Charles Amos McFarland (March 13, 1875 – December 14, 1924) was a

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 ...

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), ...

. He pitched for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, Pittsburgh Pirates and

Brooklyn Superbas 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, Californ ...

from 1902 to 1906. McFarland retired with a 3.35

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), but he played on teams with poor hitting, leaving him with a 34-61 win–loss record. He became a prominent movie theater manager in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

after his playing career ended.

Early life

Born in White Hall, Illinois, McFarland attended White Hall High School and

Illinois College Illinois College is a private liberal arts college in Jacksonville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA). It was the second college founded in Illinois, but the first to grant a degree ( ...

. He had a brother, Monte McFarland, who also played major-league baseball.

Career

In McFarland's first major-league season (1902), he made only two appearances for the Cardinals. Between 1903 and 1905, McFarland came close to 20-loss seasons each year; he finished 9-19, 14-18, and 8-18, despite ERAs of 3.07, 3.21 and 3.81. McFarland's last major-league season was 1906, and he played for three teams - the Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brooklyn Superbas. He made appearances in the minor leagues through 1909. After McFarland's baseball career, he opened the first vaudeville theater in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and then worked for Interstate Amusement in Fort Worth. He came back to Houston and managed three movie theaters in that city for Southern Enterprises, Inc. McFarland was part of a group that nearly bought the minor-league

Houston Buffaloes The Houston Buffaloes, Houston Buffalos, or Buffs were an American minor league baseball team, and were the first minor league team to be affiliated with a Major League Baseball, Major League franchise, which was the St. Louis Cardinals. The clu ...

in 1908, but the deal was never finalized. As a theater manager in Houston, McFarland sometimes irritated the Houston Board of Censors; he continued to show

Fatty Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

films after the filmmaker became embroiled in controversy, and he showed the film '' Don't Call It Love'' despite a controversial kiss.

Death

McFarland died suddenly on the golf course at the

River Oaks Country Club River Oaks Country Club is a country club in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, Texas. The club has hosted the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament since 1931. It is located at 1600 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston TX 77019. History Rive ...

in Houston in 1924. An

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

obituary described him as a movie theater manager but did not mention his baseball career.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Chappie 1875 births 1924 deaths Baseball players from Illinois Major League Baseball pitchers Brooklyn Superbas players St. Louis Cardinals players Pittsburgh Pirates players Dubuque Tigers players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Albany Senators players Des Moines Hawkeyes players Cedar Rapids Rabbitts players Oklahoma City Mets players Houston Buffaloes managers Houston Buffaloes players Oklahoma City Indians players People from White Hall, Illinois