George Washington Keefe (January 7, 1867 – August 24, 1935) 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 ...

left-handed

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

. 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) for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

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 Washington Statesmen from 1886 to 1891.

Baseball career

Keefe was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in 1867. In 1886, he joined the Washington Nationals of 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 ...

(NL) and made his major league debut on July 30 at the age of 19. The sixth-youngest player in the league, he went 0–3 with a 5.17

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) in four games during his first big league season."George Keefe Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021. In 1887, Keefe appeared in only one game. He allowed 16 hits, four walks, and 20 runs (eight of which were earned) and completed (and lost) his only game of the season. He was also the sixth-youngest player in 1887. In 1888, Keefe went 6–7 with a 2.84 ERA in 13 starts for the Nationals. He spent most of the season with the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I-A in 2001 in sports, 2001, became a American football, football only member of the ...

of the International Association. With Troy, he pitched 343 innings and went 10–28 with a 3.46 ERA and 184

strikeout 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 safe ...

s."George Keefe Minor Leagues Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021. Back with the Nationals in 1889, Keefe went 8–18 with a 5.13 ERA, finishing fifth in the league in walks allowed (143) and seventh in losses. On May 1, he set the NL record for most walks in an inning, when he walked seven batters in the fifth inning. The record was subsequently tied by

Bob Ewing George Lemuel Ewing (April 24, 1873 – June 20, 1947) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played in the majors from 1902 to 1912 for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals. Early life Ewing was born ...

and

Tony Mullane Anthony John Mullane (January 30, 1859 – April 25, 1944), nicknamed "Count" and "the Apollo of the Box", was an Irish professional baseball player who pitched for seven major-league teams during 1881–1894. He is best known as a switch pitch ...

, and Dolly Gray walked eight batters in an inning in 1909. Gray was an

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

pitcher, however. Keefe played for the Buffalo Bisons of 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 ...

in 1890. That year, he went 6–16 with a 6.52 ERA. He was ninth in the league in home runs allowed (11) and 10th in the league in losses. In 196 innings, he walked 138 batters and struck out only 55. Keefe played his final MLB season in 1891 for the Washington Statesmen of the American Association. With the Statesmen, he went 0–3 with a 2.68 ERA in five games (four starts). He played his final major league game on April 28. During his MLB career, Keefe went 20–48 in 78 games, 71 of which he started. He completed 68 games and had one shutout. In 616 innings, Keefe posted a 5.05 ERA, 360 walks, and 213 strikeouts. In 250 career at-bats, he hit .172. Keefe then played in the minor leagues from 1892 to 1901. Keefe died in Washington, D.C., in 1935. He was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in

Suitland, Maryland Suitland is a suburb of Washington, D.C., approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keefe, George 1867 births 1935 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball pitchers Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players Buffalo Bisons (PL) players Washington Statesmen players Minor league baseball managers Binghamton Crickets (1880s) players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Peoria Distillers players St. Paul Saints (Western League) players Fort Wayne (minor league baseball) players Springfield Ponies players Springfield Maroons players Houston Magnolias players Houston Mudcats players Galveston Sandcrabs players Shreveport Grays players Fort Worth Panthers players San Antonio Missionaries players New Haven Texas Steers players Houston Buffaloes players Shreveport Tigers players Bloomington Blues players Newport News Shipbuilders players Shreveport Giants players Birmingham Barons players Baseball players from Washington, D.C.