WAS GENERAL SANTA ANA'S ARTIFICIAL LEG USED AS A BASEBALL BAT? by Rene Torres

Daguerreotype Image of General Santa Anna

From the editor of the Brownsville Observer:  Since reading James Michener's The Eagle and The Raven about twenty years ago, I've been intrigued by Mexican General Santa Anna.  Below we've printed a recent story by baseball historian Rene Torres actually linking the general with the birth of America's pastime, baseball.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the Mexican general who battled the United States for some forty years, losing battles and ceding territory, lost his leg during the Franco-Mexican War of 1838-9.

The general had two artificial legs, one elaborately contructed, the other, a simple peg leg.

Perhaps, it would be surprising to know that the fancier leg is in Illinois.  

Texans frequently ask:  "What's Santa Anna's leg doing in Illinois?"

Is it true that one of his artificial legs was once used as a baseball bat?

The tale goes that it was while the Mexican army was engaged against the U.S. in 1847 at the Battle of Cerro Gordo when his artificial leg was lost.

With the fighting some distance away, the commander took a lunch break, but, before he could finish his roasted chicken, he and his troops were surprised by Illinois soldiers, forcing Santa Anna to leave his chicken and artificial legs behind.

Legend has it that the Illinois soldiers recovered both the artificial and the peg legs, using the latter in the sandlot as a baseball bat.

One Abner Doubleday, who, after the Mexican War was acknowledged as the founder of baseball, was attached to Zackery Taylor’s army, may have been there to witness the event, although that's never been confirmed. 

Later, Doubleday would serve as quartermaster officer for three months at Brownsville's Fort Brown.

Texas has tried to recover the artifact from Illinois without results with the story being reported in Ripley's Believe It or Not in 1930.

Currently, the artificial leg is in the hands of the Illinois State Military Museum with no backup story on how it was captured or who finished Santa Anna's roasted chicken.

This writer called the Illinois museum a few weeks ago and was told that Santa Anna’s exhibit was not on display at this time.

Believe it or not!