George S. Hodson (June 1868 – January 9, 1924) was a

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), ...

. He played for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...

in 1894 and the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in 1895."George Hodson Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 6, 2011. He also pitched in the minor leagues for 17 seasons and won 20 or more games six times."George Hodson Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 6, 2011. Hodson was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds.

Career

Hodson was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1868. He started his professional baseball career in 1888 with the International Association's Buffalo Bisons. Over the next several seasons, he bounced around the minor leagues. He had a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 11-9 while playing in the Eastern Interstate League in 1890. In 1892, he had a big season for the Altoona Mountaineers of the

Pennsylvania State League The Pennsylvania State League was an American minor league baseball sports league that operated from 1892 to 1895, then became the first Atlantic League (1896–1900), Atlantic League. The league member teams were exclusively based in Pennsylvania ...

, going 21-12 with a 1.33

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 ...

; he led the league in wins,

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 (32),

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 ...

(319), walks (98), and

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 (223). Hodson stayed in the Pennsylvania State League for a few years until he was purchased by 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 ...

's Boston Beaneaters in August 1894. He made 11 late-season starts for Boston, going 4-4 with a 5.84 ERA. Early in the following season, he went 1-2 with a 9.53 ERA for the Philadelphia Phillies; that was his last major league experience. He finished the season pitching for the Eastern League's

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...

and would stay with the club until 1898. In 1895, he won 20 games for them, and in 1897, he won 21. Playing for the Connecticut State League's New Haven Blues in 1900, Hodson had another good campaign and led the league in wins (22), complete games (32), and innings pitched (315). After 1900, Hodson moved west and pitched two seasons for Oakland of the California League. He won 13 games in 1901 and then won 23 games in 1902 to help Oakland capture the league championship. In 1903, he played for the San Francisco Seals of the new

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He won the franchise's first-ever game on March 26.Jacobs, Martin and McGuire, Jack (2005).
San Francisco Seals
'. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. Hodson pitched 399.2 innings that year in 50 appearances, and he went 20-24 with a 3.42 ERA. He then spent one season in the Western League before retiring from baseball. Hodson died in

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

, in 1924.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodson, George 1868 births 1924 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Beaneaters players Philadelphia Phillies players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Dover (minor league baseball) players York (minor league baseball) players Altoona Mountaineers players Jamestown (minor league baseball) players Altoona Mud Turtles players Harrisburg Senators players Troy Washerwomen players Scranton Indians players Shenandoah Huns players Providence Grays (minor league) players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Utica Pent Ups players Scranton Miners players Hartford Indians players Wooden Nutmegs players New Haven Blues players Oakland Commuters players Oakland Clamdiggers players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players St. Joseph Saints players Sportspeople from San Rafael, California