Early Life
Rixey was born on May 3, 1891 in Culpeper, Virginia, and at the age of ten, his father, a banker, moved his family to Charlottesville, Virginia. His uncles were John Franklin Rixey a former congressman and Presley Marion Rixey the former Surgeon General of the United States Navy. He attended the University of Virginia, where he played basketball and baseball; he was a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. His brother Bill also played baseball for Virginia. During the off-season, umpire Cy Rigler worked as an assistant coach for the University. He recognized Rixey's talent and tried to sign him to the Philadelphia Phillies. Rixey originally declined, saying he wanted to be a chemist, but Rigler insisted, even offering a substantial portion of the bonus he received for signing a player. With his family in financial trouble, Rixey accepted the deal. The National League, upon hearing of the deal, created a rule that prohibits umpires from signing players. Neither Rixey nor Rigler received any signing bonus.
Read more about this topic: Eppa Rixey
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Very early in our children’s lives we will be forced to realize that the “perfect” untroubled life we’d like for them is just a fantasy. In daily living, tears and fights and doing things we don’t want to do are all part of our human ways of developing into adults.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)