Ryan Ryan (died 1958) was an important minor league baseball figure. At that level, he played, managed, served as a team owner and league president, and worked in multiple team front offices. At the major league level, he scouted for the
Cleveland Indians
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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
.
[Reading Eagle News Article]
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A 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 ...
, Ryan played from 1906 to 1910, from 1912 to 1916 and in 1922. In 1910, he was a phantom ballplayer
A phantom ballplayer is either a baseball player who is incorrectly listed in source materials as playing in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game, often the result of typographical or clerical errors, or a player who spent time on an MLB Major Lea ...
- on the Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
active roster to begin the season, he did not appear in a game with the team. Overall, he played in 684 games and, according to available statistics, usually batted around the Mendoza Line
The Mendoza Line is baseball jargon for a .200 batting average, the supposed threshold for offensive futility in Major League Baseball. It derives from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine big l ...
. He often served as a player-manager.
As manager, he led the Chillicothe Infants (1912), Wheeling Stogies
The Wheeling Stogies was a minor league baseball team based in Wheeling, West Virginia, that played under several different names at various times between 1877 and 1934. They played mostly in the Central League (baseball), Central League and the M ...
(1913), Norfolk Tars
The Norfolk Tars were a minor league baseball team that existed on and off from 1906 to 1955. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, they played in the Virginia League from 1906 to 1918 and from 1921 to 1928, in the Eastern League (1916), Eastern League from ...
(1913), Rocky Mountain Carolinians (1915), Rocky Mountain Tar Heels (1916-1917), Richmond Colts
The Richmond Colts were a minor league baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia that existed on-and-off from 1894 to 1953. They played in the Virginia League in 1894, and in another Virginia League in 1900, and another Virginia League from 1 ...
(1921-1922), Jeannette Reds (1934), Allentown Brooks (1935), McKeesport Tubers
The McKeesport Tubers were an American basketball team based in McKeesport, Pennsylvania that was a member of the Central Basketball League
The Central Basketball League was an early regional professional or semi-pro basketball league based in O ...
(1936), Logan Indians (1942) and Palatka Azaleas
The Palatka Azaleas were a minor league baseball team, based in Palatka, Florida, that existed from 1936 to 1939 and from 1946 to 1953. The Azaleas were members of the Florida State League. In 1936, they were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, in ...
(1948). He led the Carolinians to a Virginia League
The Virginia League was a minor league baseball affiliation which operated in Virginia and North Carolina from 1906 to 1928. It was classified as a "C" league from 1906 to 1919 and as a "B" league from 1920 to 1928, folding in June.
The most fa ...
championship victory in 1915. In 1931, he was part-owner of the Richmond team - he also served as the team's business manager for a time.
In 1937, he was elected president of the Mountain State League
The Mountain State League was a minor league baseball league that played as a six–team league from 1937 to 1942. The league franchises were based in Kentucky and West Virginia. The Mountain State League was a Class D level league from 1937 to 19 ...
. He also served as president of the Virginia State League and Appalachian League
The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...
- he was president of all three leagues at the same time.
He died on August 9, 1958, in Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
.
Ryan was inducted posthumously into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame (Salem, VA
Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combine ...
) in 2014. His granddaughter Nancy Foye-Cox accepted the award on his behalf.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Ray
1958 deaths
Minor league baseball players
Minor league baseball managers
Minor league baseball executives
Year of birth missing
Chillicothe Infants players