Thomas Rivers Lovelace (October 19, 1897 – July 12, 1979) 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 ...

player. Lovelace played in the

minor leagues 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 ...

for 11 years, from 1920 to 1932, and played in one

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), ...

game with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1922. Lovelace was born in

Wolfe City, Texas Wolfe City is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, located at the intersection of State Highways 34 and 11. It is north of Greenville in north-central Hunt County, and was settled in the 1860s or 1870s, when J. Pinckney Wolfe built a mi ...

, on October 19, 1897. He made his Minor League debut in 1920 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 cat ...

for the

Ranger Nitros The Ranger Nitros were a West Texas League baseball team based in Ranger, Texas, United States that existed from 1920 to 1922. Major league baseball players Tom Lovelace and Jim Galloway played for them (Galloway also managed them in 1920). In 1921, ...

of the

West Texas League The West Texas League was a Class D level minor league baseball league that existed from 1920 to 1922 and from 1928 to 1929. 1920-1922 The following teams played in 1920: Abilene Eagles, Ranger Nitros, Mineral Wells Resorters, Cisco Scouts, ...

. He had a .267

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 102 games for the Nitros. In 1922, Lovelace split time with the

Greenville Togs The Greenville Togs were a Texas–Oklahoma League baseball team based in Greenville, Texas, USA that played during the 1922 season. Notable players include Horace Allen and Tom Lovelace Thomas Rivers Lovelace (October 19, 1897 – July 12, 1979 ...

and the

Dallas Steers The Dallas Rangers were a high-level minor league baseball team located in Dallas, Texas from 1958 to 1964. The team was known by the Dallas Rangers name in 1958, 1959, and 1964 and as the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960 to 1963. It played in ...

. He hit .332 for both teams in 146 games. On September 5, 1922, while playing for Dallas, Lovelace was sold to 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 ...

. On September 23, 1922, the Pirates were playing the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

in the first game of a doubleheader at

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five p ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and Lovelace made his major league debut. In the top of the 9th inning, with the Pirates down 9–5, Lovelace pinch hit for

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 ...

Hal Carlson Harold Gust Carlson (May 17, 1892 – May 28, 1930) was a professional baseball pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1917 to 1930, for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates. Carlson used his curveball exclusively, owing to ...

. With a runner,

Charlie Grimm Charles John Grimm (August 28, 1898 – November 15, 1983), nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman, most notably for the Chicago Cubs; he was also a ...

, on first, Lovelace lined out to the Robins' second baseman

Ivy Olson Ivan Massie "Ivy" Olson (October 14, 1885 – September 1, 1965) was an American professional baseball shortstop. He played fourteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1911 to 1924 for the Cleveland Naps, Cincinnati Reds, and Brooklyn Ro ...

. Lovelace broke his leg sliding in to first base, making the Brooklyn game the first, and only major league game of his career.Brooklyn Robins 9, Pittsburgh Pirates 5 on September 5, 1922 on Retrosheet.org
/ref> Lovelace continued to play with various minor league teams until 1932. He finished with a career .309 batting average in the minors in 914 games. He died on July 12, 1979, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, and was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, Tom Pittsburgh Pirates players Ranger Nitros players Dallas Steers players Greenville Togs players Corsicana Oilers players San Antonio Bears players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Canton Terriers players Shreveport Sports players Binghamton Triplets players Baseball players from Hunt County, Texas Baseball players from Dallas People from Wolfe City, Texas 1897 births 1979 deaths