A Baseball Great
One of the most notable graduates of the Kansas School for the Deaf was Luther Haden “Dummy” Taylor. He manifested the ideal of how the deaf could learn to live in a hearing world. Taylor grew up to play major league baseball, the dream of every boy—hearing or deaf. When his playing career ended, Luther Taylor returned to the deaf community as a coach and inspired other deaf students.
Luther Taylor was born in Oskaloosa, Kansas, in 1875. He began attending the Kansas School for the Deaf at the age of 9 and remained there until his graduation in 1895. As a youngster, Luther wanted to box and attempted to fulfill this dream. However his parents disapproved and Luther then turned his attention to baseball at KSD instead.
After graduating, Taylor began playing as a pitcher in semi-pro ball in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. He soon moved up to organized baseball in the New York State League. In 1900, the New York Giants, who were a part of the National League, brought Taylor up from the minor leagues. At the age of 25, Luther Taylor had made it to the big leagues, where he pitched for the next nine seasons. With the exception of one year in Cleveland, he spent his years with the New York Giants, who won the World Series in 1905.
Although not the only deaf player in baseball, “Dummy” Taylor certainly was the most colorful. The manager of the Giants, John J. McGraw, learned sign language and made the rest of the team learn it as well. During one game, Taylor was unhappy with the calls that the umpire was making. He told McGraw in sign what he thought of the official. The next thing he knew, Taylor was kicked out of the game. It seems that the umpire had a relative who was deaf and understood exactly what had been said.
After leaving the Giants, Luther returned to the Kansas School for the Deaf where he worked for several years as a boy’s supervisor and coach. He then moved to the Iowa School for the Deaf where he coached the baseball and football teams for twenty years. On August 22, 1958, Luther Haden “Dummy” Taylor died at the age of 83.
--ALBUM vol. 16, no. 1 (winter 2003)