SEPT: THE BASEBALL GURU ARTICLE FROM

ONEMOREINNING

      BUTTERCUP DICKERSON

   It’s a nice, well taken care of Cemetery away from the madding crowd. On July 23, 1920 one of baseball’s Toilers In The Sun was buried there and quickly forgotten. His name was Lewis Pessano Dickerson. History has dubbed him “Buttercup.”

 We have not been told where the nickname came from or what prompted it….that’s anybody’s guess. It is however  how he is known these days.

  His achievements in the game were minor. He played for only a total of seven seasons and never managed to fill a full schedule.

  All in all he played with eight different teams , three of which were in the Major Leagues then (Cincinnati, Boston, and St. Louis).

  His best season overall was in 1874 with Cincinnati when he took over for Charlie Jones in leftfield and hit .294 and had 57 RBIs.

  From 1881 until 1883 he was in the Minors. He did come back to Pittsburgh, did poorly with them, and then spent the rest of his career knocking around with various Minor League clubs.

  So why are we bothering to talk about him?

  Easy…..He is baseball’s first recorded Italian American to play the game.

  More were to come.