Dots Miller
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John Barney "Dots" Miller (September 9, 1886 – September 5, 1923) was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
and
second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...
. He played in
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 ...
(MLB) from 1909 through 1921 for the
Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
,
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
, and
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
.


Career

Miller started his major league career with the Pirates. In his rookie season, he drove in 87 runs and helped Pittsburgh win the
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
pennant and their first
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
title. Miller was the regular second baseman from 1909 to 1911 but then moved over to first base. In the years since his death (beginning at least as early as a 1935 story penned by one-time Phillies teammate
Stan Baumgartner Stanwood Fulton Baumgartner (December 14, 1894 – October 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who became a longtime sportswriter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born in Houston and raised in Chicago, Baumgartner played for the ...
), Miller's nickname has frequently been attributed to a simple misinterpretation of teammate
Honus Wagner Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner ( ; February 24, 1874 – December 6, 1955) was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1897 to 1917, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nicknamed "the Flying Dutc ...
's heavily accented response, "That's Miller." However, on May 12, 1909, the first day the name "Dots Miller" appeared in a Pittsburgh newspaper, it was made abundantly clear that this was a childhood nickname, stemming from Miller's own German ancestry, and accent. Indeed, this was confirmed in a story published shortly before his death, during his unsuccessful bout with
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
."Sports Snap Shots"
''The Albuquerque Journal''. August 19, 1923. Accessed 2020-04-29.
In 1913, Miller was traded to the Cardinals, where he continued his good hitting and fielding for the next few years. In 1918 Miller's career was interrupted while he served in World War I. Miller became manager of a
Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
team, the San Francisco Seals, in 1922. He led the club to the pennant in his first year. The following season, the Seals were league with by ten games when, on July 23, Miller was forced to step down after contracting tuberculosis. He died on September 5. In 1589 games over 12 seasons, Miller posted a .263
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 ...
(1526-for-5804) with 711 runs, 232 doubles, 108
triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...
, 32
home runs 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 ...
, 714 RBI, 177
stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...
, 391
bases on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...
, .314
on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...
and .357
slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...
. He finished his career with a .974
fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...
playing at first, second, third base and shortstop. In the
1909 World Series The 1909 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1909 season. The sixth edition of the World Series, it featured the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates against the American League champion Detroit Tiger ...
, he hit .250 (7-for-28) with 2 runs, 4 RBI, 3 stolen bases and 2 walks.


Soccer

Miller was also noted as a soccer player.May 22, 1909 Sporting Life
/ref>


See also

*
List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders In baseball, a Triple (baseball), triple is a hit in which the batter advances to third base in one play, with neither the benefit of a Error (baseball), fielding error nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice. Triples were more com ...
*
List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders In baseball statistics, a stolen base is credited to a baserunning, baserunner when he successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is throwing the ball to home plate. Under Rule 5.06 of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Official Rules ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Dots 1886 births 1923 deaths Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball second basemen Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Cardinals players Philadelphia Phillies players Easton (minor league baseball) players McKeesport Tubers players San Francisco Seals (baseball) managers San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Minor league baseball managers American men's soccer players Sportspeople from Kearny, New Jersey Baseball players from Hudson County, New Jersey Men's association football players not categorized by position American military personnel of World War I 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American sportsmen