John Joseph Pappalau (April 3, 1875 – May 12, 1944) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

in 1897."John Pappalau Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-25. In 1893, Pappalau broke into baseball by playing for an independent team in

Gloversville, New York Gloversville is a city in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate New York, United States. The most populous city in Fulton County, it was once the hub of the United States' glovemaking industry, with over 200 manufacturers there and the adjacent ...

. He attended Pittsfield High School in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...

where, after a game in 1894, he was persuaded by a fan to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

. His batterymate at Holy Cross was

Doc Powers Michael Riley "Doc" Powers (September 22, 1870 – April 26, 1909) was an American Major League Baseball player who caught for four teams from to . Powers played for the Louisville Colonels and Washington Senators of the National League, a ...

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1875 births 1944 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball pitchers Cleveland Spiders players Johnstown Buckskins players Pittsfield Colts players Grand Rapids Bob-o-links players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Milwaukee Creams players Springfield Ponies players Springfield Maroons players New Haven Blues players Worcester Quakers players Worcester Hustlers players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Montreal Royals players Worcester Riddlers players Rochester Bronchos players Binghamton Bingoes players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Albany Senators players Holy Cross Crusaders baseball coaches Baseball players from Albany, New York Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery Pittsfield High School alumni {{US-baseball-pitcher-1870s-stub