James Edward Ryan (February 11, 1863 – October 29, 1923), nicknamed "Pony", was an American

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

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 (A ...

(MLB) who played between 1885 and 1903, primarily for the Chicago White Stockings / Colts / Orphans. He batted .300 eleven times, retiring with a career average of .308, and was the seventh player to hit 100 career

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s. Ryan set major league records for career

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

(1,945) and assists (375) 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 ...

that were later broken by Jesse Burkett and

Tris Speaker Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career ba ...

respectively. He also ended his career ranking second in

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by ''PO'' or '' fly out'' when appropriate) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner wi ...

s (3,701) and fourth in

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Lea ...

s (71).

Baseball career

A native of

Clinton, Massachusetts Clinton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,428 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Clinton, please see the article Clinton (CDP), Massa ...

, Ryan started his major league career with Chicago 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 ...

(NL) in 1885. He played for the team until 1900, except for the 1890 season when he played for the Chicago Pirates of the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

."Jimmy Ryan Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2021. Ryan had his best season in 1888, leading the NL in

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

(182),

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

(33), home runs (16),

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 ...

(283), and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.515). He was also second in batting average (.332),

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...

s (59) and

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

(115). During that season, Ryan

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

on July 28. He also appeared in that game as a

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 dr ...

, becoming the first player in major league history to hit for the cycle and pitch in the same game. The White Stockings beat the

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the p ...

, 21–17. Ryan was the most severely injured player when the Chicago team was involved in a train wreck at

Lindsey, Ohio Lindsey is a village in Sandusky County, Ohio, United States, near the halfway point of the route between Detroit and Cleveland. The population was 446 at the 2010 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Lindsey as a Tree City U ...

on August 6, 1893 when their sleeper cars derailed and crashed into a freight train that was stopped on a siding, resulting in three fatalities. Ryan's legs were shattered, and for weeks there were doubts that he would even be able to walk again, resulting in a $10,000 settlement from the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...

. As late as the following January, it was still considered unlikely that he would be able to resume his career, but he returned to post a career-high .357 batting average. Almost exactly one year after the wreck, on August 5, 1894, Ryan and teammate

Walt Wilmot Walter Robert Wilmot (October 18, 1863 – February 1, 1929) was an American professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 10 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Washington Nationals (1888–89), Chicago Colts (1890–95), and New ...

were credited with saving hundreds of lives when a fire broke out in the stands at

West Side Park West Side Park was the name used for two different ballparks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois. They were both home fields of the team now known as the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Both ballparks hosted baseball championships. T ...

; the two players used bats to break down barbed-wire fencing, allowing fans to escape onto the field. In 1900, Ryan broke Tom Brown's career record of 348 assists by an outfielder. Ryan finished his career with 375 assists. He held the record until

broke it in 1924. Ryan ended his major league career with the Washington Senators of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

in 1902–1903. He was a career .308 hitter with 118 home runs and 1,093

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 b ...

in 2,014 games. As a pitcher, he compiled a 6–1 record with a 3.62

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

and 43

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is den ...

s in 117

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning ...

. On the tough side, Ryan was one of the few players to punch a reporter at least twice. After his first episode, in 1887, Charlie Seymour of the '' Chicago Herald'' wrote, "Ryan slugged the magnificent Chicago reporter in Pittsburg the other day." In the other, in 1892, he took exception to George Beachel of the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Doughert ...

''. In the clubhouse after a game, Ryan "picked a quarrel with eachel and then attacked him, using him up pretty badly. No arrests have been made." In 1896, he punched a train conductor after losing his place and his teammates had gone to bed. A conductor who intervened was "called down by Mr. Ryan, who got in one upper cut before is longtime-captain manager Cap Anson stopped the fun," wrote

Tim Murnane Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4, 1851 – February 7, 1917) was an American sportswriter specializing in baseball, regarded as the leading baseball writer at '' The Boston Globe'' for about 30 years until his death. At the same time, he organi ...

of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

''.

Later life

Ryan died in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

at age 60. He was married twice and left no children. In the 2001 book ''

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ''The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'' is a reference book written by Bill James featuring an overview of professional baseball decade by decade, along with rankings of the top 100 players at each position. The original edition was publi ...

'', writer

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

ranked Ryan as the 26th greatest center fielder of all time. He was buried in an unmarked grave until 2022 until the help of the SABR Grave Marker Project helped efforts to lend a proper gravestone.https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2022/12/3/23490897/cubs-dedicate-headstone-19th-century-star-jimmy-ryan

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jimmy 1863 births 1923 deaths Major League Baseball center fielders Chicago White Stockings players Chicago Colts players Chicago Orphans players Chicago Pirates players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players 19th-century baseball players National League home run champions Bridgeport Giants players Colorado Springs Millionaires players Evansville River Rats players Holyoke (minor league baseball) players Meriden (minor league baseball) players Montgomery Senators players New Britain (minor league baseball) players St. Paul Saints (Western League) players Minor league baseball managers Syracuse Orangemen baseball coaches Baseball players from Massachusetts Baseball players from Chicago People from Clinton, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Worcester County, Massachusetts Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois)

Baseball career

Later life

See also

References

External links