Alexander J. McKinnon (August 14, 1856 – July 24, 1887) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

from Boston, Massachusetts. He played for several teams in his short-lived career in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Early career and expulsion

McKinnon began his amateur career with the Boston Stars in , then joined the Syracuse Stars, and played first base for the next three seasons. In , McKinnon was a member of the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the NCAA's Division I-A in 2001, became a football only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, and joined that conference for all other sports in 2005. Troy Univer ...

of the

when decided to "jump" his contract and play for the Rochester club of the International Association, which was against the league's policy and he was expelled for this action. This expulsion caused a ripple effect that meant that no National League team could play versus Rochester, nor could they play against teams that had played Rochester. Though this could have caused the Association a great deal of money, they stood behind the team's decision even though National League President

William Hulbert William Ambrose Hulbert (October 23, 1832 – April 10, 1882) was one of the founders of the National League, recognized as baseball's first major league, and was also the president of the Chicago White Stockings franchise. Biography Born in Bu ...

had made a secret deal that allowed Rochester to reorganize and circumvent the losses. McKinnon did not play very much during that season as he was struck with sickness for much of the time. He decided to quit playing baseball after the season and moved west to engage in business interests. On November 27, 1882, McKinnon was married in Boston, although the marriage produced no children. On March 5, , he was re-instated during a special session of the National League, and signed with the Philadelphia Quakers. He, again, was too sick to play and asked and received his release from the club for this reason.

Major League career

He formally began his major league career for the

New York Gothams The New York Giants were a Major League Baseball team in the National League that began play in the season as the New York Gothams and were renamed in . They continued as the New York Giants until the team relocated to San Francisco, Californ ...

, and led the league in games played with 116. While he hit well with a .272 batting average and 12 triples, he committed a record 53 errors at first base, for a .955 fielding percentage, a record that still stands today for the lowest percentage for a first baseman in a single season. McKinnon moved on the St. Louis Maroons for the next two seasons. In , he batted .294 and significantly improved his fielding at first base with a league leading .978 fielding percentage. Also during that season, he finished out the season as the

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the final 39 games of the season, winning only six of them. This was his only stint as manager during his career. His hitting continued to improve in , when he batted .301 and hit eight

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s. After the season, on December 1, he was traded to the

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for

Otto Schomberg Otto H. Schomberg (born Otto H. Shambrick, – ) was an American Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and Indianapolis Hoosiers. Professional career Pittsburgh Alleghenys Schomberg was 21 when he broke i ...

and $400.

Late career and death

The season began with McKinnon improving his hitting and fielding, likely becoming one of the better first basemen in the

, when he contracted typhoid pneumonia and subsequently died in Charlestown, Massachusetts at the age of 30. He was interred at Lowell Cemetery in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

.''The Baseball Necrology''
/ref> Pittsburgh wore a black

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on their uniforms for the rest of the season to honor Alex.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Alex 1856 births 1887 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Massachusetts Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball player-managers New York Gothams players St. Louis Maroons players St. Louis Maroons managers Pittsburgh Alleghenys players Players of American football from Boston Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Capital City of Albany players Rochester Hop Bitters players San Francisco Athletics players

Early career and expulsion

Major League career

Late career and death

See also

References

External links