Chief Bender Autograph
date: label: date made
content: 1940s
name: label: Associated Name
content: Philadelphia Athletics
notes: label: Description
content: Charles Albert Bender (1884-1954,) one of the stand-out pitchers of the early 20th century, was given the prejudicial nickname “Chief” due to his Ojibwe ancestry (While Bender’s Mother was identified as Chippewa , today his community is typically identified as Anishinaabe or Ojibwe.) Born in Crow Wing County, MN, Bender spent time at the White Earth Indian Reservation before attending Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School and Dickinson College.
label: Description
content: In 1903, at the age of 18, Bender joined manager Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. He would pitch for the A’s the entirety of his career, except for one year spent in the Federal League (1915) and a comeback attempt at the age of 44 with the Chicago White Sox (1925.)
label: Description
content: On the A’s, Bender established himself as one of the best World Series performers of all time, winning six games in five World Series, helping guide the team to a trio of championships (19010, 1911, and 1913.) Bender ended his career with a record of 212-127 and a .246 earned run average, having led the American League in Win-Loss percentage three times.
label: Description
content: Bender often faced discrimination on the field and in the press, where he was commonly represented with stereotypical terms and imagery. He was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1953.
label: Description
content: The object is one of a set of 12 cards autographed by professional baseball players, primarily members of the Philadelphia Athletics.
topic: label: name of sport
content: Baseball
label: level of sport
content: Professional
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Sports & Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.310547.035.12
label: accession number
content: CL*310547
label: catalog number
content: CL*310547.035.12
objectType: label: Object Name
content: autograph, baseball
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 5 in; 7.62 cm x 12.7 cm