Andy Cusick
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Andrew J. Cusick (December 1857 – August 6, 1929) was an Irish-born
catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
in
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), ...
from 1884 to 1887. He played for the Wilmington Quicksteps and Philadelphia Quakers. Cusick was 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed 190 pounds."Andy Cusick Statistics and History"
. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 4, 2011.


Playing career

Cusick was born in
Limerick, Ireland Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 c ...
, in 1857. He started his professional baseball career in 1883 with the Interstate League's Wilmington Quicksteps. The following season, he played for the Quicksteps of the Eastern League and Union Association and made his major league debut in August."Andy Cusick Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 4, 2011. Later that month, Cusick jumped to 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 ...
's Philadelphia Quakers. He had a
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of .143 in 20 MLB games that season. Cusick was a back-up catcher for the Quakers for the next few years. In 1885, he played in 39 games and led the NL's catchers in errors, with 57, while batting .177. His final MLB appearance was in June 1887. He then signed with the
Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Weste ...
's Milwaukee Brewers for 1888, as a
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 ...
. The '' Sporting Life'' reported that " usickcomes to Milwaukee highly recommended by Fogarty, Wood and Mulvey, of the Philadelphias, who say he is a good batsman, a No. 1 baseman, and, if necessary, can go behind the bat and hold up that position with the best of them." After batting .260 in 48 games, Cusick was released in July, and his playing career ended. In 95 career major league games, he batted .193 with no
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 15
runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
.


Later life

In May 1889, Cusick got a job as an
umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
in the Western Association. According to the ''Sporting Life'' that month, " usickumpired the Omaha series, and gave fair satisfaction. His decisions were not in favor of one club more than another but his base decisions were decidedly off color." After he umpired a game in June, the ''
Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
'' reported that he "gave some very doubtful decisions on both sides and was especially incorrect on calling balls and strikes and of course brought down the anathemas of the vigorous-lunged 'bleachers' upon himself in consequence." Cusick continued to umpire games during the 1890 season. By January 1891, he had become a deputy constable in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
."Notes and Comment"
''The Sporting Life''. January 10, 1891. He died in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, in 1929 and was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.


See also

* List of players from Ireland in Major League Baseball


References


External links


Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusick, Andy 1857 births 1929 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Ireland Irish baseball players Irish emigrants to the United States Wilmington Quicksteps players Philadelphia Quakers players Wilmington Quicksteps (minor league) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Milwaukee Creams players 19th-century baseball umpires Minor league baseball umpires Sportspeople from Limerick (city)