Rudolph Kemmler, born ''Rudolph Kemler'', (January 1860 – June 20, 1909) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

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 catcher ...

for all or part of eight seasons. He played for seven different teams in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

and American Association between and . Kemmler was a poor hitter but a good defensive catcher. In the days before catchers had protection against pitched balls, he was quite durable. He spent most of his career as a reserve player. Kemmler caught two no-hitters in 1884 for Columbus Buckeye pitchers Ed Morris and Frank Mountain. Kemmler died in his hometown of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and is interred at Concordia Cemetery in

Forest Park, Illinois Forest Park (formerly Harlem) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, United States. The population was 14,339 at the 2020 census. The Forest Park terminal on the CTA Blue Line is the line's western terminus, located on the ...

References

Sources

1860 births 1909 deaths Major League Baseball catchers 19th-century baseball players Providence Grays players Cleveland Blues (NL) players Cincinnati Red Stockings (AA) players Pittsburgh Alleghenys players Columbus Buckeyes players St. Louis Browns (AA) players Columbus Solons players Davenport Brown Stockings players Duluth Freezers players St. Paul Saints (Northwestern League) players Davenport Onion Weeders players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players St. Paul Apostles players Baseball players from Chicago Burials in Forest Park, Illinois {{US-baseball-catcher-1860s-stub