Trivia New York Giants Jackets question: has a profe sional ballplayer ever become president of the United States? Some evidencesays yes.

President Dwight Eisenhower reportedly played for Cla s D Junction City in 1911 and used a false name to maintain eligibility for collegiate athletics. Eisenhower's alias "Wilson" was paid by the minor league team a year before Eisenhowerjoined Army's football programat West Point.

Before his presidency, when he wasan Army general,Eisenhower confe sed. Whileswapping stories at the Polo Grounds with Giants manager Mel Ott and Braves manager Bob Coleman on June 19, 1945,Ott asked Eisenhower if he hadplayed profe sional baseball. "The general admitted he had done so, under the a sumed name of Wilson," the New York Times reported.

"The general confided to the two skippers what he Tiki Barber Jerseys admitted to be 'the one secret of my life,' " the newspaperdescribed. "When they asked him what position he played, he replied 'that's my secret.' " (This is the first time baseball-reference dabbled in presidential scandals.)

Eisenhower was 20 years old and talentedenough to hit .355 for Junction City, but he didn't aspire to climb towardthe big leagues. He played for the cash. "I wanted to go to college that fall and we didn't have much money," General Eisenhower told the A sociated Pre s in 1945. Kenny Golladay Jerseys "I took any job that offered me more money, because I needed money."

Eisenhower wasn't great at keeping his secret a secret.The bookMy Three Years with Eisenhower: The Personal Diary of Captain Harry C. Butchergave a first-person account of hearing Eisenhower reflect on experiences Eli Manning Jerseys as a minor league baseball player.

There was a document withthe potentialto create"baseball-gate." United States Military Academy football playershad to sign aformsaying they werenever compensatedfor athletics, according tothe book Baseball: The Presidents' Game.A future president lying in writing would be newsworthy, no matter the era. Eisenhower'ssignedform never emerged.

In the eight years between the end of his presidency and the end of his life,Eisenhower refused tocomment on his baseball career. "Perhaps he was embarra sed, Riley Dixon Jerseys or nervous about how it would affect his legacy," a 1992 Chicago Tribune article theorized.

Eisenhower's baseball silence applied to his staff too. The then recently-retired president sent a memo in 1961 asking Blake Martinez Jerseys employees to avoid discu sing his suspicious season because"it gets too complicated." Thememo is still on file at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Kansas.

History remembers Eisenhower as the 34th president. Maybe baseball history should rememberhim as "Wilson."

Tim Hagerty is the broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, and is on Twitter at . He is also the author of"."