John A. "Cub" Stricker, born John A. Streaker (June 8, 1859 – November 19, 1937) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

second baseman. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) for seven different teams during his 11-season career, mostly with the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakl ...

and Cleveland Blues/Spiders.

Career

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Stricker was signed by the Athletics as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in and played four seasons with moderate success. He would get his most playing time while with the Cleveland Blues though, and did well with the opportunity, especially his first season with them in , when he batted .264 in 131 games, scored 122

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

, and stole 86 bases. He stole 60 bases the following year, and finished his career with a respectable 278, along with 1,106

base hits In baseball statistics, a hit (denoted by H), also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches or passes first base after hitting the ball into fair territory with neither the benefit of an error nor a fielder's c ...

and a .239 batting average. In , he was signed by the St. Louis Browns to be the team's

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. His time was cut short when after 23 games, the team had only won six of them. The final straw came after a home loss, and Stricker jumped into the stands and punched a fan who had been heckling the team. He was traded soon after to the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

in exchange for

Pud Galvin James Francis "Pud" Galvin (December 25, 1856 – March 7, 1902) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher in the 19th century. He was MLB's first 300-game winner and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965. Baseball career Galv ...

. Cub did not play a game for the Pirates, as he was traded again, three days later to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

in exchange for Adonis Terry. Though his career was unremarkable, it was marred by an incident in his final season, while playing with the Washington Senators. During the sixth inning of a game on August 5, 1893 in Philadelphia, the crowd was jeering the Senators relentlessly when, after making the third

out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...

, Stricker walked over near the crowd and feigned throwing the ball at them a couple times until he finally did release the ball. The ball struck the ground before the fence that divided the crowd and the baseball field and bounded over the fence and struck a young man in the face, breaking his nose. Stricker was arrested, and held until a hearing could be conducted. He apologized, explaining that he meant to only throw it into the fence and that it was an accident.

Post-career

Stricker died at the age of 78 in his hometown of Philadelphia and was interred at

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is 200 acres in size and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in neighboring Ph ...

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). It was originally two separa ...

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Cub Stricker
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stricker, Cub 1859 births 1937 deaths 19th-century baseball players Atlanta Atlantas players Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Major League Baseball player-managers Baseball players from Philadelphia Boston Reds (PL) players Chester (minor league baseball) players Cleveland Blues (1887–88) players Cleveland Infants players Cleveland Spiders players Major League Baseball second basemen Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Philadelphia Athletics (minor league) players Pottsville (minor league baseball) players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Providence Grays (minor league) players Scranton Indians players Springfield Ponies players St. Louis Browns managers St. Louis Browns (AA) players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players

Career

Post-career

See also

References

External links