Arthur F. Croft (January 23, 1855 – March 16, 1884) 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), ...

player. He played for three teams during three-year professional and Major League career.

Career

Born in

St. Louis, Missouri 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 ...

, Croft began his professional career in when he joined the St. Louis Red Stockings of the National Association. He played in 19 games that season, all of which he played in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

, and batted .200 in 75 at bats. His next season, in , when he joined the St. Louis Brown Stockings of 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 ...

, and played in 54 of the team's 60 games. He split his playing time between first base and

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

, and hit a career high .232, while scoring 23 runs, and had 27

RBIs 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 bat ...

. The following season, , Croft joined the

Indianapolis Blues The Indianapolis Blues were a baseball team in the National League for one season (1878), in which they finished fifth in the six-team league with a 24–36 record. They were managed by outfielder/first baseman/catcher John Clapp, and played the ...

, also of the National League, his last season in the Major Leagues. He played in all 60 of the team's games as the starting first baseman. He batted .158 in 222 at bats, and scored 22 runs. Croft finished his three-year career with a .195 batting average in 139 games, scored 50 runs, 45 RBIs, and hit 14 doubles. He died in St. Louis on March 16, 1884 at the age of 29 of Typhoid Pneumonia, and is interred at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Art 1855 births 1884 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from St. Louis Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball left fielders St. Louis Red Stockings players St. Louis Brown Stockings players Indianapolis Blues players Deaths from pneumonia in Missouri Davenport Brown Stockings players