James Franklin Slagle (July 11, 1873 – May 10, 1956), nicknamed both "Rabbit" and "Shorty", 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 who played as an

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 ...

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 1899 to 1908. In his ten major league seasons, he played for four teams, all in 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 ...

. Officially, he was in height and weighed . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Biography

Slagle began his professional career in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

in 1895. In 1898, he won the Western League batting title with a .378 average. He spent four seasons in the minor leagues before signing with the Washington Senators in 1899. He played one season 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 ...

before signing with the

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

when the Senators folded. Over the next two season, he played for the Phillies and, for a short time, 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 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 a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, 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 ...

for three of their National League championships, from 1906 to 1908, which included two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

victories. Slagle became the first player to successfully accomplish a straight steal of home in World Series play. His last major league season was in 1908, and later played two more seasons in the minor leagues 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 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 ...

(1343 hits in 5005 at bats), scoring 781 runs and hitting 124 doubles, 56

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 ...

, and two

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 ...

, with 344

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 ...

, 274

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions 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 out a ...

, 619

bases 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 ...

, a .352

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

and a .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, an ...

. Although on three straight Cubs pennant winners, he appeared only in the 1907 World Series, batting .273 (6 hits in 22 at bats), scoring three runs, with three runs batted in, six stolen bases and two walks.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slagle, Jimmy 1873 births 1956 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Baseball players from Jefferson County, 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 (International League) players 20th-century American sportsmen

Biography

See also

External links