Louis R. Bruce (January 16, 1877 – February 9, 1968) 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 ...

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 ...

. He played for 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 ...

during the season. The son of a

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

chief from the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, he attended Central High School 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 ...

, where he excelled as a student while playing baseball. Discovered by

Ed Barrow Edward Grant Barrow (May 10, 1868 – December 15, 1953) was an American manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He served as the field manager of the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. He served as business manager (de fac ...

, he played for the minor league

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

from 1900 to 1903, where he was a two-way player, pitching and playing the outfield and finding success in both roles. He also attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Dental School during those days, and after retiring as a player, earned a degree in theology from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. He was one of the first Native Americans to reach the major leagues, following Chief Sockalexis,

Bill Phyle William Joseph Phyle (June 25, 1875 – August 6, 1953), born in Duluth, Minnesota was a pitcher for Major League Baseball's Chicago Orphans (1898–99) and New York Giants (1901) and a third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals (1906). He pi ...

, his teammate

Chief Bender Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (; May 5, 1884There is uncertainty about Bender's birth-date. He was voted the SABR "Centennial Celebrity" of 1983, as the best baseball player or figure born in 1883. However, the SABR ''Baseball Research Journal'' ...

and Ed Pinnance. He was a practicing minister for many years and a promoter of education and citizenship for Native Americans. Bruce helped organize the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American Indian and Alaska Natives, Alaska Native Indigenous rights, rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. ...

and advocated for the passage of the

Indian Citizenship Act The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, (, enacted June 2, 1924) was an Act of the United States Congress that declared Indigenous persons born within the United States are US citizens. Although the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constituti ...

. He married a

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

woman with whom he had a son, Louis R. Bruce, who served as

Commissioner of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

References

External links

Biography from the Society for American Baseball Research
1877 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century First Nations people 20th-century Native American people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American Methodist clergy Baseball players from New York (state) Canadian Mohawk sportsmen Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Columbus Senators players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball outfielders Mohawks of Akwesasne and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe people Native American baseball players Native American people from New York (state) Native American suffragists People from Franklin County, New York Philadelphia Athletics players Syracuse University alumni Toronto Canucks players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Toronto Royals players University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine alumni {{US-baseball-outfielder-1870s-stub