Walter Scott "Waddy" MacPhee (December 23, 1899 – January 20, 1980) 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 ...

player for

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), ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, and an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Providence Steam Rollers The Providence Steamrollers were a Basketball Association of America team based in Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2022, the Steamrollers were the last professional sports franchise from one of the Major professional sports leagues in the United ...

Early years

Born in

Brooklyn, New York 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 ...

, MacPhee attended

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...

, where he was class president, played football, and was captain of the baseball and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

teams. He went on to play all three sports at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, and was captain of the Princeton baseball team as a senior in 1922.

Baseball career

Upon graduating from Princeton in 1922, MacPhee was signed by the

and

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

manager

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

. MacPhee played in two games for the eventual

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

champions during their 1922 season, his only two major league appearances. His first appearance came at third base on September 27 in the second game of a doubleheader against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

. MacPhee recorded a hit and a walk in four plate appearances against Phillies pitcher

Jimmy Ring James Joseph Ring (February 15, 1895 – July 6, 1965) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds (1917–1920), Philadelphia Phillies (1921–1925, 1928), New York Giants (1926) and St. Louis Cardinals (19 ...

, and scored the tying run in the Giants' 3–2 victory. His second and final appearance came three days later in another back end of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, this time against the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

and hurler

Garland Braxton Edgar Garland Braxton (June 10, 1900 – February 25, 1966) was an American professional baseball player. He was a pitcher over parts of 10 seasons (1921–1933) with the Boston Braves, New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox a ...

. MacPhee again manned third base, and went 1–for–4 with a triple and a run scored in the Giants' 5–3 win. In two major league games, MacPhee batted .286 with a walk and two runs scored, and committed one error in nine fielding chances. In 1923, MacPhee played for the

Denver Bears Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

of the Western League, batting .280 with 182 hits. He spent 1924 and 1925 with the

Pittsfield Hillies The Pittsfield Hillies were an Eastern League (baseball, 1916-32), Eastern League (Class A) baseball team from 1919 to 1930. They were League Champions in 1919 and 1921. Their home field was at Wahconah Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 1905 The P ...

of the Eastern League, and played for various teams in that league through 1928. In 1929, he played for the Brockton Shoemakers of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

, and also played shortstop for Falmouth in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, helping lead the team to the league pennant. He returned to Falmouth in 1930, but switched to the league's Osterville team mid-season.

Football career

A multi-sport professional athlete, MacPhee played in 10 games as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the NFL's Providence Steam Rollers during their 1926 season under head coach

Jim Laird James Tyler Laird (September 10, 1897 – August 16, 1970) was a professional American football player who played running back for the Rochester Jeffersons, the Buffalo All-Americans, the Canton Bulldogs, the Providence Steam Rollers, and the Sta ...

Later years

MacPhee was married to Jennie Call, and served for three years in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He taught high school history for 40 years at

East Providence High School East Providence High School is a public high school located in East Providence, Rhode Island. It instructs grade levels 9 through 12 and is operated by the East Providence School Department. As of the 2014-15 year, there was an approximate studen ...

Tome School The Tome School is a private school in North East, Maryland, North East in Cecil County, Maryland, Cecil County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Founded in 1894 by Jacob Tome, it is one of the oldest schools in Maryland. It enrolls grades K–12. As ...

, and

Manlius School The gens Manlia () was one of the oldest and noblest patrician houses at Rome, from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus, consul in 480 BC, and for ...

, from which he retired in 1968. MacPhee died in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

in 1980 at age 80.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macphee, Waddy Major League Baseball third basemen New York Giants (NL) players Providence Steam Roller players Pittsfield Hillies players Bridgeport Bears (baseball) players Hollywood Stars players Hartford Senators players Providence Grays (minor league) players Springfield Ponies players Brockton Shoemakers players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Falmouth Commodores players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Baseball players from New York (state) 1899 births 1980 deaths