 Born in Chicago, he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1938 and got his nickname from a poem a fan wrote after he hit a home run in the minors.He was very briefly with the 1941 Houston Buffaloes of the Class A1 Texas League, who won 103 games.He earned cups of coffee in the majors with the Cards in 1941 and 1942 and then returned to the club from 1946 to 1951.