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Pitcher
Named All-Coast, 1943
Pitched USF to 8-1 Collegiate Season, 1946
Top 10 in USF Record Books, 85 Strikeouts
USF Career Years: 1941-1942, 1946
Birthdate: September 16, 1922
Hometown: Redwood City, CA
High School: Sequoia High School
Cornelius “Con” Dempsey was born on September 16, 1922 in San Francisco, and attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA. He played both baseball and basketball for the Dons, and helped them win the Baseball Northern California Association Championship.
In 1942, he interrupted his studies to enlist in the United States Navy, and served both in the Pacific and in Europe, and earned four medals for bravery. Dempsey was one of very few to fight in both theaters of World War II, in Okinawa and in Normandy. His service nearly ended in friendly fire in Japan. Dempsey and three friends took a shortcut back to base after watching a nearby show when they heard shots ring out. The bullets were meant for Dempsey and his friends, as they’d been briefly mistaken for Japanese snipers. The major who frantically ordered his soldiers to hold their fire later told Dempsey, “Your height kept the whole four of you from being shot (SFGate).”
He returned to USF in 1946, after his military service, and played as a pitcher. He struck out 15 Santa Clara Broncos in his first game, which the Dons won 7-2. Later that season the Dons defeated San Jose State, Saint Mary’s, and Stanford. At the end of the season, he had pitched 66 innings, struck out 85 batters, and allowed eleven walks and earned a Northern California collegiate title.
Dempsey switched to the Minor Leagues and in 1947, played for Salt Lake City, the farm club for the Seals. In 1948, he played for the Seals under manager Lefty O’Doul, and doing so meant getting O’Doul’s famed mentorship on the Seals. The manager helped the towering righty refine certain pitching habits. He taught Dempsey how to drive a batter back from crowding the plate without throwing a wild pitch, and he encouraged the pitcher to start throwing more sidearm pitches. Dempsey sparingly used this motion for curveballs and threw most pitches overhand, which the manager thought looked more effective (SFGate). His rookie year he averaged 2.10 runs. He led in strike-outs in the Pacific Coast League in 1948 and in 1949.
Dempsey later returned to Japan with the Seals for the first post-war Goodwill Baseball Tour. The pomp and circumstance was unlike anything Dempsey had ever seen. The AP reported that “tens of thousands of fans lined some five miles of city streets to cheer the visiting Pacific Coast leaguers.” Many waved flags with the team name on them, children begged for autographs, and older fans in the crowd cheered O’Doul’s name. Dempsey pitched well in exhibition games against Japanese all-stars and even caught a ceremonial first pitch from Jean MacArthur, the wife of General Douglas MacArthur. The man who oversaw the American post-war occupation of Japan would go on to call the trip “the greatest piece of diplomacy ever (SFGate).”
Dempsey was called a “sidearm hurler” due to his style of pitching. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951 but did not do well in the Majors, partly due to the fact that Branch Rickey, the baseball executive known for hiring Jackie Robinson, insisted that Dempsey throw overhanded. Author Brent P. Kelley, who interviewed Dempsey for his book (San Francisco Seals, 1946-1957: Interviews with Former Baseballers), wrote: “Rickey didn’t like the delivery that Con used and insisted that he change it and his arm wasn’t able to do it. Rickey did a lot of damage and a lot of good to baseball. He hurt more than one player with his actions.” In 1953, he played for the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League.
After retiring from baseball, with a Master’s Degree in Education from USF, he began a 34-year career at Giannini Middle School in San Francisco, teaching Math, Science, Physical Education, and coaching.
Con was also the first USF Athletic Hall of Fame baseball inductee, as well as a member of the Professional Baseball Players Association, SF Retired Teacher's Association and Old Time Athletes Association.
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