finalyear death_date debutyear statvalue finalteam birth_date death_place finaldate team number image statlabel debutteam name throws birth_place debutdate bats position article_title
1951 18 june 1961 1951 1.000 -- 1 1 st. louis browns 8 june 1925 chicago , illinois august 19 st. louis browns 1 8 gaeld jpg waving to the crowd - 2014-07-06 06-40 . on-base percentage batting average plate appearances base on balls st. louis browns eddie gaedel left chicago , illinois august 19 right pinch hitter eddie gaedel

eddie gaedel

edward carl gaedel -lrb- june 8 , 1925 -- june 18 , 1961 -rrb- was an american with dwarfism who became famous for participating in a major league baseball game .
gaedel -lrb- some sources say the family name may actually have been `` gaedele '' -rrb- gained recognition in the second game of a st. louis browns doubleheader on august 19 , 1951 .
weighing 65 pounds -lrb- 29.5 kg -rrb- , and standing 3 feet 7 inches tall -lrb- 109 cm -rrb- , gaedel became the shortest player in the history of the major leagues .
he made a single plate appearance and was walked with four consecutive balls before being replaced by a pinch-runner at first base .
his jersey , bearing the uniform number '' '' , is displayed in the st. louis cardinals baseball hall of fame and museum .
st. louis brown 's owner bill veeck , in his 1962 autobiography `` veeck -- as in wreck '' , said of gaedel , `` he was , by golly , the best darn midget who ever played big-league ball .
he was also the only one . ''
gaedel was a professional performer , belonging to the american guild of variety artists -lrb- agva -rrb- .
before his appearance as baseball 's most-famous pinch-hitter , gaedel 's most notable gig arguably was when he was hired in 1946 by mercury records to portray the `` mercury man . ''
he sported a winged hat similar to the record label 's logo , to promote mercury recordings .
some early mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo .
