George "Rube" Deneau

George Deneau (died January 10, 1926) was a Canadian minor league baseball player, manager, and promoter who played on a number of Ontario and Michigan teams between 1898 and 1915.

Professional offers started rolling in by 1901 from teams such as Detroit, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, but for several years he turned them all down, preferring to work in Windsor as a diver.

In March he re-signed with the Windsors, who the Detroit Free Press said had been the "terror" of the region for the past two years with Deneau as their "star twirler and manager.

Newly formed this year by Deneau and others, Southern Michigan was a Class D league under a classification system that ran from D up to AAA.

[16] Notwithstanding his Jackson perch, Deneau pitched the last three innings for Windsor's opening game in Williams Park against the Detroit Magnolias.

[20] In March the Springfield Senators were negotiating with the Detroit Tigers to acquire Henry Steiger, a left-handed pitcher to complement Deneau the rightie.

[26][27] In February 1909 Deneau met with other baseball people in Michigan and Ontario about forming a Border League to comprise Windsor, Pontiac, Port Huron, Monroe, Mt.

Over 1200 fans bought tickets for a game between Windsor and the Good Lucks from Detroit, all the proceeds to go to Rube Deneau, "who is very popular in this city.

[38] On July 22 a scheduled game against the Detroit Athletic Club was cancelled because "the majority of Deneau's men are busy at the race track this week and are unable to get away to play ball.

"[39] On the 28th they were drubbed by Detroit's Cass team, with Delaney and the hitless Deneau again alternating at first base and the pitcher's mound.

[45] On the 21st, the sports page of the Free Press carried a message: "Rube Deneau is requested to call Manager Batchelor, of the D. A. C. [Detroit Athletic Club], this evening after 7 o'clock at Main 6200.

"[46] Deneau's absences may have been due to his extracurricular (and presumably paid) work with the Saginaw Wa-was, who ended in first place in the Southern Michigan League that year.

[49] Deneau also did some occasional umpiring in Windsor for the newly formed Trolley League and played for Walkerville after Bay City's season was finished.

[50][51] In 1911 Deneau managed the Green Sox of Berlin, Ontario (later renamed Kitchener) to a pennant-winning 70-40 record in the Class D Canadian League (London, Hamilton, Guelph, St. Thomas, Brantford).

As 1912 began there was no movement in Windsor for adopting the Green Sox, and Berlin authorities were dragging their feet on the prospect of expanding the facilities at Victoria Park.

Nothing came of that, but by April construction had begun on improvements to the Berlin field and Deneau was hiring men to replace the six from last year who had been snapped up by the majors.

[57] There was a bump in the road when the Ontario Municipal and Railway Board ruled that public moneys could not be spent on the Victoria Park improvements without a referendum.

[60] However, construction continued and all animosities crumbled at the season opener in Berlin, where Deneau was given a rousing welcome by 1500 fans, with a regimental band, a procession of leading citizens, and a presentation to Rube of "a monster bouquet and bag of gold."

As the always adulatory Evening Record put it, "to show that his heart was in the right place [Deneau] won his game by 3 to 2" against the Brantford Red Sox.

[61] The league itself was upgraded this year to Class C and expanded to eight teams: Ottawa, Brantford, Hamilton, London, St. Thomas, Berlin, Guelph, and Peterborough.

[62] During the season Deneau continued to be the Renaissance Man of the diamond, serving as manager, utility outfielder, and sometime pitcher.

On that day the teams played a double-header in Ottawa that Halligan later called "the most exciting game of baseball he had ever witnessed in his 20 years experience on the diamond."

In the first game London led 5-3 until the ninth, thanks to a Deneau grand slam in the fourth inning and an insurance run in the seventh.

Deneau was also pitching well, but after giving up two hits and a run in the ninth he called Heck in to relieve him with two men out and two on base.

[80] In a bitter moment in mid-season Deneau called Frank Reisling, his replacement as manager at London, a "has-been.

[84] Reporting on the move the Windsor Evening Record called him "the man who did much to put baseball on the map in Western Ontario .

He kept track of lost property, chased speeders (including Ty Cobb), caught burglars and bootleggers, got into gun battles, rounded up suspicious characters, and with his colleagues managed to haul a dead horse out of Little River and return it to its owner for burial.

[88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101] He appears to have been something of a stickler for rules, advising citizens in the local newspaper about strict enforcement of open fires laws and warning that women who cuddled up to the driver of an automobile could expect a ticket.

[102][103] In 1922 Riverside also acquired a fire engine (a Ford, naturally), and soon Deneau was battling blazes as the town's default fireman.

Deneau had been an active parishioner of St. Rose of Lima church in Riverside, a member of the Holy Name Society and the Catholic Order of Foresters.