Marcy McDonnell pitched a single game for the Baltimore Marylands in 1873, on the National Association’s Opening Day even, but wound up losing. In fact, Baltimore lost all six decisions in that season before folding up shop.

In that game, McDonnell gave up 24 runs on 18 hits – but only three of those runs were earned. The Baltimore Sun placed the blame on a backup catcher.

“Lennon, who had been catching for the Baltimore Club, was disabled in the second inning, and his place was supplied by a player whose knowledge of catching is extremely limited… In the fifth inning the miserable playing of the Maryland’s catcher enabled the Washingtonians to make fourteen runs.“

“Match Game of Base Ball – Washington vs. Maryland,” Baltimore Sun, April 15, 1873: 1.

The Washington Chronicle reporter saw it differently, noting, “…the Washington nine, by a streak of terrific batting, seldom witnessed, made 14 runs, completely demoralizing their opponents.”

“Base Ball,” Washington Chronicle, April 15, 1873: 4.

The New York Clipper fills in some other details. For example, Bill Lennon went back in at catcher after that fateful fifth inning and finished the game behind the plate. Also, it was third baseman Henry Kohler who tried to catch the other three innings. Finally, a few of Baltimore’s better players were missing for opening game, including William Barrett, who retired, Red Woodhead had not yet arrived from Boston, and three others, including pitcher Frank Sellman and infielder Wally Goldsmith, not being in the lineup. (Barrett came out of “retirement” to play one game for the other Baltimore-based nine. The other three would appear in just one Marylands game each.)

“Washington vs. Maryland,” New York Clipper, April 26, 1873: 2.

Anyway – four pitchers pitched six complete games for the winless Baltimore Marylands and all four combined were lit up for an average of 25+ runs per nine. McDonnell had the lowest ERA (by far), and it’s a little surprising he didn’t get to pitch again. It was his only major league appearance – for a team that was only a major league team in name and not in terms of talent or organization. In fact, not a single player on this team appeared in a major league game for another organization.

If you checked out the box score, you’ll see that his name is listed as McDoolan. SABR’s Justin McKinney did some serious digging to find that McDoolan was actually our man McDonnell. Researchers have noted that many players used different names when playing – maybe to hide things from parents or because ballplayers didn’t always have the greatest reputations. I’ll put forward that in this case, it might be because McDonnell was still a teenager. The current date of birth listed for McDonnell is 1852, but his death certificate says 1856, which puts McDonnell at 17 years old (and change) at the time of his major league debut.

Marcy Richard McDonnell was born February 14, 1852 in Baltimore, the third child of James and Mary (Glass) McDonnell. James spent a long time with the US Navy as a carpenter and, later, as an architect. Marcy married Victoria (Birdie) March and they had four children. In later years, Marcy worked as a clerk and a weighmaster for a coal mining company in Pennsylvania. He died April 2, 1916 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Sources:

1870, 1900, 1910 US Census
PA Marriage Records
PA Death Certificates