Jacob Kitchline "Guesses" Virtue (March2, 1865February3, 1943) was a

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 ...

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 1890 to 1894. He played for the

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followe ...

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)."Jake Virtue Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved September 28, 2011. During the split-season format played in 1892, he was Cleveland's first baseman when they won the second half of the season but ultimately lost the NL pennant to Boston.

Biography

Born in Philadelphia on March 2, 1865, Virtue debuted in the major leagues with Cleveland in 1890. In ''The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Major League Baseball'', Virtue is described as a 5'9" player with excellent defensive skills. However, he also "had a huge failing. He was so short of self-confidence (some in Cleveland were unkind enough to say courage) that an error in the first inning or a strikeout in his first at bat would ruin him for the rest of the game." In two seasons, 1891 and 1892, Virtue played in more than 100 games. In 1891, Virtue hit 14

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 ...

, fifth best in the NL. Defensively, Virtue led the NL in

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (PO) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base (a tag ...

s (1465), but he also led NL first basemen in errors (44). In the split-season format that was trialed in 1892, the Spiders finished fifth in the first half of the season, but they earned first place in the second half. They lost a best-of-nine playoff for the NL pennant, falling to Boston in six games. Virtue hit 20 triples that year, second best in the NL, and he registered 1500 putouts and 26 errors. In early 1893, ''The New York Times'' reported that Virtue might play in Philadelphia that year to replace first baseman

Roger Connor Roger Connor (July 1, 1857 – January 4, 1931) was an American 19th-century Major League Baseball (MLB) player. He played for several teams, but his longest tenure was in New York, where he was responsible for the New York Gothams becoming kno ...

; Connor was to be traded to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. Connor was sent to New York, but Virtue remained in Cleveland. Though the pitching distance was increased from 55 feet and 6 inches to 60 feet and 6 inches for 1893, Virtue struggled offensively and defensively. A late-season on-field collision in 1892 seemed to have rendered Virtue "gunshy". He played only 97 games in the 1893 season; player-manager

Patsy Tebeau Oliver Wendell "Patsy" Tebeau (December 5, 1864 – May 16, 1918) was an American first baseman, third baseman, and manager in Major League Baseball.

split time with

Chippy McGarr James B. "Chippy" McGarr (May 10, 1863 – June 6, 1904) was an American professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1896. He played for the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies, Philadelphia Athletics, St. L ...

at third base and Virtue at first base. The left-hander did appear in games at several positions: first base, outfield, third base, shortstop and even pitcher for five innings of a single game. He played in 29 games in 1894, again split between multiple positions. McGarr played well at third base that year, freeing Tebeau to take over first base full-time from Virtue. Virtue attempted a comeback with the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as th ...

in 1895, but a stroke before spring training forced him to retire. He died in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, on February 3, 1943. He is buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery in Philadelphia.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtue, Jake 1865 births 1943 deaths Major League Baseball first basemen Cleveland Spiders players Altoona Mountain Cities players Burials at Mount Vernon Cemetery (Philadelphia) Lancaster Ironsides players Oswego Starchboxes players Canton Nadjys players Detroit Wolverines (minor league) players 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Baseball players from Philadelphia