Wesley Peter "Paddy" Siglin (September 24, 1891 – August 5, 1956) was a second baseman 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), ...

. He played parts of three seasons for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and also spent 14 seasons in various minor leagues. Siglin was tall and weighed ."Paddy Siglin Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.

Career

Siglin was born in

Aurelia, Iowa Aurelia is a city in Cherokee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 968 at the 2020 census. History Aurelia was founded in 1873 as a stop along the Illinois Central Railroad branch connecting Sioux City, Iowa, to Chicago, Illinois. Thi ...

, in 1891. He started his professional baseball career in 1913 with the

Central Association The Central Association was an American minor league baseball league. It began operations in 1908, as it was essentially renamed from the 1907 Iowa State League. The Central Association ran continuously through 1917. It was reorganized thirty yea ...

's Waterloo Jays. After

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.227 during his first season, Siglin was hitting .320 in July 1914 when he was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates."Paddy Siglin Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011. He made his major league debut on September 12 of that year. Siglin appeared in 23 MLB games from 1914 to 1916, and he went 9 for 56 (.180) at the plate. In 1917, he moved west to join the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

's Oakland Oaks. He spent one season with Oakland, one with the Salt Lake City Bees, and then two with the

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

, never hitting above .283. After the 1920 season, the Beavers traded Siglin to the Salt Lake City Bees for

Marty Krug Martin John Krug (10 September 1888 – 27 June 1966) was a major league infielder with the Boston Red Sox (1912) and Chicago Cubs (1922). Born Martin Johannes Krieg in Koblenz, German Empire, his parents immigrated to the United States, and ...

. While reporting the trade, ''

The Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'' noted that, "Due to his personal inclinations to the Salt Lake club, it is very likely that Siglin will play a much better game for Salt Lake than he did for Portland." Siglin proved the newspaper correct, as he immediately had the best offensive season of his career in 1921. He set career-highs in

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 ...

(270), doubles (67),

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 (22), batting average (.344),

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, ...

(.522), and total bases (409), and he led all PCL players in hits, doubles, home runs, and total bases. Siglin had another solid performance in 1922, batting .316 with 16 home runs and leading the league with 60 doubles and a .972

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 ...

at second base. Siglin then spent three years with the Sacramento Senators. His batting average went down from .303 in 1923 to .256 in 1925. He played one more season after that before retiring from professional baseball. Overall, Siglin had 2,264 hits in his 14-year minor league career. In addition to being a good hitter and fielder, he was a leader on the baseball diamond and served as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Portland Beavers when he played for them. He could also be aggressive when he had to. Former PCL umpire

Beans Reardon John Edward "Beans" Reardon (November 23, 1897 – July 31, 1984) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1926 to 1949. He worked five World Series and three All-Star Games. Early life and caree ...

once said:

I had a fistfight with Paddy Siglin during a game in San Francisco ... The newspaper the next day carried three big pictures of the fight. One of them showed me landing a punch on Paddy's nose. Another one showed him beating on the back of my neck.Gerlach, Larry R. (1994).
The Men in Blue
'. U of Nebraska Press. p. 8.

Siglin died in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, in 1956 and was buried in Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siglin, Paddy 1891 births 1956 deaths Major League Baseball second basemen Pittsburgh Pirates players Waterloo Jays players Youngstown Steelmen players Rochester Hustlers players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Salt Lake City Bees players Portland Beavers players Sacramento Senators players Mission Bells players San Antonio Bears players Baseball players from Iowa