John Walker Lapp (September 10, 1884 – February 6, 1920) 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 ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. He played 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) from 1908 through 1916 for 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 ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. __TOC__

Baseball career

Lapp was a second or third-string catcher for eight of his nine years in the big leagues (seven with Philadelphia and one with Chicago). He did catch 503 games in his career, so he wasn't exactly "riding the pines" for all those years. In 1911, the Athletics' first-string catcher was

Ira Thomas Ira Felix Thomas (January 22, 1881 – October 11, 1958) was an American professional baseball player. He played all or part of ten seasons of Major League Baseball, all in the American League, with the New York Highlanders (1906–07), Detroit T ...

, with

Paddy Livingston Patrick Joseph Livingston (January 14, 1880 – September 19, 1977) was a Major League Baseball catcher who played for seven seasons. He played for the Cleveland Blues in 1901, the Cincinnati Reds in 1906, the Philadelphia Athletics from 1909 to ...

and Lapp backing him up. Philadelphia played the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the

1911 World Series The 1911 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1911 season. The eighth edition of the World Series, it matched the American League (AL) champion Philadelphia Athletics against the National League (NL) champion ...

, which went six games with the A's winning. Thomas caught the first two games and was "slightly injured" in the 7th inning of Game 2. Livingston, who had been a key figure during the regular season, was suffering from injuries to his legs, arms, and hands. He did not play in the Series. Lapp was called on to catch Game 3 on October 17, 1911, which lasted 11 innings. He set a record for catcher in a single game, catching base stealers with five, and he also had 14 putouts. Thomas came back to catch Game 4, a nine-inning affair that had Thomas limping by the end. Lapp was assigned to catch Game 5 (10/25/1911), which lasted 10 innings. He "only" caught one base stealer and had four putouts in that game. Thomas caught Game 6 for a Philadelphia series victory. The next year (1912), Lapp split catching duties with Thomas and

Ben Egan Arthur Augustus "Ben" Egan (November 20, 1883 – February 18, 1968) was an American professional baseball catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians from 1908 to 1915. He was later a coach for the Washington Senators for th ...

, but Lapp caught the majority of the games (83). In 567 games over nine seasons, Lapp posted a .263

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(416-for-1581) with 168 runs, 5

home runs 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 ...

and 166 RBI. He finished his career with a .969

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

playing primarily at catcher and first base. In five World Series games, he hit .235 (4-for-17) with one run and one RBI. He was a member of three world championship teams with the Philadelphia Athletics (1910, 1911 and 1913). After battling influenza for several weeks, Lapp died on February 6, 1920, of pneumonia and is interred at

Mount Peace Cemetery Mount Peace Cemetery is a cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that is owned and operated by the Odd Fellows organization. It was established in 1865 and is located at 3111 West Lehigh Avenue, near the Laurel Hill Cemetery. The cemetery prope ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jack Lapp Gravestone

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapp, Jack 1884 births 1920 deaths Burials at Mount Peace Cemetery Major League Baseball catchers Philadelphia Athletics players Chicago White Sox players Newark Indians players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Pennsylvania