Bert Wood Abbey (November 11, 1869 – June 11, 1962) was a

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), ...

(MLB)

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Amateur career

After graduating from

Vermont Academy Vermont Academy (VA) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory, boarding and day school in Saxtons River, Vermont, serving students from ninth through twelfth grade, as well as postgraduates. Founded in 1876, the campus was listed on the ...

in 1887, Abbey first began playing baseball as a freshman in college, when he recruited fellow students to form the

Vermont Catamounts The Vermont Catamounts are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of the University of Vermont, based in Burlington, Vermont, United States. The school sponsors 18 athletic programs (8 men's, 10 women's), most of which compete in the NCAA ...

(UVM) team.Catamount Accomplishments : Athletics : University of Vermont
''

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

.'' April 13, 2006. At UVM, he made the baseball and training program progress quickly with his presence as player, coach, and captain. He graduated in 1891 from UVM, and the year after, Abbey's team at the university won almost every game they played, including games against professional teams.

Professional career

After his graduation, Abbey was drafted by the Washington Senators, with whom he pitched 14 games before being sold to the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. He was sent down to their farm team in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

. In , the Chicago Colts bought his services, and he remained with them until 1895, when he moved to the

Brooklyn Grooms The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califo ...

. Abbey stayed with Brooklyn (renamed the Bridegrooms) for one more season. He played his last game in the majors on September 23, 1896, and pitched three more seasons in the minor leagues before retiring.

Death and legacy

Abbey died at the age of 92 in

Essex Junction, Vermont Essex Junction is a city in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 10,590. It was incorporated as a village on November 15, 1892. Essex Junction became Vermont’s 10th city on July 1, 2022. Am ...

less than a year after suffering a heart attack.O'Connor, Pat
Bert Abbey Biography
." ''

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

.'' Retrieved October 25, 2006. He is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Essex Junction.Bert Abbey Baseball Stats
." ''

Baseball Almanac Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with over 500,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseba ...

.'' April 13, 2006. He was posthumously inducted into UVM's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1969.

Quotation

* ''"Baseball's okay in college, but no place for a man with brain!"''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey, Bert 1869 births 1962 deaths People from Essex, Vermont Vermont Academy alumni Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Vermont Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Chicago Colts players Brooklyn Grooms players Brooklyn Bridegrooms players Omaha Omahogs players Macon Central City players Macon Hornets players Quincy Browns players Quincy Ravens players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Montreal Royals players 19th-century baseball players Vermont Catamounts baseball coaches Vermont Catamounts baseball players Burials in Vermont