Chuck Eisenmann, 91; Important Figure in American Military Baseball During World War II/Dog Trainer ("The Littlest Hobo")
Bill Schenley
Chuck Eisenmann, one of the most important
figures in American military baseball in Europe
during World War II has passed away aged 91.
Founder of the top U.S. Army team in England
(the CBS Clowns) in 1943 and 1944, Eisenmann
then went to Paris, France, where he organized
all athletic activities for Army personnel in the
area.
Photo: http://snipurl.com/123myz
FROM: The Baseball in Wartime Blog ~
By Gary Bedingfield
Charles P. "Chuck" Eisenmann was born
on October 22, 1918, in Hawthorne, Wisconsin,
a community of about 1,000 in the northwest
corner of the state, 20 miles southeast of Superior.
Charles was the youngest of three brothers.
His oldest brother, William, joined the Navy
at 17 in 1926, and brother George also served
with the peacetime Navy. Rather than follow in
his brothers' footsteps, Charles chose instead to
join the Army, and did so as soon as he graduated
from high school in 1937.
A naturally gifted athlete, Eisenmann pitched for
the Eighth Field Artillery baseball team in the
Schofield Barracks league at Honolulu, and was
named to the All-Hawaiian baseball and track
teams while serving there in 1937 and 1938.
His pitching talents soon attracted the attention
of professional baseball scouts and it was the
Detroit Tigers who first came knocking and
agreed to buy him out of military service.
Eisenmann went to the Tigers' St Petersburg,
Florida, spring training camp in 1939, but hurt
his arm and was assigned to the Beaumont
Exporters in the Class A1 Texas League, where
he roomed with Virgil Trucks, but never
appeared in a regular season game. Later in the
year, Eisenmann was assigned to the Henderson
Oilers of the Class C East Texas League where
he made 16 appearances and posted a 4-4
won-loss record with a 4.44 earned run average.
Eisenmann finished the 1939 season with the
Lake Charles Skippers of the Class D Evangeline
League, making five appearances for a 1-3 record.
In January 1940, Eisenmann found himself
a free agent as baseball commissioner Kenesaw
Mountain Landis released 91 players from the
Tigers' organization. In the opinion of Landis,
these players had been kept in "cold storage"
on farm teams from Shreveport to Seattle. One
team with which Detroit had a secret deal was
Hot Springs in the Cotton States League, which
found itself left with only one player after the
commissioner's ruling!
Following his release from the Tigers' organization,
Eisenmann signed with the Los Angeles Angels
of the Class AA Pacific Coast League (PCL).
However, a hip injury prevented him from making
the team's roster for 1940 and he spent the season
with the Vancouver Capilanos and the Yakima
Pippins in the Class B Western International
League. The 6-foot-1 right-hander pitched 26
games for the year and was 6-10 with a 5.66 ERA.
Eisenmann remained with Yakima for 1941 for
his best pre-war season. He made 33 appearances
on the mound, including 17 starts, recorded
a 3.40 ERA with 12 wins and 13 losses, and led
the league with 204 strike outs in 201 innings.
He also beat the Oakland Oaks of the PCL,
3 to 1, in a non-league game on May 26, striking
out eight. An injury-free season had shown what
the 22-year-old could do and his contract was
purchased by the San Diego Padres of the PCL
in November 1941, just one month before the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Impressed with
his abilities in spring training at Imperial Valley,
the Padres kept Eisenmann on their roster for the
start of the 1942 season. He made his first
appearance in the Pacific Coast League on April 4,
throwing three innings of shutout relief in a 4-2 loss
against Portland. Eisenmann was on the mound
again the following day but lasted just one third
of an inning in a relief role. His next appearance
for San Diego was on April 9, pitching the last
three innings against Seattle and allowing one run
in an 11-2 loss. It was to be Eisenmann's last game
of the season as he rejoined the Army
in Los Angeles on April 11, 1942.
Eisenmann attended officer training school and
graduated as a second lieutenant before being
sent overseas. "I got to England the latter part
of '42," he recalled in an interview with me some
years ago, "right in the bombings. I saw an
opening in the Special Services Division so
I took charge of the athletics department."
