Lew Carl

After Nate Berkenstock, Carl is thought to be the second-ever future pro baseball player to be born; he is also the "oldest" player with a certified birth date, as Berkenstock\'s is given simply as 1831, without a date attached. (Berkenstock\'s tombstone, however, gives his birth date as September 17, 1832; if accurate, this would make Carl first.) He played in one game for the 1874 Baltimore Canaries of the National Association.\n', '

Exactly when Carl took up the game of baseball is unknown; his name is not listed in Marshall D. Wright\'s compendium of the game\'s pre-professional era, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870. It seems unlikely that Carl wouldn\'t appear in his first match until the age of 42, when he stepped in as catcher for the Baltimore Canaries on September 9, 1874; he may have been one of the many who previously played under a pseudonym. (Carl we…