Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie (September 11, 1868 – October 30, 1935) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

center fielder. He played 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), ...

from 1890 to 1902 for the Boston Beaneaters,

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 ...

Baltimore Orioles (NL) 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 ...

, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles (AL), and New York Giants. Brodie set a 19th century record by playing in 727 consecutive games. In the mid-1890s, along with

Willie Keeler William Henry Keeler (March 3, 1872 – January 1, 1923), nicknamed "Wee Willie" because of his small stature, was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1892 to 1910, primarily for the Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn ...

and

Joe Kelley Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with J ...

, he was part of one of the best outfields of his era.

Early life

Brodie was the son of Irish immigrant Alexander Brodie, a tailor and a Shakespearean actor. In 1887, Brodie moved to

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

, where he played in the semiprofessional industrial leagues. That same year, Brodie, 18, met Carrie Henry, 15, and they got married. The couple lived in Roanoke through Brodie's baseball playing career.

Baseball career

Brodie took on the nickname Steve because of the daredevil of the same name, who was said to have survived a jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge. The ballplaying Brodie broke into the major leagues with the Boston Beaneaters in 1890; NL teams sought a high volume of new players that year because they had lost players who jumped to the new Players' League. In 1891, Brodie began a 727-game streak of consecutive games played, the longest such streak in the 19th century. Brodie spent several years in the outfield with the Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s. His teammates in the outfield were two future Baseball Hall of Fame members, Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley, giving the Orioles one of the best outfields of the 19th century. On the baseball field, Brodie was known as a jokester with an eccentric personality. Teammates and fans were sometimes taken aback when he recited Shakespearean verse during games or carried on conversations with himself in the outfield. In 1438 games over 12 seasons, Brodie posted a .303

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 ...

(1728-for-5703) with 886 runs, 191 doubles, 89 triples, 25

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, 900

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, 289 stolen bases, 420 bases on balls, .365 on-base percentage, and .381 slugging percentage. He recorded a .958 fielding percentage primarily as an outfielder but also played several games at second and third base.

Later life

When the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

emerged as a third major league, Brodie became a scout for the

Baltimore Terrapins The Baltimore Terrapins were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from to , but their brief existence led to litigation that led to an important legal precedent in baseball. The team played i ...

. The

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

sent him to France to facilitate recreation programs for U.S. soldiers in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He later served as an administrator at Baltimore's Municipal Stadium. Brodie died in 1935 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore County.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodie, Steve 1868 births 1935 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball center fielders Boston Beaneaters players St. Louis Browns (NL) players Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Baltimore Orioles (1901–02) players New York Giants (NL) players Minor league baseball managers Altoona (minor league baseball) players Canton (minor league baseball) players Wheeling National Citys players Wheeling Nailers (baseball) players Hamilton Hams players Chicago White Stockings (minor league) players Montreal Royals players Worcester Riddlers players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Binghamton Bingoes players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Providence Grays (minor league) players Newark Sailors players Roanoke Tigers players Trenton Tigers players Birmingham Barons players Portsmouth Truckers players Norfolk Tars players Newark Indians players Baseball players from Virginia People from Warrenton, Virginia

Early life

Baseball career

Later life

See also

References

External links