John Thomas "Tug" Arundel (June 30, 1862 – September 5, 1912) 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 ...
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 ...
born in
Romulus, New York
Romulus is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 3,203 at the 2020 census. The town is named after the mythical founder of Rome, Romulus, a name assigned by a clerk with an interest in the classics. It is part o ...
. He played in parts of four seasons between and with four teams.
Career
He made his debut at the age of 19 in 1882, playing in one game 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 ...
on May 23, and went hitless in five
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. Two years later he played sparingly for the
Toledo Blue Stockings
The Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league baseball team in Toledo, Ohio, in 1883. They won the Northwestern League championship in 1883. Their home ballpark was League Park. The following year, they joined the major league American As ...
, the team that included the first
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
major league baseball players,
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census.
Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...
and
Welday Walker
Weldy Wilberforce Walker (July 27, 1860 – November 23, 1937), sometimes known as Welday Walker and W. W. Walker, was an American baseball player. In 1884, he became the third African American to play Major League Baseball.
Walker played ...
.
It wasn't until that he received significant playing time, when he hit .197 in 157 at-bats for the
Indianapolis Hoosiers. Overall, he played in 76 career games, collecting 45
hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...
in 260 at-bats for a .173
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 ...
. He hit four
doubles, one
triple
Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble":
Sports
* Triple (baseball), a three-base hit
* A basketball three-point field goal
* A figure skating jump with three rotations
* In bowling terms, three strikes in a row
* I ...
and no
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 in his career.
He died at the age of 50 from the effects of
paralysis
Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...
in
Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...
, and is interred there at
St. Joseph Cemetery.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arundel, Tug
1862 births
1912 deaths
Baseball players from Seneca County, New York
People from Romulus, New York
Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players
Toledo Blue Stockings players
Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) players
Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players
19th-century baseball players
19th-century American sportsmen
Major League Baseball catchers
East Saginaw Grays players
Peoria Reds players
Saginaw Greys players
Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players
Memphis Reds players
Eau Claire Lumbermen players
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Savannah (minor league baseball) players
St. Louis Whites players
Saginaw (minor league baseball) players
Saginaw-Bay City Hyphens players
Detroit Wolverines (minor league) players
Major League Baseball umpires