James Franklin Slagle (July 11, 1873 – May 10, 1956), nicknamed both "Rabbit" and "Shorty", was a professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1899 to 1908. In his 10 MLB seasons, he played for four teams, all in the National League. Officially, he was in height and weighed . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Slagle began his professional career in minor league baseball (MiLB) in 1895. In 1898, he won the Western League batting title with a .378 average. He spent four seasons in MiLB before signing with the Washington Senators in 1899. He played one season in Washington, D. C. before signing with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

when the Senators folded. Over the next two season, he played for the Phillies and, for a short time, the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...

. In 1902, he signed with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, and stayed with the team for seven seasons. He was the Cubs' starting

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 c ...

for three of their NL championships, from 1906 to 1908, which includes two World Series victories. Slagle became the first player to successfully accomplish a straight steal of home in World Series play. His last MLB season was in 1908, and later played two more seasons in MiLB in 1909 and 1910. He later settled in Chicago, where he died in 1956, at the age of 82. In 1300 games over 10 seasons, Slagle posted a .268 batting average (1343-for-5005) with 781 runs, 124 doubles, 56

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 2

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 i ...

, 344 RBIs, 274

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled 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 ...

, 619

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, .352

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .317

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, ...

. Although on three straight Cubs pennant winners, he only appeared in the

1907 World Series The 1907 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1907 season. The fourth edition of the World Series, it featured the defending National League champion Chicago Cubs and the American League champion Detroit Tig ...

, batting .273 (6-for-22) with 3 runs, 3 RBI, 6 stolen bases and 2 walks.

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* * 1873 births 1956 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Chicago Cubs players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Philadelphia Phillies players Boston Beaneaters players Omaha Omahogs players Houston Buffaloes players Grand Rapids Bob-o-links players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1870s-stub

See also

External links