Thomas Oran (c. 1847 – September 22, 1886), also known as "Lusher Tom" and "Indian Tom",Morris, Peter
"Tom Oran"
''bioproj.sabr.org''. Retrieved 2010-12-31. was an American

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 ...

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), ...

."Tom Oran Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-31. After playing amateur baseball for a few years, he played for the

St. Louis Red Stockings The St. Louis Red Stockings were a professional baseball team in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (National Association or NA) for the 1875 season. St. Louis (NA), in the standard short-form identification used for America ...

in 1875 and was the first Native American in the major leagues.

Biography

Oran was born in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He played baseball for several amateur baseball teams in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, in the late 1860s, including the Olympics and Unions, and in 1869 he joined the Empire Club 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 ...

. During this time, he also worked as a city

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

. Oran switched from the catcher position to

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in early 1871. The Empires held the local championship until 1873, and Oran remained on the team during this time. In 1874, he jumped to another team, the Red Stockings. The Red Stockings joined the National Association – now regarded as the first major league – in February of the following year, and Oran played in all 19 of his team's games from May 4 to July 4. His

fielding percentage 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, div ...

as an outfielder and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

was just .636, but he led the Red Stockings with 10

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 bat ...

and 1 triple, while

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.185 and

stealing Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

3 bases. Oran was the first Native American in Major League Baseball.Morris, Peter.
A Game of Inches
' (Ivan R. Dee, 2006), p. 269. The National Association folded after the 1875 season, and he never played professional baseball again. Oran was married with one son, also named Thomas. He died in 1886 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. Four years later, ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' wrote that, "Oran was a half-breed Indian and died from the effects of fire water."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oran, Thomas 1840s births 1886 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders St. Louis Red Stockings players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from California 19th-century Native Americans 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Missouri Baseball players from St. Louis