I see Repoz is also a big fan of Elisha Cook Jr..

Ed Matt at BBRef.

This is a great ghost to have, some random minor leaguer who hit .241 mostly in D ball. It's also a great research opportunity. Start by filling in some of the gaps on his BBRef page: "Hey Ed, which way did you bat? Where were you born?" Then go on from there. "That guy Grimes you played with at La Crosse, what was his first name? What was attendance like in Ottuwa? What did Win Noyes have that Joseph Hilgeford didn't?" Then you can get metaphysical: "Do you remember anything that happened to you after you left Traverse City in 1912? Why are you doomed to walk the earth? Why did the Holland Wooden Shoes fold after 1911?"

Why are you doomed to walk the earth?

Because he batted only .241 and fielded .899?

Our Wolverine revenant brings up an interesting semi-glitch at BBRef. Matt split 1911 between Class D Ottumwa and Class C Oshkosh. BBRef has XBH data for Ottumwa (Matt had a double and a triple) but none for Oshkosh. Meaning Matt has a slugging percentage figured for Ottumwa (.254) but not for Oshkosh. In figuring the full year's records, BBRef's math robot attempts to combine the two records, leading to the interesting combined line of a .218 BA and a .047 SLG.

Great post, Fern.

Not much to add to Fern's masterpiece. But surely if he was a mediocre low-minor player the other aspects of his life must have overcome that. If I were a ghost, I would think I would manifest the professor aspect of my life, or my role as a concerned dad instead of the aspect of being an average athlete.

Maybe Ed was living in that house when he was a minor league ballplayer. If so, then is his ghost sometimes in the house in which he raised a family?

I smell a screenplay!!