Bartholomew L. Cantz (January 29, 1860 – February 12, 1943) was an American

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Early life and career

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Cantz started his professional baseball career in 1884, playing for the Chambersburg Maroons and Littlestown Brown Stockings of the Keystone Association. He played for the Long Island A's and Bridgeport Giants of the Eastern League in 1886. In 1887, he moved to the Newark Little Giants of the International Association. In 1888, Cantz played for the

St. Louis Whites The St. Louis Whites (or White Stockings) were a minor league baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1888, the St. Louis "Whites" played briefly as members of the Class A (baseball), Class A level Western Association. The Whites were creat ...

of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

and then was transferred to the American Association's

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

. He appeared in 57 games for the Orioles in 1888–1889. The following year he played with the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

, where he appeared in only five games before retiring. In his three major league seasons, Cantz had a .157 batting average with 34 hits and 18 runs batted in.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantz, Bart 1860 births 1943 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball catchers Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Chambersburg (minor league baseball) players Littlestown (minor league baseball) players Bridgeport Giants players St. Louis Whites players Baseball players from Philadelphia