George Edward Andrews (April 5, 1859 – August 12, 1934) was an American professional

baseball player 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 te ...

. He was a right-handed second baseman and

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 c ...

over parts of eight seasons (1884–1891) with the Philadelphia Quakers,

Indianapolis Hoosiers Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis. * Indianapolis Hoosiers (American Association), which played in 1884 * Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League), which pla ...

Brooklyn Ward's Wonders The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders were a baseball team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76–56 record, finishing in second ...

and

Cincinnati Kelly's Killers Kelly's Killers were a Major League baseball team that played in Cincinnati, Ohio during the 1891 baseball season. The team played in the American Association, which was a major league from 1882 to 1891. The team nickname By contemporary news ...

. He was 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 ...

stolen base champion in 1886 with

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. For his career, he compiled a .257

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, with 278

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, 602 runs scored, and 205 stolen bases.

Early life

Andrews was born in

Painesville, Ohio Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 census. Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, Morley Libra ...

. His father had been a boat captain on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. Andrews was an alumnus of

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

(now Case Western Reserve University). He was a member of

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fiftee ...

fraternity.

Playing career

Andrews played for the Philadelphia Quakers of the NL between 1884 and 1889. In 1886, the first year in which the stolen base was recorded, Andrews led the NL in the category. He married Mary Frances Kirby in 1888; she was friends with the daughters of

Harry Wright William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, t ...

, who was Andrews' manager in Philadelphia. In August 1889, he was purchased by the NL's Indianapolis Hoosiers. Andrews was involved in the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players, which was the first professional sports players union. The Brotherhood created the Players' League (PL) before the 1890 season; the league tried to compete with the NL as a major baseball league. Andrews played for the PL's

. Other than

John Montgomery Ward John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925), known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, manager, executive, union organizer, owner and author. Ward, of English descent ...

(the player who organized the PL), Andrews was the only player to own shares in the team. The league folded after a single season. In 1891, Andrews' last year as a major league player, he participated in the final season of another league, 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 ...

. Andrews played for the league's

until the team released him at the end of July. Andrews' release may have been precipitated by difficulties with manager

King Kelly Michael Joseph "King" Kelly (December 31, 1857 – November 8, 1894), also commonly known as "$10,000 Kelly", was an American outfielder, catcher, and manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the National League, Inter ...

After retirement

In January 1892, newspapers reported that Andrews was growing pineapples on his land near the Indian River in

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

, and that he had received some baseball contract offers. He was said to be ignoring the contract offers and planning to have 50,000 pineapples ready for the upcoming season. At one point, he was neighbors with

Emmett Seery John Emmett Seery (February 13, 1861 – August 7, 1930) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the Baltimore Monumentals, Kansas City Cowboys, St. Louis Maroons, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Brooklyn Ward's Wonders, Cincinnati Kell ...

, another college-educated former baseball player who raised pineapples. When the

Great Freeze The Great Freeze is the back-to-back freezes of 1894–1895 in Northern Florida, where the brutally cold weather destroyed much of the citrus crop. Entire communities, such as Earnestville, faded after the citrus crops and trees were lost to th ...

devastated Florida citrus crops in 1895, Andrews returned to baseball, taking up umpiring in the NL. In July 1895, Andrews was recovering from a broken ankle that occurred when he was struck by a batted ball. In 1898, Andrews was credited with authoring a code of rules for NL umpires, but ''The Wilkes-Barre Record'' wrote that the credit should have gone to Henry Chadwick. Andrews resigned as an umpire in July 1899. In the late 1890s, when entrepreneur Henry Flagler created two teams of black baseball players to entertain guests at his two hotels in Palm Beach, Florida, he hired Andrews to run the baseball operations. In 1916, he was a traveling business manager for the Boston Braves. Andrews died in West Palm Beach at the age of 75.

References

External links

Player Profile at ArmchairGM
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Ed 1859 births 1934 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Ohio Brooklyn Ward's Wonders players Case Western Spartans baseball players Cincinnati Kelly's Killers players Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball second basemen National League stolen base champions People from Painesville, Ohio Philadelphia Quakers players Toledo Blue Stockings (minor league) players

Early life

Playing career

After retirement

See also

References

External links