Eisenmann was based in London with the
827th Signal Service Battalion of the Central
Base Section with offices in Goodge Street,
London. He wasted little time organizing the
battalion athletes into the Signal Monarchs
baseball team and among the players at his
disposal were Lou Kelley, a semi-pro outfielder
from Massachusetts; Bobby Korisher, a second
baseman from the sandlots of Scranton,
Pennsylvania; and Richard Roberts, a third
baseman who played in the California industrial
leagues before the war. The Monarchs entered
the London International Baseball League (LIBL)
in the spring of 1943 - a highly competitive
eight-team circuit consisting of five US Army
teams, two Canadian military clubs and a British
civilian side. Eisenmann won 14 out of 16 games,
13 of them in a row, and was credited with 174
strike outs.
The Monarchs were leading the league by June
and drawn in a three-game playoff with second
place First Canadian General Hospital for the
LIBL championship. Eisenmann pitched the
Monarchs to a 4-2 victory in the first game at
spacious Stamford Bridge Stadium, allowing just
five hits with 19 strike outs. He clinched the
championship for the Monarchs three days later
with a 14-0 victory.
Eisenmann's next move was to put together
an all-star team to represent the U.S. Army
Central Base Section, which encompassed
metropolitan London. The CBS (Central Base
Section) Clowns - as the team became known -
proved to be one of the most formidable service
teams in Britain during WWII. Playing against
military challengers as far afield as Blackpool,
Liverpool and Scotland, the Clowns compiled
an outstanding record of 43 wins and just 4
losses. By the end of the summer of 1943 they
had defeated every top-level team in the Army,
Navy and Air Force, and had successfully toured
Northern Ireland. The Clowns' line-up in 1943
included George Burns, a big first baseman from
Sylacauga, Alabama; Pete Pavich, a flashy
shortstop who was with the Clinton Giants
of the Three-I League before the war; and Amey
Fontana, a semi-pro pitcher from Wampum,
Pennsylvania. When asked why he named the
team the Clowns, Eisenmann replied: "I had
a group of guys that were characters so I just
called them Clowns."
Eisenmann, who pitched almost every game
for the Clowns in 1943, was faced with one
major problem. Few, if any ball fields in
Britain had a pitcher's mound, and many
games were played on soccer fields where
the erection of a mound was not permitted.
So, to overcome this, he set about constructing
his own portable mound. With the help of his
teammates he built a wooden framework that
was then layered with turf, and the unusual
creation, which met all baseball regulations,
journeyed everywhere with the team.
Injuries had hampered much of Eisenmann's
pre-war professional career and a medical
condition robbed him of his chance to play
in the highest profile baseball game staged by
the American armed forces in Britain during
the war. The All-Professional game between
the Army and Air Force was held at London's
Wembley Stadium on August 7, 1943, but one
month before hand he had to undergo an
emergency appendectomy. Eisenmann had
recovered sufficiently to help coach the Army
team but was helpless to prevent the Air Force
claiming victory in front of 21,500 fans, on
a no-hitter by airman Bill Brech, a New Jersey
semi-pro.
In September 1943, the CBS Clowns were
entered into the ETO World Series -
a four-day event held at the Eighth Air Force
Headquarters in Bushy Park, London, and the
brainchild of Major Donald Martin, ETO
Special Service athletic officer. The event
included teams from all across Britain and
Northern Ireland representing the Army, Navy,
Air Force and Marine Corps. The Clowns,
with a fully recovered Chuck Eisenmann on the
mound, were firm favorites from the outset.
In the opening game against the Signal Hounds
on September 27, Eisenmann struck out 19 in
the 4-2 win. The following day he defeated the
Air Support Command Eagles, 7 to 1, with eight
strike outs to advance the Clowns to the
semi-finals. However, pitching for the third
successive day, Eisenmann was beaten, 3 to 2,
by the Fighter Command Thunderbolts to bring
the Clowns' bid for the championship to
a shocking end. He had struck out 15 in the loss
as Mauro Ducca a pitcher with Twin Falls of the
Pioneer League before the war, guided
Thunderbolts to victory.
On the last day of the tournament the 116th
Infantry Regiment Yankees went on to clinch
the ETO World Series title with a 6-3 win over
the Fighter Command Thunderbolts. The
Clowns beat the 901st Engineers, 3-0, to take
third place in the tournament. Eight months later,
many of the 116th Infantry Regiment players
were among the first to go ashore at Omaha
Beach on D-Day. Pitcher Elmer Wright,
centerfielder Frank Parker, and third baseman
Lou Alberigo, were all killed in action that day.
