Though Charlie Emig played in just one game at the top level, he ranks (as of 2021) #12 on the list of longest-lived players in major-league baseball history.  He was also the last surviving 19th-century big-leaguer.
Charles Henry Emig was born April 5, 1875 in Cincinnati, Ohio   He was the third of nine children born to manufacturing plant superintendent George Emig, Sr. (1846-1904, a Bavarian immigrant who served as president of the Board of Education of Cincinnati from the Twelfth ward from 1879 to 1886 and he also served at various times on the Republican State and County Executive committees, and his Cincinnati-born wife, Mary (nee Ziegler, 1851-1931). Little is known of Charlie’s youth except that he was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio per the 1880 census) and in Bellevue, Kentucky (per the 1900 census), and attended school through the sixth grade (per the 1940 US Census).  
A tall left-hand pitcher, Emig broke into professional baseball in 1894 at the age of 18, signing with the Staunton Hayseeds of the Virginia League.  He made his Roanoke debut on April 27, coming in as a ninth inning defensive replacement for injured right fielder named Thompson in an 8-3 victory over Norfolk,  Emig’s maiden pitching effort came days later, but he was “batted … very hard” by Petersburg in a 9-2 complete-game setback.  Whether Emig got to pitch again is unclear, but he was apparently released by Staunton shortly thereafter (as his name disappears from ensuing game accounts). For the remainder of 1894, Emig’s whereabouts and activities are unknown. It is likely that he went home and pitched for teams in and around Bellevue and/or Cincinnati.

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