Thomas Jefferson York (July 13, 1850 – February 17, 1936) 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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
. Over the course of York's 15-season career as a professional, which spanned the
National Association and
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), ...
, he racked up 1095 hits in 4005
at bats, for a .273
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 ...
. Twice, during his playing time with the
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...
, he was also
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
including the entire first season of the team's existence in 1878.
York began his playing career in the amateur
National Association of Base Ball Players
The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.)
The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...
with the Powhatan club in
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 ...
in 1869. In 1871, he became a member of the
Troy Haymakers
The Troy Haymakers were an American professional baseball team.
History
Established in 1860 as the Union Base Ball Club Lansingburgh, located in neighboring Lansingburgh, New York, the Haymakers participated in the first professional pennant ra ...
, one of the founding clubs of the National Association. He was playing for the
Hartford Dark Blues
The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut.
History
In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pit ...
when they joined the new
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 ...
in 1876.
In 1878, after the Hartfords folded, York joined the
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...
as
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
. That season, he led the National League in
total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, whil ...
, extra-base hits, and
triple
Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble":
Sports
* Triple (baseball), a three-base hit
* A basketball three-point field goal
* A figure skating jump with three rotations
* In bowling terms, three strikes in a row
* ...
s. He was a member of the National League champion Grays team of 1879, and remained with the team until 1882. In 1883, now a member of the
Cleveland Blues he led the league in
walks. After one season with the Blues, he was purchased by the
Baltimore Orioles
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 ...
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 two seasons for Baltimore to finish out his major league career.
Tom died at the age of 86 in New York City, and was buried in
Holy Cross Cemetery, which is in Brooklyn.
Baseball-Almanac player page
/ref>
See also
* List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
* List of Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Founded in 1869, it is composed of 30 teams. Each team in the league has a manager, who is responsible for team strategy and leadership on and off ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Tom
Major League Baseball left fielders
Troy Haymakers (NABBP) players
Troy Haymakers players
Baltimore Canaries players
Philadelphia White Stockings players
Hartford Dark Blues players
Providence Grays players
Cleveland Blues (NL) players
Baltimore Orioles (AA) players
Providence Grays managers
Major League Baseball player-managers
Cleveland Forest Cities players
Minor league baseball managers
Baseball players from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Brooklyn
Baseball players from New York City
19th-century baseball players
1850 births
1936 deaths
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn
People from Brooklyn