John Joseph Dunn (October 6, 1872 – October 22, 1928) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

at the turn of the 20th century who later became a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

club owner.

Early life and playing career

Dunn was born in

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 13,050 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania, Meadville is withi ...

, and grew up in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

. When he was nine, a boxcar ran over his left arm while playing at a local railway. He was told by doctors that his arm had to be either amputated or risk death. He declined an amputation, but his arm was left crippled from above the elbow and couldn't lift the arm above his neck. In 1896 Dunn played for

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in the Eastern League, and the following year he reached the major leagues as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. He bounced around the majors for seven years, having one good season with the Bridegrooms in 1899, with a 23–13 record. When he wasn't playing, Dunn studied how the game worked from the sidelines.Montville: p. 33. He was also a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

. After 1904, he pitched and managed in the minors for a few seasons, winning an

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

pennant in 1905.

Minor league ownership

In 1907, Dunn took over as manager of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

, a minor league club with no connection to the current major league team by that name. He bought the team on November 16, 1909, for $70,000. He allegedly received a $10,000 loan from

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, they became the Oakland ...

owner/manager

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. Mack holds records for the most wins (3,731), losses (3,948), ties (76), and ga ...

. He developed a minor league powerhouse by scouting and developing his own players. He allegedly signed players by how they looked instead of skill, sometimes never seeing a player play before offering a contract. In 1914, the Orioles were running away with the league pennant but losing money at the box office because of a rival team in town from the new aspiring "third major league", the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

. The Baltimore Terrapins played at their new steel-beamed modern stadium, Terrapin Park, which was across the street from his older "American League Park" of 1901 from the club's days in the beginnings of the "upstart"

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

. To make his payroll, Dunn had to move the team to

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, and sell off his star player,

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

, and 11 other players to the majors. He later said that selling Ruth was his biggest regret. Dunn was indirectly responsible for Ruth's famous nickname, with Ruth's teammates referring to him as "Dunn's $10,000 Babe" for the price he drew. The team moved back to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

in 1916, and Dunn again put together a juggernaut, ultimately signing 10 more players who went on to have solid major league careers. The best of these was pitcher

Lefty Grove Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's ...

, who went 109–36 as an Oriole between 1920 and 1924. By that time, Dunn's team was in the midst of winning seven straight

championships, many by huge margins. In addition to Grove, Dunn discovered other quality major leaguers such as Ernie Shore, Jack Bentley, Tommy Thomas, George Earnshaw, and Dick Porter. Dunn's team was regarded as the equal of many major league teams, and he kept them so by refusing to trade or sell players to the majors. It wasn't until the 1925 off-season, when the other, struggling teams in the league made an agreement with the majors on a set price for transferring players, that Dunn finally relented and began selling his stars for money. His team won one more league title in 1925 and then dropped back into the pack. Dunn's son, Jack Dunn Jr., played for the Orioles in 1914, 1918, and 1922, and was secretary and co-manager for several years until his death from pneumonia in 1923. Dunn's grandson, Jack Dunn III (1921-1987), managed the club in 1949. Dunn ran the Orioles until his death from a heart attack in Baltimore on October 22, 1928.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Jack 1872 births 1928 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball third basemen Brooklyn Bridegrooms players Brooklyn Superbas players Philadelphia Phillies players New York Giants (baseball) players Baltimore Orioles (1901–02) players 20th-century American sportsmen Binghamton Crickets (1880s) players Toronto Canadians players Albany Senators players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Providence Grays (minor league) players Baltimore Orioles (International League) managers Minor league baseball executives Crawford County, Pennsylvania People from Meadville, Pennsylvania Baseball players from Bayonne, New Jersey