CINCINNATI (WKRC) — A ceremony was held Saturday to unveil a new headstone for former Major League Baseball player Edward “Icicle” Reeder, a Cincinnati native who was buried in an unmarked grave more than a century ago.
The event, organized by Gone But Not Forgotten: MLB Unmarked Graves Project, was at Spring Grove Cemetery.
Reeder, born in Cincinnati in 1858, played several years in the Reds’ minor league system and with other professional teams. In 1884, he appeared in three games for the Cincinnati Reds and three for the Washington Senators. He died in Cincinnati on Jan. 15, 1913, and was buried without a headstone.
The Gone But Not Forgotten project works to locate and mark the graves of former Cincinnati Reds players who were buried in unmarked sites. The organization collaborates with families, cemeteries and donors to fund and install permanent markers honoring the players.
Reeder is the fourth player recognized through the project and the fifth overall effort by the organization. Previous gravesite projects honored Theodore Conover in Lexington, Ky.; Hank Gastright in Wilder, Ky.; and Robert Clark in Fort Mitchell, Ky. The group also created a bronze memorial marker for former Reds pitcher Paul Derringer, installed at the replica light tower at the original site of Crosley Field in Cincinnati.