Charles Richard Flowers (1850 – October 6, 1892) 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 ...

player in the National Association. He was a

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 ...

for the 1871

Troy Haymakers The Troy Haymakers were an American professional baseball team. History Established in 1860 as the Union Base Ball Club Lansingburgh, located in neighboring Lansingburgh, New York, the Haymakers participated in the first professional pennant ra ...

and the 1872

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 ...

. Previously, he participated in the first professional season as every-day shortstop for the Keystone club of Philadelphia in 1869, his second season with that team. In 1867 the 17-year-old Flowers was first shortstop and second catcher for the Quaker City club of Philadelphia in the nominally amateur

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

. Quaker City was ambitious but Philadelphia's third team by playing strength, behind the Athletics and Keystones. Flowers scored 112 runs in 27 games, more than four per game and roughly tied with three other players for the team's second-best rate behind first catcher

Fergy Malone Fergus G. Malone (August, 1844 – January 1, 1905) was a professional baseball player in the 1860s and 1870s. He was the catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1871, champion of the first professional league season. Born 1842 in Northern Ir ...

. The next season, he moved to the Keystones and led the team in games and runs. When the NABBP permitted openly professional teams for the 1869 season, the Keystones were one of twelve teams that contested the professional pennant race. Flowers played in every known game and he was the third of three players who scored more than three runs per game. Continuing as the regular shortstop, he played some pitcher and catcher, too. The Keystones remained second best in Philadelphia behind the Athletics; they lost all five matches between the two and won only 3 of all 20 professional matches. In 1870 they did not return to the professional field, but Flowers moved to the Haymakers of

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, a pro team of average strength, where he played all 46 known games.All data for 1867 to 1870 are derived from the compilation published by Marshall Wright. ''The National Association of Base Ball Players 1857–1870''. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co. 2000. Pages 145, 216, 252, 300. Troy helped establish the first professional league in 1871 with Dickie Flowers continuing as the regular shortstop and proving to be one of the stronger batters in a powerhouse lineup. Although he was only 21 years old, his major league career ended after merely three games played for the reigning champion Philadelphia Athletics in 1872. He died in his native Philadelphia at age 42.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Dickie Major League Baseball shortstops Philadelphia Keystones (NABBP) players Troy Haymakers (NABBP) players Troy Haymakers players Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players Baseball players from Philadelphia 19th-century baseball players 1850 births 1892 deaths