James Harding "Hardie" Henderson (October 31, 1862 – February 6, 1903) 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), ...

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 ...

from 1883 to 1888. He played for the Philadelphia Quakers,

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 ...

Brooklyn Grays The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

, and

Pittsburgh Alleghenys The following is a history of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Franchise beginnings (1870s-1899) Early baseball in Pittsburgh and the American Association The earliest mention of "base ball" in the region was found in the journal ...

, and 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 81–121.

Early life

Henderson was born 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 ...

on October 31, 1862.

Baseball playing career

Early baseball career

Henderson made his professional baseball debut 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 ...

in 1882. He made his

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 ...

debut on May 2, 1883, for the Philadelphia Quakers, 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 cat ...

. The next day, he made his pitching debut against the

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 ...

. Henderson gave up 19

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s and 26

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, and

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 denot ...

two batters. Providence won the game 24–6, with

Charles Radbourn Charles Gardner Radbourn (December 11, 1854 – February 5, 1897), nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for Buffalo (1880), Providence (1881–1885), ...

getting the win. Later that month, he was acquired by the

Baltimore Orioles

On May 29, 1883, Henderson made his pitching debut for the

of 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 ...

. Henderson and the Orioles lost to the

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 ...

11–3. In his first year with Baltimore, Henderson finished with a 10–32 win–loss record, a 4.02

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 ...

, and 145

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. He continued playing for the Orioles in 1884 and 1885. In 1884, Henderson led the American Association in walks allowed with 116. He led the Association in 1885 in losses with 35, hits allowed with 539, walks allowed with 117, and

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third stri ...

es with 51. He began the 1886 season with Baltimore, pitching in 19 games, but joined the

midway through the season.

Off-field issues

During his time with the Orioles, Henderson was involved in a number of off-field incidents that got him in trouble. In September 1883, he got into a brawl with two of his teammates over a girl at a masked ball in Baltimore. They were all arrested, and Henderson was fined $150 for public drunkenness. He was arrested a second time in July 1884 when multiple players from the Orioles and

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

got into a fight at a party in St. Louis. Reports said that Henderson acted so out of control on the trip to the police station that "extreme measures" were used to stop him from attempting to attack Browns outfielder

Fred Lewis Frederick Deshaun Lewis (born December 9, 1980) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He made his debut on September 1, , with the San Francisco Giants. He is the cousin of former Major League outfielder Matt Lawton. He lived i ...

Brooklyn and Pittsburgh

Henderson made his Brooklyn pitching debut on August 19, 1886, against 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 ...

, losing the game 5–1. He pitched in 14 total games for Brooklyn in 1886, finishing with a 10–4 record and a 2.90 earned run average. Brooklyn finished in third place in the American Association that season. Henderson played the 1887 season in Brooklyn, but he was acquired by the

for 1888, pitching in five games for Pittsburgh. He would not play in the major league again. He finished with an 81–121 win–loss record, a 3.50 earned run average, and 930 strikeouts. Over Henderson's 230 major league games, 210 of them were as a pitcher, 16 of them as an outfielder, two as 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 who ...

, one as a second baseman, and one as 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 ...

. After not playing at any level in 1889, Henderson returned to baseball in 1890, playing for

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

in the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

Western League, now known as the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Umpiring

In parts of three seasons, Henderson was used as a major league

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. First, on June 16, 1889, he umpired an

game. Later, in 1895, he umpired 11

games. The next season, he umpired 51 NL games, the last of which was on September 12, 1896.

Death

On February 6, 1903, Henderson died at the age of 40 in Philadelphia, when he was run over by a train trolley. He was buried in Fernwood Cemetery in

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

.''The Baseball Necrology''
/ref>

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Hardie 1862 births 1903 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Quakers players Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Brooklyn Grays players Pittsburgh Alleghenys players Philadelphia Phillies (minor league) players Sioux City Corn Huskers players Major League Baseball umpires Baseball players from Philadelphia Railway accident deaths in the United States Accidental deaths in Pennsylvania Burials at Fernwood Cemetery (Lansdowne, Pennsylvania)