Alonzo P. "Lon" Knight, born Alonzo P. Letti (June 16, 1853 – April 23, 1932) was an American

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

, right-handed

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, ...

and

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 ...

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 threw the first pitch in the first game played in the new

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 ...

on April 22, 1876.

Early life and education

He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and attended Girard College at age 9 after his father died of typhoid fever. At Girard College, he changed his last name from Letti to Knight possibly to avoid ethnic hostility toward Italians. After graduation, he worked for a brief time as an accountant.

Career

He began playing with the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

in when the team was in the National Association, then stayed with them when they joined the National League in 1876. When the team folded after the 1876 season, he did not play in the major leagues again until 1880, when he joined the Worcester Ruby Legs of the NL for one season, and the Detroit Wolverines for two. In , he was named the manager of the

of the American Association, and the team won the league pennant with Knight also playing right field. In 1884 the team fell back to seventh place in a 13-team league. He finished his career in 1885 when he split the season between the Athletics and the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National ...

. On May 21, 1880, he was playing right field at Riverside Park in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

when Lip Pike hit a ball over the fence and into the river. Few parks at the time had ground rules concerning balls hit over the fence. It was not an automatic

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

, so Knight pursued the ball in a boat, eventually giving up. On July 30, 1883, Knight "

hit for the cycle Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization ...

" against Pittsburgh and is credited with the first ever natural-cycle in baseball. After Knight's playing career ended, he was an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

for several seasons; his most active year was 1890, when he officiated 123 games in the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded American professional baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Pr ...

. He umpired a total of 212 major league games. Knight died of poisoning at age 78 in Philadelphia when the

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

line to the heater in his house leaked. He is interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery, also called Laurel Hill East to distinguish it from the affiliated West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Bala Cynwyd, is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls, Philadelphia, East Falls neighborhood ...

in an unmarked grave in Section H, Lot 63–64.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet

Lon Knight
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 ...

(Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Lon 1853 births 1932 deaths Accidental deaths in Pennsylvania American people of Italian descent Baseball managers Baseball players from Philadelphia Binghamton Crickets (1880s) players Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Deaths by poisoning Detroit Wolverines players Lowell (minor league baseball) players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball player-managers Major League Baseball right fielders Philadelphia Athletics (AA) managers Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players Philadelphia Athletics (NL) players Providence Grays players Rochester Maroons players Worcester Grays players Worcester Worcesters players

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links