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Colder Cases We have approximately 280
"missing" players and they can roughly be
broken down as follows: about 30 instances where
we have located a death that is likely the ballplayer but in which definitive
prove is lacking, and about 90 cases where we have
solidly identified the ballplayer and traced him up to a certain point only to
lose track of him. That leaves about 160 players whose identities are less
firmly established. There are wide variations in what we know about these
players.
There are some on whom we have dauntingly little evidence. For example,
when the home team’s catcher was injured in a game in Boston on August 16, 1884,
a spectator named Murphy who claimed to have caught before was brought in to
catch. According to a game account, it took "thirty seconds" of play to
determine that he was not good enough, so he then switched places with one of
the outfielders and spent the rest of the game there. Obviously looking for a
man named Murphy in Boston without any additional information is worse than
trying to find a needle in a haystack, since at least if you find the needle you
know that you’ve found it. And essentially that is what differentiates what I
call colder cases: there is the discouraging feeling that even if we find the
man's death certificates, we won’t be sure if it’s the ballplayer.
There are quite a few others like spectator Murphy, including almost 50 for
whom we do have a first name. It is always possible that we will happened upon a
great clue and identify and find one of these men, but at this point there isn’t
a lot of reason for optimism.
On the other extreme, there are players like Billy Geer, who had a fairly
long playing career, followed by a much longer criminal career. Geer has not
been firmly identified on the census, so I currently classify him as a colder
case, but that’s a judgment call -- we know enough about him that there’s a
reasonable chance we could identify him if we ever find a death certificate.
And a lot of players are somewhere in between
those two extremes. A good example is Joe Fagin, who was pressed into duty
for a single major league game on June 25, 1895. This player has been
listed as Fred Fagan, but contemporary notes are clear that he was Joe Fagin, a
fairly well-known semipro catcher from Cincinnati. Unfortunately those
notes don’t give any information that definitively establishes his identity and
there were two Joe Fagins in Cincinnati at the time of appropriate age. We’ve
traced both men up until their deaths and checked their obituaries, but have no
indication of whether Joseph Fagin (1866-1947) or Joseph Fagin (1864-1932) is
our man. If we ever find a note about the ballplayer that mentions his address,
or his occupation, or a family member, then we'd be able to tell which one was
the ballplayer, but for now we’re stuck.
I’m going to gradually put out information about
these 170 colder cases, though in many instances there isn’t much to tell.
GEORGE
BRISTOW: A very mystifying player who apparently had ties to Chicago and to
Hebron, Nebraska, but who has proved impossible to pin down. The one huge clue
we have is that he married Emma Gates, the sister of a teammate, in Galveston,
Texas, on June 20, 1895.
JAMES BURKE: Was from Rhode Island, and moved to Attleboro around 1880. There’s
a good chance that he was listed as a boarder with an Ann McKenna in Attleboro
on the 1880 census:
James Burke Other S Male W 21 RI Works In Jewelry Shop RI RI
There is another James Burke, jeweller, of the same age in
Providence with stepfather John Dolan. It could be the same man and he moved
right around the time of the census.
The ballplayer was last known to be living in Attleboro in
1886. There are at least two plausible candidates:
James W. Burke, who was committed to the Massachusetts
state mental hospital in Westboro on July 21, 1888 for intemperance. He died
there on March 10, 1894; the dc said he was 33 and born in Rhode Island but did
not list parents.
James F. Burke, born 10/3/1860 in Providence to Patrick and
Mary and died there 4/18/1922. This appears to be the stepson of John Dolan.
For a long time, we considered the former man the better
candidate, but new information discovered by Bob Richardson points to the latter
man.
WILLIAM J. BUTLER: A New Orleans amateur. He could be:
William Joseph Butler b 11 9 58 New Orleans, La d 2 13 38 Houston, Tx, or Wm. J.
Butler, 37 yrs, d. May 9, 1895 New Orleans. No doubt there are other candidates
as well.
JERRY DORSEY: SN called him “Jerry Dorsey, an outfielder
purchased from the Gadsen, Alabama club of the Southeastern Lg. Tall. husky,
well built young man …” He mostly played in D Leagues in the South and notes
are very scarce. There are several candidates on the census; this one seems the
best but there’s nothing specifically pointing to him:
1920 census
1604 Houston Fort Worth Tx
Jerome Dorsey master mechanic 34 Ill Chicago Chicago
wife Genevieve 25 Ill Ga Ire
son Jack 1 10/12 Cleveland Chicago Ill
JOE FAGIN: There are two candidates, Joseph
Fagin (1866-1947) and Joseph Fagin (1864-1932), both from Cincinnati. At this
point, we don't have enough information to determine which one was the
ballplayer. THOMAS GORMAN: Thomas Gorman was a first baseman who played
for Kansas City (Union) in 1884. The entire record was once credited to Jack
Gorman, but in fact both men played for Kansas City that year. Tom Gorman was
from St. Louis and played amateur and semipro ball in that city during the
1880s, but has not been positively identified.
JACOB KNOWDELL: This guy was supposed to be a resident of
Brooklyn and New Jersey and there are lots of theories about him, but he still
hasn’t definitively been pinpointed on the censuses. The one solid thing we
have are listings for his sister Eliza:
1880 census 128 Heyward St. James Haver 39 NY wife Eliza
Haver 33 NY son James Jr 13 NY Frederick 9 NY.
