Henry Peter Dowling (July 15, 1876 – June 30, 1905) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in the major leagues for four season; 1897–1899 with the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

, and in 1901 with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

and the Cleveland Blues (later the

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 ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

, respectively). Listed at and , he threw and batted left-handed. Dowling is best remembered for a game he pitched in June 1901, which ''may'' have been the first

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

history.

Career

Dowling first pitched professionally in 1897 with the

, then a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

team in the Western League. He made his major league debut 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 July, appearing in four major league games and registering a 1–2

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 5.88

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). He played in 36 games for the Colonels the following season, accruing a 4.16 ERA with a 13–20 record. In his final season with Louisville, 1899, he went 13–17 in 35 games with a 3.05 ERA. After the ousting of Louisville from the National League following the 1899 season, Dowling had planned to play with the Pittsburgh club, but began to develop a serious

drinking problem Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

that put his career in limbo. Dowling relocated to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, where his family lived, and played for the minor league Brewers in 1900. In 1901, the first season of the

, he made 10 appearances with the Brewers (now a major league team; they would relocate the following season, becoming the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

) and 33 appearances with the Cleveland Blues, registering a combined record of 12–25 with a 4.15 ERA. Alcoholism further jeopardized his career, limiting his playing opportunities for the 1902 season. He went to California and played with the

Sacramento Gilt Edges ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

team, and to Montana to play for the Butte Miners of the

Pacific Northwest League The Pacific Northwest League was a professional Minor League Baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first professional baseball league ever in the region. History Founding The Pacific Northwest League was founded in 1890. I ...

. He finished his career with the Miners in 1903 and 1904.

Possible no-hitter

Los Angeles Times 01-Jul-1901 Pete Dowling game account

On June 30, 1901, pitching for the Cleveland Blues against the Milwaukee Brewers, Dowling threw what may have been the first

in the

's young history. He

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

ed four batters, had one

hit batsman In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter (baseball), batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded fi ...

, and otherwise allowed only

Wid Conroy William Edward "Wid" Conroy (April 5, 1877 – December 6, 1959) was an American Major League Baseball player active during the first decade of the 20th century. Career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1877, Conroy made his major ...

as a baserunner. The status of this game has long been disputed; specifically, how Conroy reached base in the seventh inning. While some sources credit Conroy with an infield single, other sources indicate he reached base on an

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination f ...

, and Conroy's career statistics do not credit him with a hit in this game. An in-depth article about the game from the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

(SABR) posits, "The most plausible explanation for the divergence is that the

official scorer In the game of baseball, the official scorer is a person appointed by the league to record the events on the field, and to send the official scoring record of the game back to the league offices. In addition to recording the events on the field ...

, who was probably a Milwaukee sportswriter, changed the hit to an error after the game had ended." ,

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

and

Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

credit Dowling with a no-hitter, but the

Elias Sports Bureau The Elias Sports Bureau is a privately held company providing historical and current statistical information for the major professional sports leagues operating in the United States and Canada. Elias is the official statistician for Major League Ba ...

(the official statisticians of

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), ...

) does not recognize it.

Personal life

Dowling was the eldest child of Michael J. and Ellen Dowling of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. On June 30, 1905, Dowling was on his way to

La Grande, Oregon La Grande is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. Originally named "Brownsville," it was forced to change its name because that name was being used for a city in Linn County. Located in the Grande Ronde Valley, the city's name comes ...

, where he had joined a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

team. Dowling missed his train at Fox Lake station in Union County, and decided to walk along the tracks en route to the game. While walking on the track in

Hot Lake, Oregon Hot Lake is an unincorporated community in Union County, Oregon, United States. Hot Lake has an elevation of . It is about east of La Grande, and northwest of Union. The first Europeans to see Hot Lake were the 32 members of an expedition ...

, Dowling was struck by an oncoming train which

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

him. He was interred at Odd Fellows Cemetery in La Grande.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Pete 1876 births 1905 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Louisville Colonels players Milwaukee Brewers (1901) players Cleveland Blues (1901) players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Missouri Paducah Little Colonels players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Sacramento Gilt Edges players Butte Miners players Butte Fruit Pickers players Accidental deaths in Oregon Deaths by decapitation Railway accident deaths in the United States