The Measure of a Man
We have come to know Don Demeter as a solid hitter that had an unwavering spiritual faith that he was always willing to share. The ledgers add a great deal to the story through two threads. Demeter became the fifth member of a v-Club in 1966 then literally doubled down becoming the first ever inductee to hit at least TWO home runs against every opponent. Through the course of these forty home runs, Demeter picked on a handful of pitchers to meet his goal.
Baseball fans in 1958 Los Angeles watched Don Demeter’s first full season unfold. They saw a strong hitter and fast runner. So they gave him the nickname “Spee-Demeter.” I think they were trying to mimic speedometer. I, on the other hand, pronounced his name as \deh-MEET-ur\. Baseball Reference says it’s \DEM-it-ur\. Sources don’t claim it is \DOM-it-ur\. What I’m saying is these chapter titles will be a stretch.
Grin-Demeter (Measuring the Little Things)
The early careers of Demeter and fellow inductee Preston Ward shared a few similarities. They both made their debuts with the Dodgers with Ward’s coming in Brooklyn in 1948 and Demeter’s in Los Angeles eight years later. Both had successful, bolstering stints in Double-A Fort Worth. Demeter made the bigger initial splash.
SET ONE, LEDGER ONE: September 19, 1956 vs St. Louis Cardinals
In his second career game and his second career plate appearance Demeter hit a meaningless eighth inning pinch hit home run to put the Dodgers up 16-2. The pitcher was Don Liddle and this would be the last home run he ever allowed and also his last career appearance.
Demeter was then shipped off to Triple-A St. Paul for the entirety of the 1957 season and a good portion of 1958. His numbers upon being called up in August 1958 were not great, but he did manage three more ledgers.
SET ONE, LEDGER TWO: August 27, 1958 vs Cincinnati Reds
SET ONE, LEDGER THREE: September 14, 1958 at Milwaukee Braves
SET ONE, LEDGER FOUR: September 19, 1958 at Chicago Cubs
Demeter immediately went to work on completing his second set of ledgers.
SET TWO, LEDGER ONE: September 20, 1958 at Chicago Cubs
SET TWO, LEDGER TWO: September 29, 1958 vs St. Louis Cardinals
His second ledger against the Cardinals was hit off Nelson Chittum, who like Don Liddle the year before, made it the last home run he ever allowed.
Pe-Demeter (Measuring the Steps)
1959 was a pivotal year for Demeter. He was becoming a fan favorite, and who could blame them after his performance on April 21.
SET ONE, LEDGER FIVE: April 21, 1959 vs San Francisco Giants (IPHR)
SET TWO, LEDGER THREE: April 21, 1959 vs San Francisco Giants
And for good measure, Demeter added a third home run that day – a walk-off in the eleventh inning. A few more ledgers followed.
SET TWO, LEDGER FOUR: May 4, 1959 at Milwaukee Braves
SET ONE, LEDGER SIX: May 13, 1959 vs Pittsburgh Pirates
And once again Demeter found a flair for the dramatic adding three more ledgers in very short order including another two-home run performance in Philadelphia.
SET ONE, LEDGER SEVEN: June 11, 1959 at Philadelphia Phillies
SET TWO, LEDGER FIVE: June 11, 1959 at Philadelphia Phillies
SET TWO, LEDGER SIX: June 12, 1959 at Pittsburgh Pirates
Demeter found limited playing time and production through the rest of 1959 and into 1960, but did add one more ledger of consequence.
SET TWO, LEDGER SEVEN: May 3, 1960 vs Cincinnati Reds
He was now doubly maxed out on the National League. On May 4, 1961, Demeter was traded to the Phillies. The Phillies and Dodgers squared off in five series during 1961 before Demeter had yet another banner day.
SET ONE, LEDGER EIGHT: September 12, 1961 at Los Angeles Dodgers
SET TWO, LEDGER EIGHT: September 12, 1961 at Los Angeles Dodgers
This was part of another three-home run day for Demeter. In the span of a couple hours, Demeter was maxed out against the NL again, but the 1962 expansion would allow for more opportunity.
And wouldn’t you know it, Demeter again couldn’t resist a multiple home run day.
SET ONE, LEDGER NINE: April 28, 1962 at New York Mets
SET TWO, LEDGER NINE: April 28, 1962 at New York Mets
His first home run against the Mets is also the first example of Demeter picking on a pitcher. Jay Hook gave up both his second ledger against Cincinnati in 1960 and his first ledger against the Mets.
The narrative thus far doesn’t seem to be presenting much of a challenge. The Houston Colt .45s took up that cause. It took Demeter 57 and 71 plate appearances before he hit his first and second ledgers against them, by far more than any opponent in his career.
SET ONE, LEDGER TEN: September 4, 1962 at Houston Colt .45s
SET TWO, LEDGER TEN: May 16, 1963 at Houston Colt .45s
The book was now closed on National League ledgers. Fortunately for Demeter’s ledgers, another trade found him headed to the Tigers for the 1964 season.
