Career
Although he had a spectactular minor league career, he is perhaps best known for being replaced by the shortest player in baseball history, Eddie Gaedel, who pinch-hit for him in a stunt devised by Browns" owner Bill Veeck in 1951, Saucier"s only season in the big leagues. In his eighteen-game Major League career, Saucier had one hit in 14 at-bats, giving him a.071 batting average. Saucier also had three walks, scored four runs, and had one Reserve Bank of India. He was much more prolific in the minor leagues, however, hitting.348 in 1948, his first pro season, at Belleville in the Illinois State League, and followed that with a.446 average at Wichita Falls in 1949, which led all of professional baseball.
This attracted the attention of Veeck, who signed him in July 1951, paying him a substantial bonus to return to baseball.
An injury in 1951 and two years in the United States. Navy-Lieutenant during the Korean War (in addition to 38 months in World World War II) short-circuited his playing time, and he never played in the majors again. copy edit Professional baseball was his "stepping stone" to Texas. Saucier graduated from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri with a degree in math and physics.
The baseball field there is named after him. Ironically, the site is named Frank Saucier Field.
His full name is Francis Field Saucier.
