Warren William "Hick" Carpenter (August 16, 1855 – April 18, 1937) was an American

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 ...

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), ...

. He still holds the Cincinnati Reds record for the most games at third base (890); and he holds the record for the most career games at third-base by a player throwing left-handed (1,118, almost nine times anyone else: in fact, more than twice every other left-handed major leaguer combined).

Career

Carpenter was born in

Grafton, Massachusetts Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,664 at the 2020 census. The town consists of the North Grafton, Grafton, and South Grafton geographic areas, each with a separate ZIP Code. Incorporated in ...

, in 1855. He started his professional baseball career in 1877 and made his MLB debut 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 ...

in 1879."Hick Carpenter Minor Leagues Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020. In the winter of 1879–1880, Carpenter and

Jimmy Macullar James F. Macullar (January 16, 1855 – April 8, 1924), also known as "Little Mac", was an American Major League Baseball player from Boston, Massachusetts. He played mostly at shortstop, but did play many games in center fielder, center fi ...

became the first North Americans to play in the

Cuban League The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known a ...

. They were signed by the Colón club and were so powerful that other teams refused to play against them. Carpenter played in the NL in 1880 and 1881. He then joined 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 ...

Cincinnati Red Stockings The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867– ...

and spent the rest of the decade on that team."Hick Carpenter Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020. In 1882, Carpenter led the AA with 120 hits and 67 runs batted in. On September 12, 1883, he collected six hits in a game, as Cincinnati beat the

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 ...

27–5 while collecting a club-record 33 hits. On July 1, 1884, he had 5 hits, including 2 home runs and 2 doubles to lead the Red Stockings to a 16–5 win over 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 ...

. Carpenter left Cincinnati and played mostly in the minor leagues from 1890 to 1892. He played one MLB game in 1892, which was his last season in professional baseball. In Carpenter's old age, he renewed his friendship with the legendary Reds player

Bid McPhee John Alexander "Bid" McPhee (November 1, 1859 – January 3, 1943) was an American 19th-century Major League Baseball second baseman. He played 18 seasons in the majors, from until , all for the Cincinnati Reds franchise. He was elected to the B ...

. They often fished together and attended San Diego Padres games in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. Carpenter died in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California, in 1937. He is interred at Mount Hope Cemetery. A grave marker was provided in 2022 by

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Hick 1855 births 1937 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball third basemen Syracuse Stars (NL) players Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879) players Worcester Ruby Legs players Cincinnati Red Stockings (AA) players St. Louis Browns (NL) players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Baseball players from Massachusetts People from Grafton, Massachusetts Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery (San Diego) Sportspeople from Worcester County, Massachusetts

Career

See also

References

External links