David W. "Davy" Force (July 27, 1849 – June 21, 1918) was a

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) ...

. From 1871 through 1886, he played in the National Association with the

Washington Olympics The Olympic Club of Washington, D.C., or Washington Olympics in modern nomenclature, was an early professional baseball team. When the National Association of Base Ball Players permitted openly professional clubs for the 1869 season, the Olympi ...

(1871), Troy Haymakers (1872), Baltimore Canaries (1872 'end''1873), Chicago White Stockings (1874) and

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, the team became the Oakl ...

(1875), and 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 ...

for the Philadelphia Athletics (1876),

New York Mutuals The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Ass ...

(1876), St. Louis Brown Stockings (1877),

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

(1879–1885) and

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadi ...

(1886). Force batted and threw right-handed. The light-hitting but slick-fielding Force is best known for setting off a National Association contract dispute between two teams. The ensuing rulings prompted

William Hulbert William Ambrose Hulbert (October 23, 1832 – April 10, 1882) was one of the founders of the National League, recognized as baseball's first major league, and was also the president of the Chicago White Stockings franchise. Biography Born in B ...

to begin organizing the National League.

Biography

Force was born on July 27, 1849, in New York City. He played for the semiprofessional

before signing with the Washington Olympics of the National Association. Force played in 15 major-league seasons, and he changed teams nearly every year for the first half of his career. He was known as a "revolver", the term for players who jumped from organization to organization. Despite standing out for his lack of size at 5'4" and 130 pounds, he drew some early comparisons to

Honus Wagner Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner (; February 24, 1874 – December 6, 1955), sometimes referred to as "Hans" Wagner, was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pitt ...

. He was described as having the body of a large man, only with short and bowed legs. He had modest hitting ability, but he was known as one of the best two infielders in the NL next to

Harry Wright William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, ...

. Baseball author

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics ...

describes a signing involving Force as one of the factors that prompted the establishment of the

. After the 1874 season, Force signed with both his 1874 team, the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association, and the Philadelphia Athletics of the same league. It was relatively common that players signed two contracts; a league judiciary committee awarded Force to the White Stockings because he had signed that contract first. However, when a new president from Philadelphia took over the league, he ruled that Force belonged to the Athletics. The reversal contributed to Chicago executive

's motivation to organize a new league. Force posted a .249 career

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 i ...

with 653

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop grou ...

s and 373

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

in 1029

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Baseball ...

. Despite mediocre career numbers, in 1876 Force became the first major-league player to collect six hits in a game. Force worked for

Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation ( branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farmington, Conne ...

after his retirement from baseball. His name resurfaced in 1897 when he was briefly wanted for murder in a case of mistaken identity. He died on June 21, 1918, in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from po ...

, at the age of 68. He was buried there in Brookside Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Force, Davy Major League Baseball shortstops Washington Olympics (NABBP) players Washington Olympics players Troy Haymakers players Baltimore Canaries players Buffalo Bisons (NL) players Chicago White Stockings players Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players Philadelphia Athletics (NL) players New York Mutuals players St. Louis Brown Stockings players Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players Baseball players from New York City 19th-century baseball players 1849 births 1918 deaths Minor league baseball managers Buffalo (minor league baseball) players Des Moines Hawkeyes players Memphis Browns players Sioux City Corn Huskers players Memphis Grays players Burials at Brookside Cemetery (Englewood, New Jersey)

Biography

See also

References

External links