James Joseph "General" Stafford (January 30, 1868 – September 18, 1923) was a

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), ...

player from 1890 to 1899. He played 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 ...

, New York Giants,

Louisville Colonels 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 ...

, Boston Beaneaters, and Washington Senators. Stafford stood at and weighed . His younger brother John Henry "Doc" Stafford pitched in two games for the

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed ...

in 1893.

Career

Stafford was born in

Thompson, Connecticut Thompson is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town was named after Sir Robert Thompson, an English landholder. The population was 9,189 at the 2020 census. Thompson is located in the northeastern corner of the state and i ...

. In 1887, at the age of 19, he started his professional baseball career in the Eastern League."General Stafford Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-23. He then moved over to the Worcester Grays of the Atlantic Association for the next few years. During this time, Stafford was mainly 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 ...

but also played as an

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 ...

occasionally. He had his best pitching season in 1888, when he went 16–7 with a 2.87

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 ...

. After a short stint in the Players' League in 1890, Stafford went to the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Weste ...

in 1891 and then the California League in 1892. In 1893, he was acquired 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 Giants. He had given up pitching by this time. While Stafford never put up good hitting numbers in the Major Leagues, he was versatile in the field. With the Giants, he was mainly an outfielder in 1893; a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in 1894; the starting second baseman in 1895; and an outfielder again in 1896."General Stafford Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-23. Stafford was traded to Louisville in May 1897 and was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

for the remainder of the season. He also slugged a career-high seven

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, which was the sixth-best total in the league. After 1897, Stafford had short stints with Boston and Washington before retiring in 1900. Overall, he played 571 games in the majors, including 251 as an outfielder, 161 as a second baseman, and 131 as a shortstop. Stafford died in 1923, at the age of 55, in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

; both he and his brother are buried in Calvary Cemetery in

Dudley, Massachusetts Dudley is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,921 at the 2020 census. History Dudley was first settled in 1714 and was officially incorporated in 1732. The town was named for landholders Paul and Will ...

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, General 1868 births 1923 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball infielders Buffalo Bisons (PL) players New York Giants (NL) players Louisville Colonels players Boston Beaneaters players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Hartford Dark Blues (minor league) players Springfield Horsemen players Lincoln Rustlers players Los Angeles Seraphs players Augusta Electricians players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Connecticut People from Thompson, Connecticut Sportspeople from Windham County, Connecticut

Career

References

Further reading

External links