Bill McGunnigle

William Henry McGunnigle (January 1, 1855 – March 9, 1899) was an American

After moving to East Stoughton as a child, McGunnigle began his career in the Massachusetts League with the Howard Juniors club of nearby Brockton. He went to the Fall River team in 1875, primarily pitching and catching, but also serving as a utility player for the club.

In 1876, he left to play pitcher and catcher for a club in

McGunnigle was lured in 1883, along with other top Massachusetts players, to the newly formed Northwestern League since there were no high-level minor leagues in New England.^[2] He played for the Saginaw Old Golds primarily as a pitcher and right fielder in 1883 (where he caught future Hall-of-Famer John Clarkson) and part of 1884 before a midseason transfer to the Bay City Independents.

He returned to the

After another year in Brockton, he moved to manage and captain the Lowell Browns, winning the 1887 pennant.

A successful manager in the bigs

McGunnigle took over as manager of the

The team was admitted to the National League the following year, and McGunnigle again led the team to a pennant, helping the Bridegrooms become the first team in any professional sports league to win two championships in consecutive years. Despite back-to-back pennant runs (and tying the 1890 World Series 3–3–1), McGunnigle was let go after the season and replaced by John Montgomery Ward.

After the 1891 Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a 31–47 start on the heels of a 23–113 season, the club demoted captain/manager Ned Hanlon and hired McGunnigle. (Relatedly, Hanlon would later be a successful manager for the Brooklyn club at the turn of the century.) McGunnigle managed the Pittsburgh club to a modest 24–33 record over the remainder of the year. He was not brought back for the following season.

During 1891, McGunnigle also managed the Providence team in the amateur Eastern League, playing in the first Sunday organized baseball game ever played in New England on August 9, 1891, in Rhode Island. At the time, custom and law forbade Sunday baseball, but it was allowed by officials in Warwick, Rhode Island for games at the Rocky Point Resort.

When the New England League was re-formed in 1892, McGunnigle again became the player/manager of the Brockton club. He joined the team at midseason, immediately spurring Brockton on a 12-game winning streak and vaulting the team into first place. However, the club could not retain their spot in the standings. He helped Fred Doe organize the first professional baseball game to ever be played on a Sunday in New England. The Brockton club won the game at Rocky Point Resort, 7–6, over Woonsocket on July 10, 1892. The game eventually led to a change of Massachusetts law, which forbade Sunday baseball, in 1928.^[4] McGunnigle returned to Lowell in 1893, and spent 1894 and 1895 involved in the game of polo.

In 1896, the NL's Louisville Colonels started 2–17 under manager John McCloskey, who was subsequently let go. McGunnigle came on board and managed the Colonels to a 36–76 record the rest of the way, finishing last in the league, two games behind St. Louis. McGunnigle was not asked to manage the team further, being "roughly handled" in his dismissal, according to the Brockton Times. His career professional managerial record in 586 games with Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and Louisville was 327–248 (.569).

An automobile struck a carriage carrying McGunnigle and other men in an 1897 accident, throwing them out of the vehicle. McGunnigle was chronically ill thereafter, and homeridden for the last months of his life. He died at age 44 and is buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Brockton.

Trivia

• Some local sources indicate that McGunnigle once wore a pair of bricklayer's gloves in a game against Harvard in 1875, becoming the first catcher to wear a glove in a baseball game.
• As a manager, McGunnigle employed a tin whistle to signal his players.
• McGunnigle has the best winning percentage in the history of the Dodgers franchise among those who managed at least one full season.
• Led the 1889/1890
  Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL and BAA (now the NBA) and the 1949/1950 Cleveland Browns of the AAFC and NFL
  are the other two.)

• Baseball-Reference.com career managing record and playing statistics
• Bill McGunnigle
• Brockton Times obituary, reprinted by The Dead Ball Era
• History of Avon, Massachusetts, chapter IX, Avon, Massachusetts city site
• Saginaw, Michigan Ball Clubs of 1883 & 1884 Return
• Harry Wright at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Christopher Devine, Retrieved October 10, 2013.
• Buffalo Bisons history, MinorLeagueBaseball.com
• Retrosheet profile