James H. Gifford (October 18, 1845 – December 19, 1901) was a
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
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), ...
for three seasons from to . He managed the 1884
Indianapolis Hoosiers, and the
New York Metropolitans
The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York ...
from into the 1886 season. He managed a total of 212, and had a career win–loss record of 74–136.
James H. Gifford was a Civil War veteran. A check of the records left no doubt that this was the case. His service record indicated that he enlisted as a Private in the Union Army on October 8, 1862. He enlisted in Warren, New York, which is the birthplace of the manager. He gave his age as 18, which is one year than the listed age of the manager, but such discrepancies were common. He was assigned to Company K of the 152nd New York Infantry and served for nearly three years, eventually being promoted to Full Corporal. He was mustered out in Washington on July 13, 1865. The former manager died in December 1901 in Columbus, Ohio, and his widow Elizabeth filed for a pension on January 16, 1902, citing the name James H. Gifford and his service in Company K of the 152nd New York.
Born in
Warren, New York, Gifford died in
Columbus, Ohio at the age of 56, and is interred in
Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus.
References
External links
Baseball-Reference manager page
1845 births
1901 deaths
Indianapolis Hoosiers (AA) managers
New York Metropolitans managers
Minor league baseball managers
Burials at Green Lawn Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio)
Union Army personnel
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