John Montgomery Ward
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| John Montgomery Ward | ||
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| Infielder/Pitcher | ||
| Born: March 3, 1860 Bellefonte, Pennsylvania |
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| Died: March 4, 1925 (aged 65) Augusta, Georgia |
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| Batted: Left | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| July 15, 1878 for the Providence Grays |
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| Final game | ||
| September 29, 1894 for the New York Giants |
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| Career statistics | ||
| Batting average | .275 | |
| Hits | 2,104 | |
| RBI | 867 | |
| Teams | ||
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As Player:
As Manager: |
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| Career highlights and awards | ||
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| Member of the National | ||
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Elected | 1964 | |
| Election Method | Veteran's Committee | |
John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925) was a 19th century Major League Baseball star pitcher, shortstop and manager.[1][2] Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania.[3] He later successfully challenged the player reserve clause, leading the formation the of a new baseball league, the Players League.
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[edit] Early life
At 13 years of age, he was sent to Penn State University. In his short time there, he helped jump start a baseball program and is often credited for developing the first curve ball. The following year, in 1874, his parents died. As a result he was forced to quit school and try and earn his own way. He tried to make it as a travelling salesman, but when that proved unsuccessful, he returned to his hometown. It was there that he discovered baseball.[3] In 1878, the semi-pro team that he was playing for folded, which opened the door for him to move on to a new opportunity. He was offered a contract to pitch for the Providence Grays of the still new National League, an all professional major league that had began its operations in 1876.[3]
[edit] Providence Grays
Ward's first season with the Grays was a successful one, going 22-13 with a 1.51 ERA. He played that season exclusively as a pitcher, but during the following two seasons, while seeing increasing time in the outfield and at third base.[2] Ward had his two finest seasons as a pitcher, going 47-19 with 239 strikeouts and a 2.15 ERA in 1879 and 39-24 with 230 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA in 1880. Perhaps more remarkably, he pitched nearly 600 innings each year (587.0 in 1879 and 595.0 in 1880).[2] As a 19 year old pitcher, he won 47 games and led the 1879 Providence Grays to a first place finish.[4]
In 1880, he began to play other positions and also expanded his leadership role to include managing when became a player-manager for 32 games, winning 18 of them, as the Grays finished in second place.[1] On June 17, 1880, Ward became only the second man in history to pitch a perfect game, defeating future Hall of Famer Pud Galvin 5-0.[3] John Lee Richmond had thrown baseball's first perfect game just five days before, on June 12. The next perfect game by a National League pitcher wouldn't happen for 84 years, when Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game in 1964.[5]
In 1881 and 1882, were the first seasons in which he starting playing more games in the outfield, due to a nagging arm injury that first occurred while he was sliding into a base.[3] He still pitched well when he did pitch, winning 37 games over those two seasons and having ERAs of 2.13 and 2.59 respectively,[2] and on August 17, 1882, he pitched the longest complete game shutout in history, blanking the Detroit Wolverines 1-0 in 18 innings.[3] By this time however, the Grays felt his best days were behind him, and sold their former ace hurler to the New York Giants.
