A Few BIOS of Stars of Yesteryear in Baseball

These stars of the 19th century of baseball are almost forgotten. But not quite as
I have selected a dozen to highlight that were on top of their game. In fact, many of these are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In no particular order:

John Clarkson – He was born on July 1, 1861 as one of five sons of a jeweler in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had two brothers, Walter Clarkson and Dad Clarkson that also played in the major leagues.

Clarkson compiled a career 328–178 record, placing him twelfth on the MLB list of all-time wins. Clarkson pitched over 600 innings in a season twice and won a career-high 53 games in 1885. In MLB history, only Charles Radbourne has won more games in a single season (59 in 1884). In just five seasons from 1885 to 1889, Clarkson won 209 games.

Clarkson had a wide variety of curve balls and was considered to be a calculating, scientific pitcher who carefully analyzed every hitter’s weaknesses. Hall of Fame hitter Sam Thompson said of Clarkson: “I faced him in scores of games and I can truthfully say that never in all that time did I get a pitch that came where I expected it or in the way in which I guessed it was coming.”

At the time Clarkson retired from the game, he was the winningest pitcher in National League history.

Aside from being a great pitcher, Clarkson was also a fair hitter. His 24 career home runs ranks 7th on the List of Major League Baseball all-time leaders in home runs by pitchers. He also had 232 career RBIs and 254 runs scored.

Total Baseball ranked Clarkson as the fourth best pitcher of all time behind Hall of Famers Cy Young, Christy Mathewson and Lefty Grove. He was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963 by the Veterans Committee.

Sam Thompson– He was born on March 6, 1860 in Danville, Indiana. He was the fifth of eleven children in the family and he grew up in the town he was born in. After graduating from high school, Sam became a carpenter. He was a big and strong guy that played a bit of local baseball. People were in awe of his size and strength.

A scout came to see “Big Sam’ on a referral. Even though, Sam was working on a roof and not playing baseball, he was offered a contract. He wasn’t sure he wanted to give up a steady job, Thompson went to a scouting camp and was persuaded to play baseball.

Thompson signed with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the newly formed Western League in 1885. He compiled a .321 average in 30 games with the Hoosiers He was approached by a Union Association team and offered more money, but in a show of “steadfastness to his word”, Thompson refused the offer and remained with Indianapolis at a pay of $100 per month. The Hoosiers were the dominant team in the Western League, compiling an .880 winning percentage.

MLB statistics
Batting average .331
Home runs 126
Runs batted in 1,308
He played as a right fielder in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Wolverines (1885–1888), Philadelphia Phillies (1889–1898) and Detroit Tigers (1906). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

Thompson had a .331 career batting average and was one of the most prolific run producers in baseball history. His career run batted in (RBI) to games played ratio of .923 (1,305 RBIs in 1,410 games) remains the highest in major league history. In 1895, Thompson averaged 1.44 RBIs per game, and his 166 RBIs in 1887 (in only 127 games) remained the major league record until 1921 when Babe Ruth collected 168 (albeit in 152 games). Thompson still holds the major league record for most RBIs in a single month with 61 in August 1894 while playing for the Phillies. Manager Bill Watkins in 1922 called Thompson “the greatest natural hitter of all time.”

In 1974, he was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Deacon McGuire–

James Thomas “Deacon” McGuire was born in Youngstown, Ohio on November 18, 1863  and died at Duck Lake on  October 31, 1936 at the age of 72. Deacon was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach whose career spanned the years 1883 to 1915. He played 26 seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a catcher, for 11 different major league clubs. His longest stretches were with the Washington Statesmen/Senators (901 games, 1892–99), Brooklyn Superbas (202 games, 1899–1901) and New York Highlanders (225 games, 1904–07). He played on Brooklyn teams that won National League pennants in 1899 and 1900.

McGuire was the most durable catcher of his era, setting major league catching records for most career games caught (1,612), putouts (6,856), assists (1,860), double plays turned (143), runners caught stealing (1,459), and stolen bases allowed (2,529). His assist, caught stealing, and stolen bases allowed totals ue record 133 games and compiled a .336 batting average with 10 home runs, 97 RBIs and 17 stolen bases.

McGuire was also the manager of the Washington Senators (1898), Boston Red Sox (1907–08) and Cleveland Indians (1909–11). He compiled a 210–287 (.423) as a major league manager.

