Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.
I had actually heard of Johnny Reder early on, so I was kind of surprised that he had only spent one season in the Majors. On the backs of 1986 Topps cards, there was often a trivia item for each team. On the back of the Rey Quinones traded card was the fact that Johnny Reder was the first Red Sox player with a palindrome name. So, there's that I guess.
Reder was 22 in 1932 and saw his only Major League action. In 17 games. He played ten games at third base and one at first. He hit .135/.256/.162 with five hits, four runs, a double, three RBIs and six walks. And, that's it. Reder spent a few years after 1932 bouncing around in the minor league systems of the Red Sox, Athletics and Reds.
One somewhat notable fact about Reder, more notable than the palindrome name, is that he is one of just six Polish-born players in Major League history. He is the only one to play with the Red Sox. There are not a ton of European-born players in Major League history, so that seems at least somewhat meaningful. Other European-born Red Sox include Otto Deininger (Germany), Patsy Donovan (Ireland), Hobe Ferris (UK), Olaf Henriksen (Denmark), Beany Jacobson (Sweden), Marty Krug (Germany), Ted Lewis (UK), Jack Quinn (Slovakia), Win Remmerswaal (Netherlands), Al Shaw (UK) and Bobby Thomson (UK). Isaiah Campbell, who was acquired from the Mariners for Luis Urias a few weeks ago will become Boston's first Portuguese-born player once he appears in a game.
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