Pid Purdy Courtesy Gage County Historical Society	Pid Purdy Photo postcard

	Pid (Everett Virgil) Purdy was born in Beatrice Nebraska on June 15, 1904. He was a football and baseball player in high school. In addition to playing high school baseball and football Pid played semi-pro ball for Exeter in 1922.
Imaage courtesy Dan Bretta

In 1923 Pid played for the Lincoln Links in the Nebraska State League. He turned 19 in June of that season. This was a class "D" league primarily designed for players entering professional ball. He batted .296 in 130 games for Lincoln as the Links won the pennant.

He played in the Tri-State League in 1924. According to the Beatrice Daily Sun, Pid came home from college spring football training in May 1924. He had played for Lincoln in the NSL in 1923. For 1924 Lincoln moved to the Western League and did not offer Pid a contract. Pid signed with Beatrice in the Tri State League for 1924. The league did not last the year. When it collapsed in July, Pid was leading the league in runs scored and hits.

After the collapse of the Tri-State League, Pid was picked up by the Western League (Class "A") Lincoln Links where he played left field for the remainder of the season. Pid played in 72 games for the Links and wound up the season with a .351 average.

College football was over for Pid when a rival college discovered Pid's playing professional baseball and protested his participation for Beloit College. The college had to forfeit the games Pid played in and Pid turned to the pro ranks.

He was only 5'6" tall and carried a playing weight of 150 lbs. In 1925 he was a fixture in left field for the Links. He finished the season with a .289 batting average with 554 at bats.

Pid had a great year in 1926. He was the leadoff hitter for the links and hit .372 for the season. A number of major league scouts were interested in him except his size made them leery. In the fall of 1926 he was sold by Lincoln to the Chicago White Sox. He was 22 years old when he made his major league debut on September 7, 1926. He played in 11 games but was sold to Seattle in the Pacific Coast League for the next season. In the fall of 1926 he played football for the Green Bay Packers in the fledgling NFL. His stats are almost unbelievable, particularly for a player of his physical stature. He played quarterback and passed for 383 yards on 21 for 67 passing. He ran for 64 yards on 24 rushes. He caught 5 passes for 61 yards, punted 11 times with a 36 yard average, returned 29 punts for 323 yards, was 14 for 14 kicking points after touchdowns and had three interceptions as a defensive backs.

In 1927 he played in 150 games and batted .366 for Seattle. Cincinnati bought him at the end of the '27 PCL season and he played in 18 games for the Reds during the fall of 1927. He played for Green Bay again in the fall. He completed three passes, rushed six times, caught one pass, punted two times and kicked one PAT.

He played the outfield for the Reds during the 1928 and 1929 seasons. In 1928 he roomed with Marty Callaghan, a twenty eight year old veteran who also played in the Reds outfield. Purdy did the cooking and Marty did the cleaning, what little cleaning was done. Pid finished with a major league lifetime batting average of.293.

In 1936, Pid took over the Lincoln Nebraska State League franchise team. He was 31 years old as he struck a deal to buy Cy Lingles franchise. Unfortunatly, attendance did not match expectations and by July the franchise was in financial trouble. In early July temperatures in Lincoln and Omaha were at all time record highs. A high temperature of 109 in Omaha and daily temperatures over 100 degrees in Lincoln was common. Attendance at the games dropped even more. Purdy attempted to strike a last minute deal with Grand Island or North Platte but both fell through. With Fairbury also in trouble the two franchises were dropped and the league muddled through with four teams. He showed up in an Omaha (Western League class "A") uniform the next week. He played for Omaha until their ball park burned down in August and the franchise moved to Rock Island.

In 1937 he showed up in a Beatrice Blues uniform in the Nebraska State League. He played center field for the Blues from July until the end of the season. He played in 50 games for the Blues and averaged .363.

In 1938 he started the year with the Blues. Due to an excess of veteran players and the desire of the Brooklyn Dodgers to place some of their rookies on the Blues squad he was placed on a ten day disabled list. He was released from the club in mid May to make room for some younger players.

He died in Beatrice in early 1951.

Career Synopsis:
1923 Lincoln, Nebraska State League, 130 games, .296 average.
1924 Beatrice Tri State League, 51 games, .317 average.
1924 Lincoln, Western League , 72 games, .351 average.
1925 Lincoln, Western League, 145 games, .289 average.
1926 Lincoln, Western League, 111 games, .372 average.
1926 Chicago, American League, 11 games, .182 average.
1927 Seattle, PCL, 150 games, .367 average.
1927 Cincinnati, National League, 18 games, .355 average.
1928 Cincinnati, National League, 70 games, .309 average.
1929 Cincinnati, National League, 82 games, .271 average.
1930 Columbus, American Association, 137 games, .352 average.
1931 Columbus, American Association, 111 games, .329 average.
1932 Indianapolis, American Association, 61 games, .273 average.
1932 Dallas, Texas League, 35 games, .349 average.
1933 San Antonio, Texas League, 114 games, .358 average.
1934 San Antonio, Texas League, 142 games, .296 average.
1935 Oklahoma City, Texas League, 27 games, .264 average.
1935 Nashville, Southern Association, 24 games, .312 average.
1936 Lincoln, Nebraska State League, 27 games, .333 average.
1936 Rock Island, Western League, 46 games, .272 average.
1937 Beatrice, Nebraska State League, 50 games, .364 average.
1938 Beatrice, Nebraska State League, 4 games, .164 average.

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