Alfred George "Fred" Doe (April 18, 1864 – October 4, 1938) 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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who played in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

from 1886 to 1902, and in the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded American professional baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Pr ...

(PL) in 1890. Doe played in one game for both the

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 Fiel ...

and the

Pittsburgh Burghers The Pittsburgh Burghers were a baseball team in the Players' League, a short-lived Major League that existed only for the 1890 season. The team included a number of players who had jumped from the National League's Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now th ...

in 1890.

Early life

Doe was born on April 18, 1864, in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, to George and Elizabeth (Flynn) Doe. He grew up in

Rockport, Massachusetts Rockport is a seaside New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,992 in 2020 United States census, 2020. Rockport is located approximately northeast of Boston, at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula. ...

Baseball career

Early baseball career

Doe began his long minor league career in 1886, with the Newburyport Clamdiggers of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

. He also played with Haverhill in 1886 and 1887. Doe was also the occasional

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. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of both Newburyport and Haverhill.

Major League Baseball

On August 23, 1890, Doe started a game for the

of the

. He allowed 10

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, eight

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any Run (baseball), run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the ...

, seven

base 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 ...

, and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safel ...

two Boston Reds hitters over 6.0 innings. Boston won the game 10–0. One week later, on August 30, Doe pitched for the

in a game against the Boston Reds. He relieved

John Tener John Kinley Tener (July 25, 1863May 19, 1946) was an Irish-born American politician and Major League Baseball player and executive. He served as the 25th governor of Pennsylvania from 1911 until 1915. A Republican, he had previously served as a ...

in the sixth innings, after Tenner allowed 14 runs. Doe pitched 4.0 innings for Pittsburgh, and allowed four hits and two earned runs, while collecting two strikeouts. The Burghers lost the game 16–4. The Players' League would fold after the season, and Doe would not play in the major leagues again.

Return to the New England League

After his brief major league stint, Doe would play and manage several New England Leagues teams from 1892 to 1902. He played for the Brockton Shoemakers in 1892 and 1893, and the Haverill club in 1894. In 1895, he started the

New Bedford Whalers New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer Leag ...

, acting as a manager, pitcher, and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. After New Bedford folded after 1896, he formed the

Fall River Indians Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

club. Doe would soon return to New Bedford in 1898, forming a new Whalers club. The New England League would fold temporarily in mid-1898. In 1900, Doe managed and played in the outfield the Norwich Witches of the

Connecticut League The Connecticut League, also known as the Connecticut State League, was a professional baseball association of teams in the state of Connecticut. The league was a Minor League Baseball, minor league for most of its existence. It began as offshoot o ...

. Norwich won the league pennant, Doe's only championship as a manager. Doe returned to the New England League in 1900, managing

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

. He returned to Brockton in 1903, but the club moved to New Bedford mid-way through the season. Doe stayed in New Bedford as club manager until 1905. In 1906, he purchased the

Worcester Busters The Worcester Busters was an American baseball team which played at Boulevard Park, Worcester, Massachusetts. They played in Class B of the New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball tha ...

, New England League team managed by future

Baseball Hall of Famer The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

Jesse Burkett Jesse Cail Burkett (December 4, 1868 – May 27, 1953), nicknamed "Crab", was an American professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1890 to 1905 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Per ...

.Jesse Burkett minor league stats
/ref> He would later control the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National ...

of the Eastern League. Providence was the only

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

team to allow baseball to be played on Sunday. Doe would become a driving force in the movement to allow baseball to be played state-wide in the late 1928. Doe died on October 4, 1938, in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Gloucester.

Personal life

While living in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

, he met his wife, Mary Bryant. They had one child, a daughter.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doe, Fred 1864 births 1938 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Essex County, Massachusetts Buffalo Bisons (PL) players Pittsburgh Burghers players 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Minor league baseball managers Lynn (minor league baseball) players Newburyport Clamdiggers players Haverhill (minor league baseball) players Boston Blues players Brockton Shoemakers players New Bedford Whalers (baseball) players New Bedford Browns players Fall River Indians players Worcester (minor league baseball) players Norwich Witches players Lewiston (minor league baseball) players Dover (minor league baseball) players Sportspeople from Gloucester, Massachusetts People from Rockport, Massachusetts