Grayson S. "Gracie" Pierce (before 1865— August 28, 1894) was an American

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), ...

second baseman and

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

for three seasons, playing for five teams from 1882 to 1884. He later became a regular

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in both the

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and the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

Playing career

1882

Pierce began his major league career on May 2, 1882 for the

Louisville Eclipse The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as th ...

of the

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. He played a total of nine games, all as a second baseman, and batted .303 in 33

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. He scored three runs, and hit one

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

. Later that season, he played in 41 games 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 ...

, also of the American Association. His batting average dropped to .199 in 151 at bats with Orioles, as well as his production, scoring just eight runs, two doubles, and one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

. His season average between the two teams was .217, and he led the league among second basemen with 65 errors.

1883

He began the season with the Columbus Buckeyes of the American Association, hitting .171 in 41 at bats, scored five runs, and did not gather one

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...

. Later in the season, he joined the

New York Gothams The New York Giants were a Major League Baseball team in the National League that began play in the season as the New York Gothams and were renamed in . They continued as the New York Giants until the team relocated to San Francisco, Californ ...

of the National League, playing in 18 games, totaling just five

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in 62 at bats for a .080 batting average. He also began to play more in the outfield, mainly as a center fielder, rather than at second base. His batting average for the season was .117, but he did hit the second (and last) triple of his career.

1884

His last major league season was spent with the

New York Metropolitans The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York ...

, where he played in just five games, splitting his time between second base and the outfield. He batted .250 for the season, with records indicating his participation in the game played August 1. His career totals include a .186 batting average, 21 runs scored, four doubles, and two triples in 84 games and 307 at bats.

Post major league career

Minor leagues

He signed and played for an

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minor league baseball team in 1886, along with fellow Metropolitans Ed Kennedy, and

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, when players began to leave the team due to speculation that the American Association was going to eliminate them from the league.

As an umpire

Pierce had, during his playing days, filled in for the regular umpire from time to time. He registered three games in 1882 and one game in 1884. He began to umpire games regularly in 1886, when he called 47 games, and 1887, when he called 33, all in the National League. He didn't appear as an official umpire at a major league game until 1890, when he officiated at 57 games in the Players' League. During his major league umpiring career, he was involved in one

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ed game, and umpired game six of the 1886

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. The forfeited game was played between the St. Louis Maroons and the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

on September 29, 1886. In the seventh inning, after a St. Louis player had

struck out 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 denote ...

, the Maroons refused to play, complaining that it was too dark to continue. Pierce ruled that due to their refusal to play, they forfeited the game to the Nationals. On October 23, 1886, he umpired the sixth and final game of the 1886 World Series. The

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of the American Association were up on the Chicago White Stockings of the National League, three games to two entering the game. The game ended with St. Louis winning after ten innings of play, sealing the series victory, the only undisputed championship that the Association could claim over the National League. He was relieved of his umpiring duties in 1887 after allegedly misusing a railroad pass. Eight years later, Gracie Pierce died in his hometown of New York City. His age cannot be determined with certainty due to the unavailability of his birth year, but if he was in his twenties during the earliest years of his playing career, his death occurred while he was still in his mid-thirties.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Gracie Baseball players from New York (state) Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball center fielders 19th-century baseball players Louisville Eclipse players Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Columbus Buckeyes players New York Gothams players New York Metropolitans players Binghamton Bingoes players Hartford Babies players 19th-century births 1894 deaths Year of birth uncertain