John E. "Scrappy" Carroll (August 27, 1860 – November 14, 1942) was an American

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 ...

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 played for the

St. Paul White Caps The St. Paul Saints, also known as the Apostles or the White Caps, were a replacement Major League Baseball team that represented St. Paul, Minnesota in the short-lived Union Association, which existed for the season only. The team began the 1884 ...

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

, and Cleveland Blues during the 1880s. Carroll stood ."Scrappy Carroll Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 26, 2011.

Career

John E. Carroll was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, in 1860. He was nicknamed "Scrappy", likely due to him having a "pugnacious disposition", and he may have been the first player to have had that nickname. Carroll started his professional baseball career in 1884."Scrappy Carroll Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 26, 2011. He played for the St. Paul Apostles of the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for six seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, 1886–1887, and 1891. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by t ...

during that season and made his major league debut with the

Union Association The Union Association was an American professional baseball league which competed with Major League Baseball, lasting for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelv ...

's St. Paul White Caps on September 27. The White Caps played a total of nine games, and Carroll appeared in all of them, mostly as a

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 ...

. He went 3 for 31 at the plate for a .097

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and made five

errors An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

in the field. The Union Association disbanded after the 1884 season, and in 1885, Carroll played for three different teams: the Western League's Cleveland Forest Cities, the Southern League's Memphis Reds, and 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 Buffalo Bisons. In his second major league trial, he played 13 games for the Bisons and went 3 for 40 (.075). In 1886, Carroll played for the Utica Pent Ups of the International League. The following season, he received his final major league shot, with the American Association's Cleveland Blues. Carroll appeared in 57 games for the Blues and batted a career-high .199 with 19

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. He started in right field on August 3, which was Cleveland's first major league Sunday game. While playing for Cleveland, Carroll may have been the first major league player to wear sunglasses. According to an account of Cleveland's 1887 season, Carroll "caught the attention of the kranks at the ball park one sunny afternoon", when he wore "a pair of colored spectacles." Carroll played in his final major league game on October 3 and finished his MLB career with a .171 batting average in 79 games. Carroll played for 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 ...

's St. Paul Apostles in 1888 and 1889. In 1888, he batted .251 and led the team in

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s (494), runs (106), and total bases (205). He also hit 16

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 ( ...

s, which led not only his team, but the entire league. Carroll also had 85

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s in 1888. In 1890, Carroll played for the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

. The following season, he split his time between six different teams in the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

, and

Eastern Association The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian m ...

. Carroll's last year in professional baseball was 1892. That season, he played 42 games for the Western League's Minneapolis Minnies, batting .237 with a team-leading 14 stolen bases."1892 Minneapolis Minnies Statistics"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 26, 2011. Carroll died in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, in 1942. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Scrappy 1860 births 1942 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders St. Paul Saints (UA) players Buffalo Bisons (NL) players Cleveland Blues (1887–88) players 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Baseball players from Buffalo, New York St. Paul Apostles players Cleveland Forest Cities players Memphis Reds players Utica Pent-Ups players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Duluth Whalebacks players Lowell Lowells players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players New Haven Nutmegs players