William Edward "Pop" Swett (April 16, 1870 – November 22, 1934) was a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

and right-fielder 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), ...

in 1890."Pop Swett Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-04.

Career

Swett was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He debuted as a professional baseball catcher in May 3,1890 with the San Francisco Haverlys of the California League. Swett played there for a couple of seasons and then ventured east in 1890 to join the Boston Reds of the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

. As the second youngest player in the league, he was the team's backup catcher to Morgan Murphy. Swett batted .191 in 37 games. The Reds won the pennant. However, the Players' League folded after the season, and Swett returned to the west coast. Swett played baseball in California for the next few seasons. While with Stockton in 1893, he played so well '' The Sporting Life'' wrote that he was "without doubt one of the best catchers on the coast." Even though Swett was only 23 years old, the newspaper referred to him as "Pop Swett.""Stockton Changes"
''The Sporting Life'', May 6, 1893, p. 14. Swett played professional baseball as late as 1896. He died in San Francisco at the age of 64.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swett, Pop 1870 births 1934 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Boston Reds (PL) players San Francisco Haverlys players San Francisco Friscos players San Francisco Metropolitans players Oakland Colonels players Stockton River Pirates players Sacramento Senators players Nashville Tigers players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from San Francisco