Herman J. Dehlman (1852 – March 13, 1885), nicknamed "Dutch",
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), ...
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
who played a total of six seasons at the top level of professional baseball, four in the
National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully- professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 se ...
(National Association), and two in 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 ...
, a "Major League".
Career
He began his professional career with the
Chelsea, New York baseball club,
before making his debut with the
Brooklyn Atlantics
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President And ...
of the National Association on May 2, 1872. While playing in all 37 of the team's games that season,
36 of them as the starting first baseman, he
batted .220 and scored 30 runs.
In 1873, Dehlman established career highs in several offensive categories, such as runs scored (50), batting average (.235), and
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
(.265). He, additionally, led all first basemen in games played with 54, and led the league in a couple of defensive categories such as putouts and double plays.
[ He played one more season in Brooklyn, in 1874, and he batted .225 in 53 games.][
Dehlman joined the ]St. Louis Brown Stockings
The St. Louis Brown Stockings were a professional baseball club based in St. Louis, Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most ...
for the 1875 season, again as the starting first baseman.[ Despite a low batting average of .224, it was his most productive season offensively. He played in a career high 67 games, while also establishing career highs in ]hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
(57), doubles (12), triples
TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...
, and slugging percentage
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...
(.285). He was among the leaders with career highs in stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
s (23), and led the league with 11 bases on balls
A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...
.[
The National Association folded following the 1875 season, which was replaced by the National League, the first "Major" league in baseball history. Dehlman continued to play with the Brown Stockings when they made the move to the new league.][ According to official resources, Dehlman never managed, known in the day as a "Team Captain", but he is credited as being a player-captain-manager for the Brown Stockings in 1876 (manager referring to a similar capacity to what a ]General Manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
does in the modern game).[Koppett, p. 30] Records indicate the on-field managers for that season as Mase Graffen
Samuel Mason Graffen (1845 - November 18, 1883) was a manager in Major League Baseball. He managed the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (N ...
and George McManus
George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the main characters of his syndicated comic strip, ''Bringing Up Father''.
Biography
...
.[ His playing career lasted one more season with the Brown Stockings, but his hitting did not improve, so consequently, Dehlman's position at first base was taken over by ]Art Croft
Arthur F. Croft (January 23, 1855 – March 16, 1884) was an American Major League Baseball player. He played for three teams during three-year professional and Major League career.
Career
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Croft began his profess ...
during the 1877 season as St. Louis slipped to fourth place.[Peterson, p. 56] He finished his 307-game career with a .215 batting average, scored 226 runs, and had 85 RBIs
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
.[
]
Post-career
After his playing days were over, Dehlman became the manager for the professional baseball team in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...
.[ Before the 1885 season began, the ]Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in th ...
professional baseball club hired him as their team manager. Shortly after arriving in town, he contracted typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
and died a few days later at the age of 33.[ and is interred at City Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre.][
]
References
Bibliography
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*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehlman, Herman
1852 births
1885 deaths
19th-century baseball players
Major League Baseball first basemen
Brooklyn Atlantics players
St. Louis Brown Stockings (NA) players
St. Louis Brown Stockings players
Baseball players from Brooklyn
Deaths from typhoid fever
Minor league baseball managers
Allentown Dukes players