| Julie Wera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born:(1902-02-09)February 9, 1902 Winona, Minnesota, U.S. | |
| Died: December 12, 1975(1975-12-12) (aged 73) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 14, 1927, for the New York Yankees | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 6, 1929, for the New York Yankees | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .278 |
| Home runs | 1 |
| Runs batted in | 10 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Julian Valentine "Julie"Wera (bornWerra; February 9, 1902 – December 12, 1975) was an American professionalbaseballthird baseman who played for theNew York Yankees ofMajor League Baseball during the 1927 and 1929 seasons.
Julian Valentine Werra was born on February 9, 1902, to John and Anna Werra, who immigrated to the United States fromPrussia in theKashubian diaspora in 1893 and settled inWinona, Minnesota. He was the sixth of their nine surviving children, and dropped out of school to work in a meatpacking plant. Wera changed the spelling of his name when he began his professional career.[1]
Wera began playingsandlot baseball, and joined Winona's top amateur team in 1921, when he was 19 years old.[1][2] He moved toWausau, Wisconsin, in May 1924, to playsemi-professional baseball.[1] Wera made hisprofessional baseball debut for theSt. Paul Saints of theAmerican Association in September.[3] St. Pauloptioned Wera to thePeoria Tractors of theIllinois–Indiana–Iowa League in 1925,[4] and he played for the Saints in 1926.[2]
TheNew York Yankees had a working agreement with the Saints,[2] and they purchased Wera from the Saints forLeo Durocher, $25,000 ($444,032 in current dollar terms), and twoplayers to be named later after the 1926 season.[5] He made the Yankees in 1927 as a reservethird baseman behindJoe Dugan.[1][6] He hit his only major leaguehome run on July 4 off ofBobby Burke of theWashington Senators.[1] During a game on July 22, Wera collided withRay Schalk of theChicago White Sox at home plate. He injured his knee, which limited him in the remainder of his career.[1][7] Werabatted .238 in 38games played for the 1927 Yankees.[8] The Yankees won the1927 World Series, but Wera did not appear in the series.[1]
The Yankeesoptioned Wera to theHollywood Stars of thePacific Coast League (PCL) for the 1928 season.[9][10] The Yankees recalled Wera after the PCL season ended in August and traded him to St. Paul withAl Shealy andArchie Campbell forFred Heimach.[11] The Yankees brought Wera tospring training in 1929, but optioned him to theJersey City Skeeters of theInternational League.[12] After the International League's 1929 season ended, the Yankees recalled Wera,[13] and he played in five games for the Yankees in 1929.[1] He batted 5-for-12 (.417) in the five games.[14]
Before the 1930 season, the Yankees sold Wera outright to Jersey City.[15] After the 1930 season, the Yankees purchased Wera from Jersey City,[16] so that they could send him to theSan Francisco Seals of the PCL as part of the payment forFrankie Crosetti.[17] He played for the Seals into the 1933 season, when he struggled and was sold to theOakland Oaks of the PCL.[1][18]
In January 1934, Oakland traded Wera to thePortland Beavers of the PCL forEddie Mulligan.[19] However, he refused to report to Portland,[1] and in February, Portland sold Wera to theFort Worth Panthers of theTexas League.[20] Wera refused to report there as well, and spent the 1934 season as aplayer-manager for a semi-professional team inWisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.[1] He returned to organized baseball in 1935, signing with theSyracuse Chiefs of the International League.[21] Syracuse released him during the season, and he finished the year with theBuffalo Bisons of the International League.[22] Wera played for theToronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1936.[1] Toronto released him before the 1937 season,[23] and he served as player-manager of theCrookston Pirates of theNorthern League that year.[24]
Wera married Dorothy Fischer, an elementary school teacher in Winona, on November 18, 1931.[1] They had two sons and one daughter.[25]
After Wera retired from baseball, he became abutcher for aPiggly Wiggly inRochester, Minnesota.[1] He was the manager of the meat department for 27 years before he retired.[26]
Wera died of a heart attack in his home in Rochester on December 12, 1975.[26]
In 1948, somebody portraying himself as Wera became the business manager of theOroville Red Sox of the Class DFar West League.[27] The imposter ran the team well, and they won the league's championship. He also told stories about his time withBabe Ruth.[28] On September 11, 1948, he died by suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, while leaving behind asuicide note to his estranged wife. Newspapers ran the story that Wera had died from suicide at the age of 38.[29] The next day, a friend of Wera's in Rochester saw the story and alerted him,[30][31] and Wera announced to the press that he was still alive.[32]
The imposter was identified as William J. Wera through his fingerprints from his attempt to gain employment in a casino inReno, Nevada, in July 1947.[33] His widow, Ruth, said that she "was as much surprised as anyone else" when she found out that her husband was an imposter.[34] Though it was initially believed that Wera was a cousin,[32] they were not related.[30] The imposter had gone toCharlie Graham, the president of the Seals, and asked for a job. When Graham pointed out that the imposter did not look like Wera, the imposter said that he hadplastic surgery to repair his face after a mine detonated near him duringWorld War II.[35][36] However, Wera had been classified as 4–F by theSelective Service System, ruling him ineligible for military service.[35] Graham contacted Jerry Donovan, a former teammate of Wera's with San Francisco who was president of the Far West League, who did not question the story and found that the imposter had enough knowledge of baseball to offer him the job with Oroville.[35]