HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Eddie Plank

Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Baseball great. One of the most dominant pitchers of the twentieth century. "Gettysburg Eddie" compiled a record of 326-194 throughout his career (1901-17), mostly with the Philadelphia Athletics. He won 20 Games or more eight times and helped the A's win six pennants and three world championships. Plank was born here, attended Gettysburg Academy. He retired and died in Gettysburg. Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame,1946.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

"Gettysburg Eddie" Plank turned a small-town Pennsylvania upbringing into one of the greatest pitching careers of baseball's dead-ball era. Born in Gettysburg and schooled at Gettysburg Academy, he compiled a remarkable 326-194 record from 1901 to 1917, mostly for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, winning twenty or more games eight times and helping the A's to six pennants and three world championships. He returned home to Gettysburg, where he died, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

Why it matters

Plank stands among the finest left-handed pitchers of the early professional game, a hometown hero whose name binds America's national pastime to the town best known for its Civil War battlefield.

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  • · Eddie Plank
  • · Connie Mack

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Daniel Alexander Payne

Gettysburg, PA · est. 1991

Born free in Charleston at a time when education for Black Americans was often outlawed, Daniel Alexander Payne became one of the 19th century's most influential Black religious leaders. While studying at Gettysburg's Lutheran Seminary in 1837 he also taught here at the college, and he went on to be elected a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852 and to lead Wilberforce University, one of the first colleges owned and run by African Americans.

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