Fred W. Veil

Bucky Veil was a professional baseballer who played the game in the early years of thetwentieth century, a time when baseball was beginning to evolve into Americas nationalpastime. As a twenty-two-year-old rookie with the 1903 Pittsburg Pirates, he pitched in the firstWorld Series of modern major league baseball, thus witnessing firsthand an important milestonein the history of the sport. No less an authority than Hall of Famer Honus Wagner predicted thatBucky would be "a great star."

Bucky is a story of baseball in the Deadball Era, told from the perspective of the authorsgrandfather, Fred "Bucky" Veil, and other professionals who played a game that was verydifferent from that of the modern era. It was a game that emphasized strategy overpower—Babe Ruth and the long ball were a decade or more in the future—andrelied upon speed; smart, aggressive base-running; good bunting techniques; and timelyhitting, all designed to advance runners into positions from which they could score.

Baseball in the Deadball Era was played with a passion that is largely absent in the moderngame. Bucky was blessed to have had the opportunity to play professional baseball in an erawhen it truly was a game.

About the Author

About theAuthor

Fred W. Veil currently lives in Prescott, Arizona. A native Pennsylvanian and a Marine Corpsveteran, he is a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College and the Duquesne UniversitySchool of Law. Previously published works include articles in the Duquesne Law Review and theJournal of Arizona History. He and his wife, Sally, have two adult children and one grandchild.