Eddie Bennett

Eddie Bennett (November 19, 1903 – January 16, 1935) was an American batboy for the Chicago White Sox, Brooklyn Robins (1920), and most notably for the New York Yankees (1921–1932) where he was also served as the team's mascot.

During his career as a batboy, Bennett saw his teams capture nine pennants and four World Series titles. Considered by many to bring good fortune, Bennett was deemed integral to the rituals of players on the team, developing a particularly close friendships with Babe Ruth, Urban Shocker, and Miller Huggins. Bennett served as mascot and batboy until 1933, being forced to retire after sustaining injuries from being struck by an automobile. Two years later, Bennett died of alcoholism in 1935.

Despite being regularly featured in new publications and considered, the "most famous mascot in the world" at the time of his death, Bennett largely drifted into obscurity for the next hundred years from the start of his career. At the turn of the 21st century Bennett's career received renewed interest and study where some have lauded his contributions to his team and baseball.

Early life Bennett was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn. When Bennett was very young, he received a spine injury suffered in a baby carriage incident. That injury left Bennett with a hunchbacked back and restricted his growth; by the time he was an adult he was considered a dwarf. first three World Series games – both the second and third being Robins victories – Bennett wasn't invited to join the team at Cleveland. The Robins went on to lose their next four games, and the series, to the Indians. He soon left the team, citing "lack of trust".

Decline and death On May 19, 1932 Bennett was hit by a taxi on a New York City street. He suffered a broken leg and other injuries from which he never recovered. To find relief from the pain he suffered from the injuries, Bennett started to abuse alcohol.

In January 1935 Bennett died penniless in his room at a lodging house at 115 W. 84th Street in Manhattan, age 31. The coroner ruled the cause of death as alcoholism; according to his landlady, Bennett had told her that drinking was the only relief from his chronic pain. Ruppert and general manager Ed Barrow were not able to attend the service but sent flowers. The entire Yankee front office staff of Paul Krichell, Gene McCann, Mark Roth, George Perry, and Charlie McManus accompanied Bennett's body from the funeral parlor to St. Gregory the Great Church for the service and on to St. John's Cemetery in Queens for burial. No player attended the service, perhaps because they were scattered during the off-season.

In 2020 a monument company donated a stone for his grave, which had been unmarked at St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens. The Cemetery's Chaplain presided over its installation. It read: “Edward Bennett, 1903–1935. New York Yankees Mascot/Batboy, 1921–1932.”

Legacy

Bennett's life was mentioned by billionaire Warren Buffett during his annual stockholder report in 2002, saying that Bennett was a key role model during Buffett's career in investing, naming him a "winner at every costs".