Chub Collins– Born as Charles Augustus “Chub” Collins  on October 12, 1857 in Cnada. He died on  May 20, 1914 was a Canadian professional baseball player and politician. He played two seasons in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1885 as a second baseman and shortstop for the Buffalo Bisons, Indianapolis Hoosiers, and Detroit Wolverines. He later served as the mayor of Dundas, Ontario, from 1901 to 1902.

Collins compiled a .182 batting average and .901 fielding percentage in his major league career. In its obituary of Collins, Sporting Life wrote: “Charles ‘Chub’ Collins was a brainy ball player, a mediocre hitter, and one of the fastest base runners in America.”

Collins also played and managed in baseball’s minor leagues from 1885 to 1890 and 1896 to 1900, including stints with the International League and Canadian League teams in Hamilton, Ontario (1885-1887, 1897-1900), Rochester, New York (1888-1889), and Galt, Ontario (1896). He stole 45 bases in 1886, 85 bases in 1888, and 81 bases in 1889. His 1898 Hamilton team won the league championship “with one of the strongest minor league aggregations ever seen In Hamilton.” He also served as an umpire in the Western Association in 1891.

MORE COMING SOON!

Looking Back: Women And Baseball

This series is something I have been wanting to do for a long time. As a baseball history enthusiast, it dawned on me that it wasn’t complete without adding in the contributions the women made into baseball. It certainly is noteworthy that they added to and continued the love of the game during World War II as shown in movies.
There are many very good books written on this subject and I recommend you find a few and give them a good read. This listing of bios is not done in any order of abilities. It is just random players and what they accomplished in the great game of baseball.

Shirley Burkovich- She was born on February 4, 1934 in Pittsburgh but grew up and spent her childhood in Swissvale, PA. It was here she began to play baseball with the boys in the neighborhood. Organized sports came much later. In her high school years, she played field hockey and basketball,
She went to Pittsburgh at the age of 16 for tryouts to play in the AAGPB for tryouts but needed the permission of her parents and the school since it was still in session which she got from both. She made the cut and played for three teams from 1949-1951 which were the Chicago Colleens, Springfield Sallies and the Rockford Peaches. She had a .375 on-base percentage and hit .229 from the plate in 37 games. She was a pitcher and had three relief appearances with no decisions.
After her playing days, she actively championed the AAGPBL and was part of the film A League of Their Own and was a Board member of the AAGPBL. Shirley passed on March 31, 2022 at the age of 89.

Gertrude Dunn- Born on September 30, 1933,in Sharon Hill, PA. She moved straight from high school in 1951 to the AAGLBP. She played for two teams which were the Battle Creek Belles and the South Bend Blue sox. In 1952, She was named Rookie of the Year. She finished with a .261 batting average in 320 games as the women’s leagues were beginning to disband. As that was happening, when joined an All-American All Star team to travel the nation. She played with many of the great players in women’s baseball on this team. This team played over 100 games and traveled over 10,000 miles in a Ford Station Wagon owned by the manager.
She died when her Piper Archer airplane she was co-piloting crashed on September 29, 2004 in Avondale, Pennsylvania. She was 70 years of age.

Joan Berger- She was born on October 9, 1933 in Passaic New Jersey. She was an infielder and outfielder. Although she was only 5’3”, she joined her father’s softball team, the Garfield Flashettes. By the time she was 16, she tried out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She was deemed too young to play.
After she graduated from high school, she was accepted and sent to play for the Rockford Peaches. In her first year she played in 40 games in right field and hit .261. She maintained her rookie stair and her second season saw her switch to second base where she was awarded the Rookie of the Year honors and the only rookie to be named to the league All Star team in 1952, the next season she split her time between shortstop and third base and hit .280 for the Peaches.
The league folded and she joined a barnstorming team that played male teams around the country. They played over 200 games and traveled over 10,000 miles in a station wagon. She was part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York, opened in 1988, which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player.Joan died on September 11. 2021 at the age of 87.

