#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 12 Popular: Elliot Estill Dent, Popular Ball Player

Elliot Estill Dent, my 2X great-uncle, was the eighth of ten children of John Marshall Dent and Ida Elizabeth Wright.  He was born in Oakley, St. Mary's County MD 8 December 1887.  According to the local St. Mary's Beacon, Elliott was very popular with his peers, loved parties and was often  responsible for putting together dances, outings and festivities for the young  people around Oakley. Like many of the men in the Dent family, he attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy, graduating in 1905.  While there, the 6'1" Eddie, as he was nicknamed, earned a reputation as a talented pitcher for the Charlotte Hall Sluggers. (That is Eddie in the middle of the back row with Charlotte Hall on the front of his shirt.)

By 1907, Eddie was playing for the Southern Railway team in the Capital City League and then moved on to the Walbrook Athletic Club in Baltimore, where he caught the eye of the Carolina League and made his professional debut with the Winston-Salem Twins in 1909. He pitched in 31 games, going 18-11 before his contract was bought by the Brooklyn Superbas (later Dodgers) on July 28. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, in his first outing with the Superbas, the 21-year-old "failed to discover the weaknesses of the [Philadelphia] Quaker batters" and lost his first major league game 7-2.  Nevertheless, the paper opined,

"Dent is a tall chap, with plenty of strength and a delivery similar to that of George Bell, but he lacks the speed and control of Brooklyn's star twirler.  This may come with more experience, however, and the new recruit may in time become a great twirler."  

A couple of weeks later, however, the right-hander with the powerful curve ball was able to dazzle the arch-rival Giants with a 10 to 1 victory and as the Eagle put it "is now aces in this neck of the woods. "  He started five games in the Majors that year, beginning on August 31, and went 2-4 with a 4.29 ERA. 

In 1910 Dent started the season with the New Haven Prairie Hens of the Class B Connecticut State League.  He went 17-15 in 38 appearances that season, and began the 1911 season there as well.  He went 21-14 for the re-named Murlins before the Dodgers called him back up.  In five games for Brooklyn he went 2-1 with a 3.69 ERA.  The next season, he made only one appearance, on April 11, allowing four runs on four hits in one inning of work with one strikeout.  He was sent down during the season to the Newark Indians of the AA International League and never returned to the Majors. 

In 1913 Dent joined the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association and had his best season as a pitcher, going 14-4 in 28 appearances.  In 1914 he went 15-12 in 35 games.  He played briefly for the Venice/Vernon Tigers and the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League at the start of the 1915 season, but finished the year back in Atlanta. (with thanks to http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Eddie_Dent for this analysis of his career)

Elliott enlisted with the Nineteenth Field Artillery in 1917 and served in France during WWI, promoted to Captain by the end of the war. The Atlanta community remembered him fondly as the local newspapers published several stories about him and his reports from the front.

After the war, he married Eleanor Semmes Freeman in St. Mary's County in 1920.  They had two sons: Elliott Jr. and Robert. The family moved to Birmingham AL in 1936, where Elliott pursued a career as the district manager for Equitable Life Insurance.  He was an active member of the community, serving in the Kiwanis and heading up fund drives for the Red Cross.

Elliott Estill Dent died in Birmingham AL in November 1974 at the age of 86. Just goes to show, you never know adventures might be hidden behind a seemingly quiet life as an insurance salesman.