Ralph Earl Capron (June 16, 1889 – September 19, 1980) 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 t ...

and football player. He played

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 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 c ...

for the Pittsburgh Pirates in and the Philadelphia Phillies in . He also played football in 1920 for the

Chicago Tigers The Chicago Tigers of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) played their first and only season in 1920, the first year of the league (1920), and have the distinction of being the first NFL team to fold. They had a record of 2 wi ...

of the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

). Capron was born in 1889 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. He played high school football, first at South High School in Minneapolis and later at West High. In 1911, he played college football at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. In March 1912, Capron signed to play professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was assigned to the Milwaukee club where he garnered a comparison to

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the ...

after batting .341 and stealing three bases in his first 10 professional games.

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1889 births 1980 deaths Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players Major League Baseball outfielders Chicago Tigers players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Baseball players from Minneapolis Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1880s-stub