John V. "Studs" Bancker (1853 - October 7, 1888) was an American professional

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. He played in 19 games 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), ...

, principally as 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 ...

, for

New Haven Elm Citys The Elm City baseball club, or New Haven Elm Citys in modern nomenclature, were a professional baseball team based in New Haven, Connecticut ("The Elm City"). They existed for one season, in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players ...

between April 19 and June 5, 1875.

Early years

Bancker was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1853. He was the son of a Civil War veteran.

Professional baseball

Bancker played in 19 games in

, 14 as catcher and nine at various infield positions, for 1875 New Haven Elm Citys of the

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully- professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 se ...

. His first major league game was on April 19, 1875, and his last was on June 5, 1875. He compiled a .153

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 ...

in 72

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. In addition to his six weeks in the major leagues, Bancker played for the

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river tha ...

, semipro baseball team that won the Pennsylvania state championship in 1874. The Easton club's roster in 1874 also included

Jim Devlin James Alexander Devlin (June 6, 1849 – October 10, 1883) was an American Major League Baseball player who played mainly as a first baseman early in his career, then as a pitcher in the latter part. He played for three teams during his five ...

George Bradley George Washington Bradley (July 13, 1852 – October 2, 1931), nicknamed "Grin", was an American professional baseball player who was a pitcher and infielder. He played for multiple teams in the early years of the National League, the oldest lea ...

, John Abadie,

Joe Battin Joseph V. Battin (November 11, 1853 – December 10, 1937) was a 19th-century Major League Baseball player. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Battin played major league baseball from 1871 to 1884 and then returned for one season in 1890 ...

and Bill Hague. He also played for amateur and semipro ball clubs in the Philadelphia area both before and after playing for New Haven.

Later years

After retiring from baseball, he worked as a "segarmaker" and later as a roofer in Philadelphia. He also served multiple sentences in the

Philadelphia House of Correction The Philadelphia House of Correction is one of five local prisons operated by the Philadelphia Prison System. It is located at 8001 State Road in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia. The facility was built in 1874 and rebuilt ...

for "drinking-related offenses." He died in Philadelphia in 1888 at approximately age 35. The cause of death was listed as

uremia Uremia is the term for high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, in the blood that would be nor ...

. He was buried at the Old Cathedral Cemetery in Philadelphia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancker, Stud Major League Baseball catchers New Haven Elm Citys players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania 1853 births 1888 deaths