James Patrick Casey (March 15, 1870 – December 31, 1936) 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 professional ...

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 ...

. He played ten seasons 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) between 1898 and 1907 for the Washington Senators,

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cubs."Doc Casey Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Accessed on May 24, 2017.

Early years

Casey was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1870. He studied dentistry at Baltimore Medical College, but left to play baseball in 1892 for the

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fal ...

baseball team in the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

. Casey reportedly earned the nickname "Doc" because he sometimes used his knowledge of dentistry to assist fellow baseball players with their teeth. From 1893 to 1894, Casey attended

Maryland Agricultural College Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

and played on its baseball team. He also continued to play baseball in the New England League, for Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1893 and

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, in 1894.

Professional baseball career

Toronto

From 1894 to 1898, Casey played for the Toronto Canucks in the Eastern League. In 1898, he compiled a .328

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 66 stolen bases, 41

extra base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire ano ...

s, and 123 runs scored in 122 games for Toronto.

Washington

Casey made his major league debut with the Washington Senators in September 1898. He appeared in 28 games for the Senators in 1898, principally as a third baseman, and compiled a .277 batting average with 15 stolen bases. The Senators finished in 11th place in 1898 with a 51–101 record.

Brooklyn

In April 1899, he was traded by Washington, one of the worst teams in 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 ...

, to the

, one of the best teams in the league. Early in the season, Casey drew attention for his defensive play at third base. Casey appeared in 143 games and stole 27 bases and helped lead the 1899 Brooklyn club to the

championship and a 101–47 record. Casey ranked second among National League third basemen in 1899 with 23 double plays turned. The 1899 Superbas had the two shortest players in the National League in Casey (5', 6") and Wee Willie Keeler (5', 4"). Casey appeared in only one game for Brooklyn in 1900. In May 1900, ''Sporting Life'' reported that Casey had been "loaned" by the Brooklyn club to the Detroit Tigers of the newly formed

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

. ''Sporting Life'' reported on the reaction to Casey's departure: "Brooklyn cranks will be sorry to see the little fellow depart, for he came to this city when the club was in a bad way, and did a great deal to bring the championship to the nine, when it looked for a time as if it might not be won because of the injuries to players. With aveCross on the team there was no place for Casey as a matter of course. He will be better off with something to do every day than he possibly could be sitting on the bench all the time. He isn't the kind of ball player who cares to ornament the bench."

Detroit

Casey became the Tigers starting third baseman in 1900, appearing in 115 games for the club. In October 1900, '' Sporting Life'' selected Casey as the best fielding third baseman in the American League. Casey remained with the Tigers in 1901 and 1902, the team's first two seasons as a major league club. In 1901, Casey led the American League in both double plays turned by a third baseman (25) and in errors by a third baseman (58). He also ranked second in the American League in 1901 with a career high 324 assists at third base and ninth in the league with 34 stolen bases.

Chicago

Prior to the start of the 1903 season, Casey jumped from the Tigers to the Chicago Cubs. He was the Cubs starting third baseman from 1903 to 1905. During Casey's three years with the Cubs, he was the fourth member of the infield that included

Tinker to Evers to Chance Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils. Description ''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani p ...

. The Cubs finished in third, second, and third place in the National League from 1903 to 1905. In 1905, he led all National League third basemen with a .949 fielding percentage. He also had the seventh highest defensive

Wins Above Replacement Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...

rating among all position players – higher even than Evers and Chance.

Brooklyn

In December 1905, Casey was traded by the Cubs to the Brooklyn Superbas in a deal that sent outfielder Jimmy Sheckard to the Cubs. Sheckard was a starter for Cubs teams that won three consecutive pennants from 1906 to 1908. Casey, on the other hand, joined a team that had finished in eighth place in 1905. Casey became Brooklyn's starting third baseman in both 1906 and 1907. During the 1907 season, despite being one of the oldest players in the National League, Casey continued to perform well defensively, compiling the second highest fielding percentage (.955) among the league's third basemen. He also compiled a career high 176 putouts at third base in 1907 – the third highest total by any National League third baseman that year. Casey appeared in his last major league game on October 5, 1907.

Major league career statistics

In his 10-year major league career, Casey compiled 1,312 putouts at third base, a figure which, at the time of his retirement, ranked 10th in major league history (the only third basemen with more putouts at the time Casey retired were

Jimmy Collins James Joseph Collins (January 16, 1870 – March 6, 1943) was an American professional baseball player. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. Collins was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Collins was especially regarded fo ...

(14 seasons),

Lave Cross Lafayette Napoleon Cross (born Vratislav Kriz, May 12, 1866 – September 6, 1927) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from to . Cross played most of his 21-year career with Philad ...

(21 season), Billy Nash (15 seasons),

Arlie Latham Walter Arlington Latham (March 15, 1860 – November 29, 1952) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball. He played from through for the Buffalo Bisons, St. Louis Browns, Chicago Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Senators and ...

(17 season), Billy Shindle (13 seasons),

Jerry Denny Jeremiah Dennis Denny (born ''Jeremiah Dennis Eldridge''; March 16, 1859 – August 16, 1927) was a third baseman in Major League Baseball. He played for the Providence Grays (1881–1885), St. Louis Maroons (1886), Indianapolis Hoosiers (18 ...

(13 seasons), Denny Lyons (13 seasons),

Hick Carpenter Warren William "Hick" Carpenter (August 16, 1855 – April 18, 1937) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball. He still holds the Cincinnati Reds record for the most games at third base (890); and he holds the record for the most car ...

(12 seasons), and George Pinkney (10 seasons)). He also had 2,184 assists and 325 errors at third base, a career batting average of .258 with 9 home runs, 354 RBI and 191 stolen bases.

Montreal

After the 1907 season, Brooklyn sold Casey to the Jersey City Club, which in turn sold him to the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; p ...

of the Eastern League. He served as the Royals manager in 1908 and 1909 and also appeared in 251 games as a player.

Later years

In 1910, he worked as a scout for the Detroit Tigers. In November 1910, Casey was hired by Claud H. Varnell, owner of the

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

baseball club (

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

) to serve as manager for the 1911 season. After retiring from baseball, Casey maintained a dentistry practice in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. He later purchased a drug store in Detroit (at the corner of

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

and Adelaide Street). Casey's drug store reportedly "became known to thousands of fans as headquarters of the city's Winter Stove League." He also worked in later years as a city permit inspector and a guard at the municipal court in Detroit. On New Year's Eve 1936, Casey died in Detroit at the age of 66. He suffered a stroke and had been in ill health thereafter. He was interred at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Doc 1870 births 1936 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Baseball players from Massachusetts Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Brooklyn Superbas players Detroit Tigers players Chicago Cubs players Maryland Terrapins baseball players 19th-century baseball players Sportspeople from Lawrence, Massachusetts Pawtucket (minor league baseball) players Manchester Gazettes players Lawrence (minor league baseball) players Portland (minor league baseball) players Toronto Canucks players Toronto Canadians players Albany Senators players Detroit Tigers (Western League) players Montreal Royals players Montreal Royals managers Fort Wayne Brakies players Burials in Michigan American dentists