In 1944, the Clowns continued their winning
ways with Eisenmann at the helm. On June 3,
just three days before the Normandy landings,
a second Wembley Stadium baseball
extravaganza was staged with the CBS Clowns
taking on the Ninth Air Force. A crowd of
18,000 witnessed a combination of mastery
and showmanship from Eisenmann as the
Clowns blanked the Air Force, 9 to 0.
Eisenmann allowed just three hits and struck
out 15.
In July 1944, tragedy almost struck when
Eisenmann was blown through the wall of his
office in London by an exploding V1 buzz
bomb. "That bomb didn't make the slightest
preliminary buzz," he later joked, "and the only
warning I had was when I heard a guard on the
roof shout 'Jump!'" he explained. "I instinctively
did and was actually in the air when the explosion
came. It blew me backward right through the wall
of the room - fortunately, the wall was crumbling
with the explosion, however."
Eisenmann spent around seven days in hospital
with an injured hip and back, and almost lost
the index finger on his pitching hand. "I refused
the Purple Heart," he later joked. "I figured
I wasn't damaged enough."
When Eisenmann resumed mound duties with
the CBS Clowns he favored the finger and used
an overhand curveball release rather than his usual
three-quarter style. The result was an even more
effective breaking ball that was almost unhittable
for his service team opponents. Late in 1944,
Eisenmann's unit followed the Allied advance
through Europe and relocated to Paris, France.
One of the first things Eisenmann did was bring
baseball to the liberated people of Paris. "I am
astonished that in France, you do not play
baseball which is, as you know, is the national
pastime in our country," he told a French
newspaper in late-September 1944. "We will,
therefore, demonstrate the game for you."
On Monday, October 2, 1944, Captain
Eisenmann organized the first baseball game
on French soil in World War II. Held at the
Parc des Princes in Paris, before a crowd of
6,000, Eisenmann presented a 20-minute
demonstration of the rules of the game, followed
by a softball game and then a baseball game in
which Eisenmann pitched the Clowns to a 3-0
victory over the US Army Polar Bears.
Eisenmann also arranged many exhibitions
of American sports for the Parisians like football,
basketball and volleyball.
The Seine Section Clowns continued to play
at the Parc des Princes with many of the
existing players joining the team from London,
England. One new addition to the team,
however, was Lieutenant Lyn "Buck" Compton,
UCLA catcher and a paratrooper with the 506th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, whose combat
exploits have been seen in the HBO television
series Band of Brothers. Compton was in Paris
recovering from the trauma he had recently
suffered in combat. "Lyn was one of my best
friends," says Eisenmann. "I was going on
a train out to the coast and he came up to me
and said, 'I'm Lieutenant Compton, I'd like
to join your organization.' I had fictitious orders
published and kept him with me for two years.
Lyn was a slow talking guy, nose bent over
from playing football. I had a German prisoner
that did my chores and he [Compton] would
follow this guy around and say to me, 'Ask him
why they shot at us when we were parachuting
down,' and the poor, terrified German would
hide behind me."
Eisenmann's team was one of the most successful
on European soil, but, just as it had in 1943, the
European Theater baseball crown eluded the
Clowns. This time it was former Pirates' pitcher,
Sam Nahem and his Oise All-Stars who knocked
the Clowns out of the 1945 ETO championships
in the Paris regional round. Nahem's team went
on to clinch the ETO World Series title in
Nurnberg, Germany in September, defeating the
powerful 71st Infantry Division (representing the
Third Army) in five games.
Throughout 1945, Eisenmann had taken charge
of all US Army athletic activities in the Seine
Section and was promoted to the rank of major.
He organized exhibition games for the local
civilians, and oversaw the running of servicemen
leagues for all sports. Eisenmann was instrumental
in ensuring the American servicemen in Paris had
plenty of opportunity to watch and participate
in sports while eagerly awaiting their return home
following the surrender of Germany in May.
