Charles "Charlie" G. Buffinton (June 14, 1861 – September 23, 1907) was an American right-handed

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), ...

from 1882 to

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

. One of the workhorse pitchers of the 1880s, he won 20 games seven times and his 1,700 career

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s are the ninth-highest total of the 19th century.

Career

Born in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

, Buffinton—mainly known for his brilliant sinker ballCharlie Buffinton
- Baseballbiography.com—began his career with the Boston Red Stockings/ Beaneaters. He played in the days of 2- or 3-man pitching staffs and was a big part of many of his teams' successes. From 1883 to 1885 he was one of Boston's two principal pitchers along with

Jim Whitney James Evans "Grasshopper Jim" Whitney (November 10, 1857 – May 21, 1891) was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of ten seasons (1881–1890) with the Boston Red Caps/Beaneaters, Kansas City Cowbo ...

; together they picked up 62 of Boston's 63 wins in

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

when the Beaneaters took the pennant. Buffinton's best season came right after that, though, when he went 48–16 with a 2.15

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 67 starts in 1884. During that season, he struck out 17 batters in one game, won 13 straight games, and ended the year with 417 strikeouts, becoming one of seven pitchers that season to break the previous record of 361. Typical of the era, he completed 63 of his starts, with 8 being

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s. Such win totals were not completely extraordinary at the time, as Buffinton's only 30-win season ranked third in the major leagues that year as

Charles Radbourn Charles Gardner Radbourn (December 11, 1854 – February 5, 1897), nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for Buffalo (1880), Providence (1881–1885), ...

set a record with 59 wins. After a poor 1886 season which saw him drop to 7–10 in more limited play due to arm trouble, his contract was sold to the Philadelphia Quakers in 1887. He pitched two one-hitters in a row for the team at one point and became the mainstay of their staff during his three years there, winning over 20 games in each. He jumped to the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

of the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

in 1890, posting a 19–15 record and

managing Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

the team for most of the year, before shifting to the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

's Boston Reds in 1891. In Boston, he enjoyed a 29–9 year for the league champions – his last 20-win campaign. After a 4–8 record with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in 1892, he retired rather than accept a midseason pay cut and went into business as an investor in coal and cotton.TheBaseballPage.com
Retrieved October 27, 2006. In 1893 the pitching distance in baseball was increased from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches, effectively ending his chances of returning. In an 11-year career, Buffinton had a record of 233–152 with a 2.96 ERA in 414 games (396 starts). He pitched 351 complete games, including 30 shutouts, struck out 1,700 and allowed 1,120

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s in 3,404 innings pitched. At the time of his retirement he ranked between seventh and tenth in virtually every career pitching category, although due to the short history of the major leagues all of those ahead of him were his contemporaries. As the 1890s progressed he quickly dropped further down the lists. During his career, he also played as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

for 137 games, and batted .245 for his career. Buffinton died in Fall River, Massachusetts, at the age of 46 from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

.TheDeadBallEra.com
Retrieved October 27, 2006. He was laid to rest at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River.

References

External links

BaseballAlmanac.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffinton, Charlie 1861 births 1907 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball player-managers Boston Beaneaters players Philadelphia Quakers players Philadelphia Athletics (PL) players Philadelphia Athletics (PL) managers Boston Reds (AA) players Baltimore Orioles (NL) players San Francisco Californias players Philadelphia Phillies (minor league) players Baseball players from Massachusetts Sportspeople from Fall River, Massachusetts Burials in Massachusetts

Career

See also

References

External links