Wilmer Brickley
| Date and Place of Birth: | November 19, 1890 Nicktown, PA |
| Date and Place of Death: | October 31, 1918 Curtiss Flying School in Miami, FL |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Piitcher |
| Rank: | Sergeant |
| Military Unit: | US Marine Corps |
| Area Served: | United States |
Wilmer H. Brickley was born on November 19, 1890 in Nicktown,
Pennsylvania. He attended Indiana Normal prep school from 1910 to 1913,
before signing with the independent Federal League’s Pittsburgh
Filipinos. Brickley pitched in seven games for the Fils, starting five
of them and posting a 1-3 record.
1913 was his only year in professional baseball. As the Federal League
went on to gain notoriety as an outlawed third major league, Brickley,
who turned down offers to continue playing professional baseball,
returned to Indiana Normal where he pitched and captained the baseball
team in 1914. In 1915, he pitched for a team in Rossiter, Pennsylvania,
before entering Duquesne University, where he studied law for two years
and played baseball and football. He was named captain of the 1918
baseball team, but the team never played a game due to wartime
restrictions.
In June 1918, Brickley left Duquesne to serve his country. He
volunteered for the Marine Corps to become a seaplane pilot and studied
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before taking flying
lessons at Curtiss Flying School in Miami, Florida. Brickley was killed
when the plane he was flying caught fire in mid-air and crashed on
October 31, 1918.
He was 27 years old and is buried at St. Nicholas Cemetery in Nicktown,
Pennsylvania.
Brickley’s batterymate at Indiana Normal, Clifford K. Morrow, became a
lieutenant in the US Army Air Service and was also killed in a flying
accident just a month later on November 11, 1918. Morrow was putting on
a flying exhibition over Detroit to celebrate the armistice, when his
plane crashed into a building.
|
Year |
Team |
League |
Class |
G |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1913 | Pittsburgh | Federal League | Ind. | 7 | 38 | - | 6 | 12 | 1 | 3 | - |
Thanks to Jack Morris for bringing Wilmer Brickley to my attention.
Date Added July 3, 2024
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