Thomas Francis Gunning (March 4, 1862 – March 17, 1931) was a

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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

and

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. He played six seasons in the major leagues, from 1884 until 1889. Listed at and , he batted and threw right-handed. Gunning umpired 44 major league games during the 1890 season. After his baseball career, Gunning worked as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictio ...

Playing career

Gunning began his professional baseball career in 1883 in the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

, playing for the team representing Springfield, Illinois. In 1884, he played for the Boston Reserves of the Massachusetts State Association. Gunning's major league career spanned 1884 to 1889, with three different teams. From 1884 through 1886, he played for the Boston Beaneaters 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 ...

. He appeared in a total of 87 games with Boston, recording a .186

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 ...

with 24 RBIs. In April 1887, the Beaneaters sold Gunning's contract to the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League. He batting .260 with 16 RBIs and one

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 ...

in 28 games during 1887, his one season with the Quakers. In 1888, Gunning was released by the Quakers and signed by the Philadelphia Athletics of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

.. He played for the Athletics during 1888 and 1889, appearing in 31 games while batting .207 with six RBIs and one home run. The Athletics released Gunning on June 29, 1889. Overall, Gunning appeared in 146 major league games, compiling a career .205 batting average with 46 RBIs and two home runs. All of his defensive appearances were at catcher, playing a maximum of 48 games in a season, which he recorded with the 1885 Boston Beaneaters. He had a career .887

fielding average In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, divi ...

. In his final two major league seasons, Gunning served as backup to

Wilbert Robinson Wilbert Robinson (June 29, 1864 – August 8, 1934), nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Cardinals ...

of the Athletics, who later managed the Brooklyn Robins from 1914 through 1931 and was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Late in his career, Gunning played in the

Atlantic Association The Atlantic Association was a minor league baseball organization that operated between 1889 and 1890 and again in 1908 in the Northeastern United States. History First Demise In each of the two seasons 4 or more teams failed to finish the season a ...

in 1889 for the team representing Hartford, Connecticut.

Umpiring career

During his time as a player, Gunning served as umpire in 10 major league games; these were all games that his team was playing in. In this era, reserve players were sometimes called upon to officiate games due to the absence of scheduled umpires, caused by illness, injury, or travel issues. Following his playing career, Gunning umpired 44 games (30 at first base, 14 at home plate) in the Players' League during 1890, from mid-April to mid-June.

Personal life

Gunning was born in

Newmarket, New Hampshire Newmarket is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 9,430 at the 2020 census. Some residents are students and employees at the nearby University of New Hampshire in Durham. The densely settled center of town ...

, in 1862. He graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania Medical School The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

in 1891, and later served as city physician and

for

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

. He died in Fall River in 1931 and is interred in the North End Burial Ground there. He was survived by his wife, Ida Gunning ''née'' Corcoran (d. 1951), and a son, Reverend Thomas C. Gunning (1899–1947) of

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. At the 2020 cen ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunning, Tom 1862 births 1931 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Boston Beaneaters players Philadelphia Quakers players Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Boston Reserves players Springfield, Illinois (minor league baseball) players Hartford (minor league baseball) players Baseball players from New Hampshire People from Newmarket, New Hampshire 19th-century baseball players 19th-century baseball umpires Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Physicians from New Hampshire Medical examiners Sportspeople from Rockingham County, New Hampshire