Al Thake had just begun his professional baseball career with the Atlantics of Brooklyn when he drowned while fishing with a friend near Fort Hamilton.

Born in Wymondham, Norfolk, England on September 21, 1849, Albert Thake came to the United States with his mother Mary Martha (Scott) and four siblings through New York to Cleveland, Ohio where his father, William Thake, already set up a home.  After the Great War for Slavery, when Albert reached adulthood, he moved to Brooklyn where he became a machinist by day and a ballplayer by evening and weekend.

And he was a good one, too.  Working his way through the best of the local clubs, Thake was signed to play the outfield by the Brooklyn Atlantics, making his debut in June, 1872 and gathering 23 hits in his first 18 games, scoring 14 runs and driving in 15 more.  The rookie was batting .295 when a fishing trip on September 1, 1872 took a bad turn.

“Albert Thake, the left-fielder of the Atlantic Base-Ball Club, was drowned yesterday afternoon while out fishing in the stream, near Fort Hamilton.  He fell out of the boat, and the tide carried him instantly beyond the reach of his comrades.”

“Death of a Base-Ballist,” New York Times, September 2, 1892: 8.

Wire copy stories suggested Thake just caught a fish when a wave knocked him into the water and he may have been caught in fishing lines.

“In respect to the late Albert Thake, whose death by drowning off Fort Hamilton, on Sunday, has already been chronicled, the Atlantic-Eckford game, to have taken place at the Capitoline, yesterday, was indefinitely postponed, and the flags at both the Union and Capitoline grounds floated at half-mast throughout the day.  The deceased was twenty-three years of age, and has long been known as an amateur player, being connected with the Athletic nine, and subsequently with the Star Club, of Brooklyn.  His first appearance as a professional occurred in June of this year, when he became a left-fielder of the Atlantic nine, during his brief career in which he proved himself in every respect a most expert player.  Mr. Thake also bore an unexceptionable personal character, and his loss has thrown a gloom over the members of his Club, who will find it indeed difficult to replace him.”

“The Late Albert Thake,” New York Times, September 3, 1872: 5.

A month after his death, teammates organized a benefit game to raise money for his mother, now without a husband or her youngest son.  By then, Albert had been buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

NOTES:

1860 US Census
New York Arrival Lists (West Point, NY)
Brooklyn City Directory, 1868

Baseball-Reference 
FindaGrave.com