John Montgomery Ward
John Montgomery Ward | ||
---|---|---|
Runs batted in 867 | | |
Stolen bases | 540 | |
Win–loss record | 164–103 | |
Earned run average | 2.10 | |
Strikeouts | 920 | |
Teams | ||
As player
As manager
| ||
Career highlights and awards | ||
| ||
Member of the National | ||
Baseball Hall of Fame | ||
Induction | 1964 | |
Election method | Veterans Committee |
John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925), known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, manager, executive, union organizer, owner and author.[1][2] Ward, of English descent,[3] was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania.[4] He led the formation of the first professional sports players union and a new baseball league, the Players' League.
Early life
Ward attended the Bellefonte Academy in the early 1870s, and at 13 years of age, he was sent to Pennsylvania State University. In his short time there, he helped jumpstart a baseball program and is often credited for developing the first curveball.[5] However, he was kicked out of school for pushing an upperclassman who attempted to haze him down a flight of stairs, and stealing chickens.[6]
The following year, in 1874, his parents James and Ruth
Providence Grays
Ward's first season with the Grays was a successful one, going 22–13 with a 1.51 ERA. He played that season exclusively as a pitcher, but during the following two seasons he played increasingly in the outfield and at third base.[2] Ward had his two finest seasons as a pitcher, going 47–19 with 239 strikeouts and a 2.15 ERA in 1879 and 39–24 with 230 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA in 1880. He pitched nearly 600 innings each year (587.0 in 1879 and 595.0 in 1880).[2] As a 19-year-old pitcher, he won 47 games and led the 1879 Providence Grays to a first-place finish.[8]
In
The seasons of
New York and reserve clause
Ward moved to the new
With his arm fully recuperated, he became the everyday shortstop in 1885.[11]
Ward graduated from
In
The owners denied Ward's request for a meeting to discuss the new classification system, saying no talks would be held until after the upcoming season. Though Ward and the union fought hard for these issues, this did not distract him or his Giants team, as he hit .299 and helped the Giants capture their second-straight "World Series" title in 1889.[4][13]
Amidst Ward's commitments as a ballplayer and union organizer, he still found time for a third occupation, that of author. His 1888 book, Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, with the Origin, History and Explanation of the Game was the first published effort to explore baseball's development from its early roots.
The Players' League
Ward realized that negotiations with the owners were going nowhere and threatened to create a Players' League. The owners thought of it as nothing more than an idle threat but had failed to realize Ward's connections in the business community, and he began to launch the new league. This new Players' League included a profit sharing system for the players and had no reserve clause or classification plan.[4]
The season began in 1890 with over half of the National League's players from the previous year in its ranks.[4] Ward acted as a player-manager for the Brooklyn club, nicknamed the Ward's Wonders, and finished seventh in the league with a .335 batting average.[2] While the Players' League drew well at the box office, the teams' owners grew nervous when the money did not come in as expected because of the profit sharing system. Soon they began holding secret meetings with their National League counterparts and, one by one, sold their teams to the rival league.[4]
Later career
Due to an agreement after the dissolution of the Players' League, Ward stayed in Brooklyn as player-manager for the National League team, the
Post-career
Ward retired from baseball at age 34 in order to enter the legal profession. As a successful
In the last quarter century of his life, Ward's sporting passion became
Ward died in Augusta, Georgia, the day after his 65th birthday on March 4, 1925, after a bout of pneumonia,[14] and is interred in Greenfield Cemetery in Hempstead, Long Island, New York.[15] Named in the
See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders
- List of Major League Baseball perfect games
- List of Major League Baseball player-managers
- List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual stolen base leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual strikeout leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders
References
- Bibliography
- Stein, Fred (2002). And the Skipper Bats Cleanup: A History of the Baseball player–manager, with 42 Biographies of Men Who Filled the Dual Role. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1228-3.
- In-line citations
- ^ a b "John Montgomery Ward's managerial statistics". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c d e "John Montgomery Ward's career statistics". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "The Ward clan was of English stock, descended from mid-1600s Connecticut settlers" https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-montgomery-ward/ sabr.org Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Simply Baseball Notebook: Legends". z.lee28.tripod.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Dreier, Peter; Elias, Robert (11 July 2017). "Out of Left Field". Jacobin. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ a b Stein, p. 35
- ^ http://www.ancestry.com 1860, 1870 US Federal Census Bellefonte, Centre, Pennsylvania 1860 Child Montgomery born Mar 1960.
- ^ "1879 Providence Grays team page". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "Perfect games by pitchers:Box scores". baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b Stein, p. 36
- ^ a b "Who Was Baseball's Most Interesting Character? Monte Ward, by Mike Attiyeh". baseballlibrary.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "1888 New York Giants team page". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "1889 New York Giants team page". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "John Montgomery Ward's Obituary". New York Times, Thursday, March 5, 1925. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "John Montgomery Ward's Hall of Fame profile". baseballhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "John Montgomery Ward's career statistics". retrosheet.org. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- John Montgomery Ward at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Works by John Montgomery Ward at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about John Montgomery Ward at Internet Archive
- Works by John Montgomery Ward at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Retrosheet
- Box score for Ward's perfect game
- John Montgomery Ward at Find a Grave