Photo: http://snipurl.com/123n7x
Eisenmann returned to the United States
in late 1945. Despite four years away from the
professional game he was at spring training with
the San Diego Padres in 1946, and his impressive
assortment of pitches and undoubted athletic
maturity earned the 27-year-old a spot on the
Padres' regular season pitching staff. In his first
start on April 10, in the newly classified AAA
Pacific Coast League, Eisenmann beat the Los
Angeles Angels, 2 to 1, allowing just five hits and
striking out seven. "Eisenmann, former Army
major," wrote Tom McGwynne in the San Diego
Tribune on April 11, 1946, "who has a fireball
and a world of stuff, uncorked some dazzling
mound work, and save for one shaky inning,
looked like the real goods."
A week later, on April 18, Eisenmann spoiled
the Seattle Rainiers' home opener before 13,000
fans at Sicks' Stadium, winning 3-2 and striking
out 10. But Eisenmann would only spend half the
season at San Diego. A bad spell saw him lose
five out of the next six decisions. In 17 games
he posted a 3-6 won-loss record despite
a respectable 3.62 earned run average before
being assigned to the Tulsa Oilers in the Class
AA Texas League. Eisenmann remembers how
returning to the professional game after being an
Army officer was not easy. "I had been a major
in the Army and a lot of the players at San Diego
were enlisted men," recalls Eisenmann. "They
put up a sign in the dugout that said 'Enlisted
Men Only.' It was done kind of in jest but
I think there was some truth behind it."
Eisenmann made 18 appearances for Tulsa in
1946, including a 13-inning marathon against
Fort Worth on September 6, in which he lost,
3-1. He was 6-7 for the year with a superb 2.12
ERA and struck out 82 in 102 innings.
The 28-year-old was back with San Diego for
spring training in 1947, and on February 16,
he made a 2-inning relief appearance in the
annual benefit game between the Minor League
All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars. The
minor leaguers won the game, 6-4, in 10 innings.
After a sixth place finish in 1946, the Padres got
off to a good start in 1947, but Eisenmann
suffered from bouts of wildness. In 14 relief
appearances for the Padres he walked 30 batters
in 31 innings and San Diego sold him to the
Memphis Chicks of the Class AA Southern
Association on June 4, beginning a three-year
association with the Tennessee-based team.
Eisenmann had a decent year with Memphis
under manager Jack Onslow in 1947, making
19 appearances, with an 8-5 record and a 4.13
ERA. With his pitching under control it was
only his temper that was occasionally prone to
wildness. On August 5, Eisenmann was ejected
from a game for firing the ball into the stands
when umpire Frank Girard asked to inspect it.
Eisenmann was 29 years old when the 1948
season came around, and it proved to be his
best year in professional baseball. It did not
get off to a great start, however. He again pitched
in the Minors and Majors all-star game on
February 15 and this time the major leaguers
won, 4 to 3, when Gene Mauch raced home from
third with the decisive run on Eisenmann's
wind-up in the eighth. During the regular season
with the Memphis Chicks, Eisenmann made 34
mound appearances. He threw 17 complete games,
posted a 16-11 won-loss record, struck out
a league second-best 152 batters and had an
earned run average of 3.52. He beat New Orleans,
11-2, with a three-hitter on May 26, was selected
for the league all-star team in July, and threw
back-to-back five-hitters in August. On September
14, in the Southern Association's semi-final
play-offs, Eisenmann pitched 10 innings against
Birmingham and allowed six hits but lost the
game, 3-2, bringing to a disappointing end an
otherwise very satisfactory minor league season.
That same month he received $250 from
a Memphis packing company as runner-up player
of the year, but more importantly, he was called
up to the Chicks' parent club - the Chicago
White Sox.
A decade after starting his professional career -
not forgetting a four-year interruption that sent
him six thousand miles around the world to
serve his country - Chuck Eisenmann made it
to the major leagues. Although he never appeared
in a game for the White Sox, Eisenmann finished
out the season on the bench at Comiskey Park
and was still with the team for spring training at
Pasadena in 1949, when his former manager at
Memphis, Jack Onslow, became the new pilot
of the White Sox. "I really feel that I've acquired
the know-how and can make the grade," he told
the Superior Evening Telegram in December 1948.
But the dream was not to be. Eisenmann was
back with Memphis for the regular season, albeit
with an option to be recalled by the White Sox
at any time. He had a reasonable year in 1949 but
was not able to repeat his performance of 1948.
