What Might Have Been: The Short, Brilliant Career of Charlie Ferguson

The Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal featured an excellent article by Jerrold Casway entitled, “Bacteria Beat the Phillies which covered the careers and early deaths of Charlie Ferguson and Jimmy Fogarty due to typhoid fever and tuberculosis, respectively. Ferguson especially piqued my interest since he was born, lived, and is buried in Charlottesville, Virginia, just under two hours from my home and just a few miles from my daughter and son-in-law. One hot afternoon, we went on a quest to Maplewood Cemetery to find Charlie Ferguson’s grave and turned it into the 10th episode of Off the Beaten Basepaths .