John Nelson Kerins (July 15, 1858 – September 8, 1919) was an American

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 ...

player who appeared mainly at

first base 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 ...

but also at

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

. He played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers (),

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 ...

(-),

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 ...

() and

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 was a player-manager for Louisville in 1888 and for St. Louis in 1890, and he umpired American Association games through 1891.

Biography

Born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Kerins began his major league career with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the American Association. After the season, the Hoosiers folded, and John moved on to the

, where he spent the next few seasons. Though Kerins played twice as many career major league games at first base as he did at catcher, he was often known more for his play at the latter position. In Louisville, he was the personal catcher for left-handed

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch (baseball), pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from Laminar flow, lamin ...

pitcher Toad Ramsey. He led the league's catchers in 1886 with 157 assists despite catching only 65 games. Many of those assists came on one of Ramsey's 499

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s that season when Kerins would mishandle a Ramsey knuckleball, which necessitated a throw to first base to complete the strikeout. Offensively, the 1887 season may have been his best; he hit .294 with a league-leading 19

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 49

stolen base 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 ...

s. Kerins finished the 1889 season with the

. Before the 1890 season, Kerins was working as a bartender in Indianapolis. He returned to the Orioles for the 1890 season but did not play in any regular season games before he was released in May of that year; he played for the

for the rest of the season, concluding his playing career. In addition to playing, twice he was named interim

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, once with the Colonels in and also in his one season with the Browns.John Kerins Stats
Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed April 14, 2019. He also umpired a total of 246 major league games, mostly in the American Association from 1889 to 1891. His appointment as an AA umpire was made official in April 1891, after Kerins had retired as a player. By 1895, Kerins was working as a bartender at a Louisville bar partly owned by major league outfielder Tom Brown. In 1907, when another man of the same name was hired as an AA umpire, Kerins was still working as a bartender. Late in life, Kerins worked as a houseman at the Tyler Hotel in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. He suffered from

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

and died after two weeks in a Louisville hospital in 1919. He was buried in a

potter's field A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been pur ...

, but he was later reinterred at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

References

External links

Jack Kerins
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

Bio Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerins, John 1858 births 1919 deaths Baseball players from Indianapolis Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball catchers Indianapolis Hoosiers (AA) players Louisville Colonels players Louisville Colonels managers Baltimore Orioles (AA) players St. Louis Browns (AA) players St. Louis Browns (AA) managers Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Fort Wayne Hoosiers players Baltimore Orioles (Atlantic Association) players Major League Baseball player-managers

Biography

See also

References

External links