User:Halvorsen brian/Ed Rankin

Edward James "Trilby" Rankin was a professional baseball player and umpire.

Rankin was born in Oregon between 1869 and 1870 to James and Mary Rankin of Missouri and Ireland, respectively.

In 1893 Rankin played professional baseball for Portland in the Oregon State League. He served as captain of the team which featured Fielder Jones and Youngy Johnson. In 1906 Jones recounted a game in Oregon City in which Rankin hit two home runs in one game.

Rankin was hired by the Pacific Northwest League in June 1901 following the resignation of Sandy McDermott who was protesting a decision by league president William Henry Lucas to not suspend a player who had called McDermott a "lobster".

In September 1901 Rankin was relieved of his job as a tax clerk.

On December 24, 1901 the Morning Oregonian wrote, "Portland has a man in Ed Rankin who would be an artist in calling balls and strikes. Rankin has all the qualifications for an umpire, as he has demonstrated for the Portland fans. He is an old baseball player and has umpired nearly every game of amatuer ball played here in recent years. He also showed what he was made of in the game he officiated during the trouble with 'Sandy' McDermott last season. Although [Rankin's] umpiring was not entirely satisfactory to John McCloskey and the rest of the Tacoma players, the grandstands and bleachers were pleased with his work. If any local man is to be given the position of the staff next season, the Portland fans think that Rankin should have that place." In spite of what the Oregonian thought of Rankin's merits, the Pacific Northwest League's by-laws prohibited an umpire to reside in the same city as one of the league's clubs. Since Rankin lived in Portland he could only be hired for emergency purposes as occurred in July 1902 when league president William Henry Lucas fired umpire E. Cunningham before a Helena–Portland series.

Going into the 1903 season, Rankin was hired as an umpire by the Pacific Northwest League. The Morning Oregonian noted this was done by league president William Henry Lucas to quite the demands of the "cranks" in Portland who wanted Rankin as a league umpire.

During a game on October 21, 1906 Rankin was serving as the umpire during a semi-professional game at Vaughn Street Park when he had called a game after eight innings. The Morning Oregonian wrote "The reason for the game being curtailed was probably on account of Trilby Rankin's corns, for the "ump" gave visible signs of being "all in" and desiring a rest. The players discontinued their exercises obligatorily and ambled to their dinners without a word of protest when the eighth inning had been finished."

The City of Vancouver, Washington hired Rankin to act as an agent on behalf of the city to purchase land for use as a municipal cemetery in 1910. Following the land's purchase by the city a lawsuit was filed Washington State Senator Dr. A. B. Eastham against city treasurer D. E. Crandall. He alleged that the land deal should be voided by the court since portions of the land purchased by Rankin was held by Vancouver Councilmember William Tenney. Eastham further alleged Rankin knew that Tenney was a public official while making the deal and Vancouver Mayor John P. Kiggins should not have allowed the deal to be finalized. The Oregonian reported that Tenney received $2,500 for his portion of the land which was paid by the Vancouver National Bank.