Eisenmann again made 34 appearances, he posted
a 9-13 record and had an earned run average of
5.24. And, again, he got a September recall by
the White Sox as they struggled to build their
pitching staff.
October 1949, signified the end of Eisenmann's
dream of pitching in the major leagues. He was
traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers as part of the
deal that brought Chico Carrasquel to the
White Sox. "Frank Lane came in as general
manager [of the Chicago White Sox] from the
American Association," recalls Eisenmann.
"He brought five pitchers with him and they're
the ones that stayed because he's not going to be
made to look a fool. So they traded me to
Brooklyn. Well, Brooklyn had about 18 starting
pitchers, so they bought me really for fodder."
Eisenmann spent the 1950 season with the
Mobile Bears of the Southern Association.
It was a miserable season for the 31-year-old,
pitching 18 games for a 2-11 record and a 3.59
ERA. He did not win his second game until late
August. At the end of the season he was
purchased by the New York Giants and split
the 1951 season between the Ottawa Giants and
the Syracuse Chiefs in the Class AAA
International League. On May 13, pitching for
Ottawa, he was credited with a one-hit, 4-0,
victory despite being pulled by manager Hugh
Poland after walking the first two batters in the
sixth. In 36 appearances for the season,
Eisenmann was 4-7 with a 3.80 ERA.
He remained with Syracuse at the start of the
1952 season and had made 19 relief
appearances for an inflated ERA of 5.40 when
he was sent to the Tulsa Oilers of the Class
A1 Texas League, a team he had previously
played for back in 1946. Eisenmann made 11
appearances for Tulsa, pitched 22 innings
and had an ERA of 3.68. One memorable
performance was on August 17, when he
pitched the last inning of a marathon 22-inning
contest against Houston, and singled in the
winning run to give Tulsa a 6-5 victory.
Nevertheless, the Oilers released the 33-year-old
at the end of the season.
As a free agent, Eisenmann was at the
San Francisco Seals' spring training camp
in Riverside in February 1953. He remained
with the Seals when the season started and
made three relief appearances before being
released on April 10. He was picked up by
San Diego - a team he had last been linked
to back in 1947 - and made a further five
appearances. On April 29, he was released
by the Padres when PCL rosters were reduced
to 21, marking the end of his career as
a professional player. "If there had not been
a war I probably would have made the major
leagues," Eisenmann reflects. "I could throw
hard but I really didn't know how to pitch.
Today, in the major leagues you got two
or three pitching coaches. I would just blow
the ball by people although I also had
a tremendous curve."
Chuck Eisenmann spent the remainder of 1953
and the following year with the semi-pro Kearney
Irishmen of the Nebraska Independent League,
where he continued to pitch well, including
a 13 strike out performance against the Holdredge
Bears on June 15, 1954.
Eisenmann was managing the Irishmen in 1955,
and his German shepherd London had a number
of duties with the team, including retrieving foul
balls and delivering gloves and jackets to players.
London took these duties very seriously and that
is what caused the trouble.
In the fifth inning of a 1-1 game with the
Irishmen's bitter rivals, the Lexington Minute
Men, London trotted on to the field with
a warmup jacket when Kearney's pitcher,
Fred Kipp, singled. However, London got
mixed up and went to the mound before heading
over to Kipp at first base. The crowd cheered
but the Minute Men complained that London
was delaying the game. The umpires ordered
Eisenmann and the dog off the field, the game
was forfeited to Lexington and Eisenmann's
suspension was recommended to the league.
But the league president disagreed and, when
the umpires threatened to quit, Eisenmann offered
his resignation instead.
Interestingly, Eisenmann attended Bill
McGowan's School for Umpires at Daytona
Beach, Florida, in 1956, and pursued a brief
career as a minor league umpire.
In a bid to continue pursuing a career in
professional baseball, he decided to attend
the Bill McGowan School for Umpires at
Daytona Beach, Florida in 1956. He was now
37 years old and graduated from the school
with a job in the California League. Maybe
umpiring was not the thing for Eisenmann but
he only lasted a single season. On June 13, 1956,
he was involved in a curious incident that took
place during a Bakersfield-Modesto game.
Eisenmann - behind the plate - thought a ball
had been fouled off by a Bakersfield batter and
threw another ball back to the pitcher. Meanwhile,
the runner at second headed for third because
the pitch had not actually been fouled off but had
got away from the Modesto catcher. Needless
to say, Eisenmann heard a great deal of abuse
from Modesto manager Al Lyons.
