James Franklin Slagle (July 11, 1873 – May 10, 1956), nicknamed both "Rabbit" and "Shorty", was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player who played 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 c ...

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), ...

(MLB) from 1899 to 1908. In his 10 MLB seasons, he played for four teams, all in 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 ...

. Officially, he was in height and weighed . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Slagle began his professional career in minor league baseball (MiLB) in 1895. In 1898, he won the Western League batting title with a .378 average. He spent four seasons in MiLB before signing with the Washington Senators in 1899. He played one season in

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

before signing with the Philadelphia Phillies when the Senators folded. Over the next two season, he played for the Phillies and, for a short time, the Boston Beaneaters. In 1902, he signed with the Chicago Cubs, and stayed with the team for seven seasons. He was the Cubs' starting center fielder for three of their NL championships, from 1906 to 1908, which includes two

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 ...

victories. Slagle became the first player to successfully accomplish a straight steal of home in World Series play. His last MLB season was in 1908, and later played two more seasons in MiLB in 1909 and 1910. He later settled in Chicago, where he died in 1956, at the age of 82. In 1300 games over 10 seasons, Slagle posted a .268

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 ...

(1343-for-5005) with 781 runs, 124 doubles, 56 triples, 2 home runs, 344

RBIs 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 ...

, 274 stolen bases, 619 bases on balls, .352 on-base percentage and .317 slugging percentage. Although on three straight Cubs pennant winners, he only appeared in the

1907 World Series The 1907 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1907 season. The fourth edition of the World Series, it featured the defending National League champion Chicago Cubs and the American League champion Detroit Tig ...

, batting .273 (6-for-22) with 3 runs, 3 RBI, 6 stolen bases and 2 walks.

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* * 1873 births 1956 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Chicago Cubs players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Philadelphia Phillies players Boston Beaneaters players Omaha Omahogs players Houston Buffaloes players Grand Rapids Bob-o-links players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1870s-stub

See also

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