Jeanie Descombes- was born on March 28, 1935 in Springfield, Ogio. She was 135 lbs n her rookie season, Descombes posted a 0–1 record with a 7.45 earned run average in seven relief appearances and was a member of the Champion Team, even though she did not pitch during the postseason.In her final season of 1954, Descombes collected a 10–9 record and a 5.00 ERA in 22 appearances, tying for eight place in the league for the most wins while ending fifth in strikeouts (63). She also helped herself with the bat, going 7-for-39 for a .179 average and threw and batted left handed for the Grand Rapid Chicks.
Jeanie wrote this:

actually had no pitching participation and had never played organized baseball… I had practiced baseball with our school team all through high school, but of course, they would not let me play in the games. I was also the batgirl for our town team of men and practiced with them and went to all the games. I loved the game and had a strong arm, she recalled in her autobiography

Betty Foss-She began her baseball career as Betty Weaver after getting married. She was born on May 10, 1929 in Metropolis, Illinois. Standing at 5’10” and 180 lbs, she was a switch hitter and threw as a right hander.
Her sisters Jean and Joan all played in the AAGPBL. In 1950, sh was offered a contract wih the Chicago White Sox but opted to play in the women’s league.n the AAGLBP, she won back-to-back batting crowns and was almost in the Top leaders in stolen bases and slugging.Her teammates called her Fossie. She was a speedy outfield and a stellar defensive whiz at first base.
She collected 294 stolen bases and is only one of six players to have hit 30 or more career home runs (32). Her career .963 fielding average as an infielder would have been higher except for her rookie season at third base, when she committed 47 errors in 374 chances. She and her sister Joanne combined for five batting titles.
After her playing days, she moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana where she work until retirement and moved back to her hometown of Metropolis for three years before she died of Lou Gehig’s disease in 1998. Her sister Joanne died of the same disease two years later in 2000.

Mary Froning- she was born on August 26. 1934 in Munster. Ohio. She enjoyed most things outdoors and at age 16 bean playing softball in a local Catholic League as a shortstop. She was spotted by an AAGPBL representative and invited to a tryout.She went to South Bend Indiana with her parents and vied for five spots with 200 girls in the tryouts. Mary was selected and was sent a contract for $50 a month. She stated that her dad, for the first time, realized it was for baseball and not softball.
The Battle Creek team had a dispute with the coach and Froning stayed while the majority quit the team. She now had a regular spot on the team and Froning appeared in a career-high 108 games in 1953, collecting a .108 average and a .295 on-base percentage. She also posted career numbers in runs scored (50) and RBI (26), while her 32 stolen bases ranked for the tenth best in the league.
In 1954 Froning hit .234 with three home runs and 44 RBI, tying for fifth in stolen bases (26), while managing to place second for the most outfield assists (20), being surpassed only by Kalamazoo Lassies’ Jenny Romatowski.
She went on a brainstorming tour where they played men’s teams and traveled many miles. She played with many of the best players to ever play in the AAGPBL.
Mary died in November of 2014 at age 80.

Audrey Haine- was born on May 9, 1927 in Winnipeg Canada. She was one of 47 players in the AAGPBL that hailed from Canada. She was 5’9” and 15 lbs when she decided she began playing. At first, she played for the St. Anthony Brown Bombers in Winnipeg Catholic League.
She was a right handed hitter and pitcher and on several occasions in the 1940’s, she struck out 21 consecutive batters in district play. She had a very good curveball and a rising fastball that she delivered in the sidearm mode. She also had control issues at times. However, he was a winning pitcher four seasons when she also pitched two no hitters and 15 wins or more.
In 1944, she joined the expansion team known as the Minneapolis Millerettes. This team finished 26 and half games out of first place but Haine had some decent numbers . She led the league in ERA at 4.58 and a no-hitter despite only getting eight wins.
In 1945, she suited up for the Fort Wayne Daisies where hings were better, Haine improved in a most positive environment as part of a top three pitching rotation that included Annabelle Lee and Dorothy Wiltse, going 16–10 with a 2.46 ERA in 33 decisions. She finished sixth in the league with a .615 winning percentage and tied for eight in wins. In addition, she hurled her second career no-hitter on June 15, in a rain-shortened, six-inning game.
She continued to play for Grand Rapids, Peoria and the Rockford Peaches. When she retired in 192, she got married and had six children. She was inducted both into the Canadian and the Manitoba Baseball Halls of Fame. She was a longtime resident of Bay Village, Ohio.[
Haine died on September 11, 2021

