Daniel Knowles MacFayden (June 10, 1905 – August 26, 1972) was an American starting and

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

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 through , he played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

(1926–1932),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

(1932–1934),

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1935),

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

Bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

/Braves (1935–1939, 1943),

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 ...

(1940) and Washington Senators (1941). In a 17-season career, he posted a 132–159 record with 797

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 and a 3.96

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 ...

in 2706

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. His best season was , when he earned 17 victories with 86 strikeouts and a 2.87 ERA, all career bests. He batted and pitched right-handed. His best pitch was a side-arm

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

. MacFayden's serious demeanor won him the nickname "Deacon Danny", though ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

'' sportswriter Dan Daniel, a harsh critic of his play, called him "Dismal Danny" when he was with the Yankees.

Early life

MacFayden was born in

North Truro, Massachusetts North Truro is a village in the town of Truro, Massachusetts, United States. Due to its proximity to urbanized Provincetown, it is somewhat more densely developed than the rest of the town, with houses and small resort facilities lining the t ...

, on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. In 1920, his mother moved the family to

Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somerville College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford Places *Somerville, Victoria, Australia * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia * Somerville, New Zealand, a subur ...

, located across the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

from Boston. His father had died when he was four years old, and they went to live with his mother Sarah's brother, building contractor Joshua Knowles. His uncle eventually adopted Danny. MacFayden was captain of the Somerville High School baseball team in 1923, a team that boasted three future major leaguers: MacFayden,

Josh Billings Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (April 21, 1818October 14, 1885). He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. He is often compa ...

and

Shanty Hogan James Francis "Shanty" Hogan (March 21, 1906 – April 7, 1967) was an American professional baseball player.Hebron Academy Hebron Academy, founded in 1804, is a small, independent, college preparatory boarding and day school for boys and girls in grades six through postgraduate in Hebron, Maine. History Hebron Academy is one of the nation's oldest endowed preparatory ...

(Hebron, Maine) to prepare himself for attending college. His mother wanted him to go to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. (He would return to Hebron in the 1931–32 offseason to serve as the school's hockey coach.) He played in the semi-pro Boston Twilight League in the summers of 1923 and 1924. In 1924 he played for the Osterville town team in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

(CCBL) and posted a 9-2 record. Playing alongside his Somerville High teammate and fellow future-major leaguer

Shanty Hogan James Francis "Shanty" Hogan (March 21, 1906 – April 7, 1967) was an American professional baseball player.Falmouth. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2012.

Boston Red Sox

MacFayden was signed by

owner Bob Quinn after he saw him pitching in the Twilight League. He decided to give up going to Dartmouth as a pro baseball career offered him financial security, which would enable him to help his mother. He did not play in the minor leagues but went straight to the Red Sox, making his debut on August 25, 1926 against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

. He was the first pitcher in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

to wear eyeglasses, which corrected for near-sightedness. After one more relief stint, MacFayden made his first start against the legendary

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

of the Washington Senators on September 4, 1926. He lost 5–1, throwing a complete game. In 1928, he was the Boston Red Sox's

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

pitcher, making his season debut in

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Bounda ...

in Washington, D.C. with another native New Englander, President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

in attendance. He won 7–5. In his five years with the Red Sox, he was a relatively mediocre pitcher with an abysmal team, though he did lead the league with four

shutouts 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 ...

in 1928, a year he went 10–18 with a 3.62 ERA. In 1932, after going 1–10 to start the season, he was traded to the

for pitchers

Ivy Andrews Ivy Paul "Poison" Andrews (May 6, 1907 – November 24, 1970) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns and the Cleveland Indians between 1931 and 1938. Andrews batted and threw righ ...

and

Hank Johnson Henry Calvin Johnson Jr. (born October 2, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is anchored in Atlanta's inner eastern suburbs, includin ...

and $50,000 in cash. Both pitchers were on the disabled list at the time, but the trade seemed lopsided in favor of the Red Sox. The speculation was that Yankees owner

Jacob Ruppert Jacob Ruppert Jr. (August 5, 1867 – January 13, 1939) was an American brewer, businessman, National Guard colonel and politician who served for four terms representing New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1899 to 1907. ...

was trying to keep MacFayden away from contending teams. Ruppert might have been thinking of MacFayden's stellar performance against the Yankees on May 24, 1929, the year he led the league in shutouts. In a game he started at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

, MacFayden shutout the famed "

Murderer's Row Murderers' Row were the baseball teams of the New York Yankees in the late 1920s, widely considered some of the best teams in history. The nickname is in particular describing the first six hitters in the 1927 team lineup: Earle Combs, Mark Ko ...

", throwing a four-hitter. He did load the bases with no outs one inning, but then retired the heart of the order,

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

, and

Tony Lazzeri Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

, striking out both Gehrig and Lazzeri. DannyMacfaydenGoudeycard

New York Yankees

In his 17 games for The Bronx Bombers in the 1932 season, 15 were starts, and he went 7–5 with a 3.93 ERA. The Yankees, anchored by Hall of Famers

and

Bill Dickey William Malcolm Dickey (June 6, 1907 – November 12, 1993) was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees for 19 seasons. Dickey managed the Yankees as a player-manager in ...

among position players and Hall of Fame starting pitchers

Lefty Gomez Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez (November 26, 1908 – February 17, 1989) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Gomez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1930 and 1943 for the New York Yankees and the Washingt ...

