Frank Edward Dillon (October 17, 1873 – September 12, 1931), known in later years as Pop Dillon, was an American

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 manager. He played 22 seasons in professional baseball from 1894 to 1915, including five years 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), ...

, as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

with 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 ...

(1899–1900),

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1901–1902),

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

(1902), and

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

(1904). He appeared in 312 major league games and compiled a .252

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 ...

. He was later a player and manager for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

of 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 ...

(PCL) from 1903 to 1915. He led the Angels to PCL pennants in 1903, 1905, 1907 and 1908.

Early years

Dillon was born in 1873 in

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

. His father, Levi Dillon, owned a business breeding and selling Percheron horses. Dillon attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and played for the

Wisconsin Badgers baseball The Wisconsin Badgers baseball team was the varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The team competed in NCAA Division I and were members of the Big Ten Conference. The s ...

team from 1892 to 1894. Dillon was a cousin of Hall of Famer

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 ...

Professional baseball

Minor leagues

In 1894, Dillon figuratively worked both sides of the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

by playing professional baseball for both the

Peoria Distillers The Peoria Distillers were a minor league baseball team that existed on-and-off from 1894 to 1917. They played in the Western Association from 1894 to 1896; the Central League (baseball), Central League in 1900, 1904 and 1917; the Western League (1 ...

and the Des Moines Prohibitionists 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 ...

. Over the next four years, he played for Ottumwa in the Eastern Iowa League, Bloomington in the Western Interstate League,

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, Rockford and Rock Island in the Western Association,

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

in the Atlantic League, and Buffalo in the Western League.

Pittsburgh Pirates

In 1899, Dillon made his major league debut with the

. He appeared in 30 games as a first baseman for the 1899 Pirates and compiled a .256 batting average in 121 at bats. He returned to the Pirates in 1900, but appeared in only five games.

Detroit Tigers

In 1900, Dillon was sold by Buffalo to the

of the American League, at that time still a minor league. Dillon appeared in 123 games for the 1900 Tigers and compiled a .291 batting average. In 1901, Dillon played first base for the Tigers during their first season as a major league club. On April 25, 1901, he hit a major league record four doubles in the Tigers' first major league game. He hit two of his doubles in a 10-run rally in the ninth inning to give the Tigers a 14–13 victory over Milwaukee at Bennett Park. He compiled a .288 batting average in 281 at bats with the 1901 Tigers. In March 1902, Dillon failed to report for spring training with the Tigers, and a story circulated that he had been hospitalized with appendicitis. The ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' reported on March 12 that the story about the appendicitis was a canard and that Dillon was feeling well at his home in Normal, Illinois. He rejoined the Tigers and appeared in 66 games for the club during the 1902, though his batting average dropped 80 points to .206. He was turned over to the Baltimore Orioles during the 1902 season and appeared in two games with that club.

Los Angeles Angels

In August 1902, Dillon jumped to the

in 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 led the California League in 1902 with a .338 batting average in 318 at bats. In October 1902, Dillon was hired to be player-manager in 1903 for the newly reorganized

of the

(PCL). In 1903, Dillon led the Angels to the PCL pennant with a 133–78 record and ranked third in the league in batting with a .360 batting average.

Brooklyn Superbas

After leading Los Angeles to the PCL pennant, Dillon signed in December 1903 to play in 1904 with the

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 ...

. In January 1904, Dillon attempted to renege on his Brooklyn contract to remain in Los Angeles. However, an arbitration award in March 1904 awarded him to Brooklyn for the 1904 season. Dillon appeared in 135 game as Brooklyn's first baseman in 1904, compiling a .258 batting average and a .313

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 ...

Return to Los Angeles

In March 1905, the Los Angeles club paid $1,700 to Brooklyn for the return of Dillon. The sum paid by Los Angeles was reported to be "the biggest price ever paid by a minor league club for the purchase of a big league player." Dillon helped lead the 1905 Los Angeles club to the PCL pennant. He compiled a .271 batting average in a career high 216 games and 778 at bats during the 1905 season. Dillon remained with the Angels where he served as the player-manager through the 1915 season. He helped lead the Angels to pennants in 1903, 1905, 1907, and 1908. He was released by the Angels at age 42 in late November 1915.

Later years

After his playing and managing days he was the treasurer of the Association of Professional Ball Players of America. He also operated an apple orchard in

Yucaipa, California Yucaipa ( Serrano: ''Yukaipa't'') is a city located east of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 51,367 at the 2010 census, up from 41,207 at the 2000 census. According to San Bernardino County ...

, and a company that sold 12,000 apple pies per year. Dillon died in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, at age 57 in 1931. He was later inducted posthumously into the

Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in 1943, in its inaugural election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Pop 1873 births 1931 deaths Major League Baseball first basemen Baltimore Orioles (1901–02) players Brooklyn Superbas players Detroit Tigers players Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Illinois People from Normal, Illinois Des Moines Prohibitionists players Peoria Distillers players Rockford Forest City players Rockford Forest Citys (minor league) players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Scranton Miners players Detroit Tigers (Western League) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) managers Lawrence Colts players 19th-century baseball players Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Rock Island Islanders players Bozeman Irrigators players