Jacob Charles Stenzel (June 24, 1867 – January 6, 1919) 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 ...

player. He played as a

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

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 ...

from 1890 to 1899 for the

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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 ...

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 ...

, St. Louis Browns / Perfectos, and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. Stenzel was tall and weighed ."Jake Stenzel Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved September 25, 2011.

Early career

Stenzel was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to German immigrants in 1867 as Jacob Charles Stelzle; he changed his name when he moved to

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

to begin his baseball career. He started his professional baseball career in 1887 in the

Ohio State League The Ohio State League was a minor league baseball league that operated in numerous seasons between 1887 and 1947, predominantly as a Class D (baseball), Class D level league. League franchises were based in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wes ...

and batted .387 in 41 games. He then spent the next two seasons in the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second league ...

. In 1890, Stenzel hit .311 for the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

's Galveston Sand Crabs and also made his major league debut with the

.Akin, William
"Jake Stenzel"
. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved September 25, 2011. He went back to the minors after the season. In 1892, while playing for the Portland Webfeet, he led the

Pacific Northwest League The Pacific Northwest League was a professional Minor League Baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first professional baseball league ever in the region. History Founding The Pacific Northwest League was founded in 1890. In ...

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 ...

, at .339. He joined 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 ...

towards the end of the season and went hitless in nine

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

Major league regular

Stenzel appeared in 60 games for the Pirates in 1893 and batted .362 to establish his reputation as a strong hitter. Over the following three seasons, he was the team's regular center fielder. He posted the best statistics of his career in 1894, when he hit .352 with 13

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 121

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

in 131 games. His 148

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

in 1894 remains the Pirates single-season franchise record. In 1895, Stenzel raised his batting average to .371; his

OPS+ On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are r ...

total of 157 ranked fifth in the league. In 1896, he hit .361 to lead the Pirates in batting average for the third straight season. He became the first Pittsburgh player to collect six

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in a game, which he accomplished on May 14. In November 1896, Stenzel was traded to the

. He had another solid season in 1897, batting .353 and leading the NL with 43 doubles. He also hit .381 in the post-season

Temple Cup The Temple Cup was a cup awarded to the winner of an annual best-of-seven postseason championship series for American professional baseball from 1894 to 1897. Competing teams were exclusively from the National League, which had been founded in ...

series, which Baltimore won over the

Boston Beaneaters Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

. In 1898, Stenzel was batting .254 in June when he was traded to the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

. He finished the year with the Browns and then played briefly for the Browns and the

in 1899 before his professional baseball career ended. Over his nine-year MLB career, Stenzel had 1,024 hits and a .338 batting average in 761 games. He had the 25th-highest batting average in major league history."Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved September 25, 2011.

Later life

Stenzel had a wife and two children. After his baseball days were over, he ran a bar in Cincinnati until he sold it during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He then went to work as a night watchman in a factory. Stenzel died on January 6, 1919 of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 and was buried in St. Mary Cemetery, which is in Cincinnati.

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