Ross Emil “Tex” Erwin was born December 22, 1885 in Forney, Texas to Hiram P. Erwin and Laura Ann Boles Erwin. Tex’s father Hiram was a farmer and carpenter according to various census and newspaper reports. Hiram was also once tried and acquitted of the charge of murder in 1899. The charge was related to a downtown Dallas shooting which had occurred in 1898. Hiram had testified that the victim had threatened him on numerous occasions, which might have had an impact on the verdict. In addition, the victim had previously also had stood trial for murder and had been acquitted. During Hiram’s trial, some of his testimony was apparently used to implicate him in a somewhat related arson case, for which he was also tried. In the latter case, Hiram was convicted, received a new trial and was again convicted in the second trial. There are no other mentions in Texas newspapers of legal issues other than these. Hiram died in 1927. Laura survived him by more than thirty-five years until she died in 1964. She and Hiram are buried in Dallas.
Hiram and Laura Ann had six sons, of which Tex was the oldest. Hiram’s obituary noted that all six of their sons had played professional baseball at some level, including minor league baseball, and that at least two of them were long time Texas League umpires. William Hiram “Hi” Erwin was married and lived in Dallas. He was a former catcher for Dallas in the Texas League and later umpired in the Texas League, the American Association and the Western Association. Jack Powell Erwin was also married and lived in Dallas. After his baseball career, he worked as an auto mechanic for Ford Motor Company. Thomas Buckley “Tom” Erwin was also married in lived in Dallas. After his playing career, he was an umpire in the Texas League and International League. William “Hal” Erwin was married and lived in Houston. After his baseball career, he worked in the oil business. When he died, he had been working as the manager of the land division for Atlantic Refining Company in Harris County. Edwin I. “Babe” Erwin played 8 seasons as an outfielder in the minor leagues. He was married and held various jobs after his baseball career was over. When he died he was living in Dallas and had most recently been working in the concession business.
Their mother Laura lived to be 98. She was interviewed on the occasion of her 75th birthday and was revealed to be quite knowledgeable about baseball, major and minor league ball, especially in the early days. She was also known to be quite fond of fishing for bass at a local lake.
Tex had signed with the Fort Worth Panthers of the Texas League in 1905 when he was 19 years old. The Panthers were a long time area minor league team, competing from 1888 to 1964. They later became known as the Fort Worth Cats. There have been at least two entities called the Fort Worth Cats, the entity noted above and another one that existed from 2001 to 2014 that was finally part of the now disbanded United League Baseball. In Tex’s first season, he appeared in 27 games with the Panthers. He had 92 plate appearances and had a batting average of .293. He played for two teams in 1906, the Panthers and the St. Paul Saints (A). He played for three teams when he was 21, the St. Louis Saints, the Topeka Kansas White Sox (C) and appeared in four games in a short call up with the Detroit Tigers. After two more seasons in the minors, Tex signed with the Brooklyn Superbas (later known as the Dodgers) where he spent the better part of his six year major league career before winding up his tenure with part of one season at Cincinnati.
The Superbas team was founded in 1883. The odd name supposedly came from a vaudeville act. The club operated under that and a few other names until 1911 when they became known as the Brooklyn Dodgers for much of their existence in New York. The club moved to Los Angeles and has been known as the Los Angeles Dodgers effective with the 1958 season. There have been many Dodger owners over the years. The first was Charles Byrne followed by Charles Ebbetts and others.
Players in the modern era have more elaborate statistical records, but though they might be incomplete or partial, some fine sites go back to the earliest days of baseball. Tex’s major league statistics from baseball-reference.com show that in total, Tex participated in 276 games between the ages of 21 and 28. He had 738 plate appearances and a modest lifetime batting average of .238, 70 runs batted in and 11 home runs. His fielding position was almost entirely as a catcher and his fielding percentage was a respectable .957.
On June 14, 1913, Tex suffered what would become a career ending injury. In the last game of their series, Heinie Zimmerman of the Cubs slid into Tex as he was covering home plate. In the play, Zimmerman had been attempting to steal home. Erwin and Zimmerman collided, but Erwin held onto the ball and made the tag for the out on Zimmerman. However, Zimmerman’s momentum broke Tex’s arm in two places. Tex collapsed on the field before leaving the game, ending his season after having only appeared in 20 games for the Dodgers.
Tex came back from his injury, but was never quite the same. After 8 games with the Dodgers in the 1914 season, he was traded to the Cincinnati club. He appeared in 12 games for the Reds with his last big league appearance coming in late July, 1914.
Tex tried hard to make a comeback. For several years, he continued to play A to AA baseball in the minors with Baltimore, Rochester, Reading and Dallas, also exclusively doing umpiring during the 1916 and 1917 seasons, with his final playing appearance in the minors coming in 1921. After his baseball career, Tex is said to have been in business and having served at some point on the Rochester, New York City Council. He continued to reside in Rochester, New York for the rest of his life.
In 1911, Tex had married the former Ida Mae Haitz of New York. The couple had two children. Tex died on April 5, 1953. Ida Mae survived him another 20 years. Both are buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York.
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