Al Eisele '58 was a Washington D.C. fixture, crossing paths with many of the leading lights in American politics from the 1960s to well into the 21st century.
But before he embarked on his career as one of the nation's most-renowned political journalists, and the press secretary to Vice President Walter Mondale, Eisele made his mark as a pitcher for the Saint John's University baseball program.
His efforts on the mound led the Johnnies to three MIAC titles during his four seasons in Collegeville, and earned him a spot in the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) organization, where he spent three-and-a-half seasons in the minor leagues.
"He didn't talk about it all that much while we were growing up," recalled Kitty Eisele, one of his two daughters. "He didn't talk about it all that much. But I think my mother was absolutely thrilled. She didn't want to be married to a professional ballplayer."
Eisele grew up in Blue Earth, Minnesota, before enrolling at SJU as a freshman in the fall of 1954. He went on to see action for the Johnnies in both 1955 (when the team won a conference title) and '56.
But it was as a junior and senior that he really came into his own.
He went 5-1 in MIAC play during the 1957 season, including throwing a one-hitter and striking out 10 in a 7-0 victory over Macalester that gave the Johnnies a share of that season's conference crown. He had two shutouts in his last three starts and gave up only one run in his final 25 innings of work.
Off the field, Eisele made his mark as well, working as a writer for
The Record – SJU's student newspaper – and serving on the staff of the
Sagatagan – the school's yearbook.
"He was a character," recalls teammate Tom Melchior, who went on to become a renowned teacher and author. "Even then he had a strong interest in politics, and he had a great sense of humor. At that time, we had family meals. We all ate at a specific time and had a specific table we sat at.
"Every Sunday morning, they'd serve us bowls of cereal. Al's thing was to take his tie, lay it across the bowl and pretend he was cutting it with his knife and fork. It went on every Sunday. It got to be a ritual we all looked forward to."
Eisele continued cutting it up on the diamond as a senior in 1958. He went 8-1 that spring – his only loss coming against the University of Minnesota, which won the Big Ten title. He posted three victories in the final nine days of the season, including throwing all nine innings on two days' rest and striking out 10 as SJU beat St. Thomas 4-2 to again clinch a share of the MIAC title.
He also led the team in batting with a .296 average and hit four home runs.
"He was a stopper during those last two years," said Melchior. "He stepped up big in the biggest games. He had great control and a great fastball. He always kept things pretty tight."
Those skills did not go unnoticed by pro scouts, landing Eisele in Minot in the Northern League in 1959, where he went 6-6 with 60 strikeouts. He spent 1960 with Burlington in the Carolina League, then back in Minot.
He returned to Burlington for the 1961 season, where he was 15-11 with 111 strikeouts and a 3.64 ERA. A short stint with Charleston in the Eastern League followed in 1962 before his pro career came to an end.
"I know he enjoyed seeing America by bus, even staying in rinky-dink hotels," Kitty Eisele said. "He got to go a lot of places a kid from Blue Earth probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise."
But Eisele's adventures were just beginning. He returned to his love of journalism, taking a job as a reporter for the
St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch before relocating to the nation's capital to join the Washington bureau of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain in 1965.
He arrived in D.C. when a number of Minnesotans had risen to positions of national prominence. He got to know Hubert Humphrey, who had just gone from the U.S. Senate to the Vice Presidency under Lyndon Johnson. He also became acquainted with Minnesota's other U.S. Senator, Eugene McCarthy, who had been a standout baseball player at SJU himself in the 1930s.
Eisele had a front-row seat when McCarthy mounted an insurgent challenge to Johnson in the 1968 presidential primaries, then followed the campaign of Hubert Humphrey, who earned the Democratic nomination that year after Johnson declined to seek re-election and New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassination.
He continued to chart the careers of McCarthy and Humphrey in the years that followed, authoring a dual biography of the two men entitled "Almost to the Presidency" in 1972.
Eisele also got to know Walter Mondale, who took over Humphrey's Senate seat when the latter became Vice President. And, when Jimmy Carter picked Mondale as his running mate after earning the Democratic nomination in 1976, he hired Eisele as his press secretary – a post he held until Carter and Mondale left office in 1981.
"I was on my Dad's plane during the 1976 campaign," recalls Mondale's son Ted. "That was four events a day, flying all over, and it was a tremendous pressure cooker. But Al was the coolest cucumber there was. You could see how he would have been a great pitcher because he never let the stress get to him. I never saw him get mad or yell at anyone. He was always kind, calm and highly rational.
"The key to that position is building trust and Al did that. The press trusted him and my Dad and others in high places trusted him as well. He never played games. He always told the truth, and that's a rarer quality than you might think."
Eisele went on to hold several prominent roles after his time in the Vice President's office, but never lost his love for journalism. Which is what led him to become a founding editor of
The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering Congress, in 1994. He stepped down as editor in 2005, but continued to write and mentor younger journalists.
"Journalism is still about people, more than it is about process and policy," Eisele said in
The Hill upon his retirement in 2005. "In Washington, it is about the interaction – about how people vie for power, seek power, misuse power, accumulate power and sometimes lose power, and the reluctant letting go of power."
Eisele counted among his friends figures as diverse as legendary gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and big-league baseball legend Tommy John.
"I didn't really know Al all that well," longtime SJU head baseball coach Jerry Haugen recalls. "But I had the chance to meet him and we talked. The next thing I know, I get a phone call from Tommy John. Al had given him my number because he wanted me to talk pitching with him. I guess they'd played minor-league ball together and they remained friends.
"So I had a great conversation with Tommy John thanks to Al."
Eisele remained connected to his alma mater in other ways, too.
"He'd come back to visit a number of times over the years," legendary former SJU basketball coach and athletic director Jim Smith said. "You could tell this place was pretty important to him."
In 2003, he received the
Fr. Walter Reger Distinguished Alumnus Award – the highest honor bestowed by the SJU Alumni Association for service to alma mater.
"I am deeply honored by this award," Eisele said at the time. "As I have said many times, you can leave Saint John's, but Saint John's never leaves you. The Benedictine motto of worship and work is one that serves you well throughout life, no matter what course you follow."