Katie Horstman- she was born on April 14, 1935 in Minster, Ohio. She was one of six children that played ball all the time as a family. She began playing softball in her hometown for the Catholic Youth Services team at the age of a fifth grader. At age 16, he was asked to tryout for the All-American Girls League of Baseball Players. She was accepted and was assigned to Kenosha comets in 1951. She was 5’7” and 150 lbs and threw right handed. She was traded to the Fort Wayne Comets at midseason and played for them until the league folded in 1954. She had a lifetime .256 batting average and played
She also went 11–5 with 57 strikeouts and a 2.32 ERA in 17 games, being selected for the All-Star Team at third base. The Daisies won the title with a 66–39 mark.
After baseball, In the 1960s, Horstman graduated from Medical Record Librarian School. She later joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart religious order for five years, to become the first nun in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. For the next decade, she taught physical education in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio before returning to her hometown of Minster, where she initiated girls sports programs, including volleyball, gymnastics, basketball, track and field, cross country and softball. By 1980, she focused in coaching on track and cross country. For the next five years, her girls teams never lost a track meet. After being runner-up State Champions in 1975, the inaugural year of girls track and field, her track team won five consecutive state championships (eight overall). She also guided her cross-country running squad to two state championships. Ending up 25 years in Minster, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she oriented a clinical social work method to the sports area. Katie is living in Palm Desert in a retirement community.

Maxine Kline- was born on September 16,1929 in North Adams, Michigan She grew up in a German home with seven brothers and two sisters and began playing softball at a young age.and was a very good basketball player that led her highschool team to three undefeated seasons. She attended an AAGPBL tryout and earned a contract to play for the fort Wayne Daisies after her high school graduation.
Kline relied on a fastball–changeup combination, mixing in her curveball sparingly. A five-time member of the All-Star Team, she hurled two no-hitters, averaged 17 wins per season with a career-high, league-leading 23 in 1950, and again led all pitchers with 18 wins in 1954, during what turned out to be the AAGPBL’s final season. She ranks third in the All-Time list with a .678 winning percentage and fifth with 116 wins. In three seasons her earned run average dropped below 2.00, for a cumulative 2.05 ERA in 1,518 innings of work.
She joined the Bill Allington All Stars and brainstormed around the country playing against men’s teams. They traveled over 10,000 miles in a station wagon and played up to and over one hundred games per year.

Delores Lee- was born April 21, 1935 in Jersey City. New Jersey. She was 5’6” and 130 lbs and threw and batted with the right hand. She played baseball with her brothers and the other boys in the streets of her neighborhood. Like many youths of her generation, she also played stickball and basketball with the boys before playing competitively at age 12 for the Santora’s Village Boys ballclub. She was discovered while still attending St. Dominic Academy.
in Jersey City. Though her school had no sports for girls, the local area provided a wide range of opportunities through the Catholic Youth Organization leagues.Dee, a ahe was called. Spent five seasons playing for the Flashettes which was managed by Slim Berger, the father of Joan Berger also a player in the AAGLBP.
It was coach Berger that recommended her to go to a tryout where at the age of 16, whe was offered and accepted to play for the Racine Belles, which was managed by ill Allington. After the folding of the league in 1954, she went on a barnstorming tour with the Bill Allington All Stars to play men’s teams all over the county.
She became a police officer in her hometown of Jersey City in 1958 and married twice with one son. She died on May 14, 2024 in New Mexico.

Magdalen Redman- she was born on July 2, 1930 in Waupan, Wisconsin. She stood 5’” and was 150 lbs.She played baseball with the neighborhood boys and never played an organized game until she was seventeen years of age. She received an invitation to a tryout in Florida by a local spout. She was offered to play for the Kenosha comets. Two years later she was traded to the Grand Rapid Chicks where she played from 1950-1954 when the league folded.
Redman enjoyed a solid career during her seven years in the league, being noted by her enthusiastic and great knowledge of the game. In her rookie season she played every fielding position except pitcher. After that she played at infield, mainly at third base, before converting to catcher for the rest of her career. She had a stellar defense, being able to catch low balls and block home plate well, which combined with a strong and secure throwing arm.
After retirement, she received he college degree and taught physical education and high school math.She was an avid golfer and also traveled long distances to teach Bible Studies to adult groups. Mamie died in Oconomowoc on August 22, 2020.

