspaper story in Borom's hometown when the Rebels won game three, 5-1. The redhead beat out a bunt in the eighth inning and later scored the first run, igniting a five-run Dallas rally that brought the club back from a 1-0 deficit to win.

"Red was a steady player and a good fielder who helped in lots of ways," Harvey Riebe recalled. "He played several positions. He really helped the ball club, and I remember him well."

In the fourth and final game of the playoffs, Borom, playing shortstop, went hitless. But Riebe belted a grand slam home run in a six-run third inning to help lift the Rebels to a 9-7 victory.

"At Dallas in '47," Red remembered, "I was relegated to utility duty. Detroit sent Johnny Lipon here and wanted him to play shortstop. I could understand that, because Lipon was ten years younger. Even at that we both made the All-Star team selected to play Houston, the league leader as of July 4th.

"In the All-Star game I played half the game at second base and hit a double to drive in two runs that won it.

Red Borom Autograph

"At the start of the '48 season, I was with Dallas for a month when I was asked to manage a farm team, Texarkana in the class B Big State League. I wound up the season playing with Paris, Texas, in the same league."

Borom replaced Vern Washington, who was fired. Batting .304, Red played well and helped lead Texarkana to a seventh place finish.

"In '49 I managed Baton Rouge in the class C Evangeline League in the last half of the season. I thought that was the end of my career, and I went to work for the postal service in 1950.

"But at mid-season, Bobby Bragan, manager of Forth Worth in the Texas League, asked me to join the team as a player-coach.

"The next year I moved to Sinton, Texas. There I played semipro ball for the Plymouth Oil Company for three years. We had a good team with former big leaguers like Tom McBride and Roy Easterwood. In 1951 we won the semipro tournament in Wichita in seven straight games. My final year was with the Victoria, Texas, semipro team in 1954.

"So with all the bumps in the road, I managed to play on some championship teams, starting in 1930 with my junior high team, which won the Atlanta City Championship. I still have the little gold-plated baseball given to us for that team."

These are Borom's major highlights

Tallahassee 1935 Champions of Georgia-Florida League

Tallahassee 1939 Champions of Albama-Florida League

Boeing 1942 Champions of national semipro tournament

Detroit 1945 World Series Champions

Dallas 1946 "Dixie World Series" Champions

Plymouth Oil 1951 Champions of national semipro tournament

Reflecting on those teams and the six titles, Red observed, "I guess a career that looked like it was headed nowhere for so long turned out pretty well."

In fact, Borom, who traveled with more minor league teams than most players ever hear about, was inducted into the Texas Baeball Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Red, who retired after working 25 years for a freight company in Dallas, still enjoys baseball. He and Harvey Riebe were among the former Tigers that Detroit invited to the final game at Tiger Stadium in 1999. Like most players of his generation, Red enjoys hearing from fans.

The old pro has many great memories. For example, while attending a Chicago Cubs Old-Timers game in 1980 (all of the players from the 1945 World Series were invited), Red learned from the program that he was the only player in the American League to have five hits in a game twice during the 1945 season.

"I went 5-for-5 against the Indians and I went 5-for-6 against the Yankees," Red recalled. "On the third time up against New York, I dropped down a short bunt. It was a close play at first, but the umpire called me out. The next time up I singled. When I rounded first and came back, Nick Etten, the Yankee first baseman, told me I beat out that bunt. If I were safe, I'd have gone 6-for-6 in a nine-inning game. Ty Cobb set that major league record in 1925. Damion Easley tied it a couple of years ago. All three of us played for Detroit.

Red Borom & Fellow Tigers At Tiger Stadium Final Game

"As insignificant as that may sound," the old gentleman said, with a laugh, "its something I never dreamed about during all those trying times in the minor leagues."

Red Borom's long baseball career illustrates the kind of talented, hard-working, dedicated players who pursued the baseball dream-even though it often meant starting over again with new teammates on new ball clubs-when the game was still considered the national pastime.

Red Borom Biography: From Semipro Ball to the Big Leagues
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baseball almanac fast facts

Review Edward "Red" Borom's year-by-year Major League statistics, rosters, and uniform numbers on Baseball Almanac.

Red Borom recalled Hank Greenberg hitting the grand slam in the 9th inning of the final game of the 1945 season to clinch the American League pennant; however, did you know that the starting pitcher that particular day was Virgil Trucks who had been discharged from the United States Navy only 3 days earlier?

Did you know that Red Borom was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978, and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996?