EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone has a story — some more well-known than others. Across Western North Carolina, so much history is buried below the surface. Six feet under. With this series, we introduce you to some of the people who have left marks big and small on this special place we call home.
Kenneth Edward “Bud” Holcombe (1918-2010), a professional baseball player who appeared in 99 MLB games on teams including the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox, is buried in Ashelawn Gardens of Memory in Asheville.
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Ken “Bud” Holcombe was born to Lee Polk and Eula Pansy Holcombe on Aug. 23, 1918, in Burnsville. Lee Holcombe was a furniture framer at a manufacturing facility and later a cabinet maker. Ken had two sisters. Marie was a year older than him and Betty was almost a decade younger. The family migrated south to Woodfin when Ken was 4 years old.
Holcombe played ball for Woodfin High School for all four years before moving onto the semi-pro King Cotton League in Greenville, South Carolina.
While in Greenville, Holcombe broke both arms while sliding into third base. Bone fragments that did not grow back correctly caused him significant pain throughout the rest of his career, ultimately forcing him to retire early.
At a tryout camp in 1938, Holcombe caught the attention of scouts. He was first signed to Pennsylvania’s Greensburg Green Sox and billed at 5’11” and 169 pounds.
Holcombe played in Greensburg for a year. His team was at the bottom of the small, regional league, but his skill was immediately apparent as the player with the best statistics on the team.
Holcombe spent the next few years being traded between minor league teams including the Williamson Red Birds, Hamilton Red Wings, Asheville Tourists, Newark Bears and Norfolk Tars.
While traveling the minor league circuit, Holcombe married Virginia Lee Carson on May 21, 1942.
In the 1942 season, despite losing their other pitcher to a kidney attack and Holcombe spending much of the season on the bench with a stomach ulcer, the Newark Bears managed to win the International League pennant. This achievement got the attention of major league scouts.
In 1945, Holcombe joined the New York Yankees for spring training. Then team manager Joe McCarthy eyed Holcombe as a relief pitcher for the team. McCarthy was impressed with the wide variety of curveballs Holcombe could throw.
Holcombe debuted at Yankees Stadium on Apr. 27, 1945, his first game on the major league circuit, against the Washington Senators. He began making a name for himself immediately on America’s most recognizable team. By the close of his first major league season, Holcombe had appeared in 23 matches with the Yankees.
Up until this point, most of Holcombe’s career had taken place during World War II. Classified as 4-F, Holcombe avoided conscription, having been deemed unfit for service. This classification was designated for those physically and mentally incapable of service and those with religious objections. Holcombe may have received 4-F status due to the latter. His faith in the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion may have prevented military service.
At the end of the war, conscripted ball players returned from the warfront, kicking Holcombe out of the majors. He returned to the Newark Bears where he had found success a few years previously.
Much of Holcombe’s career was mired by backroom trades, shipping him back and forth around the country with significant regularity. One particularly confusing section of his resume came in 1947. In the draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up the right-handed pitcher, only to never let him play, sending him off to the Sacramento Solons to pitch for them. He was then thrown to the Cincinnati Reds, only to be returned to Sacramento a month later.
Things calmed down for a while with the Solons keeping Holcombe until Sept. 29, 1949, when his contract was bought out by the Chicago White Sox, returning him to the national stage. The White Sox management reportedly paid $25,000 for the contract, about $330,000 in today’s money.
Holcombe’s tenure at the White Sox was largely successful until the 1952 season. In his final year in Chicago, he failed to win a single game. By mid-June, Holcombe had been traded to the St. Louis Browns. Holcombe again failed to secure a win for the Browns and was traded again about a month later to the Louisville Colonels.
1952 was the first year that showed the injuries Holcombe had sustained earlier in his career were still bothering him. It would not be until midway through that season that he found a way to cope with the pain. After winning some games in Louisville, his contract was bought by the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 14, 1952.
In the 1953 season, Holcombe would only appear in three games. Part of the reason for such a lackluster season was Holcombe’s personal refusal to fly after a rough landing on one flight. Holcombe’s fear made logistics for the Red Sox difficult.
He played one final year of baseball in the 1954 season on the San Francisco Seals, announcing his retirement on Feb. 23, 1955, at age 34.
Hanging up his jersey and glove, Holcombe took a job in Swannanoa at Beacon Manufacturing, a now defunct textile mill. Since closing in 2002, many of the blankets made at the once largest blanket manufacturer in the world have become collector’s items. Holcombe was a supervisor at the plant until retiring in 1984.
Holcombe declined to be interviewed by Asheville Citizen-Times sports reporter Tyler Norris Goode in mid-2007, saying his baseball career “just doesn’t seem that important to me,” having moved on from the sport since his field days five decades prior.
In Goode’s career retrospective of Holcombe released on Aug. 19, 2007, Buddy, Ken’s son, said he was not certain why his father refused to speak to the press, but speculated it might have something to do with Ken’s previous encounters with the media. Buddy recalled sportswriters swarming their dinner table begging his father for quotes.
“When he stopped playing baseball, he wanted a clean break,” Buddy Holcombe explained. “He didn’t want to be someone who hung on too long.”
Kenneth Edward “Bud” Holcombe died on Mar. 15, 2010, at the Brian Center in Weaverville at age 91. His death was preceded by his wife, Virginia, in 2000. Surviving him were his sons, grandchildren and his younger sister Betty who later died in 2019.
Holcombe’s funeral took place on Mar. 20 at Ashelawn Gardens of Memory where he was buried.