George Henry Derby (July 15, 1857 – July 15, 1925), nicknamed "Jonah", was a 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 from 1877 to 1883. He played three seasons in

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), ...

as a 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 ...

for the

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the pre ...

in 1881 and 1882 and for the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

in 1883. Derby won 29 games and led 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 both

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

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 as a 24-year-old rookie in 1881. However, after pitching 55

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and almost 500 innings in 1881, Derby developed shoulder problems that reduced the velocity of his pitches. His career was cut short, and he played in his final major league game in July 1883 at age 25.

Early years

Derby was born in

Webster, Massachusetts Webster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,776 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Named after statesman Daniel Webster, the town was founded by indust ...

, in 1857. He began his professional baseball career at age 19 in 1877 with the

Hornellsville, New York Hornellsville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population, not counting the city of Hornell, was 4,039 at the 2020 census. The name is t ...

, team in the

League Alliance The League Alliance was the first semi-affiliated minor league baseball league. Proposed by Al Spalding on January 15, 1877. Independent baseball teams were to affiliate with National League teams, which would honor their respective contracts. The ...

. He next played for the Syracuse Stars of the International Association in 1878 and the Washington team of the National Association in 1879 and 1880. In 1880, he compiled a 10–7 record and an 0.57

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 ...

(ERA) in 158 innings for Washington.

Major League Baseball

Detroit Wolverines

1881 season

Derby signed with the newly formed

for the 1881 season. He was described as "a compactly built, blonde haired, blue-eyed, pleasant-voiced gentleman who was to do all the pitching, and right well did he do his work." During his rookie season, Derby led the

in both

s (212) and

s (9). He also established a franchise record for the Detroit Wolverines that was never broken with

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 ...

in 1881; Derby started 55 games for Detroit, all complete games, and also had one relief appearance. The ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' described Derby's rise to stardom in the first part of the 1881 season:

"His speed was moderate, but he was the master of all the crooks and curves that can be imparted to the aerial projectiles. In obedience to his will, the ball twisted out or in, up or down. He held batsmen at his mercy to a degree equalled by no other pitcher. He was the wizard of the pitcher's box, and within a month George H. Derby had risen from obscurity to fame in base ball circles."

He finished the 1881 season with a 29–26 record, a 2.20

(ERA), and an

Adjusted ERA+ Adjusted ERA+, often simply abbreviated to ERA+ or ERA plus, is a pitching statistic in baseball. It adjusts a pitcher's earned run average (ERA) according to the pitcher's ballpark (in case the ballpark favors batters or pitchers) and the ERA of ...

of 131. However, late in the 1881 season, Derby's dominance waned, and opposing teams began hitting him more freely. When the Detroit team included him on its

reserve list The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...

at the end of the 1881 season, some questioned the decision. The ''Detroit Free Press'' noted that there were suspicions that Derby's decline had been intentional:

"For three months erby and Bennettformed the most effective battery in the League, playing game after game without error. Wild pitches, wild throws, and passed balls were almost unknown to them. Then they began to make errors . . . In plain words, they both, for some incomprehensible reason, began playing badly . . . Suspicion was common, and it sometimes found a voice, that Detroit's famous battery were 'playing for a release.'"

It was revealed the next year that Derby had begun experiencing shoulder problems late in the 1881 season. Derby complained that he had been unable to "give force to the ball" and therefore pitched fewer games in August and September 1881.

1882 season

In 1882, Derby proved fairly effective in the beginning of the season, but his velocity was off. In 1881, Derby had relied on the combination of speed and deceptive delivery. Without the speed, "batters had got accustomed to slow curve pitching, ndhe was hit freely and heavily." Derby started 39 games and pitched 362 innings in 1882 (down from 55 and 494 the year before) and compiled a 17–20 record. His ERA jumped by more than a point from 2.20 in 1881 to 3.26 in 1882. On September 14, 1882, the Detroit team suspended Derby for playing poorly. The ''Detroit Free Press'' wrote that Derby's star had sunk "beneath the base ball horizon" but questioned the fairness of a suspension: "If he layed poorlyintentionally, the sentence is just; if not, it is severe in the extreme. . . . He was wild in his delivery and had so little speed that the batters experienced little difficulty in hitting balls that came across the plate."

Buffalo Bisons

In October 1882, the

announced that Derby would join their team in 1883. Derby's performance in 1883 at Buffalo continued the slide. He started only 13 games for Buffalo and compiled a 2–10 record with a 5.85 ERA. He appeared in his final major league game on July 3, 1883, at age 25.

Career statistics

Over his three major league seasons, Derby compiled a 48–56 record in 110 appearances, with a 3.01 ERA and 428

Later years

Derby died in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

at the age of 67. He was buried at Wellsboro Cemetery in

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Wellsboro is a borough in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. The borough was founded by Benjamin Wistar Morris. It is located northwest of Williamsport. The population was 3,472 at the 2020 census. Early in the 20th century, Wellsboro was the shipp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Derby, George 1857 births 1925 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Worcester County, Massachusetts Detroit Wolverines players National League strikeout champions Hornellsville Hornells players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Washington Nationals (minor league) players Nationals of Washington players People from Webster, Massachusetts 19th-century baseball players