Dummy Leitner

{{Short description|American baseball player (1871–1960)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Dummy Leitner

|image=1906 Baton Rouge Cajuns.jpg

|width=300px

|caption=Leitner (standing second from left) with the 1906 Baton Rouge Cajuns

|position=Pitcher

|birth_date={{birth date|1871|6|19}}

|birth_place=Parkton, Maryland

|death_date={{death date and age|1960|2|20|1871|6|19}}

|death_place=Baltimore, Maryland

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=June 29

|debutyear=1901

|debutteam=Philadelphia Athletics

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=August 25

|finalyear=1902

|finalteam=Chicago White Sox

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=0–2

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=5.34

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=4

|teams=

• Philadelphia Athletics ({{mlby|1901}})
• New York Giants ({{mlby|1901}})
• Cleveland Bronchos ({{mlby|1902}})
• Chicago White Sox ({{mlby|1902}})

}}

George Michael "Dummy" Leitner (June 19, 1871 – February 20, 1960) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for two seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics (1901), New York Giants (1901), Cleveland Bronchos (1902), and Chicago White Sox (1902).[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leitndu01.shtml "Dummy Leitner Statistics and History"]. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-29.

Leitner was deaf, and like other deaf baseball players of his era, was nicknamed "Dummy".Doxsie, Don. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QR2x2OMD6AcC Iron Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography] (McFarland, 2009), p. 74. Three members of the 1901 Giants pitching staff shared that nickname: Leitner, Deegan, and Taylor.

Leitner had a deaf sister, Lydia (died at 21), and a deaf brother, Frank, who was active in Pittsburgh. He married a deaf woman named Helen (née Wells) 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. Leitner died in Baltimore at the age of 88.