George W. Blackburn 'Smiling George''(September 21, 1869 – December 29, 1938) 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), ...

who played for 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 the season. A native of

Ozark, Missouri Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Christian County, Missouri. Its population was 21,284 as of the 2020 census. The 2019 population estimate was 20,482. Ozark is also the third largest city in the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Area, a ...

, he spent 17 years in baseball as a player,

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, and

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Blackburn posted a 2–2 record with a 6.82

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 five pitching appearances with the Orioles, allowing 30 runs (25 earned) on 34

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and 12 walks while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

one batter in 33 innings of work. On July 16, 1897,

Cap Anson Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 c ...

of the

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became the first player in major league history to reach 3,000 hits when he singled off Blackburn. Blackburn also pitched for 34 different

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

teams from 1892 through 1909 and managed six of its teams in 1896 (two), 1903 and from 1907 to 1909, retiring at the age of 48. His date of death is missing.Minor league statistics at Baseball Reference
Retrieved 2010-08-06. Blackburn died in Oklahoma City on December 29, 1938, at the age of 69. He donated his body to a medical school.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, George 1869 births 1938 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Minor league baseball managers Augusta Electricians players Austin Senators players Charleston Seagulls players Dallas Hams players Dallas Navigators players Dallas Steers players Evansville Black Birds players Fort Worth Panthers players Galveston Sand Crabs players Greenville Cotton Pickers players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Indianapolis Indians players Jacksonville Jays players Little Rock Travelers players Macon Brigands players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Montgomery Colts players Montgomery Senators players Nashville Vols players Pine Bluff Lumbermen players Pueblo Indians players Regina Bone Pilers players Rome Romans players Sedalia Goldbugs players Shreveport Tigers players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Topeka White Sox players Utica Pent-Ups players Vicksburg Hill Billies players Vicksburg Hill Climbers players Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Missouri People from Ozark, Missouri