Michael Cornelius Dorgan (October 2, 1853 – April 26, 1909) 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 t ...

player and manager. He played 10 seasons 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), ...

, principally as an

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 ...

, including five seasons and 425 games with the New York Giants from 1883 to 1887. He was also a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

for three major league clubs from 1879 to 1881. Dorgan appeared in 715 major league games, 600 of them as an outfielder, and compiled a .274

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 ...

with 112 doubles, 34 triples, four

home run 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 ...

s, and 346

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

Early years

Dorgan was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1853. His parents were Cornelius Dorgan and Mary (Cahill) Dorgan, both of whom were immigrants from Ireland. His younger brother,

Jerry Dorgan Jeremiah F. "Jerry" Dorgan (1856 – June 10, 1891) was an American professional baseball player from 1879 to 1887. He played four seasons of Major League Baseball as a right fielder and catcher for five major league clubs. He appeared in 131 ...

, also played Major League Baseball.

Professional baseball career

Minor leagues

Dorgan began his baseball career with Middletown in 1873. He next played for the

Webster, Massachusetts Webster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,776 at the 2020 census. Named after statesman Daniel Webster, the town was founded by industrialist Samuel Slater, and was home to several early Ameri ...

"Clippers" in 1874. He played during the 1875 season with teams in Grafton and

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. In 1876, Dorgan played for the famous Syracuse Stars club that "won nearly every game played."

St. Louis

Dorgan made his major league debut in May 1877 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings 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 ...

. He appeared in 60 games for St. Louis, 50 of them as an outfielder, and compiled a .308

with nine doubles, seven triples, and 23 RBI.

Syracuse

Dorgan returned to the Syracuse Stars for the 1878 and 1879 seasons. In 1879, the Stars joined the National League and attained major league status. Dorgan appeared in 59 games for the Stars in 1879, playing in the outfield (16 games) and at first base (21 games), third base (11 games), shortstop (six games), catcher (four games), pitcher (two games), and second base (one game). He compiled a .267 batting average with 11 doubles, five triples, a home run, and 17 RBI. Dorgan also served as the team's manager in 1879, leading the team to a 17–26 record.

Providence

In 1880, Dorgan played for the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...

of the National League. He appeared in 79 games, 77 as an outfielder, and compiled a .246 batting average with 10 doubles, a triple, and 31 RBI. Dorgan was also the manager of the 1880 Providence team, compiling a 26–12 record.

Worcester and Detroit

In 1881, Dorgan played for the

Worcester Ruby Legs The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist tha ...

and

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the pre ...

, both of the National League. In 59 games with the two teams, 27 at first base and 28 in the outfield, Dorgan compiled a .272 batting average with six doubles and 23 RBI. He was the manager of the Worcester club for a portion of the 1881 season, leading the Ruby Legs to a 24–32 record.

New York Giants

In 1883, Dorgan joined the New York Giants and spent the next five years there. He appeared in 425 games with the Giants, over 400 of them as an outfielder. In his five seasons with the Giants, Dorgan compiled a .281 batting average with 255 runs scored, 68 doubles, 21 triples, three home runs, 234 RBI, and 31 stolen bases.

Return to Syracuse

Dorgan concluded his major league playing career in 1890 with the Syracuse Stars, then part 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 ...

. Dorgan appeared in 33 games, all as an outfielder, and compiled a .216 batting average. He appeared in his last major league game on June 9, 1890, at age 36.

Later years

After retiring from baseball, Dorgan owned and ran a cafe and worked as a bartender for a number of years. He was married to Jennie Dorgan, and they had two sons, William and Harry, and a daughter, Mary. At the time of the 1900 United States Census, and also the 1905 New York Census, Dorgan was living in Syracuse, New York with his wife, Jennie, and three children and was employed as a "barkeeper." Dorgan later moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked for the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitt ...

. In February 1909, Dorgan underwent an operation on his knee to repair an old baseball injury. He developed

blood poisoning Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is foll ...

and died at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut six weeks after the operation. Dorgan was age 55 when he died. He was buried at St. Agnes Cemetery in Syracuse, New York. His obituary stated that he was "at one time known as the greatest all around baseball player in the United States." Dorgan was posthumously inducted into the Syracuse Hall of Fame in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorgan, Mike 1853 births 1909 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball player-managers Major League Baseball right fielders St. Louis Brown Stockings players Syracuse Stars (NL) players Providence Grays players Providence Grays managers Worcester Ruby Legs players Worcester Worcesters managers Detroit Wolverines players New York Gothams players New York Giants (NL) players Syracuse Stars (AA) players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Baseball players from Connecticut Baseball coaches from Connecticut Sportspeople from Middletown, Connecticut