Joseph D. Cantillon (August 19, 1861 – January 31, 1930), nicknamed "Pongo Joe", was an American manager and umpire 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 ...

during the first decade of the 20th century. He also was a longtime manager 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 ...

. He was born in

Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 65,615, making it the List of cities in Wisconsin, tenth-most populous city in Wis ...

. Cantillon, a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

who played in the 19th-century minor leagues, is one of the handful of men who both umpired and managed in the majors. He officiated in the

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 ...

in and the National League for part of the season. He was a controversial umpire who had to be removed from the field on some occasions, including a game in Boston where fans attacked him (he had to be rescued by Chick Stahl and Parson Lewis). In Cantillon became the manager of the Washington Senators, but his tenure there was disastrous. In Cantillon's three years in Washington, his team never finished higher than seventh place in the AL and lost 100 games twice. The only bright spot was the discovery of

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "the Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and Manager (baseball), manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Ba ...

, who would become perhaps the greatest pitcher in American League history. After the season, Cantillon was fired. He finished his big-league managerial career with a 158–297 record (a .347

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

).Retrosheet
/ref> Cantillon's minor league managerial career stretched back to 1893, when he was skipper of the Oakland Colonels of the California League; his team finished first that season. He managed in the old Western Association sporadically in the late 1890s. After his two years as an umpire, Cantillon resumed his minor league managerial career with the

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

of the American Association from 1903 to 1906, his team never finishing below third place.Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 1997 edition. Durham, North Carolina:

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After his firing in Washington, Cantillon returned to the Association, where he led the Minneapolis Millers to the league championship in 1910–11–12 and in 1915. He spent years (1910 through the midseason of 1923) in the Millers' managerial post. He also was a part-owner in the franchise, along with his brother Mike. Ironically, the former umpire was known as a hot-tempered skipper who was frequently ejected from games, especially during his long minor league tenure.Drohan, John, "Dining With Drohan", ''The Baseball Register;'' St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1954 He also operated a saloon in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

before

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

that was frequented by baseball people. Joe Cantillon died in Hickman, Kentucky, from a stroke at age 68.*Thorn, John, and Palmer, Pete, eds., ''Total Baseball.'' New York: Warner Books, 1989

References

External links

Find-a-Grave.com

Joe Cantillon
at

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(Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantillon, Joe 1861 births 1930 deaths Baseball players from Wisconsin Burlington Babies players Chicago White Sox scouts Columbus Buckeyes (minor league) players Columbus Senators players Dubuque (minor league baseball) players Eau Claire Lumbermen players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball umpires Marinette Badgers players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) managers Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) managers Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Oakland Colonels players Rockford (minor league baseball) players Rock Island Islanders players Sacramento Senators players St. Paul Apostles players San Francisco Friscos players San Francisco Metropolitans players Sportspeople from Janesville, Wisconsin Stockton River Pirates players Terre Haute (minor league baseball) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) managers