Dottie Schroeder – was born April 11, 1928 in Sadorus, Illinois. She stood 5’7” and was 150lbs. She played shortstop and hot and threw with the right hand. Dottie Schroeder probably received more media attention and signed more autographs than any other All-American. An appropriate symbol of the feminine character of a league which wanted girls to look like women but play ball like men, her pretty portrait adorned the cover of Parade Magazine in August 1948.
Dottie played for the South BandBlue Soc from 1943-1945 and Kenosha Comets for two seasons followed by the Fort Wayne Daisies In 1947-1952 and finished her career with the Kalamazoo Lassies.
She received many awards and accolades in her career such as three time all Star, Her team won championships twice, Dottoe was the all time leader in games played, runs driven in and walks. She was second in hits, and third in home runs. She is part of the Women in Baseball display for the AAGPBL in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dottie died in 1996 at the age of 68.

Dolly Vanderlip- was born June 4,1937 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She stood 5’8” and was 180 lbs. Dolly Vanderlip [Ozburn] (born June 4, 1937) is a former pitcher who played from 1952 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Dolly Vanderlip was one of the youngest players signed by the AAGPBL during its 12-year existence. At first, she attended a tryout for the league in 1950. She was 13 years old, by far one of the youngest girls in the training camp. She signed a contract with the Fort Wayne Daisies the next year, and debuted with the team on June 5, 1952, one day after her 15th birthday, under Jimmie Foxx management.
She played for Fort Wayne and South Bend in her career Her best year was in 2954 when she was turned into a starter for manger Karl Wensch. Lippy as she was known, had 19 starts she finished with an 11–6 record in a high-career 120 innings. Her 2.80 ERA was the second best in the league, being surpassed only by teammate Janet Rumsey, who finished with a 2.13 ERA. Vanderlip also finished fifth in winning percentage (.647), sixth in wins, and tied for third for the most shutouts.
“Lippy ” toured with the famous Bill Allington barnstormers after the league folded.After baseball, she met a man on tour that she married and they had two children but Dolly went to college and received three degrees from three separate universities.

By Tom Knuppel

NOTE: This is the first of two parts to Women and Baseball. ASs you can figure out, I concentrated on the players that toured with Bill Allington and his barnstormers.

This is the final post on major league players born in Central Illinois. I could have included many of the stars of the game from these counties such as Jim Thome, Joe Girardi, Robin Roberts, Ben Zobrist, Dick Schofield and many more. I made the decision to stick with the lesser-known players. Here are some of their bios. In a few months, I will begin a series on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and highlight the girls and teams from the Central Illinois area. If you have any personal information on those ladies, feel free to send me a message. 

I hope you have enjoyed this series.

John Louis “Lou” Johnson was born in Pekin, Illinois on  November 18, 1869. In his major league career with the Phillies, Johnson posted a 1–1 record with a 6.06 ERA in four appearances, including three starts and two complete games, giving up 22 earned runs on 44 hits and 15 walks while striking out 10 in 32 ⅔ innings of work.

Red Dorman was born as Charles Dwight “Red” Dorman in Jacksonville, Illinois on October 3, 1900, and played for the Cleveland Indians for 28 games during the 1928 Cleveland Indians season. He made his debut on August 21, 1928, and doubled in his first at-bat. He hit .364. in that season.

Joe Sullivan was born on September 26, 1910, in Mason City, Illinois, and the family moved west towards the State of Washington shortly after his birth. He played five seasons in the Major Leagues with the Detroit Tigers (1935–1936), Boston Red Sox (1939–1940), Boston Braves (1941), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1941). In five major league seasons, Sullivan had a record of 30–37 with a 4.01 ERA. A knuckleball specialist, Sullivan once pitched 12 straight innings of scoreless relief.

Darby O’Brien was born on September 1, 1863 – June 15, 1893) He played outfield for the New York Metropolitans in 1887 and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms/Grooms from 1888–1892. O’Brien developed lung problems during his playing career and continued to play, despite his ill health. When he reported to spring training for the 1893 season, the team found that he was too ill to play and sent him to Colorado to try to recover. They played a benefit game to raise money for him. He died later that year of typhoid fever at the age of 29 in his hometown.

Bernie Neis was born in Bloomington, Illinois on September 26, 1895. He played for the Brooklyn Robins, Boston Braves, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox between 1920 and 1927. He later managed in the minor leagues in 1932 and 1933. His lifetime average was .272 with 25 home runs.

