Sam Leever "The Goshen Schoolmaster"

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Sam Leever was born on December 23, 1871 on a farm in Goshen, Ohio. His family was among one of the founding families of Goshen, Ohio. After graduating from high school in 1889. Sam taught there for seven years before he signed his first baseball contract at the age of 25. Sam Leever was known as "The Goshen Schoolmaster" for his older appearance and serious disposition.  Sam Leever relied on his exceptional curveball and control to compile a record of 194-100, for a .660 winning percentage. This percentage  was the ninth highest in baseball history. In an era when pitchers were listed in the newspapers each week according to their winning percentages, the oft-injured right hander was the National League's leading pitcher in 1901, 1903, and 1905.

Sam's first professional season was 1897 with Richmond (Atlantic League), where he won 20 games and led the league in strikeouts. Pittsburg purchased his contract for 1898 but when he reported with a sore arm, the club sent him back to Richmond.  While at Richmond,  he won 14 more games and helped lead his team to the league championship.  this success earned him a recall to Pittsburg for the tail end of the season where he won his only decision.  As an 1899 rookie, Leever pitched in a league-leading 51 games and 379 innings and compiled a record of 21-23.  Manger Patsy Donovan not only let him complete 35 games but Leever also led the league by finishing 11 games for other pitchers.During the years 1900-1902, Leever won 44 and lost 25 games ad in 1901 lead the league in winning percentages(.737)

1903 was Sam Leever's greatest season, compiling a 25-7 record including seven shutouts and a league-leading 2.06 ERA.  Late in the 1903 season, Sam hurt his right shoulder in a trap  shooting contest in Charleroi,  Pennsylvania. Sam was an avid and accomplished trap shooter his entire life, but his injury nearly cost the Pirates the 1903 World Series.   The Pirates fell to the upstart Bostons, in large part because of Sam's inability to pitch effectively. When Sam reported to spring camp, he was not completely recovered from his injury.  After winning eighteen games in 1904, Leever finished 20-5, then 22-7 the next two seasons while leading the league in winning percentages in 1905.

Dogged by a sore arm that cause him to miss his turn in the rotation, Leever fell off to 14 wins in 1907, although he had a career best 1.66 batting average. By 1908(15-7), he was pitching relief half of the time. In his last two years with the Pirates, Leeever pitched almost exclusively in relief, winning 14 and losing 6. Prior to the 1911 season, the 38 year old part-time pitcher was disappointed in the Pirate's tendered salary terms and refused to report to training camp. Barney Dreyfuss offered to sell Leever to a minor league team and give him a share of the sale but this only insulted Sam more, so requested and received his release from the Pirates. In 1913, after a year out of baseball, Sam was inticed to  mange the independent minor league team in Covington with the Federal League. After that 1913 season, Sam Leever hung up his uniform for good.

Sam Leever and his wife Margaret did not have any children.  He retired to a seventy- acre farm in Goshen with money he had saved from his years in baseball. Sam retured and continued to teach at Goshen schools for many years. Sam was also the Goshen postmaster for two terms and became one of Goshen' s leading citizens. Sam also maintained his passion for trap shooting, scoring a 99 out of 100 as late as age 71. Leever was an avid outdoorsman and went on many long hunting trips during and after his baseball career, often with his former teammates Deacon Philippe and Honus Wagner.

Sam eventually retired from farming and he and Margaret moved into her family's old place nearer to town (house since demolished).  Leever often attended ballgames in town but he would rarely offer advice or talk much about his own great career.  He died at home at age 81 on May 19, 1853.  Sam Leever is buried in Goshen cemetery.

The Goshen High School Alumni association is honored to induct Sam Leever into the 2010 Goshen High School Hall of Fame.  Sam Leever was nominated by Candy Meadors, Class of 1966.    

Source: Goshen High School Alumni Association