<— NOV 25 NOV 27 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1855 Jacob Doyle

Doyle, just 16 years old, appeared in nine of the eleven games played by the Washington Nationals in 1872 – a team that lost all eleven decisions in their short history. (He was a teammate of the rather infamous Seymour Studley.) Doyle played shortstop in all but one game, gracing second base in that other one. He would remain in or around the capital city for several years on various amateur teams before joining the Navy as a paymaster in 1880.

When Doyle made his first appearance with Washington, he was 16 years and 146 days old. That means for 11 years he was the youngest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game. He held this record until 1883 when Piggy Ward topped him by about three months. Joe Nuxhall broke that record in 1944. One figures that if we find Roy Campanella’s first game with the Washington Elite Giants in a league game in 1937, Campanella would break Nuxhall’s mark. And there may be other Negro League players who played before turning 17 that would make this list, too. Anyway – the list below is your list of the youngest kids to play in an MLB game.

Joe Nuxhall, 15-316 on June 10, 1944.
Frank “Piggy” Ward, 16-057 on June 12, 1883.
Jacob Doyle, 16-146 on April 20, 1872.
Joe Stanley, 16-162 on September 11, 1897.
Willie McGill, 16-179 on May 8, 1890.
Frank Pearce, 16-188 on October 4, 1876.
Leonidas Lee, 16-216 on July 17, 1877.
Tommy Brown, 16-241 on August 3, 1944.
Carl Schieb, 16-248 on September 6, 1943.
Frank “Coonie” Blank, 16-301 on August 15, 1909.
Jim Derrington, 16-306 on September 30, 1956.
Ralph “Putsy” Caballero, 16-314 on September 14, 1944.
Roger McKee, 16-336 on August 18, 1943.
Alex George, 16-354 on September 16, 1955.

Doyle would join the navy, spending some portion of his time in touring South America and serving in the Phillipines during the Spanish-American War. He returned to service during World War I as a paymaster at the Great Lakes Naval Station. Doyle retired as a Lieutenant Commander. His obit mentioned nothing of his brief foray into major league baseball.

“The People’s Column,” Washington Chronicle, June 26, 1872: 4.
“The Diamond Field,” Washington National Republican, September 20, 1877: 4.
“Jacob D. Doyle, Retired Naval Officer, Is Dead,” Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1941: 10.

1866 Hugh Duffy
1866 Jim Canavan
1866 Mike Slattery

1866 Art Twineham

Twineham spent two years with St. Louis in 1893 and 1894 and, best as I can tell, didn’t prove to anyone that he couldn’t play. In fact, Chris Von Der Ahe made him the manager at the end of the 1894 season. ‘Old Hoss’ didn’t keep any friends when he showed up out of shape in 1895 (and he irked people in New Orleans for trying to steal players during spring training). He was eventually released. This earned him his ticket to the minors and for the rest of the decade he was a minor league nomad – mostly because he couldn’t stop drinking. He eventually landed in an asylum.

In 1904, news stories talked of Twineham taking a job with a New Jersey company that manufactured dynamite. I wonder if that’s how he wound up in China.

“Down on Twineham,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 27, 1895: 10.
“Von Der Ahe’s Misfits,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 2, 1895: 6.
“Base Hits,” The Weekly Missoulian (Missoula, MT), May 22, 1895: 1.
“‘Old Hoss’ is Insane,” Grand Rapids Press, June 8, 1901: 9.
“Magnates and Players,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 2, 1904: 6.
Notice, Chicago Daily Inter Ocean, March 24, 1905: 10.

1869 William Ritter
1871 Fred Tenney
1873 James Edward (Gussie) Gannon
1874 Dan McFarlan
1878 Bill Malarkey
1883 Frank Lobert
1889 Hanson Horsey
1890 Dan Sherman
1895 George Tomer
1897 Firman Newton (Bill) Warwick
1898 John Kerr
1900 Archie Cole
1900 John Churry
1905 Bob Johnson
1907 Gowell Claset
1908 Oran Frazier
1908 Vernon Louis (Lefty) Gomez
1909 Ed Mayweather
1913 Garton Del Savio
1914 Ed Weiland
1914 Herbert Buster
1916 Eddie Miller
1916 Bob Elliott
1916 Walt Ripley
1917 Pat Cooper
1917 Mike Kosman
1919 Danny Reynolds
1919 Joe Jenkins
1920 Jodie Beeler
1920 Hollis Kimball (Bud) Sheely
1921 Mickey McGowan
1922 Joe Muir
1923 Danny Ozark
1927 Pete Taylor
1933 Minnie Rojas
1937 Bob Lee
1941 Jeff Torborg
1947 Richie Hebner
1947 Larry Gura
1950 Jorge Orta
1955 Jay Howell
1955 Mike Mendoza
1956 Bob Walk
1956 Ron Meridith
1959 Mike Moore
1960 Harold Reynolds
1962 Chuck Finley
1968 Hector Wagner
1969 Sam Militello
1976 Brian Schneider
1977 John Parrish
1979 Jeff Fulchino
1983 Matt Garza
1985 Matt Carpenter
1985 Jhonny Nunez
1985 Corey Brown
1988 Matt Tracy
1988 Hector Velazquez
1988 Josh Smoker
1991 Corey Knebel
1991 Kyle Waldrop
1991 Yoshi Tsutsugo
1995 Ryan Walker
1996 Cal Raleigh
1998 Robinson Pina
1998 Carlos Navaez

OBITUARIES:

1907 Eddie Burke
1928 Butts Wagner
1928 Denny Clare
1933 Eggie Dallard
1937 Andy Bednar
1952 Warren Gill
1954 Bill Doak
1962 Al Carson
1969 Emil Kush
1972 George Jackson
1973 Tom Kane
1975 Laymon Yokely
1982 Hub Walker
1985 Monk Sherlock
1986 Randolph Prim
1989 Lew Fonseca
2004 Tom Haller
2012 Mike Kume
2016 Bill Endicott
2021 Mel Nelson

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT!!!

1996 Owners approve the latest collective bargaining agreement, which includes regular season interleague play.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1887 Brooklyn purchases Bob Carruthers from the St. Louis Browns for a cool $8,500…

1962 The Yankees send Bill Skowron to the Dodgers for Stan Williams.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox send batting champ Pete Runnels to Houston for Roman Mejias.

Finally – the first year draft nets some great picks. Houston took Jim Wynn from Cincinnati, Washington drafted Lou Piniella from the Indians, Baltimore took Paul Blair from the Mets, and the Cubs took Glenn Beckert from Boston.

1986 The Yankees send Doug Drabek, Brian Fisher, and Logan Easley to the Pirates for Rick Rhoden, Cecilio Guante, and Pat Clemens.

1996 Anaheim sends J. T. Snow to the Giants for Fausto Macey and Allen Watson.