James Philip (Pepper) Austin
Born December 8, 1879, Died March 6, 1965
When I bought my Jimmy Austin jersey, I had never heard of the man or his place in baseball history. After doing some research, I discovered Austin had played with and against many great and infamous players such as Hal Chase, Rube Wadell, Wee Willie Keeler, Kid Elberfeld, Jack Chesbro, George Sisler, Walter Johnson, Sam Crawford, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. It boggles my mind; the amount of baseball history this man has witnessed and participated in.
Jimmy was born in Swansea, Wales, the son of a shipbuilder. He was one of only three Major Leaguers to be born in Wales and moved to the USA in 1887. After leaving school in 1889, Austin became an apprentice machinist with Westinghouse. After finishing his four year apprenticeship, Westinghouse went on strike causing Jimmy to take an offer of $40 a month to play independent ball in Warren, Ohio. He returned to Westinghouse that fall, but in the spring of 1904 he signed with the Central League's Dayton, Ohio club. Jimmy remained in Dayton until 1907 when he was sold to Omaha in the Western League.
At the end of the 1908 season he was sold to the New York Highlanders of the American League. He made his Major League debut in 1909 at the relatively advanced age of 28. He played two seasons in New York, but was traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1911 by new Highlanders manager Hal Chase thus beginning a thirty year career with the Browns as player and coach.
In 1913 when Browns player manager George Stovall was suspended by the American League for spitting at an umpire, Austin was made manager on a temporary basis, until he was replaced by the legendary Branch Rickey. Austin continued as Rickey's "Sunday Manager" - Rickey had promised his mother that he would not enter a ballpark on the Christian Sabbath, and therefore Austin managed the Browns on those days. Before the 1914 season Austin signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Stogies of the upstart Federal League, but never reported to Pittsburgh as the Browns matched the contract offer.
Austin played regularly for the Browns until 1921 and served as coach for another 20 years. In 1929 at the age of 49, Austin became one of he oldest major leaguers in history when he was inserted in a blowout. He cleanly handled two chances at third base and struck out in his only at bat. In 1932 Austin took an offer to coach third for the Chicago White Sox where he stayed until his retirement from baseball after the 1940 season.
Jimmy Austin is burried in Melrose Abbey in Anaheim, California
Before his death in 1965, Austin was interviewed by Lawrence Ritter for his book The Glory Of Their Times. Ritter traveled 75,000 miles searching for the heroes of a bygone era. Ritter interviewed such players as Harry Hooper, Smokey Joe Wood, Edd Roush, Sam Crawford, Lefty O'Doul and many others for a very insightful book about players from the turn of the century.
My two favorite Austin passages from the book are on Rube Wadell and Ty Cobb:
When I was with the Highlanders, Rube Wadell was with the St. Louis Browns. He'd left Connie Mack by then and was near the end of his career. This day I'm thinking about we were riding to the ball park in the tally-ho to play the Browns, knowning Rube was going to pitch agains us. As we got near the park somebody yelled "Hey look, there's Rube." And darned it if wasn't. He was scheduled to pitch that day, but there he was, standing out in front of the swinging doors of a saloon with a mug of beer that big. He's waving and yelling to us, and while we're yelling and laughing back and forth he holds up he beer, like as to say "Skoal," and downs the whole thing, chug-a-lug, right like that. And as the tally-ho continued on, we saw Rube go back into the saloon.
Doggone it, though when game time came, darned if Rube wasn't out there ready to pitch. I'll never forget it as long as I live. He went along all right for three innings, but in the fourth we got two men on base and then Rube grooved one to me, which I promptly hit over the fence. As I'm trotting around the bases Rube is watching me all the way, and as he kept turning around on top of the mound he got dizzy, and by golly he fell over right on his rear end. Fell over righ flat on his can!
Oh, that started everybody to laughing so hard we could hardly play. Some guys laughed so much they practically had a fit. All except the St. Louis manager, Jack O'Connor. He came running out and yelled, "Come on out of there. You didn't want to pitch anyhow." Somehow that made everybody laugh all the more. Good old Rube. In his life he gave a lot of people a lot of enjoyment.
Austin's recollections of Ty Cobb and the famous slide photo:
Ty could get real nasty on the field, you know. Off the field, though, he was a pretty good guy. See that picture? It's a famous picture. It's Cobb sliding into third, and the other guy is me, being knocked sprawling. He took my left foot with his shoulder as he came in, and down I went. See the ball near my right knee? Look at Cobb's face. That guy wanted to win in the worst way.
