Richard J. Pearce (February 29, 1836 – September 18, 1908) known as Dickey Pearce was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

playerDickey Pearce
at baseball-reference.com, URL accessed November 18, 2009
Archived
11/18/09 and one of the sport's most famous early figures. He was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and began playing with the

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President And ...

in 1857. He continued his career in the National Association and the early years of

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), ...

. It is possible Pearce was one of the first baseball players to earn money for playing the game professionally. Pearce is given credit for pioneering the

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

position. Pearce introduced his "tricky hit" to baseball, known today as the

bunt Bunt may refer to: * Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India * Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball * Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail * Bunt Island, island in Antarctica * The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...

. For much of his career, the rules permitted the ball to roll foul and still be a hit.Dickey Pearce
at baseballlibrary.com, URL accessed November 18, 2009
Archived
11/18/09 Pearce played professionally for 22 years, spanning the generation from the game's beginnings to 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 s ...

. In the June 30, 1868 edition of the St. Louis Times, the paper said of him: "Pearce has been noted as a superior shortstop for ten years and to-day has no equal in the base ball field. He bats with great judgment and safety..." After retiring from playing, Pearce umpired into the mid-1880s.

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* Major League Baseball shortstops Brooklyn Atlantics (NABBP) players Brooklyn Excelsiors players New York Mutuals players New York Mutuals managers Brooklyn Atlantics players St. Louis Brown Stockings (NA) players St. Louis Brown Stockings players Baseball player-managers 19th-century baseball players 1836 births 1908 deaths Ludlow (minor league baseball) players Rhode Islands players Quincy Quincys players Baseball players from New York (state) St. Louis Brown Stockings managers {{US-baseball-shortstop-stub