Who, You Ask, is Harry Heilmann?

In 1913 San Francisco, an 18-year-old bookkeeper would see his fate take a serendipitous turn for the better simply because he had done a friend a favor and agreed to play a game of baseball for $10. Filling in for the Hanford team’s sick third baseman, the bookkeeper slammed an eleventh-inning double, winning the game, and earning the adulation of fans and a Northwest League scout who happened to be in attendance. The scout signed the teenager to a professional contract and the Hall of Fame career of outfielder Harry Heilmann was underway.

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