How Bonus Baby Tom Qualters Ended Up Without A Win Or Loss
We look back at the now-defunct bonus rule from the 1950s that led to the Phillies signing a pitcher they barely allowed to pitch.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Tom Qualters’ lack of Major League innings is a rather dubious calling card in multiple respects. He is the only pitcher to appear on a Topps baseball card four times without recording a single win or loss. His 1954 season, in which he stayed on the Philadelphia Phillies’ active roster the entire year without appearing in a single MLB game, is one of four such instances in MLB history, though it is to date the only time this has happened to a player who hadn’t been sent to the Minors the previous season and was not also a coach.
. . . According to Stathead.com, including Qualters’ 1954 season, there are 36 instances of an MLB player pitching at least 45 innings in a season and not recording a win or a loss. This occurred most recently in 2023 with George Soriano of the Miami Marlins and Bryan Shaw of the Chicago White Sox. Qualters is one of just four pitchers to toss at least 52 innings in their career without recording a win or loss.
Leading Off
Money Bags: The Sad Tale Of Bonus Baby Tom Qualters
By Russ Walsh
After World War II, Major League Baseball owners were increasingly outbidding each other to sign the best high school and college prospects to huge “bonus” contracts. This resulted in the signings of a few great players (Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies), some good players (Johnny Antonelli of the Boston Braves and Dick Groat of the Pittsburgh Pirates), but many who were either journeyman players or total busts (J.W. Porter of the St. Louis Browns and Billy Joe Davidson of the Cleveland Indians).
In December 1952, to protect themselves from themselves, the owners passed a rule requiring that all players signed for a bonus of more than $4,000 must remain on the Major League team’s roster for two full seasons. The owners figured this would stop the bidding war for young talent, because teams would not want untested players clogging up the 25-man roster, but teams kept signing these “Bonus Babies” anyway. The real victims of the rule were the young players, who were denied an opportunity to develop their talent in the Minor Leagues.
One such victim was Tom Qualters. He was a three-sport star athlete out of McKeesport High School near Pittsburgh, Pa. While football was his favorite sport, his skill as a pitcher made professional baseball a better career choice. He once struck out 21 batters in a seven-inning high school one-hitter and 24 batters in eight innings in another one-hitter. On June 16, 1953, right after high school graduation, the Phillies signed the 18-year-old Qualters to a $40,000 bonus.
Because of the “Bonus Baby” rule, the Phillies were obliged to carry Qualters on the 25-man roster. Qualters entered Philly’s locker room as popular veteran utility outfielder Jackie Mayo was exiting, his roster spot given to the youngster. As a result, Qualters found he was not welcomed to the clubhouse with open arms. The players hung the derisive nickname “Money Bags” on the youngster, and he took up residence in the bullpen for most of the summer and fall.
Phillies manager Steve O’Neill seemed to forget Qualters was on the team. While he would occasionally pitch batting practice, he got little to no pitching instruction. It seems inconceivable today, but in 1953 the Phillies did not employ a pitching coach. Their coaching staff included three former catchers (O’Neill, Benny Bengough, and Cy Perkins), a former infielder (Eddie Mayo), and former Villanova standout Maje McDonnell, who served mostly as a batting practice pitcher. Qualters did not get into a game until Sept. 13, nearly three months after his arrival. He entered at the beginning of the eighth inning with the Phillies trailing, 11-1, to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Unsurprisingly, he was not sharp.
The first batter he faced, hulking Steve Bilko, homered. Peanuts Lowery walked and moved up on a Qualters wild pitch. Rip Repulski was hit by a pitch. Opposing pitcher Harvey Haddix singled to load the bases. Solly Hemus singled to drive in another run before Qualters got an out by inducing Red Schoendienst to ground into a forceout. Stan Musial doubled, driving home two more, and mercifully, Jim Konstanty was then brought on to relieve. Qualters left his first Major League appearance with a 162.00 earned run average, having given up four hits, six runs, one walk, a hit batter and having recorded one out. That out was the only one he would get in a Major League game for four years.
The Phillies were again obliged to keep the young pitcher on their roster in 1954. Qualters did not appear in a regular-season game that entire year, riding the bullpen pine day after day, night after night, game after game. He did get to pitch in two exhibition games, however, with mixed results.
