<Archive Obituaries> Del Ennis (February 8th 1996)
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://gastricreflux.net/images/del_ennis.jpg
FROM: The Philadelphia Daily News (February 10th 1996) ~
By Bill Fleischman, Sports Writer
Del Ennis, the home-grown slugging outfielder with the
Phillies' 1950 National League champions, died of
complications from diabetes late Thursday night at his
Huntingdon Valley home. He was 70.
Signed out of Olney High in 1942 by scout Jocko Collins,
Ennis played 14 seasons in the major leagues. From 1946 to
'56, he was with the Phillies.
He had a career batting average of .284, hit 288 home runs
and drove in 1,284 runs.
On the Phillies' all-time list, Ennis's 259 homers are
runner-up to Mike Schmidt. Ennis is third in RBI (1,124) and
total bases (3,029); fourth in hits (1,812) and extra base
hits (634) and fifth in games played (1,630).
Between 1949 and '55, Ennis drove in more than 100 runs six
times. Only Schmidt, with nine, has more 100-RBI seasons in
Phillies history. Later in his career, he played with St.
Louis, Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox.
"He had some Hall of Fame numbers if he had just hit a few
more home runs," said fellow Whiz Kid Rich Ashburn, who said
he was shocked to learn of his former teammate's death. "He
was as good a breaking-ball hitter as I've seen. And he was
a very good spitball hitter.
"Hitters never look for a spitball, but I can remember
Preacher Roe threw a pretty good one. Del used to just wear
him out. Preacher Roe would cuss him out all around the
bases, [saying] 'How'd you hit that pitch?' Del would just
laugh. He never complained about guys throwing a spitter.
He'd just hit it."
Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, the top pitcher on the '50 Whiz
Kids, called Ennis "a solid baseball player, the kind of guy
you have to have if you're going to win."
Ennis's hustle impressed Roberts.
"He always busted his butt running to first on every
groundball with a man on base," said Roberts from his home
near Tampa, Fla. "That's a doubleplay for a lot of big guys.
When I asked him about it, he said, 'It's only 90 feet.'
That probably typifies Del and baseball more than anything.
It was no big deal and he enjoyed it very much."
Eddie Sawyer, the manager of the Whiz Kids, called Ennis
"one of the best righthanded hitters in the league."
Speaking from his Valley Forge home, Sawyer, 85, said: "He
was a consistent ballplayer. He was a good outfielder, had a
good arm and ran good for a big man."
"You'd just put his name in the lineup every day. He wanted
to play every day."
Many Phillies fans were extraordinarily critical of Ennis.
Roberts remembered Ennis dropping a flyball with the bases
loaded and two outs. The Phillies lost the game, and the
boos were heard as far away as Bucks County. The next time
Ennis batted, Roberts said, he hit a grand slam.
Sawyer's theory: "He was a local boy in the big leagues, and
the others didn't do as well. They were jealous. When he
drove in 125 runs a year, they weren't as loud."
Ashburn was baffled by the booing.
"I could never understand it," he said. "Del played every
game as hard as he could. He hustled all the time. He
hustled like Pete Rose, but he never looked like he hustled
that much."
Ashburn recalled the only time Ennis talked about the booing
was after he retired.
"He said one day he went up in the leftfield stands after a
guy," Ashburn. "He said the guy was so meek-looking that he
just looked at him and laughed and walked away. He probably
went up there with intentions of choking the guy."
Robert "Maje" McDonnell, a coach with the Whiz Kids who
still works in community relations with the Phillies, called
Ennis "the most underrated baseball player I've ever seen in
Philadelphia."
"Del loped in from the outfield, Ashburn dashed. Del looked
like he wasn't trying, but he was one of the toughest and
hardest-working guys we ever had.
"When he slid into second base to break up a doubleplay,
those shortstops and second basemen were scared of him. He
drove [Eddie] Stanky into leftfield one day. The word around
the league was, don't fool with two guys: Del and Gil
Hodges.
"If [Ennis] had charged the pitcher every time he was hit,
he'd have been in 1,000 fights. Anybody we played knocked
him down."
After serving with the Navy in the South Pacific for two
years, Ennis made an immediate impact in his rookie season
in 1946. He batted .313 with 17 homers and 73 RBI. That
season, he became the first Phillies rookie to be named to
an All-Star team.
When Larry Shenk, the Phillies' vice president for public
relations, was growing up in Myerstown, Pa., Ennis was his
favorite Phillies player.
"People complained that he struck out too much and didn't
drive in enough runs," Shenk said. "His highest one-season
strikeout total was only 62."
A serious player on the field, Ennis enjoyed having fun with
teammates and coaches. Sawyer said Ennis liked tormenting
coach Benny Bengough.
"Del used to give Benny those cigars that fluffed up,"
Sawyer said.
McDonnell recalled Ennis nailing Bengough's shoes to the
floor of the Connie Mack Stadium clubhouse.
"We'd be out on Frankford Avenue or someplace and Del would
ask Benny how he shifted behind the plate," McDonnell said.
"Benny would show him, right there on the street, and people
would wonder what he was doing. Del couldn't stop laughing."