1900 census Eliza Haver Jan 1845 NY Main Street Frankfort
Herkimer Co NY son James W May 1867 NY son Frederick Dec 1870 NY widow parents b
NY.
1910 census Eliza M Haver 64 Philadelphia, Pa parents born
Germany James W 43 NY commercial salesman same address.
There’s a Jacob Nodell, age 7, in a Brooklyn orphanage on
the 1860 census with Edward Nodell age 6. And there is a Jacob Nodel in
Philadelphia on the 1870 census, but the entry is too sparse to help. Knowdell
played in Michigan in 1883 and there is a Detroit marriage record on February 9,
1884, of Jacob A. Knodell, 29, b. Philadelphia, lives Brooklyn, occ.
railroading, to Lizzie Connell, 19, b. Stratford, Ont. All of these could be
him, but nothing is certain.
MACEY: The Columbus Evening Post of October 3, 1890:
In the last two innings, Philadelphia substituted “a Columbus amateur by the
name of Lackey and his catcher Macey.” We were able to identify and find
William Lackey. However, there were no Maceys listed in accounts of local
amateur games. Lackey’s regular catcher was named Patrick Mullay and we traced
him up until his death in San Francisco on March 22, 1963, age 90. His only
survivor was a nephew, so there is probably no way to prove that he was the
player listed as “Macey.”
THOMAS MAHER: Sporting Life on July 14, 1906
reported that Thomas Meagher, second baseman of the Worcester club, married
Amelia Magnell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Magnus Magnell of Wilmington on June
25. The marriage record has the date as June 23: Thomas Meagher, 28, divorced,
second marriage, shipping clerk, born New York City, parents James and Annie
(Morrissey). We believe that this is the same player who played in the majors.
The marriage does not seem to have lasted long as Amelia was listed in the cds
within a few years. Efforts to find him on the census had been
unsuccessful.
McKENNA: There are three different players combined in this
player’s record. The 1874 player was a Philadelphian named F. McKenna, but
nothing more than that is definitely known. The 1877 St. Louis player is very
likely a Patrick J. McKenna who became a policeman and died in St. Louis on
October 27, 1922. The 1884 player was Edward McKenna from Washington and this
is believed to be his family in DC on the 1870 census:
Andrew McKenna wood measurer 40 Ire
Ann 38 Ire
Mary A 17 DC
Edward J 13 DC
John P 11 DC
Andrew B 8 DC
Hugh F 6 DC
Henry J 3 DC
Edward disappears in 1884 and we have not been able to pick
up his trail.
THOMAS MURRAY: He was a semipro from Paterson, N.J., who
also played in Hoboken and New York City, but we have not pinned him down. The
Thomas W. Murray from Georgia is a different man.
NEWELL: From St. Louis but everything else is confusing.
The source of the name “T. E. Newell” is an 1884 listing of a St. Louis
substitute umpire by that name. However, no such man appears in the cds. One
possibility is a George Newell who was a ballplayer. Another
remote possibility: Burlington, Iowa has organized the Atlantic club for 1878.
Players ... F Newell. Secretary F. E. Newell.
JOHN J. O’NEILL: John J. O’Neill caught a few games for the
Giants in 1899 and 1902 and is not to be confused with another major leaguer
named John Joseph O’Neill. The missing man seems to have been born in New York
City and to have worked for the New York City water department. For most of the
first decade of this century, O’Neill was catcher for a professional team in
Hoboken, New Jersey. But with clues that general and such a common name,
it’s hard to pinpoint a candidate.
HENRY REVELLE: There are two candidates. Henry E. Revelle
was a native of Baltimore who vanished around 1903. Henry M. Revelle was not
from Baltimore but attended college and medical school there during the years
our man played baseball. He died in 1900, and his age makes him the more likely
candidate, but we don’t have definitive proof.
JOHN A. RYAN He was living in Michigan in the early 1880s,
but I haven’t been able to pin him down. One note suggested he was from
Wacousta, but I still couldn’t find an ideal candidate. He was listed in the
1886-87 Portsmouth, Virginia cd as John A Ryan, clerk Ocean House, but then
moved on.
FRANK SHAFFER: We used to list Frank Shaffer as playing for
Altoona, Kansas City and Baltimore of the Union Association. It was then
established that most of that record belonged to Taylor Shafer, and Frank was
eliminated. Unfortunately, both Frank and Taylor played for Altoona. SL 2/13/84
Altoona has secured Frank Shaffer, Detroit, Michigan. DFP 3/6/84 Frank Shaffer
and Jerry Moore of Detroit have signed with Altoona. SL 5/14/84 May 7 – Altoona
has released Frank Shaffer. Missouri Republican, 5/14/84: “George Shaffer’s
brother has joined the Altoona nine. He is said to be as graceful and efficient
as the St. Louis right fielder but not quite as hard a batter [no kidding!].
The Altoonas have released Cleary Cross and he will return to the Lucas
Amateurs. They have also released Shaffer, a Cincinnati player.”
Unfortunately, I’ve gotten nowhere tracing Shaffer in Detroit and think he came
from somewhere else. There was a ballplayer from Saginaw by that name who I’ve
worked on, but can’t find.
PETER TREACY: There’s no evidence that he and Fred were
brothers, although they are listed as such. The most likely candidate is a
Peter J. Treacy who was last listed in the 1916/17 NYC CD with address 1709
Ocean Ave, Brooklyn, working at 500 Park Ave, NYC.
GEORGE A. WALKER: Said to be born in Hamilton, Ontario,
around 1863, but not much else to go on.
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