On May 3, Qualters relieved sore-armed veteran Johnny Lindell, pitching seven strong innings, as the Phillies defeated their Terre Haute, Ind., Minor League affiliate, 10-2. In June, he was the starting and winning pitcher in the final “City Series” game* played between the Phillies and their hometown rival and fellow residents of the newly christened Connie Mack Stadium**, the Philadelphia Athletics. The “City Series” had been a Philadelphia tradition since 1883, with the winner of the series informally crowned the best in the city. The June 28 game was the third in the 1954 series, the teams having split two exhibition games back in April.
Qualters pitched well in the game, allowing just one run over three innings, and was declared the winner as the Phillies rode three first-inning runs to a 3-2 victory. The victory was overshadowed, however, by one bad pitch. Qualters beaned A’s third baseman Vic Power with a fastball, knocking him unconscious. Power was carted off the field as the crowd of 15,993 watched on in silence. Power recovered consciousness in the clubhouse and was taken to Presbyterian Hospital. His injury proved not to be serious, but he was out of the A’s lineup for a week.
Qualters two-year sentence in the purgatory of the Phillies’ bullpen ended on June 16, 1955, when the team was finally permitted to ship him to the Minor Leagues. He spent one mediocre season at Reidsville in the Class B Carolina League, before landing with the Triple-A Phillies affiliate Miami Marlins. In Miami, Qualters got what he said was the best advice he ever got as a pitcher. Miami had hired the 50-something pitching great, Satchel Paige, for their roster. Seeing how nervous the young Qualters was while getting ready to face Triple-A hitters, Satch told Qualters, “Remember, they can beat ya’, but they can’t eat ya’.” Armed with that bit of Paigeian philosophy, Qualters relaxed and pitched well for Miami for two seasons, earning a September callup to the big club in 1957.
Qualters made the Phillies’ squad out of Spring Training in 1958, but after just one April appearance, he was sold to the Chicago White Sox. He appeared in 26 games with the Chisox and pitched well enough to be considered for a spot in the 1959 rotation, but an arm injury set him back and he was optioned to the Minor Leagues again. Qualters bounced around in the Minors until finally calling it quits after the 1962 season. He had appeared in 34 Major League games and had a record of 0 wins, 0 losses, and 0 saves. In four Major League at-bats, he had two strikeouts and two walks.
Tom Qualters had plenty of talent, but that talent could not survive two full years of inactivity as the forgotten man on the Phillies’ roster. The bonus rule was rescinded after the 1957 season. It was too late for Qualters. As Qualters told SABR author Stephen D. Boren, “I’d have been better off taking less money and signing with another team, but I was a young, dumb kid then.”
*The “City Series” ended when the owners of the Philadelphia Athletics moved the franchise to Kansa City to start the 1955 season.
** In 1953, Shibe Park was rechristened Connie Mack Stadium to honor the man who owned and managed the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 years.
Russ Walsh is a retired teacher, die hard Phillies fan, and student of the history of baseball with a special interest in the odd, quirky, and once in a lifetime events that happen on the baseball field. He writes for both the SABR BioProject and the SABR Games Project and maintains his own blog The Faith of a Phillies Fan. You can reach Russ on Twitter @faithofaphilli1
Extra Innings
"I was very young at the time and I got to the point where I would talk to [Satchel Paige] a lot. I'm down there warming up and I'm not feeling like I should. Satch was sitting there in the bullpen. I said to Satch, 'I don't know if I can do this.' This was the first time I had really pitched to good hitters. Satch said, 'They can beat you, but they can't eat you.’
“He kinda gave me a boost. He told me what to do and how not to be afraid. I was so young and we had a lot of older players -- I was scared to death. But thank god for Satch. He told me about a lot of things. As a result, I became probably his -- he was my best friend. … I'll never forget him. And to this day, in my mind, there's never been anybody better than Leroy 'Satchel' Paige."
— Tom Qualters in a 2020 phone interview with MLB.com, discussing being coached by Satchel Paige in the Phillies’ Minor League system in the 1950s
Great story Russ!
Great story! However, I thought that it said that he was awarded a victory, and later on in the story it says his MLB record was zero wins and losses.