What is the origin of his nickname? Well, "sweetbreads" is defined as "the thymus or, sometimes, the pancreas of a young animal (usually a calf or lamb) used for food," and though the origins of Bailey's nickname have been lost to time, historians think it may have come from Bailey's tendency to swerve his pitches right into the batter's "sweetbreads". He hit seven batters there.
The Chicago Cubs signed him in 1917, but before he jointed the team he served in the military with the 72nd field artillery. A relief pitcher for the Cubs for three seasons, he won four games, saved none, and finished up the 1921 season pitching for Brooklyn. After 1921, he was out of baseball.
After his baseball career he returned to his hometown of Joliet, and that's where he died of pituitary cancer in 1939 at the way too young age of 44.
