Bob Ferguson (infielder)
Bob Ferguson | |
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Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | |
Died: May 3, 1894 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | (aged 49)|
Batted: Both Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
May 18, 1871, for the New York Mutuals | |
Last MLB appearance | |
July 1, 1884, for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .265 |
Home runs | 1 |
Runs batted in | 357 |
Managerial record | 417–516–16 |
Teams | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Robert Vavasour Ferguson (January 31, 1845 – May 3, 1894) was an American infielder, league official, manager and umpire in the early days of baseball, playing both before and after baseball became a professional sport.[1] In addition to playing and managing, he served as president of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players from 1872 through 1875, the sport's first entirely professional league. His character and unquestioned honesty were highly regarded during a period in baseball history where the game's reputation was badly damaged by gamblers and rowdy behavior by players and fans.[2] However, his bad temper and stubbornness were traits that created trouble for him at times during his career, and caused him to be disliked by many.[2] His nickname, "Death to Flying Things",[3] was derived from his greatness as a defensive player.[4]
Early career
A native of
National Association
In 1871, Ferguson took over the Mutual team as the
On September 1, 1872, Ferguson arranged a benefit game for Al Thake, a 22-year-old left fielder for the Atlantics, who drowned during a fishing trip off Fort Hamilton, in New York Harbor. The old Brooklyn Atlantics and Members of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings played against each other in the benefit game.[2]
While serving as a substitute umpire during a game between the Baltimore Canaries and Mutuals on July 24, 1873, Ferguson received continuous, loud, verbal abuse from Mutuals catcher Nat Hicks.[2] Ferguson and Hicks got into an altercation at the conclusion of the game, which Ferguson ended by hitting Hicks in the left arm with a bat, breaking his arm in two places. Ferguson required a police escort to leave the playing field, and Hicks refused to press charges and the two reconciled afterwards.[2] During the final season of the Association, he played and managed the Hartford Dark Blues.[1]
National League
When the Association dissolved, his Hartford team was accepted into the
The Dark Blues had turned to Ferguson to play for and manage the team because of his reputation as the most authoritarian captain in the game. He was an honest and upstanding citizen in a time when not many ballplayers could say the same. However, he was also a domineering, dictatorial captain with a violent streak.[6] Team discipline did improve in his first season, but his overbearing ways proved divisive, causing the team to bicker amongst themselves. Ferguson's temper would flare up often, even when the team was winning.[6] The Chicago Tribune reported that if anyone on the Hartford nine committed an error, "Ferguson [would] swear until everything looks blue."[6] He was particularly rough on second baseman Jack Burdock, who on more than one occasion heard his captain publicly threaten "to ram his fist down Burdock's throat."[6] Some players tolerated his behavior; others, however, refused to comply. Shortstop Tom Carey and center fielder Jack Remsen did not hesitate to yell back, while Burdock and pitcher Candy Cummings, on the other hand, often sulked.[6] The situation in Hartford came to a head after a tough loss to the Red Stockings, a game in which Ferguson had committed several errors. Hartford's main pitcher, Tommy Bond, suggested that Ferguson was "crooked". Ferguson denied the charge, and Bond quickly retracted his statement, claiming that he said it in anger.[6] Bond then requested that he be able to leave the team because he could not play for Ferguson, a request that was granted by league president Morgan Bulkeley, a former owner of the Dark Blues.[6]
Hartford finished third in both of its two seasons in the National League,
Ferguson again moved on, this time accepting the player-manager role with the new
American Association
Ferguson's last two managerial positions were in the
Umpiring career
Ferguson had, on numerous occasions during his playing and managerial career, served as a substitute umpire, but did not start doing it full-time until after his departure from Philadelphia. In 1888, he became a full-time professional umpire, working in the American Association, and later in the Players' League in 1890.[1] By the end of the 1890 season he had passed Kick Kelly to take over the record for career games as an umpire with 650; John Gaffney surpassed his final total of 786 in 1893. Ferguson officially umpired 804 games if his National Association games are taken into account, and his career came to a close after the 1891 season.[1] On his umpiring philosophy, he once stated "Umpiring always came as easy to me", he said, "as sleeping on a featherbed. Never change a decision, never stop to talk to a man. Make 'em play ball and keep their mouths shut, and never fear but the people will be on your side and you'll be called the king of umpires."[9]
Post-career
Ferguson died in Brooklyn of
See also
- List of Major League Baseball player–managers
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Bob Ferguson's Stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Players: Bob Ferguson". 19cbaseball.com. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
- ^ a b c "The Ballplayers: Bob Ferguson". baseballbiography.com. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Hartford Dark Blues". by David Arcidiacono @ The Hog River Journal. Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ "1879 Chicago White Stockings team stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ "Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com.
- ^ "Old Time Baseball: Umpires". by Harvey Frommer. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ "The Dead Ball Era: Too Young To Die". thedeadballera.com. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- )
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Bob Ferguson managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
- Obituary in The Sporting Life
- Retrosheet