[edit] New York and Reserve Clause
Ward moved to the New York Gothams (renamed the Giants in 1885) in 1883, and completed his transition from a pitcher to an everyday player in 1884. With his pitching career over due to his arm injury, he couldn’t wait for his arm to heal before he returned to the field, so he taught himself to throw left-handed in order to play center field for the remainder of the 1884 season. With his arm fully recuperated, he became the every day shortstop in 1885.[6]
Ward graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885. Together with the other players, he formed the first baseball players union, The Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, the first sports labor union. Ward and the players had become frustrated with the owners reserve clause, which allowed them to sign players to one year contracts and then not allow them to negotiate with other teams when those contracts expired. The players felt that the owners had absolute power. At first, the players had some success, gaining the freedom to negotiate with other teams when they were asked to take a pay cut by their current team.[3] In October of 1887, Ward married actress Helen Dauvray.[6]
In 1888, after the Giants had finished first in the National League,[7] and had won a playoff series known today as a "World Series", Ward and a group of All Stars headed off on a barnstorming world tour. the owners held their winter meetings, and created a classification system that would determine a players' salary. Under the system the most a player could earn was $2,500. The Giants then sold Ward to the Washington Nationals for a record price of $12,000. Ward was furious and left the tour early. He then demanded a meeting with the owners, and said he would refuse to play for Washington unless he received a large portion of his record sale price. Washington would eventually refuse payment on the transaction, nullifying the deal.[3]
The owners denied Ward's request for a meeting discussing the new classification system, saying there would be no talks until after the up coming season. Though, the Ward and union fought hard for these issues, this did not distract him or his Giants team, as he hit .299 and helped the Giants capture their second straight "World Series" title in 1889.[3][8]
[edit] The Players League
Ward realized that negotiations with the owners were going nowhere, and threatened to create a Players League. The owners thought of it as nothing more than an idle threat but had failed to realize Ward's connections in the business community, and he began to launch the new league. This new Player's League included a profit sharing system for the players and had no reserve clause or classification plan.[3]
The season began in 1890 with over half of the National League's players from the previous year in it's ranks.[3] Ward acted as a player-manager for the Brooklyn club, nicknamed the Ward's Wonders, and finished seventh in the league with a .335 batting average.[2] While the Player's League drew well at the box office, the team's owners grew nervous when the money didn't come in as expected because of the profit sharing system. Soon they began holding secret meetings with their NL counterparts and, one by one, sold their teams to the rival league.[3]
[edit] Later career
Due to an agreement after the dissolution of the Players League, Ward would stay in Brooklyn as player/manger for their NL team, the Brooklyn Grooms. Following the 1892 season, Ward expressed his desire to return to the Giants, and was sold to his former club for $6,000. Following the 1894 season, he retired at the age of 34. He finished his career with a .275 average, 2,104 hits, and 540 stolen bases. He is the only man in history to win over 100 games as a pitcher and collect over 2,000 hits.[3]
[edit] Post-career
Ward retired from baseball at age 34 in order to enter the legal profession. As a successful lawyer he represented baseball players against the National League. Later he acted as president and part owner of the Boston Braves franchise and became an official in the short lived Federal League in 1914, acting a the business manager of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops.[3]
In the last quarter century of his life, Ward’s real sporting passion became golf. He won several championships around New York, played all over Europe, and competed regularly in the United States Golf Association U.S. Amateur, he finished 2nd in the prestigious North and South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst Country Club in North Carolina in 1903. The North and South Amateur was the equal of any major golf event at the turn of the century. The first North and South event took place in 1901. Ever the organizer, he was one of the founders of the New York Golf Association and the Long Island Golf Association.
John Montgomery Ward died in Augusta, Georgia, the day following his 65th birthday on March 4, 1925 after a bout of pneumonia[9], and is interred in Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, Long Island, New York.[10] He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1964.[11] Ward is one of the most underappreciated players in the Hall of Fame. According to the win shares formula developed by Bill James, Ward is the 15th greatest non-pitcher in major-league history.
[edit] See also
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 500 stolen bases
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball saves champions
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
- List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 stolen bases
- Pitchers who have thrown a perfect game
- Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster
[edit] References
- ^ a b John Montgomery Ward's managerial statistics. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c d e John Montgomery Ward's career statistics. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simply Baseball Notebook: Legends. z.lee28.tripod.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ 1879 Providence Grays team page. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ Perfect games by pitchers:Box scores. baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b Who Was Baseball's Most Interesting Character? Monte Ward, by Mike Attiyeh. baseballlibrary.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ 1888 New York Giants team page. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ 1889 New York Giants team page. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ John Montgomery Ward's Obituary. New York Time, Thursday, March 5th, 1925. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ John Montgomery Ward's Hall of Fame profile. baseballhalloffame.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ John Montgomery Ward's career statistics. retrosheet.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Works by John M. Ward at Project Gutenberg
- Box score for Ward's perfect game
- Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, by John M. Ward, 1888, from Project Gutenberg
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