Ned Cuthbert

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Edgar Edward "Ned" Cuthbert (June 20, 1845-February 6, 1905) was an American professional baseball player.

Cuthbert's baseball career began in 1865 with the Keystone Club of Philadelphia. After two seasons as a second baseman and outfielder with the Keystones, he moved across town to the West Philadelphia club, playing only four games for them before joining Philadelphia Athletics. With Cuthbert, the Athletics won national championships in 1867 and 1868. A solid batsman and outfielder, Ned jumped to the Chicago White Stockings in 1870.

Cuthbert was with a number of teams in the National Association and its successor, the National League, playing in Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis before retiring as a player after the 1877 season. In 1882, he came out of retirement to act as player/manager for St. Louis team of the newly-formed American Association. The following year, Cuthbert relinquished the managerial duties but continued with Brown Stockings as a player before jumping to the Baltimore franchise of the ill-fated Union Association in 1884, his final season.

Reportedly, Ned stole the first base in organized baseball in 1865 while playing for the Philadelphia Keystones, simply by waiting for the pitcher to be distracted and running from first to second base. However, according to Peter Morris' "A Game Of Inches", base-stealing was part of baseball well before 1865; the earliest explicit account of stealing a base goes back to 1856.

Ned Cuthbert died of endocarditis in St. Louis, Missouri, and was laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

[edit] External links

• Baseball Reference
• Baseball Almanac
• The Dead Ball Era

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