Herman C. Long (April 13, 1866 – September 16, 1909) was an American

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

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) who played for the

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

, Boston Beaneaters,

New York Highlanders The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Phillies. Long was known for his great fielding range as a shortstop, but he also holds the MLB career record for errors.

Early life

Born in 1866, Long was a native of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. His parents are thought to have been German immigrants, as Long spoke fluent German. Little else is known about Long's life up until he began playing minor league baseball in 1887 for a team in Arkansas City, Kansas. He played in Kansas City in 1888. After that season, the Kansas City team merged with the major league team in the same city.

Major League Baseball career

Long played for the

(1889), Boston Beaneaters (1890–1902),

(1903), Detroit Tigers (1903), and Philadelphia Phillies (1904). From 1889 to 1902, he played over 100 games every year, had a

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 ...

over .300 four times, and had an

OPS+ OPS may refer to: Organizations *Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England * Oceanic Preservation Society *Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency * Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg ...

over 100 seven times. He led the NL in runs scored in 1893 with 149, and he led the NL in

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 in 1900 with 12. Long helped the Beaneaters win

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 ...

championships in 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, and 1898. During his time with the Beaneaters, he played in the infield along with first baseman

Fred Tenney Frederick Tenney (November 26, 1871 – July 3, 1952) was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned 20 seasons, 17 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Boston Beaneaters/Doves/Rustlers (1894–1907, 1911) ...

, second baseman

Bobby Lowe Robert Lincoln Lowe (July 10, 1865 – December 8, 1951), nicknamed "Link", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and scout. He played for the Boston Beaneaters (1890–1901), Chicago Cubs (1902–1903), Pittsburg ...

, and third baseman

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 ...

; some considered that to be the greatest infield in baseball history. Between 1904 and 1906, Long was a player and player-manager in minor league baseball. Long twice

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

, in 1896 and 1900, to become the first player in the Braves franchise to accomplish the feat. It was not duplicated for 121 years, until Atlanta Braves first baseman

Freddie Freeman Frederick Charles Freeman (born September 12, 1989) is an American-Canadian professional baseball first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, Freeman played for the Atlanta Braves for 12 seasons. He mad ...

hit his second cycle during the 2021 season.

Tim Murnane Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4, 1851 – February 7, 1917) was an American sportswriter specializing in baseball, regarded as the leading baseball writer at ''The Boston Globe'' for about 30 years until his death. At the same time, he organize ...

, a former player-turned-baseball writer, wrote in 1894, "Long is the most brilliant ball player on the field at the present time."''Pages from Baseball's Past'' (subscription newsletter), by Craig R. Wright, January 20, 2014 In 1903, future Hall of Fame pitcher

Kid Nichols Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols (September 14, 1869 – April 11, 1953) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1906. A switch hitter ...

said of Long, "Herman Long is the greatest shortstop of them all. You can speak of your ughie

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...

, and write of your ack Glasscocks all you want, but this man Long at his best had them beat by a city block. Jennings was a brilliant ball player, and without doubt one of the leading players of the age, but this talk of his being better than Herman Long is all rot." In the 2001 book ''

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ''The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'' is a reference book written by Bill James featuring an overview of professional baseball decade by decade, along with rankings of the top 100 players at each position. The original edition was publi ...

'', writer Bill James ranked Long as the 34th greatest shortstop of all-time.

Fielding

Long holds the major league record for most errors in a career (1,096). Only three other players have made more than 1,000 errors in their careers:

Bill Dahlen William Frederick Dahlen (January 5, 1870 – December 5, 1950), nicknamed "Bad Bill" for his ferocious temperament, was an American shortstop and manager in Major League Baseball who played for four National League teams from to . After twic ...

Deacon White James Laurie "Deacon" White (December 2, 1847 – July 7, 1939) was an American baseball player who was one of the principal stars during the first two decades of the sport's professional era. The outstanding catcher of the 1870s during baseball ...

, and

Germany Smith George J. "Germany" Smith (April 21, 1863 – December 1, 1927) was an American Major League Baseball player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Primarily a shortstop, Smith played for five teams in 15 seasons. He made his major league debut for ...

. White is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Long's total includes a record 1,070 errors committed while playing shortstop. Despite the errors, Long actually fielded slightly better than the league average for a shortstop during his career, and he was considered an excellent fielder by his contemporaries. The seeming contradiction between a high error rate and exceptional fielding skill is attributable to the fact that Long had a greater fielding range than most shortstops. He could get to balls batted to his left and right that other fielders would not have reached; a certain percentage of these difficult plays were mishandled, resulting in Long being charged with errors on grounders and flies that lesser shortstops would not have touched (and on which they would not be charged with errors). There was also another major factor which contributed to Long's relatively large total of career errors: the comparative abundance of errors during gameplay in 19th century professional baseball. In a typical game played in the 1800s, each team committed about ten errors (for a one-game combined total of about 20).

Death

In August 1909, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reported that Long was very sick. Several months earlier, he had moved to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado, because he was suffering from a lung condition. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

the next month in Denver.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Herman 1866 births 1909 deaths 19th-century baseball players 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Major League Baseball shortstops National League home run champions Kansas City Cowboys players Boston Beaneaters players New York Highlanders players Detroit Tigers players Philadelphia Phillies players Toledo Mud Hens managers Toledo Mud Hens players Des Moines Underwriters players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Omaha Rourkes players Chicago Maroons players Baseball players from Chicago Tuberculosis deaths in Colorado Emporia Reds players