Jeremiah Joseph Hurley (June 15, 1863 – September 17, 1950) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player and government official. 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), ...

, mostly as a

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 ...

, from to . Hurley was born in Boston, Massachusetts and enrolled at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. He spent a decade playing professional baseball after he graduated, before his second career as a government official. His brief obituary in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated that during his baseball career Hurley "was at one time associated with

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

of 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

Clark Griffith Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns (1891), Boston Reds ...

of the Washington Senators." The surviving historical records do not shed any light on the connection between Mack and Hurley, although the two men almost certainly would have known each other. However, records do show that Griffith was one of Hurley's teammates in 1889 with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Western ...

. After playing for at least seven minor-league teams, Hurley finally made it to the major leagues in 1889, when he played one early-season game for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...

of 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 ...

. Hurley later went on to play for the

Pittsburgh Burghers The Pittsburgh Burghers were a baseball team in the Players' League, a short-lived Major League that existed only for the 1890 season. The team included a number of players who had jumped from the National League's Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now the ...

in the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

in 1890 and the

Cincinnati Kelly's Killers Kelly's Killers were a Major League baseball team that played in Cincinnati, Ohio during the 1891 baseball season. The team played in the American Association, which was a major league from 1882 to 1891. The team nickname By contemporary news ...

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 ...

in 1891. The Cincinnati team disbanded in mid-season and Hurley opted to spend the remainder of the 1891 season with the

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

. He played three more seasons of minor league ball in the South and Midwest before retiring after the 1894 season. After his playing career, Hurley settled down in his native Boston, married his fellow Bostonian Grace Farren in 1899, and began working for the federal government in the immigration office at the Port of Boston. By 1910, he had risen to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Immigration. In 1915, Hurley was elected Exalted Ruler of the Boston

Elks Lodge The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

. He ended his career working in Washington, DC for the U.S. Immigration Service. He died in 1950 at the age of 87 at his home in

Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...

, after what was described merely as a "long illness".

Sources

References

1863 births 1950 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball catchers Boston Beaneaters players Pittsburgh Burghers players Cincinnati Kelly's Killers players Minor league baseball managers Boston Reserves players Oswego Sweegs players San Francisco Pioneers players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Milwaukee Creams players San Jose Dukes players Oakland Colonels players Toledo Black Pirates players Savannah Electrics players Savannah Rabbits players Detroit Creams players Quincy Ravens players Boston University Terriers baseball players Baseball players from Boston {{US-baseball-catcher-1860s-stub