Charles Morgan Herbert Atherton (November 19, 1874 – December 17, 1935) was an American

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), ...

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 scoring system us ...

. Nicknamed "Prexy", he batted and threw right-handed, was tall and weighed 160 pounds. He was an accomplished musician and writer, as well as an athlete.

Early life

He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of George W. Atherton and Frances “Fannie” Wright Darusmont Washburn, of Plympton, Massachusetts. His father, a Civil War veteran, at the time was a professor of political science at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. In 1882, at the age of 9 he moved to Philadelphia when his father took over as president of Pennsylvania State University. Atherton loved baseball as well as football. He was Penn State's first sports star as a member of the school's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and football teams. He is also credited with inventing the

place kick The place kick is a type of kicking play commonly used in American football, association football (soccer), Canadian football, rugby league, and rugby union. Gridiron football Place kicks are used in American football and Canadian football for ...

Sports career

He was an early professional football player and coach for the

Greensburg Athletic Association The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played in the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit from 1890 until 1900. At times referred to as the Greensb ...

. He also played professional football in 1896 for the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. He made his Major League debut on May 30, 1899 at the age of 24. He hit .248 in 242 at bats in 1899, which would end up being his only Major League season. He also hit 5 doubles, 6 triples and had 23 RBI. Defensively, Atherton committed 26 errors, which was fourth worst on the now defunct Washington Senators team of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

. He played his final game on August 22, 1899.

Travels

He travelled to a Russia as part of the YMCA. He was based in Petrograd, hosted by the Czech Legion, who were aligned to the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. He witnessed the Russian Revolution,

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He had become acquainted with Vincent Pisek of Malesov, an American Czech pastor who invited him to become the musical director of the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Atherton learned the Czech language and became a student of Czech and Slovak Folk Songs. He travelled to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

in 1919 to encourage the evacuation of the Czech Legion, who were stranded in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

in the aftermath of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Upon his return he published a book titled “Favorite songs of the Czech Slovak Army in Russia”. His late elder brother, Frank Peabody Atherton (1868-1911) had been a musical composer. Atherton continued to live in New York City during the 1920s undertaking a role as a social worker for Czechs and Bohemians through his church. He continued to travel back and forth the Atlantic, between New York and Bremen, between 1928 on

SS America SS ''America'' may refer to: * , a passenger steamer for North German Lloyd, 1863–1894 * , a passenger steamer for Pacific Mail Steamship Company * , a cargo ship that was in Chilean service in 1928, formerly known as the ''George W. Elder''. * ...

and 1934 on SS Europa. He was very familiar with Central Europe and his books were published in Czech and included a collection of Czech and Slovak folk songs he had captured that were sung by soldiers during their time in Siberia. It was a time of political turmoil and he witnessed the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s rise to power first hand. He documented each event in highly descriptive letters to his sister, Harriet, who he called Hattie.

Death

He died on December 17, 1935, at the age of 60 of tuberculosis. He was buried at

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

, in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on December 21, 1935.

Legacy

Pennsylvania State University library holds an oral history interview with his sister Helen Atherton Govier from January 25, 1974.

Ancestry

He is a direct descendant of

James Atherton James Atherton (born James Conway; 16 July 1987) is an English actor, known for his roles as Will Savage on ''Hollyoaks'' and Jamie Bowman on ''Coronation Street''. In 2017, he appeared in the stage production of ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too''. In ...

, one of the First Settlers of New England; who arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1630s.

Bibliography

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atherton, Charlie 1874 births 1934 deaths 19th-century baseball players Players of American football from New Jersey Baseball players from New Jersey Sportspeople from New Brunswick, New Jersey Major League Baseball third basemen Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football) players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Greensburg Athletic Association coaches Greensburg Athletic Association players 19th-century players of American football Altoona Mad Turtles players Scranton Indians players Shenandoah Huns players Houston Buffaloes players Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Milwaukee Creams players Columbus Senators players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Los Angeles (minor league baseball) players Montreal Royals players Indianapolis Indians players Johnstown Johnnies players Portland Beavers players Montreal Royals managers Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Wilkes-Barre/Mount Carmel players