George W. Shafer ometimes spelled ''Shaffer'' or ''Schaefer''(October 4, 1851 – January 21, 1922) was 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 cat ...

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), ...

. Nicknamed "Orator", because he was an avid speaker, Shafer played for 10 teams in four different major leagues between 1874 and 1890. Though he was a good hitter who batted over .300 three times, Shafer was best known for his defensive abilities. He led 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 ...

's outfielders in assists four times. In 1879, he set an MLB single-season record with 50 outfield assists, which is a mark that has stood for over 130 years. He was considered by some to be the greatest

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

of his era. Shafer was tall and weighed .

Background

Shafer was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, in 1851. He was a "promising young Philadelphia amateur" before starting his professional baseball career in 1874 in the National Association. That year, he played in nine games for the

Hartford Dark Blues The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. History In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pit ...

and in one game for the

New York Mutuals The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Asso ...

, with a cumulative

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 ...

of .225. His

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 ...

was a career-low .710. The following season, he played 19 games for the

Philadelphia Whites The Philadelphia White Stockings were an early professional baseball team. They were a member of the National Association from 1873 to 1875. Their home games were played at the Jefferson Street Grounds. They were managed by Fergy Malone, Jimm ...

and batted .243. Shafer was known during his playing career by the nickname "Orator". According to

Alfred Henry Spink Alfred Henry Spink (August 24, 1854 – May 27, 1928) was a Canadian-born American baseball writer and club organizer based mainly in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1886, he established a weekly newspaper, ''The Sporting News'' (TSN), that emerged from ...

, founder of ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'', he received the nickname because he "was a great stickler for his rights and talked to himself when not talking to the Umpire." Another player of the era, future

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

inductee Orator Jim O'Rourke, shared the same nickname.

Major league regular

Shafer joined the National League's

Louisville Grays The Louisville Grays were a 19th-century United States baseball team and charter member of the National League, based in Louisville, Kentucky. They played two seasons, 1876 and 1877, and compiled a record of 65–61. Their home games were a ...

in 1877. He earned a job as the team's starting right fielder, and he led the league in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

(61), outfield assists (21), and outfield errors (28). He also batted .285 and had the second-most

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 in the league with three. (

Lip Pike Lipman Emanuel "Lip" Pike (May 25, 1845 – October 10, 1893) the "Iron Batter", was an American who was one of the stars of 19th-century baseball in the United States. His brother, Israel Pike, played briefly for the Hartford Dark Blues during ...

had four homers.) In 1878, Shafer had one of his best seasons at the plate for the

Indianapolis Blues The Indianapolis Blues were a baseball team in the National League for one season (1878), in which they finished fifth in the six-team league with a 24–36 record. They were managed by outfielder/first baseman/catcher John Clapp, and played the ...

. He batted .338 to finish sixth in the batting race and also ranked among the league leaders in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

(third),

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(third), and total bases (fourth). His

OPS+ OPS may refer to: Organizations *Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England * Oceanic Preservation Society *Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency * Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg ...

total of 186 led the league, and his 3.8

wins above replacement Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...

was the highest among all position players. Shafer also had 28 assists in the outfield. In 1879, Shafer signed with

Cap Anson Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 c ...

's Chicago White Stockings. However, he had left Indianapolis the previous year with some unpaid debts. The White Stockings traveled to Indianapolis to play an exhibition game in June, and the local sheriff was waiting for both him and teammate

Silver Flint Frank Sylvester "Silver" Flint (August 3, 1855 – January 14, 1892) was a catcher in Major League Baseball. He played 13 seasons of major league baseball for the St. Louis Red Stockings, Indianapolis Blues and Chicago White Stockings. Biograp ...

. After the game, Shafer and Flint escaped the ballpark in a horse-drawn carriage to avoid arrest, and only their manager, Anson, was taken to jail. Shafer batted .304 for Chicago in 1879 and also set a career high by getting 50 assists. The 50 outfield assists was 20 more than any other NL player and established a major league record that has never been broken. In 1880, Shafer joined the Cleveland Blues and was their regular right fielder for the next three seasons. He continued his good hitting and fielding during his first year with the club, batting .266 with an OPS+ of 125 and leading the league again with 35 assists. However, his batting average dropped to .257 the following season and then to .214 in 1882. His fielding percentage dropped as well, from .901 in 1880 (fourth in the league) to .805 in 1882. Shafer played for the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

in 1883. He batted .292 and led the NL in outfield assists for the fourth and final time, with 41. He then signed with the St. Louis Maroons in the new

Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

for the 1884 season. Playing in a career-high 106 games in 1884, Shafer also batted a career-high .360 and was one of the best hitters in the UA. He led the league with 40 doubles, and he finished second only to teammate

Fred Dunlap Frederick C. "Sure Shot" Dunlap (May 21, 1859 – December 1, 1902) was a second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball from 1880 to 1891. He was the highest paid player in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1889. He has also been rated b ...

in several other offensive categories, including batting average, on-base percentage (.398), slugging percentage (.501),

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

(130),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

(168), and total bases (234). The Maroons went 94–19 and finished first in the Union Association.

Later career

Shafer stayed with St. Louis as they moved to the National League in 1885; his batting average fell to .195. The following season, he played 21 games for 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 ...

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 ...

, hit .268, and then spent the next few years in the minor leagues. In 1887, he played for Lincoln of the Western League until he was suspended in September for punching an umpire in the face. Shafer moved on to 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 ...

's Des Moines team in 1888, and he played well, batting .338 and leading the league in hits."Notes and Comments"
''The Sporting Life''. December 19, 1888. p. 2. In 1889, he was the captain of the Detroit Wolverines, which won the International League championship. Shafer then rejoined the Philadelphia Athletics in 1890. In his final major league season, he played in 100 games, batted .282, and led the AA's outfielders with a .958 fielding percentage. He was the second-oldest player in the league, at 38 years old. Shafer's younger brother,

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) **List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Plac ...

, also played for the 1890 Athletics.

Legacy

Over his 13-season Major League Baseball career, Shafer played a total of 871 games. He had 1,000 hits in 3,552

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s, a .282 batting average, 11 home runs, 601 runs scored, and 317

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 bat ...

. He also had 290 career outfield assists, which is the 10th highest total in MLB history. Shafer was an outstanding fielder. Fellow major league right fielder Paul Radford, when writing about how to play the position, said: "I always considered 'Orator' Shaffer a splendid right fielder, because of his skill in throwing out men at the initial bag. I know he threw me out thus in two successive games at Buffalo." According to '' The Sporting Life'', Shafer "was for years considered the best man in his position." In 2001, statistician

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

ranked Shafer as the 99th greatest right fielder of all-time. After his baseball career ended, Shafer worked at a race track as a book-writer."News Notes and Comment"
''The Sporting Life''. January 17, 1891. p. 2. He died in Philadelphia in 1922 and was buried in

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is 200 acres in size and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in neighboring Ph ...

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). It was originally two separa ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafer, Orator 1851 births 1922 deaths Major League Baseball right fielders 19th-century baseball players Hartford Dark Blues players New York Mutuals players Philadelphia White Stockings players Louisville Grays players Indianapolis Blues players Chicago White Stockings players Cleveland Blues (NL) players Buffalo Bisons (NL) players St. Louis Maroons players Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Baseball players from Philadelphia