Niles Jordan

Who was Niles Jordan?

Niles Chapman Jordan was an American professional baseball player, a pitcher who appeared in Major League Baseball during the 1951 and 1952 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds. Listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 180 pounds, he batted and threw left-handed.

A native of Lyman, Washington, Jordan excelled in sports at Sedro-Woolley High School before enlisting the United States Navy upon graduation in 1943. He served on the destroyer USS Bennett in the Pacific, taking part at the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On April 7, 1945, Jordan survived a hit from a Japanese kamikaze fighter on the Bennett. After being discharged from military service he attended Mount Vernon College where he played baseball and football.

Jordan later pitched for the Sedro-Woolley in the local city league and in 1948 was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was sent to the Klamath Falls Gems of the Far West League where, in 1949, he finished with a 19–7 mark and a 4.35 ERA. In 1950 he was promoted to the Terre Haute Phillies of the Three-I League where he was 17–6, and then enjoyed his best season with Wilmington of the Interstate League in 1951, going 21–3 with 20 complete games and earned a late-season call-up to Philadelphia. Before the 1952 season, he was obtained by the Cincinnati Reds along with Eddie Pellagrini, Andy Seminick and Dick Sisler in the same transaction that brought Connie Ryan, Smoky Burgess and Howie Fox to the Phillies.