Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie (September 11, 1868 – October 30, 1935) 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 ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

. 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 (A ...

from 1890 to 1902 for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, St. Louis Browns,

Baltimore Orioles (NL) 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 ...

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) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, Baltimore Orioles (AL), and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

. Brodie set a 19th century record by playing in 727 consecutive games. In the mid-1890s, along with Willie Keeler and

Joe Kelley Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with J ...

, he was part of one of the best outfields of his era.

Early life

Brodie was the son of Irish immigrant Alexander Brodie, a tailor and a Shakespearean actor. In 1887, Brodie moved to

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

, where he played in the semiprofessional industrial leagues. That same year, Brodie, 18, met Carrie Henry, 15, and they got married. The couple lived in Roanoke through Brodie's baseball playing career.

Baseball career

Brodie took on the nickname Steve because of the daredevil of the same name, who was said to have survived a jump off of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East Rive ...

. The ballplaying Brodie broke into the major leagues with the Boston Beaneaters in 1890; NL teams sought a high volume of new players that year because they had lost players who jumped to the new

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

. In 1891, Brodie began a 727-game streak of consecutive games played, the longest such streak in the 19th century. Brodie spent several years in the outfield with the Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s. His teammates in the outfield were two future

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

members, Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley, giving the Orioles one of the best outfields of the 19th century. On the baseball field, Brodie was known as a jokester with an eccentric personality. Teammates and fans were sometimes taken aback when he recited Shakespearean verse during games or carried on conversations with himself in the outfield. In 1438 games over 12 seasons, Brodie posted a .303 batting average (1728-for-5703) with 886 runs, 191

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

, 89 triples, 25

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 900

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

, 289

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...

s, 420

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Sec ...

, .365

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, and .381

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. He recorded a .958

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

primarily as an outfielder but also played several games at second and third base.

Later life

When 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 ...

emerged as a third major league, Brodie became a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

for the Baltimore Terrapins. The

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

sent him to France to facilitate recreation programs for U.S. soldiers in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He later served as an administrator at Baltimore's Municipal Stadium. Brodie died in 1935 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore County.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodie, Steve 1868 births 1935 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball center fielders Boston Beaneaters players St. Louis Browns (NL) players Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Baltimore Orioles (1901–02) players New York Giants (NL) players Minor league baseball managers Altoona (minor league baseball) players Canton (minor league baseball) players Wheeling National Citys players Wheeling Nailers (baseball) players Hamilton Hams players Chicago White Stockings (minor league) players Montreal Royals players Worcester Riddlers players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Binghamton Bingoes players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Providence Grays (minor league) players Newark Sailors players Roanoke Tigers players Trenton Tigers players Birmingham Barons players Portsmouth Truckers players Norfolk Tars players Newark Indians players Baseball players from Virginia People from Warrenton, Virginia

Early life

Baseball career

Later life

See also

References

External links