Clyde Manion

I've made it a goal to "meet" at least one descendant of each of William Graham's children (not counting Adeline who had no children.) Clyde Manion was my grandfather Roy's 3rd cousin, great-grandson of Susan Graham Manion. But, Clyde's uncle William Clinton Manion married one of Roy's aunts (Elizabeth Reiter), so they were sort of doubly related. (Yes, this sort of thing happened a lot in Jefferson County, MO)

Although this baseball card (valued at around $50) says he was born in St. Louis, that was just the closest big city. He was born in Big River Twp, Jefferson County, Missouri where William and Margaret Graham (his g-g grandparents) settled in the early 1800's. His family moved to Eaton, Colorado around 1901 where he grew up with his 9 siblings.

His full name was Clyde Jennings Manion, but his family called him "Rick". Oddly, he was known as "Pete" in baseball circles. No one knows why he had two different nick-names. According to Lynda, a cousin:

I just remember when he came home to Colorado he was just one of the gang. We called him Rick; who knows why, but he was called Pete on the teams. Our cousins in Detroit did not know he was called Rick by his family out here. Clyde's first wife was a beautiful woman, we understand. She was killed in a car accident on her way to meet him at one of his games.

After the death of his first wife, he re-married.  The following is from one of their grandchildren:

We all grew up calling her "Mommadoll."  Momadoll's name was Marion.  Clyde was referred to by us grand kids as "clyde-dee-dy-dee."  All of that was her idea.  Mommadoll died in 1994.  She met Clyde as a baseball player.  She fancied herself somewhat of a socialite and no doubt, thought ball players while stars and popular people, were shady people.  When Clyde finished his career in 1934 he wanted to move to coaching but, from what I have heard, she wanted him to have a more respectable job.  He became an insurance agent for the Equitable Life Insurance Co.

 
Clyde stayed in Detroit because she was there and he was well known there (help with insurance business) She was always well dressed and proper.

He began his professional career in 1920 with the Detroit Tigers where he played catcher. His last four years, though, were with the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds. But, he considered the Detroit Tigers his team. He lived and died in Detroit where he has a brick with his name on it at the stadium. Click here for his statistics.

Although those stats don't give his salary at the time, there is a web-site called "What If" that projects what his salary would have been if he were playing today (based on his stats).
Clyde Manion died in 1967 and is buried in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. Click here for a photo of his tombstone and more information.