Herb Pennock Herbert Jefferis Pennock (February 10, 1894 – January 30, 1948) was an American professional baseball pitcher and front-office executive. He played in Major League Baseball from 1912 through 1933, and is best known for his time spent with the ...

and

Red Ruffing Charles Herbert "Red" Ruffing (May 3, 1905 – February 17, 1986) was an American professional baseball player. A pitcher, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1924 through 1947. He played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, ...

on the mound went on to win 107 games and sweep the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. The Yankees' post-season roster carried only six pitchers, however, and MacFayden wasn't one of them. He would never again be on a pennant winner. After the Yankees lost the pennant to the Senators in 1933, Dan Daniel of the World-Telegram blamed MacFayden, who had a dreadful 5.88 ERA as a spot starter and reliever, for the Bronx Bomber's failure to repeat as American League champions. In '34, the Yankees again used him as a spot starter and reliever. After the 1934 season, he was purchased conditionally by the

for $5,000 and an additional $7,500 if they chose to keep him after June 1, 1935. MacFayden told the press he was happy to be leaving the Bronx, as he did not like the way manager

Joe McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most vis ...

(another future Hall of Famer) handled him. MacFayden pitched both overhand and sidearm, claiming that his sidearm delivery was more effective, but McCarthy dictated that his pitchers use an overhand motion. The Reds returned him to the Yankees in June 1935, and they put him on waivers. MacFayden was picked up off the waiver wire by the

, which paid the Yankees $4,000 for his contract. MacFayden was returning to his hometown to play for yet another abysmal team.

Back to Boston

He would play five season with Boston's National League team through the end of the 1939 season. The team, which was partly owned by Bob Quinn, the former Red Sox owner who first signed MacFayden, started calling itself the Boston Bees in 1936 in a bid to get the fans to forget their dismal performance. Ironically, his first three full seasons with the Boston Bees would be the best of his career. A harbinger of what was to come occurred on September 28, 1935, when MacFayden tied

Dazzy Vance Charles Arthur "Dazzy" Vance (March 4, 1891 – February 16, 1961) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a pitcher for five different franchises in Major League Baseball (MLB) in a career that spanned twenty years. Known for ...

's 11-year-old National League record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game when he fanned 15 New York Giants hitters in a game. (Hall of Famer Vance also struck-out 17 batters in a 10-inning game in 1925.) MacFayden had his best year in 1936. His ERA of 2.87 ranked second best in the senior circuit, which along with his 17–13 record on a team that came in 6th in an eight-team league with 71 victories, won him votes for Most Valuable Player. (He came in 9th in a vote topped by Hall of Famer pitchers

Carl Hubbell Carl Owen Hubbell (June 22, 1903 – November 21, 1988), nicknamed "the Meal Ticket" and "King Carl", was an American Major League Baseball player. He was a pitcher for the New York Giants of the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained o ...

of the pennant-winning

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, the N.L. M.V.P., and runner-up

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

of 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 ...

, that year's bridesmaid for the N.L. pennant.) His 1937 and '38 ERAs of 2.93 and 2.95 put him in the Top 10 for the league. According to

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

's childhood friend Harold Mortenson, in the 1930s, the two played a statistics-intensive baseball

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

akin to Strat-O-Matic that involved two dice and two manuals that was marketed under Danny MacFayden's name when he was with the Boston Bees. After a losing season in 1939, the Bees traded him to the

for pitcher Bill Swift and cash. For the Pirates, he was 5–4 with a 3.55 ERA, mostly as a reliever, but the organization released after the 1940 season as they considered him too old at 35. The Senators signed him as free agent, but released him on May 15, 1941 after he went 0–1 with a 10.59 ERA in five games. MacFayden eventually returned to Boston's Braves Field in July 1943 for a last hurrah, two years after being released by the Senators. The manpower demands of World War II meant that major league baseball was bereft of major league talent. He went 2–1 with a 5.91 ERA, all but one of his ten games in relief. He was released by the Braves in April 1944, before the start of the season.

Post-baseball career

MacFayden continued to work as the Hebron Academy as hockey coach into the early 1940s. He also had worked in insurance in some off-seasons. He was appointed Maine's commissioner of amateur baseball in the summer of 1942, the first year he was out of pro baseball since being signed by the Red Sox. He became a teacher at

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 October 1943. MacFayden became the varsity baseball coach at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

in 1946 and remained at that post for 23 years through 1968. He also occasionally coached hockey at Bowdoin, retiring as a coach in 1970. On August 26, 1972, after a long illness, he died at the Brunswick Hospital. He was 67 years old.

Highlights

*Led

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 (1929, four) *Finished ninth in

National League MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

vote (1936) *On September 28, 1935, struck out 15

hitters in a nine-inning game, equaling Dazzy Vance's 1924

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 ...

record.

References

*Pleasants, Ben. ''Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers'' (Northville, Michigan: Sundog Press, 2004). p. 108.

External links

Danny MacFayden
- Baseballbiography.com
The Baseball Biography Project: Danny MacFayden by Bill NowlinNerdBaseball.com Danny MacFayden
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macfayden, Danny 1905 births 1972 deaths Vermont Academy alumni Baseball players from Massachusetts Boston Braves players Boston Red Sox players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Cincinnati Reds players Falmouth Commodores players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players People from Brunswick, Maine People from Truro, Massachusetts Pittsburgh Pirates players Sportspeople from Barnstable County, Massachusetts Washington Senators (1901–1960) players