During the 1950s, Eisenmann was seen
everywhere with his trusted German Shepherd
"London." At Reno in June 1956, London
performed a routine of tricks and training to
the delight of the fans. It was a sign of things
to come.
With his umpiring career over, Eisenmann was
back on the mound in August 1956. He joined
the Bismarck Barons in the semi-pro Man-Dak
League as they made every effort to retain the
pennant. Bismarck was in second place behind
the Williston Oilers when the 37-year-old
Eisenmann pitched and won his first game of
the season against the Dickinson Packers on
August 13. Bismarck then advanced to the
semi-final playoff series with the Minot Mallards.
Eisenmann made relief appearances in both games
but the Mallards won both ending the hopes of
Bismarck advancing to the Man-Dak League
finals. But the real highlight of Eisenmann's short
career with Bismarck was his dog. "Before the
game, Chuck Eisenmann sent his German
Shepherd dog 'London' through his paces,"
wrote the Bismarck Tribune on August 17, 1956.
"The dog brought keys from Eisenmann's car,
bowed to the crowd, brought a bat and a broom
to the pitcher, ran the bases, brought a ball bag
from the mound, told how old he is (five), imitated
a kangaroo, closed a door, turned out a light,
played dead, untied a boy, and did a little
typewriting."
"The thing that really moved me from baseball
is my dog," recalls Eisenmann. "I had a nightclub
[Tobacco Rhoda's in North Park, San Diego]
and the dog started showing signs of greatness.
When I was with San Diego and Los Angeles,
instead of flying with the team I would drive with
the dog. Then Life magazine did a three-page
spread, so I moved from baseball to the dog
even though I was still a pretty decent pitcher."
Following the spread in Life, Eisenmann and
London became nationally renowned. In 1958,
London starred in an Allied Artists movie called
The Littlest Hobo. It was an old-time family
movie that followed a very smart and shrewd
stray German Shepherd dog who moved from
town to town by hopping boxcars and freight
trains just like a hobo. London appeared in another
movie in 1960, My Dog, Buddy, in which
Eisenmann had a small acting part. Then, in
1963, came The Littlest Hobo television series.
Another movie, Silent Friends, was made in
Romania in 1969. By 1971, he had four German
Shepherds - London, Venus, Raura and Hobo.
The Billion Dollar Hobo appeared on movie
screens in 1977 and a second The Littlest Hobo
series was launched on television in 1979 and ran
for six seasons. In all, there have been more than
160 episodes of The Littlest Hobo and London's
fame as a dog actor is probably only exceeded
by Lassie. They're amazing animals," he told
Tommy Horton of the Memphis Press-Scimitar
in May 1971, "and if they just had the physical
attributes to go along with their mental capacity,
one of them might be President."
Photo: http://snipurl.com/123no7
When asked if he had formal dog training,
Eisenmann replies: "None. I never read
a book [about dog training] and now I have
written four of them."
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about
Eisenmann's dogs is their command of the
English language. "Everything that I have done
with dogs contradicts what other people have
done. I only have one dog left [this interview
was conducted in 1995] but this dog has about
a 2,500 word vocabulary. I did a lot of speaking
at the psychology departments of universities
because we're contradicting, in essence, what
we're teaching. But they only know a dog to the
conditioned stage and I start out where the dog
is already conditioned and then teach them."
A collision between Eisenmann's car and
a delivery truck in 1957 almost ended London's
acting career just as it was beginning. London
suffered a broken leg and a bumped head in the
collision, prompting Eisenmann to sue the
delivery firm for $35,000 in damages in 1961.
London even appeared in court in Los Angeles
and demonstrated his abilities to perform and talk.
Although the court reporter refused to transcribe
London's guttural sounds, several courtroom
observers thought he said: "Hello, how are you?"
London had no immediate comment, however,
when the jury rejected Eisenmann's damage
claim.
Photo: http://snipurl.com/123n2q
Chuck Eisenmann, baseball pitcher, wartime
baseball pioneer and dog trainer extraordinaire,
passed away in Roseburg, Oregon on September
6, 2010, aged 91.
---
MiLB Stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=eisenm001cha
Thanks to Gary Bedingfield for passing this along ...