Malachi Jeddidiah Kittridge (October 12, 1869 – June 23, 1928) 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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. He played 16 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 1890 and 1906, for six different teams, predominantly the

Chicago Colts The following is a North American professional sports league organization, franchise history of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, a charter member of the National League who started play in the National Association of Base Ball Players, ...

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 s ...

. He batted and threw right-handed.

Biography

Kittridge was not a good hitter—he had a .219

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 ...

for his major-league career—but in his career he was regarded as having one of the best throwing arms. In 1904, he was hired as

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the Washington Senators of the

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 ...

, but the team started the season , and Kittridge was replaced by

Patsy Donovan Patrick Joseph "Patsy" Donovan (March 16, 1865 – December 25, 1953) was an Irish born right fielder and manager in Major League Baseball who played for several teams from to , most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted .301 lifetime and ...

. The Senators finished with a record for the season. Kittridge was traded to the

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

in the middle of the 1906 season, but he only had five

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s for the Naps before retiring from baseball. In 1910, Kittridge served as player-manager of the Elgin Kittens in the Class D level

Northern Association The Northern Association was a Class D level minor league. It began and ended play in 1910, disbanding on July 19, 1910. The Joliet club moved to Sterling on June 21. The Clinton and Freeport teams disbanded on June 28; The Elgin and Kankakee fran ...

. The team's "Kittens" moniker was in honor of Kittridge. The team finished in first place.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers
* 1869 births 1928 deaths 19th-century baseball players Boston Beaneaters players Chicago Colts players Cleveland Naps players Louisville Colonels players Major League Baseball catchers People from Clinton, Massachusetts Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) managers Sportspeople from Worcester County, Massachusetts Baseball players from Massachusetts Portsmouth Lillies players Quincy Black Birds players Worcester Farmers players Montreal Royals players Montreal Royals managers Dayton Veterans players Scranton Miners players Elgin Kittens players Saginaw Krazy Kats players Major League Baseball player-managers {{US-baseball-catcher-1860s-stub

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links