Mercer County’s own Bruno Betzel was a baseball star in the 19-teens and 1920s. In fact, he spent his entire adult life in the baseball field.
He was born in Chattanooga, Ohio, on 6 December 1894, the son of Heinrich and Anna Sophia (Kessler) Betzel. He was christened Christian Friedrich Albert Betzel, called Albert, and nicknamed Bruno. Albert “Bruno” Betzel is inscribed on his tombstone. His family moved to Celina when he was a young boy, sometime between 1900 and 1910.
Bruno was playing short stop for Celina by 1911, as seen in the photo below.

The Celina Democrat, 16 June 1911
Celina’s team in 1911: Betzel, ss; McComb, c; Frederick, p; Wenning, 1b; C Myers, lf; Ellis, rf; Meyer, cf; Betz, 2b; G Myers, 3b; and Jim Carlin, manager.
Bruno Betzel played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1914-1918, his major league career. After retirement from playing, he continued to play local ball for Celina for a time and managed several minor league teams.
Mercer County followed Bruno Betzel in 1924:
BRUNO BETZEL HITTING HARD
Celina baseball fans have watched with much interest the splendid second base play of Bruno Betzel, local boy with the Louisville Americans association team, this year. In addition to performing in superb fashion in the field, Betzel has been hitting like a demon. On Sunday he got 6 hits in 8 times at bat and on Labor Day he made 3 hits in 7 trips to the plate…Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Nationals, nor “Babe” Ruth, of the New York Americans, have done much better than this.—Celina Standard, 5 Sep 1924.
Bruno knew some baseball greats. He roomed with Rogers Hornsby, played with Hank Robinson, managed Jackie Robinson, and once beaned Ty Cobb.
He also crossed paths at least once with Babe Ruth. In Lima, Ohio.
Bruno played for Celina, of course, and the Babe played for Lima.
It was the third and deciding game of the inter-county championship series. Each team had won a game and this game, played Friday 16 October 1926 at Murphy St. ballpark in Lima, would determine the winner.

The Lima News, 10 Oct 1926
Record crowds were expected.
…The coming of Ruth to Lima in an actual game of ball in which both sides will be out for blood is expected to mark a red letter day in the history of baseball in northwestern Ohio. Only the larger cities have been angling for his services…and this city will be the smallest in which he will appear as a regular player…The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, 10 Oct 1926.
…it was apparent that the only way to win the deciding tilt from the lake town outfit was to get players who could smack the apple…
Lima brought in a couple big league and class AA players, Babe Ruth, Pittinger, Gilhooley, Heath, Butch Henline, star catcher with the Philadelphia National league club.
…Reports from Celina are to the effect that the club is also loading up for the fray. Berly Horne has been loaned to the Brunck club…Bruno Betzel, who will lead the Celina combination, is said to be guarding his lineup closely and it is possible that some other stars will be inserted at the last minute… The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, 10 Oct 1926.
Berly Horne [Berlyn Dale Horne] was signed by Celina to help out in the pitching with Jacobs.
Game day. 15 October 1926, Murphy St. ballpark, Lima.
Over four thousand baseball fans reportedly attended the game.
There was a 10-minute batting exhibition before the game, and the Babe hit 11 balls over the fence, some going beyond the B & O RR tracks beyond the field.
Babe Ruth hit 2 home runs and had two 2-base hits. He was at bat 5 times, had 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 put-outs, and no errors.
Bruno Betzel was at bat 4 times, with 2 hits, 1 run, 3 put-outs, and no errors.
It must have been something to see. Babe played seven positions during the game. He started at first base, shifted to second, then short stop, third, left field, center field, and finally the pitching mound, relieving Settlemire for the last three innings.
…Celina came to life in the seventh with four runs and then ended up the with day with two more in the ninth…
Bruno was involved in a double play, Karch to Betzel to Heckler. Celina’s Heckler was hit by a ball pitched by Babe Ruth.
The Lima team consisted of Gilhooley, cf; Dugan, 2b, lf; Ruth, 1b, 2b, ss, 3b, lf, cf, p; Pittenger, ss, 2b; Hianke, c; Henline, c; Marquard, 3b, ss; Leis, lf.
The Celina team consisted of Karch, 2b; Heckler, 1b; Sandquist, ss; Betzel 2b; Poorman, lf; Harlow, cf; Wildermuth, rf; Landis, rf; Bixler, c; and Jacobs, p.
Some of these major and minor league stars were “Butch” Henline, Philadelphia National League catcher; Clarke Pittenger, Cincinnati Reds’ next year’s shortstop; Frank Gilhooley, Bruno Betzel, Mickey Heath, International and American Association League players.
In the end, Lima defeated Celina 11 to 7, winning the inter-county championship series.
The game lasted 2 hours 45 minutes. –The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, 16 Oct 1926.
Soon after this historic Lima game, Bruno Betzel would become the manager of the Indianapolis baseball team of the American Association, succeeding Ownie Bush. Bush would become the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. —Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Cincinnati, Ohio, 3 Dec 1926
Finally, a genealogy connection. I am a third cousin once removed to Bruno Betzel, related through his mother Anna Sophia (Kessler).
3 comments
What a fun story and right at a time when baseball was quickly becoming the all-American pastime. Those playing against Babe Ruth had quite a story to tell.
Wonderful baseball story. I love the “ringers” brought in to play on the teams. When I was attending training at the Coast Guard Reserve Training Center at Yorktown, Virginia, in the 1970s, we had a baseball game with one of the other class groups. We had on our class roster two professional baseball players who were Coast Guard Reservists. They were our “ringers.” Love your blog post!
Author
What fun! That would sure make for an interesting and fun game. Thanks for writing.