Cecil Kaiser

Who was Cecil Kaiser?

Cecil Kaiser was a Negro league baseball pitcher, outfielder, and first baseman.

In the course of his career Kaiser played for the Detroit Stars, the Motor City Giants, the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords and on various Latin American and Canadian teams. With the Homestead Grays he played with great players such as hall of famers Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell.

He started his career as a 5-foot-6, 165-pound outfielder. He eventually became a left-handed pitcher after his team suffered a series of injuries. He was known as a strikeout pitcher with a good fastball and an assortment of off-speed pitches. He was nicknamed the "Minute Man" as it took him about one minute to strike out batters and as the "Aspirin Tablet Man" for throwing pitches that resembled aspirin tablets. During perhaps his best season, the winter ball season of 1949-1950, he posted a league-leading 1.68 ERA in the Puerto Rican League.

Kaiser died after a fall at his home in Southfield, Michigan. It is believed that he may have been the oldest living Negro League player still alive at the time of his death.