Ty was fair enough on the bases, though, He nicked me a couple of times, but it was my fault. I don't blame him. I remember one day Ty was on first base and Sam Crawford hit a single out to right field, on which Ty comes all the way around to third. I just stood there, nonchalant, as though nothing's happening. At the last minute here comes the ball as Ty is sliding in, and I grabbed it real quick and in the same motion pushed his foot off the bag as I tagged him.
Well, the umpire called Ty out. Ty didn't move a muscle. Just lay there on the ground. Then he looked up at me, and in that Southern brogue of his he said, very slowly, "Mister, don't you ever dare do that no more."
The famous Cobb/Austin photo was taken by legendary photographer Charles Conlon in 1909 during Jimmy's rookie season. The photo is undoubtedly the greatest baseball action photo of all time. Conlon later was interviewed about the photo in the May 27, 1937 issue of The Sporting News. Conlon's recollections:
"The strange thing about that picture of Ty Cobb stealing third at the Hilltop grounds of the Yankees -- a picture which has been reproduced hundreds of times, and still is being bought from me -- was that I did not know I had snapped it. That season the Tigers won the pennant again. Late in the summer, Cobb, who stole 76 bases that season, was going like a tornado. I was off third, chatting with Jimmy Austin, third baseman for the New York club. Cobb was on second, with one out, and the hitter was trying to bunt him to third. Austin moved in for the sacrifice. As Jimmy stood there, Cobb started. The fans shouted. Jimmy turned, backed into the base, and was greeted by a storm of dirt, spikes, shoes, uniforms -- and Ty Cobb. "My first thought was that my friend, Austin, had been injured. When Cobb stole, he STOLE. Spikes flew and he did not worry where. I saw Ty's clenched teeth, his determined look. "The catcher's peg went right by Jimmy, as he was thrown on his face. I went home kicking myself. I said, 'Now, there was a great picture and you missed it.' I took out my plates and developed them. There was Cobb stealing third. In my excitement, I had snapped it, by instinct. The picture was not printed the next day. It did not appear until the Spalding guide came out the following Spring and has since been published in more than a thousand newspapers."
Jimmy Austin 1938 White Sox Jersey
Most collectors of flannel jerseys will tell you how they view them as works of art and time capsules of baseball history. Heavy flannels were used during an era when players didn't know how good a polyester jersey could feel. On a hot day in August the flannels would gain five to ten pounds of weight in sweat while suffering through a double header in humid St. Louis. This jersey is by far the heaviest jersey I own and the most visually striking.
The intertwined Sox logo on the front of the jersey has changed many times throughout the history of the team and first appeared in 1912, just in time for Buck Weavers first year with the team. After 1912 the letters SOX didn't appear on a White Sox jersey in only 1942 and during the second Bill Veeck ownership stint from 1976 to 1981. 
This jersey has the classic Spalding tag in the collar and Austin's name stiched above the Spalding tag in red thread. The stitching of names in collars of flannel jerseys somehow give them a regal, nostalgic look compared to today's polyester tags that give little to the identity of the modern player.
Most observant jersey collectors will ask, " How did the Centennial Patch get on the jersey?" My best guess is Austin wore the jersey in spring training in 1939 when the patch may have been sewn on. The jersey could also have been recycled to a farm team for the 1939 season when the patch was used. Either way the Centennial Patch is probably the most stunning prewar patch. It was the first patch to be worn by all 16 teams to observe the centennial year of the game's invention. The patch was also worn by all minor league teams and it coincided with the grand opening of baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. 
This style of White Sox jersey was used from 1936 to 1938 with the 1938 version haveing a zipper front and the other two years with a buttton down front. Since about 1995 I've only seen one other jersey from this style appear in an auction and that was a Luke Appling jersey. I guess it's safe to say not too many of these are left.
Jimmy Austin 1917 - 1921 Louisville Slugger Sidewritten Bat
This bat dates to 1917 - 1921 when Austin was finishing up his playing career with the St. Louis Browns. On the rear of the bat is printed in grease pencil 36 oz Jas Austin 6-29-22. Remnants of the shipping label are also present on the sweet spot of the barrel. The bat has significant use, is uncracked and has a nice dark finish.