After Ennis retired, he co-owned and operated the Del Ennnis
Bowling Lanes in Huntingdon Valley. John R. Wise, a former
Phillies traveling secretary, was Ennis's partner. Wise died
last November.
Ashburn, a Hall of Famer and Phillies announcer, said Ennis
told him about three weeks ago that he planned to be in
Florida to watch his dogs race. Ennis was in the business of
breeding greyhounds.
Three of Ennis's greyhounds were scheduled to race in
Florida this spring: Whiz Kid Ennis, Whiz Kid Ashburn and
Whiz Kid Roberts.
Ennis is survived by his wife, Liz; six children, Del Jr.,
David, Debbie Anthony, Darlene McCullough, Lisa Malone and
Donna Robinson; 13 grandchildren; and one great grandchild.
A viewing will be 11 a.m. Monday at the Wackerman Funeral
Home, 8060 Verree Road in the Fox Chase section of Northeast
Philadelphia, where memorial service will follow at 1 p.m.
Burial will be private.
Donations may be sent to Abington Memorial Hospital, 1200
Old York Road, Abington, Pa. 19004.
---
Photo:
http://www.bobbyclarke.com/richie/delobby.jpg (vendor/lobby card)
---
Ennis Dies At Age 70
FROM: The Philadelphia Inquirer (February 10th 1996) ~
By Don McKee, Staff Writer
Del Ennis, 70, the greatest Phillies slugger of the pre-Mike
Schmidt era, died Thursday.
Mr. Ennis, who was born in Philadelphia and graduated from
Olney High School, died at his Huntingdon Valley home of
complications from diabetes.
Mr. Ennis played with the Phillies from 1946 through 1956,
winning the Sporting News' rookie-of-the-year award in his
first season and helping the Whiz Kids to the franchise's
second pennant in 1950.
In his major-league career, which ended in 1959, Mr. Ennis
hit .284 with 288 homers and 1,284 RBIs. He had 2,063 hits
in 1,903 games.
Mr. Ennis, a righthanded power hitter, is second only to
Schmidt in career home runs as a Phillie, with 259. Schmidt
finished with 548.
Among the Phillies' career leaders, Mr. Ennis is third in
RBIs (1,124) and total bases (3,029), fourth in hits (1,812)
and extra-base hits (634), and fifth in games (1,630),
at-bats (6,327) and doubles (310). His batting average as a
Phillie was .281.
Mr. Ennis was traded to St. Louis before the 1957 season for
infielder Bobby Morgan and outfielder Rip Repulski. He
played two seasons in St. Louis and ended his career in
1959, with five games for Cincinnati and 26 for the Chicago
White Sox.
"Del was a good, consistent RBI man," said Allen Lewis, the
retired Inquirer baseball writer who covered Mr. Ennis'
entire career as a Phillie. "He wasn't fancy. He didn't run
well, and he didn't field all that well, although he was
adequate. But he was a tough out."
Mr. Ennis enjoyed his best season in 1950, leading the
National League with 126 RBIs while hitting .311 with 31
homers.
Between 1949 and 1955, a span of seven seasons, Mr. Ennis
drove in more than 100 runs six times. Only Schmidt, with
nine, had more 100-RBI seasons in a Phillies uniform.
By the mid-1950s, Mr. Ennis had become Schmidt's forerunner
in a different sense. He had become the favorite target of
the boo-birds at Connie Mack Stadium, the park at 21st and
Lehigh that housed the Phillies of that era.
"He didn't run too well," Lewis recalled, "and he used to
hit into double plays, which got the fans booing. I don't
think he struck out overly many times, but like all big
hitters, he did strike out, and the fans were tough.
"He wasn't flashy. In fact, he was kind of pedestrian. Plus,
he didn't show much emotion, like Schmitty."
Mr. Ennis was signed out of Olney High in 1942 by fabled
Phillies scout Jocko Collins. He played for Trenton in the
Inter-State League in 1943 and enlisted in the Navy at the
close of that season.
After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mr. Ennis made
the Phillies and broke into the starting lineup early in the
season. He became the first Phillies rookie named to an
all-star team and finished with a .313 average, 17 homers
and 73 RBIs in 141 games.
After his career was over, Mr. Ennis co-owned and operated
Del Ennis Lanes, a bowling facility in Rockledge, Montgomery
County. His co-owner, John R. Wise, a longtime Phillies
traveling secretary, died in November. They had retired from
the business a few years previously.
Mr. Ennis is survived by his wife, Liz; six children; 13
grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A viewing will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Wackerman
Funeral Home, 8060 Veree Rd., Fox Chase, with a memorial
service at 1 p.m. Interment will be private.
---
Photo: http://www.grandstandsports.com/images/11711.jpg
Del Ennis in art:
http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/ppp/images/car_EnnisBig.jpg
1950 Bowman (#31) baseball card (front & back):
http://www.bobbyclarke.com/richie/de1950b.jpg
1956 Topps (#220) baseball card:
http://www.vintagecardtraders.com/virtual/56topps/56topps-220.jpg
1958 Topps (#60) baseball card:
http://www.vintagecardtraders.com/virtual/58topps/58topps-060.jpg