John Frank Lelivelt (November 14, 1885 – January 20, 1941) was an American

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 c ...

who played for the Washington Senators, New York Highlanders / Yankees and

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

. While playing for the Rochester Hustlers, he set the International League record for the longest hitting streak with a 42-game hitting streak in . The record was broken by

Brandon Watson Brandon Eric Watson (born September 30, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. Although he bats left-handed, Watson throws right-handed. Watson spent a portion of the and the with the Washington Nationals. In addition, ...

in .

Playing career

Early years

Lelivelt was born as Johannes Franciscus Lelivelt in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, The Netherlands, on 14 November 1885. His father was Franciscus Zacharias Lelivelt (later Frank) from Groessen, his mother was Theodra Mattijssen (later Dora) from

Renkum Renkum () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in and has a land area of . Renkum is situated along the river Rhine. The municipality Renkum is part of the ''Stadsregio'' (English: City reg ...

. They married in Amsterdam on 19 June 1884, and emigrated to the US in 1887. Lelivelt made his major league debut with the Washington Senators in . He saw his most playing time during his years in Washington. However, his batting average would increase after he left the Senators.

Record hitting streak

Lelivelt started the 1912 season with the Rochester Hustlers. The Hustlers had won pennants each of the three previous years. After his record hitting streak, the first-place Hustlers sold Lelivelt and Tommy McMillen to the New York Highlanders. Lelivelt had a .351 batting average with 33 doubles for the Hustlers. The

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

passed the Hustlers in the standings. The city of Rochester would not have another International League champion until 1928. The record hitting streak was lost to history until the 2007 version of the ''International League Record Book'' recognized the hitting streak. Previous versions of the book would list the longest hitting streak as 36 games by Bill Sweeney in .

Later years

Lelivelt played from 1912 until 1914 as a part-time player. Despite having a .301 career major league average, he never was a full-time player. In 1914, several Naps players split time between the

and 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 ...

Cleveland Bearcats in an effort to prevent the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

from moving a team to Cleveland. Lelivelt was one of those players. He would play in the minor leagues until retiring as a player in 1925.

Managerial career and death

Lelivelt became a player-manager for the Western League's Omaha franchise in 1920. From 1929 through 1937, he managed the Los Angeles Angels (PCL), including the 1934 team that won 137 out of 187 games ( .733) and is hailed as one of the minor league's "greatest teams". When Emile Sick purchased the Seattle Rainiers, one of his first projects was bringing Lelivelt to Seattle. His Seattle Rainiers teams won Pacific Coast League titles in 1939 and 1940. Except for 1937, he managed every year until his death from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in January 1941 at the age of 55. He was interred in Glendale, California's Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery. In 1943, Lelivelt was posthumously elected to the

Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lelivelt, Jack 1885 births 1941 deaths Baseball players from Chicago Cleveland Bearcats players Cleveland Naps players Hartford Senators players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Lake Linden Sandy Cities players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) managers Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball outfielders Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) managers Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players New York Highlanders players New York Yankees players Omaha Buffaloes players Omaha Rourkes players Reading Pretzels players Rochester Hustlers players St. Joseph Saints players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Burials at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery Dutch emigrants to the United States