Jake Early

Jacob Willard Early (May 19, 1915 – May 31, 1985) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Washington Senators and the St. Louis Browns.

Baseball career Born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Early began his professional baseball career in at the age of 21 with the Jacksonville Tars of the South Atlantic League. By , he had moved up to the Charlotte Hornetts of the Piedmont League where he posted a .316 batting average in 97 games.

The Senators traded Ferrell to the St. Louis Browns in May 1941, leaving Early to share catching duties with Al Evans. Early out-hit Evans and ended the season having caught the majority of the team's games with a career-high batting average of .284 along with 54 runs batted in and a team-high 10 home runs. Although his batting average dropped to .204, he led American League catchers in assists and in baserunners caught stealing, and finished second in putouts. Early developed a reputation as a talkative player on the field, using several methods to distract the hitter. He had the arduous task of catching for a Senators' starting pitching staff that included four knuckleball pitchers. Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling, Roger Wolff and Mickey Haefner all threw the notoriously difficult to catch knuckleball. Further recognition came when he was selected to be the starting catcher for the American League in the 1943 All-Star Game. The difficulty in catching the knuckleball was evident as Early led the league in passed balls allowed.

In December 1943, Early was called into military service and was inducted into the United States Army. He was assigned to an artillery unit attached to the 87th Infantry Division and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He lost two years of his baseball career while he served in the Army. In 1947, he platooned alongside catcher Les Moss, hitting for a .224 average along with a career-high on-base percentage of .381 in 87 games. In 1949, he split his playing time between the minor league Chattanooga Lookouts and the Washington Senators.

Later life Early went on to become a player-manager in the minor leagues, leading the Rock Hill Chiefs in and then managed the Statesville Owls in . He retired from baseball in and returned to Kings Mountain where he worked as a police officer and recreation director. He retired to Florida in 1970 and died in Melbourne on May 31, , at the age of 70.