Dummy Leitner

Who was Dummy Leitner?

George Michael "Dummy" Leitner was a pitcher in Major League Baseball for two seasons. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Giants in 1901 and the Cleveland Bronchos and Chicago White Sox in 1902.

Leitner was deaf and was nicknamed "Dummy" like the other deaf baseball players of his era.

He had a deaf sister, Lydia, and deaf brother, Frank, who was active in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He married a deaf woman named Helen and had two children, a deaf daughter named Helen who was later married to deaf August Wriede, and a hearing son named Clarence Wells Leitner, who was known for his intelligence in writing and editing for the Evening Sun and North East newspaper for the city of Baltimore. George and Clarence Leitner and August Wriede all worked for the Baltimore Sun. He died in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 88.