The following article was found in the HOF documentation archives. It states that it was originally published in the St. Louis Globe Democrat in 1974. No other details are available.
If you’re the kind of individual who appreciates family and fun, you’d easily understand the happiness that was the Michael Siemer family. Yes, it was a large family – eight boys and three girls – and while they really didn’t need outsiders to have a crowd, there were always ballplayers around.
The reason? Seven of the eight boys were outstanding ballplayers – the oldest, Bernie, was not too active because he was a breadwinner with Dad. Both were.
Virgil Siemer was inducted into the Greater St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame on March 20, 1975. His credits for enshrinement are embraced in an active career that spanned 37 years from 1932 through 1968. Back in 1932, the year Babe Ruth hit .341 and pounded 41 homers, Virgil Siemer, a 5-foot-8 shortstop weighing 125 pounds, signed a Muny League contract with the old Stroot and Carroll team. Other clubs over the years included Vogel Cafe, Vess Soda, Stags, Carter Carburetor, Lindell Trust, Meyer Barbeque, Breheny’s, Rauth’s, Milkay’s, Kelly’s, Borbein-Young, Kutis, and the St. Louis Union Printers.
Anyone with his kind of talents and desire qualified for a shot in the minor leagues.
Virg attracted attention while playing in the old Trolley League with Vess and the Stags. A super intelligent baseball man who was an excellent fielder at any infield position (including catcher), Siemer led the champion Belleville stags in hitting with a .366 average in 1935. The Trolley League was a quality league filled with former professionals like Jess Doyle, the old St. Louis Browns pitcher, and Walter Mueller, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder of the 1920s, and many star performers who were on their way up. Siemer enjoyed mentioning Mueller’s name because just a few years after Walter took his son Don to those games, Virg found himself playing on the same Muny ball club with Don. You all remember Don Mueller with the old New York Giants of the late 1940s and 1950s?
Some stars that Virg recalls playing with and against in the minors were Murry Dickson, Lou Novikoff, Harry Walker, Bud Souchock, and Frank Shea. He spent five years in professional ball with stops at Moline, Clinton, and Norfolk. His Norfolk manager impressed him (as he subsequently impressed all of the baseball world). He was Eddie Sawyer, who became the wizard of the Whiz Kids, the Philadelphia Phillies. In his baseball travels Siemer was associated with no fewer than 16 different clubs, winning 13 pennants and eight championships. So he rubbed elbows with many diamond luminaries.
Just get a group of old ballplayers together, a can or two of suds, and the old hot stove begins to glow. Every story seems as vivid as yesterday. Siemer has personal favorites like “Hap” Currier, who will also enter the Greater St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame this year, and Harry Meyers, a 1974 inductee. It’s a little foolhardy to try to recall all their names, but I badgered Virg, so it’s my responsibility as I mention Ray Fischer, the old pitcher, who encouraged Virg, Ed Fischer, and Charlie Conners to play in the Trolley League.
I questioned his catching ability and he simply said, “never a catcher by trade, but I guess some of it rubbed off on me from my brothers, Francis (Fat), a fine Muny League receiver, and Oscar, who caught for the old Boston Braves in 1925 and 1926. They were stars in my eyes and gave me many happy moments.” The Siemer ability to catch offered an extra dimension of thrills in replacing an injured Ed Murray or John Caito and catching such greats as Elmer Sexauer, Ed Gerken, John Walsh, and Dick Loeser. Siemer also enjoyed his competition with black pros such as Suttles, Trent, Creacy, Wells, and Troupe. Virg smiles as he recalls being “psyched out” by Normie Stauder, along with Joe Molina, Johnny Krifka, Buck Weast, Bill McKenna, Fred Naumann, Bob Krueger, Marty Schlereth, Ed Tourville, Lou Kissell, Henry Spellmeyer, and a host of others.
I began this column with a reference to the Siemer family and their zest for a good time that naturally spilled over into any baseball party. A little bit of rag time or whatever and Virg Siemer will do the old Soft Shoe.
At family get-togethers, which included anyone around, Dad Mike was the director. The rest of the brothers ana sisters (Mae, Lil, and Veronica) would sing in groups as long as anyone would listen. Those who attended the last two amateur baseball player meetings at Anheuser-Busch brewery know that all that’s necessary to set Virg free is a piano and a song – it’s like a walk down memory lane! Dancing, albeit, was a direct line to marriage for “Old Soft Shoe.”
Virg was managing a girls’ softball team at Sisler’s North Side Park. His club was a group of girls from Salvatore’s church sponsored by Melitio’s. They were looking for better competition so with a “song in his heart.” Siemer decided to recruit at Forest Park Highlands. He’d ask everyone he danced with if she played softball. The result was a five-player addition from Sisler’s South Side Park, including two Berger sisters, two Held girls, and Miss Albanesius. It was in this atmosphere that Virg got to know Esther Pitz well enough to ask for her hand in marriage. They were married in 1940 and have two children. Son Lyle is a teacher at Riverview East Junior High School and daughter Gail teaches in Kansas City, Kansas.
Like so many of the former amateur baseball greats who have or will be inducted into the Greater St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, Virgil H. Siemer is filled with humility and gratitude to the men who are working so hard to recognize past diamond greats of the amateur leagues and programs in the St. Louis area. Like most who thought it was all over when you “hung them up,” the Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame is filling a need in a city that has given the Major Leagues as many players as any other city in America. There is an additional note that justifies publicity and Siemer said it well. Besides giving thanks to the directors, the “Man upstairs”, Mom and Dad, he is especially grateful to “a very understanding wife, Esther, who put up with my antics for 34 years, - she should be in a Hall of Fame for wives!”