Spee-Demeter (Measuring How Fast You’re Going)
Demeter feasted on his new set of opponents throughout the 1964 season.
SET ONE, LEDGER ELEVEN: April 26, 1964 at Minnesota Twins
SET ONE, LEDGER TWELVE: April 29, 1964 at Kansas City Athletics
SET TWO, LEDGER ELEVEN: June 8, 1964 vs Minnesota Twins
Demeter’s next three home runs came against the Twins over the next three days. Then it was again time to double his fun.
SET ONE, LEDGER THIRTEEN: June 28, 1964 at New York Yankees
SET TWO, LEDGER TWELVE: June 28, 1964 at New York Yankees
Both his home runs against the Yankees were hit off Steve Hamilton (pitcher #2 on his multiple-home-runs-against-list).
In mid-July Demeter was going to pull off another quirky feat: back-to-back back-to-back ledger days.
SET ONE, LEDGER FOURTEEN: July 12, 1964 vs Baltimore Orioles
SET TWO, LEDGER THIRTEEN: July 13, 1964 vs Baltimore Orioles
SET ONE, LEDGER FIFTEEN: July 14, 1964 at Los Angeles Angels1
SET TWO, LEDGER FOURTEEN: July 15, 1964 at Los Angeles Angels
Demeter’s first ledgers against the Phillies and Orioles were both hit off Robin Roberts in the first instance of a player hitting more than one ledger off the same pitcher (in their first set of ledgers, at least).
As 1964 wore on, Demeter was wearing down but still cranking out ledgers.
SET ONE, LEDGER SIXTEEN: August 4, 1964 at Chicago White Sox
SET TWO, LEDGER FIFTEEN: August 8, 1964 vs Kansas City Athletics
Demeter had one more bit of back-to-back mojo then added one more before the end of the 1964 season.
SET ONE, LEDGER SEVENTEEN: August 25, 1964 at Boston Red Sox
SET TWO, LEDGER SIXTEEN: August 26, 1964 at Boston Red Sox
SET ONE, LEDGER EIGHTEEN: September 6, 1964 at Washington Senators
The 1965 season brought more of the same – injuries and fewer plate appearances – but Demeter was still hitting ledgers when it counted.
SET TWO, LEDGER SEVENTEEN: May 13, 1965 at Washington Senators
SET ONE, LEDGER NINETEEN: July 21, 1965 vs Cleveland Indians
SET TWO, LEDGER EIGHTEEN: July 12, 1965 vs Chicago White Sox
The home run against Chicago featured the fourth repeat pitcher in our profile. John Buzhardt allowed Demeter’s second-set ledgers against both Chicago teams (the Cubs were the first way back in 1958).
Demeter’s ledgers against the American League had been nabbed with efficiency, but the home run against Cleveland was in Demeter’s 22nd game appearance against them. No matter, he was now maxed out on his first set. And soon, the second set.
SET TWO, LEDGER NINETEEN: August 4, 1965 at Cleveland Indians
Both home runs against Cleveland were off of Sonny Siebert, making him the fifth repeated pitcher. Demeter’s career was winding down still needing to hit one against the Tigers.
O-Demeter (Measuring How Far You’ve Gone)
Demeter was traded to Boston in the 1964 off season. Injuries were still hampering his production, but of course, since you’re reading this, you know what happened. With future Cy Young winner and MVP Denny McLain on the mound, Demeter became the second and final member of the v20 Club.
SET ONE, LEDGER TWENTY: August 6, 1966 at Detroit Tigers
Then eight days later with future Cy Young winner and MVP Denny McLain on the mound (again!), Demeter became the first member of the Bronze Level of any v-Club. He would not hit another home run against the Tigers in his remaining two seasons split between Boston and Cleveland, but if he did, he would have made it to the Silver Level (at least three homers against every team).
Demeter post-baseball career mirrored other inductees. He owned some businesses, tried his hand at politics, but was most known as a pastor. He goes down in v-Club lore as the fifth member and the last to be inducted before the next expansion boom would expand the requirement to 24 teams.
Epilogue
There’s a not-entirely-relevant-to-Demeter point in the footnotes.2
Sources and Further Reading
There’s an interesting phenomenon that sometimes pops up in these ledgers and it has already been mentioned in Dale Long’s profile. It’s jarring to see these very long trips between cities (Detroit to Los Angeles) without a travel day in the middle. Even in 2024 there’s often criticism if a team has to play back-to-back days thousands of miles apart and our transportation infrastructure is much more robust today.
This is really more of a musing by the author and a weird testament to how the v30 Club lives in an ether. As noted in the profile of Joe Adcock and remembrance of Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda, there are certain ledgers that simply do not “pop.” There are no common threads, no statistical anomalies, no immediate, “Hey! That’s interesting!” moments. Then there’s profiles like Demeter’s where not only are they the first to do something, their ledger is full of coincidences and threads and there’s something to say about many of the home runs. These are the players I find the most interesting and it’s satisfying to be able to profile these types of players that aren’t the most famous or most prolific.
