Jacob Knodell was a catcher of some repute whose nomadic baseball career included some drinking and carousing – all of which contributed to his demise from both baseball and his life.

Here’s a brief record of Knodell’s playing career, which I didn’t feel like typing, that I found in the Trenton Times. The article notes two of his three “major league” seasons (with the Atlantics in 1874 and 1875) but left out his quick stop in Milwaukee with the Grays in 1878 – but he only played four games there… It checks out with various box scores and contract notes I found elsewhere.

Among his teammates in Brooklyn with the Atlantics was Henry Kessler. Kessler also played with Knodell on the Leadville Blues – a touring club of the day that also recruited players by offering them both a job and opportunities to acquire shares of mining businesses. (I should write about that team one day…) I digress – the point is that Knodell was somewhat connected, having good relationships with many nationally known players. And, other than his drinking habit, Knodell’s ability to catch and play multiple positions made him a valuable commodity – just not at the major league level. (He hit .179 in his MLB career – which wasn’t going to cut it.)

Most catchers of that era wound up with battered fingers after a career behind the plate. Knodell became known for his sticky fingers. In April 1887, Jacob Augustus Knodell lifted the wallet of his brother-in-law, James Haven, absconding with $188 dollars – spending at least $20. He was caught with the goods and put in front of a judge charged with grand larceny.

Oddly, Knodell was on the other end of a heist – when a fellow ballplayer, George Bennett, got drunk with Knodell, then brought him home whilst inviting some female company to entertain them. When Knodell passed out, Bennett took Knodell’s belongings – but he was turned into the police by one of the women who watched him do it.

I’m going out of order here… As his career wound down, Knodell’s mind started leaving him. In 1885, he was released by Trenton after another drinking spree at Coney Island. In a bad state, he asked a druggist for morphine suggesting he wanted to kill himself. The druggist asked him to wait a moment and called a police officer instead, who took Knodell home. In 1886, Knodell was declared insane – this could be the long-term effects of having syphilis, but that is conjecture on my part.

Six months after stealing his brother-in-law’s wallet, he was dead, passing of paralysis of the insane at the Kings County asylum on October 26, 1887, per his Brooklyn Death Record. He was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. Knodell was all of 35 when he passed to the next league. 

Knodell left behind a wife, the former Elizabeth (Lizzie) Connell of Stratford, Ontario (Canada); they married in Detroit in 1884. (Jacob was listed as 29, which is three years younger than he was – Knodell was born July 26, 1852 in Brooklyn. Lizzie was listed as 19, which makes me wonder if she wasn’t a few years younger than listed…) I cannot tell if they were still married at the time of his death in the asylum. My hunch says that it wasn’t happy for long, given his propensity for drink, unstable baseball career, and his mental decline within two years of their wedding.

Last and not least… It’s possible that Knodell was his playing name and not his real name. His FindaGrave profile spells his last name “Kenedell” – and if you search for Kenedell and a burial year of 1887 on the Cypress Hills Cemetery website, you’ll find a burial record of October 27, 1887 – which is consistent with the burial date of Knodell.

Notes:

Brooklyn Death Records
Michigan Marriage Records

“Two Sports on a Spree,” Brooklyn Eagle, November 11, 1878: 4.
Trenton Times, September 20, 1884: 1.
“A Small Bottle of Morphine,” Brooklyn Union, August 1, 1885: 2.
“Sporting-Life Notes,” Richmond Dispatch, August 4, 1885: 1.
“Three People Declared Insane,” Brooklyn Union, May 20, 1886: 6.
“He Caught Money,” Brooklyn Standard-Union, April 28, 1887: 1.