Yankees Birthday of the Day: Herb McQuaid
The righty reliever played two seasons for the Reds and Yankees in the 1920s.
(Original Caption) Left to right- first row: Barnes, Adams, Shocker paschal, Braxton, Oleary, Gazzela, Sharky- middle row- Koenig, Collins, Bengough, Huggins, Boall, Ponnock, and Meusel; back row- Woods (trainer), Fred Merkle, Jones, Coons, Ward, Skiff, Hoyt, Lazzari, Ruth, Gobrig, Thomas, McQuaid, and Dugan. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) | Corbis via Getty Images The first half of the 1920s were a transformative time for the Yankees, the still relatively new franchise transitioning from an also-ran into a true behemoth. With the arrival of Babe Ruth coinciding with the beginning of the live-ball era and the assemblage of Murderers’ Row, the building of the sport’s greatest empire was just beginning.
Not all who played for those teams garnered the same fanfare as your Ruth’s and Gehrig’s — some were lucky enough just to be along for the ride, and that label certainly applies to right-handed relief pitcher Herb McQuaid. Hebert George McQuaid Born: March 29, 1899 (San Francisco, CA) Died: April 4, 1966 (Richmond, CA) Yankees Tenure : 1926 Herbert George McQuaid was born on March 29, 1899, in San Francisco, CA, to Frank McQuaid — brother-in-law to former heavyweight champion James J. Corbett — and Lillian Cecilia McQuaid (née O’Neill).
He grew up just across the street from Recreation Park, home of the Class AA San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League — a young McQuaid gaining his love for the game from watching Seals games out the window of his childhood home. His family suffered tragedy when he was young, his father taking his own life during a poker game when McQuaid was just 13-years-old. McQuaid attended Mission High School and pitched for the Visitacion Valley neighborhood team before moving to the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland prior to his senior year.
By 1919 he was working as a stenographer and pitching for the St. Joseph’s Sodality team of east Oakland in the Oakland Midwinter League. He caught the attention of local professional teams when he tossed a near-no-hitter for the J.
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