George Washington Bradley (July 13, 1852 – October 2, 1931), nicknamed "Grin", was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who 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 ...

and

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. He played for multiple teams in the early years of 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 ...

, the oldest league still active 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), ...

(MLB). Bradley is noted for pitching the first

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

that is officially recognized by MLB, on July 15, 1876, for the St. Louis Brown Stockings against the

Hartford Dark Blues The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. History In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pit ...

. As a player, he was listed at and ; he threw and batted right-handed.

Baseball career

Bradley is credited as throwing the first official

no-hit In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

, no-run game in major league history. He pitched for the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the club's victory over the

on July 15, 1876. The score ended 2–0 without a hit being allowed by Bradley. That year, he completed 63 of the 64 games for St. Louis, winning 45 and leading the league with a 1.23

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 ...

. Additionally, he also threw 16

shutouts 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 ...

, setting a record which has not been broken to date, although was tied in 1916, 40 years later, by

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

pitcher

Grover Cleveland Alexander Grover Cleveland Alexander (February 26, 1887 – November 4, 1950), nicknamed "Old Pete", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1911 through 1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He ...

. After 1876, Bradley was not as effective as a pitcher and played mostly other positions after 1879. He was involved in professional baseball for 30 years, 19 of them with the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

. In 1883, he was the team's regular

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 ...

and also went 16–7 on the mound to help the A's win the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

championship. In 1887, he served as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the Nashville Blues of the Southern League.Traughber, Bill
"Looking Back: Nashville Blues."
''Nashville Sounds''. April 26, 2004. Retrieved on March 22, 2008.

Later life

Bradley became a

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 ...

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

following his baseball career. He died at his home in Philadelphia,on October 2, 1931. At the time of his death at age 79, he was retired on a pension from the police department which he had only begun receiving in September 1931. Bradley was interred at the Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia.

References

*Philadelphia Public Ledger, Sunday Morning, Oct. 4, 1931, P.6 *MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia Digital Edition (1996)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, George 1852 births 1931 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Baseball player-managers Baseball players from Pennsylvania Binghamton Crickets (1880s) players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Capital City of Albany players Chicago White Stockings players Cincinnati Outlaw Reds players Cleveland Blues (NL) players Detroit Wolverines players Easton (minor league baseball) players Hartford (minor league baseball) players London Tecumseh players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball third basemen Nashville Blues players National League ERA champions New Bedford (minor league baseball) players New Haven (minor league baseball) players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Sportspeople from Reading, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Philadelphia Police Department officers Providence Grays players Rochester Hop Bitters players Rochester Maroons players Sioux City Corn Huskers players St. Louis Brown Stockings (NA) players St. Louis Brown Stockings players Troy Trojans players Burials at Northwood Cemetery, Philadelphia

Baseball career

Later life

See also

References

External links