Martin J. Glendon (February 8, 1877 – November 6, 1950) was a

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 ...

for the

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

and

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

. He stood at and weighed 165 lbs."Martin Glendon Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-09.

Career

Glendon was born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. He started his professional baseball career in 1898 with the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

's Galveston Sandcrabs and then moved first to the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

and then to the

Pacific Northwest League The Pacific Northwest League was a professional Minor League Baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first professional baseball league ever in the region. History Founding The Pacific Northwest League was founded in 1890. In ...

. In 1901, he had his breakout season, going 21–15 on the mound."Martin Glendon Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-09. Glendon started 1902 with the

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 ...

's Reds and was "full of sassafras, tea and ginger." He made his major league debut on April 18. In the third inning, he gave up four hits, made a throwing error, and allowed five runs before being taken out of the game. That was the last time Glendon played for Cincinnati. He left the team soon afterwards and jumped his contract to play for San Francisco of the California League. Glendon won 23 games for San Francisco that year, which was the second-most on the pitching staff and a career-high for him. In May of the following season, he attempted to assault 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 ...

and was subsequently suspended for 30 days. He went 9–9 on the west coast and then had his second major league stint late in the year, this time with the Cleveland Naps. In three starts for Cleveland, Glendon had three

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and gave up just three earned runs, for a 0.98

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. However, he also gave up six unearned runs and therefore lost two of his three decisions. He played his last MLB game on September 25. Glendon then spent a year in Columbus, Ohio, going 12–14, and a year in New Orleans. Glendon pitched in the Tri-State League from 1906 to 1908, making stops in York, Johnstown, Altoona, and Lancaster. He won 13 games in 1906 and 15 games in 1907. After going just 3–4 in 1908, Glendon retired from baseball. He had a total win–loss record of 96–87 in the minor leagues, to go along with his 1–3 major league record. Glendon died in

Chicago, Illinois 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 ...

, at the age of 73.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glendon, Martin 1877 births 1950 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Naps players Portland Webfoots players Spokane Blue Stockings players Columbus Senators players Altoona Mountaineers players Johnstown Johnnies players York Penn Parks players Lancaster Red Roses players Baseball players from Milwaukee San Francisco Pirates players