Robert M. Keating (September 22, 1862 – January 19, 1922), was a

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), ...

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 ...

for 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) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

. He appeared in one game for the Orioles on August 27, 1887—pitching a complete game, allowing 16 runs on 16 hits in the loss. An arm injury ended his career and he became an inventor, starting off by inventing various shaving devices. Keating Wheel Co

In 1897, he started the R.M. Keating Company that manufactured bicycles, through his Keating Wheel Works subsidiary. Keating had some success for a time with his bicycle business and may even have invented the first motorcycle, though the company apparently folded before any were release

He also invented the rubber home plate, still in use toda

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Robert Keating, inventor
1862 births 1922 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Baseball players from Massachusetts 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American engineers {{US-engineer-stub