John W. O'Rourke (August 23, 1849 – June 23, 1911) was an American 19th-century

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. Between 1879 and 1883, he played in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

with the

Boston Red Caps The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

(1879–1880) and in the American Association for the

New York Metropolitans The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York M ...

(1883). A

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 ...

, O'Rourke batted and threw left-handed. He was born in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

. O'Rourke was the older brother of Jim O'Rourke, another major league baseball player. In a three-season career, O'Rourke posted a .295

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 ...

with 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 98 RBI in 230

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

. O'Rourke died in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, at age 61.

Best season

*1879 – Led National League in

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, an ...

(.521) and RBI (62), and finished fourth in the batting race with a .341 BA behind

Paul Hines Paul Aloysius Hines (March 1, 1855 – July 10, 1935) was an American center fielder in professional baseball who played in the National Association and Major League Baseball from 1872 to 1891. Born in Virginia, he is credited with winning base ...

(.357), his younger brother Jim O'Rourke (.348), and

King Kelly Michael Joseph "King" Kelly (December 31, 1857 – November 8, 1894), also commonly known as "$10,000 Kelly", was an American outfielder, catcher, and manager (baseball), manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the Na ...

(.348).

Sources

Baseball AlmanacBaseball Library
* 1849 births 1911 deaths Boston Red Caps players New York Metropolitans players National League RBI champions Major League Baseball center fielders Baseball players from Bridgeport, Connecticut Manchester (minor league baseball) players Philadelphia Athletics (minor league) players 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-outfielder-1840s-stub

Best season

See also

Sources