Jim Cox was born May 28, 1950, in Bloomington, Illinois. He played for the Montreal Expos between 1973 and 1976. He batted and threw right-handed. In a four-season career, Cox was a .215 hitter (66-for-307) with three home runs and 33 RBI in 110 games played, including 33 runs, 11 doubles, two triples, and three stolen bases.

James Abner “Stub” Smith was born in Elmwood, Illinois on November 24, 1873.  He played in few games for the Boston Beaneaters in 1898 and got one hit in ten at-bats.

Roy Ogden Wise was born in Springfield, Illinois on November 18, 1923. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1944 Pittsburgh Pirates season appearing in two games on May 12 and May 13. He finished with a 9.00 ERA and one strikeout.

George (Lucky) Whiteman was born on December 23, 1884, in Peoria, Illinois. He played mainly as a left fielder for the Boston Americans (1907), New York Yankees (1913) and Boston Red Sox (1918) between the 1907 and 1918. Whiteman filled in the outfield for the Boston Red Sox whenever Babe Ruth was pitching. He finished a .271 batting average with one home run and 31 runs batted in in 85 games played.

Jack Brittin was born in Athens, Illinois on March 4, 1924. In six total games pitched in the big leagues, all in relief, Brittin had a 0–0 record with a 6.75 earned run average. He allowed seven hits, six earned runs and nine bases on balls in eight full innings pitched.

Got a thought? Email me at tknuppel@gmail.com

Central Illinois has had many major league baseball players in history. Let’s look at them from the 12 counties that we have selected to become Central Illinois. (Logan, McLean, DeWitt, Woodford, Fulton, Peoria, Mason, Tazewell, Cass, Morgan, Menard, Sangamon).

As I snooped around looking for information on Robert Kinsella, I happily stumbled upon an article about his dad and the connections to baseball and some names of baseball history that he interacted with on a daily basis.

Not to forget Richard (Bob), he played in four major league games for the New York Giants in 1919-1920. He made his major league debut on September 20, 1919 and played his last contest on October 2, 1920. He was 3-for-12 in his career

check out the other bios HERE.

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This article is published with permission from the Sangamon County Historical Society. Check them out as they have some great research items and stories to read.

Richard Kinsella (baseball scout, team owner)

Richard “Sinister Dick” Kinsella (1862-1939) was a semi-pro baseball player, owner of Springfield’s Three-I League team and a well-known local politician. But he was famous nationally as the right-hand man of John J. McGraw, the Hall of Fame manager of the New York Giants from 1902 to 1932.

“Sinister Dick” got his nickname not because of skullduggery but because of his dark, bushy, intimidating eyebrows. (A sports writer reportedly once said “his eyebrows looked like fright wigs.”)  Nonetheless, Kinsella was a tough, old-school baseball man.

He also was a shrewd judge of talent. As a scout – at first, in fact, McGraw’s only scout – Kinsella discovered dozens of major-league baseball players, including Hall of Famers Carl Hubbell, Frankie Frisch, Freddie Lindstrom, Mickey Cochrane, and Hack Wilson. He may also have been involved in McGraw’s signing of Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity; Kinsella said he and McGinnity once played on the same team in Springfield.

Kinsella played first base during his own on-field career, which apparently was spent with town teams; businesses like the Illinois Watch Factory, Myers Brothers department store, local railroads and others sponsored teams during the period. The Illinois State Journal hinted at his playing style in an 1897 story involving a feud between Kinsella and Springfield Mayor Marion Woodruff: “Kinsella has been a power in Democratic politics in Springfield ever since the days when he played baseball and the bleachers went wild over the manner in which he stole second (base).”

Kinsella served on the Sangamon County Board of Supervisors and then was county treasurer from 1898 to 1902. He was a delegate to several Democratic national conventions, including serving as sergeant-at-arms at the 1912 convention. He also operated Kinsella Paint and Varnish for more than 50 years in Springfield.

Kinsella was among the early boosters of local minor-league baseball, starting at least in 1890 when a group of businessmen tried to raise money to support Springfield’s team in the Central Interstate League. The Springfield Senators had finished second in the Central Interstate in 1889. However, the league did not resume in 1890.

Kinsella later became a director of the Springfield Baseball Association, which sponsored a team in the Three-I League beginning in 1903. That first team was the Springfield Foot Trackers, according to baseball-reference.com; the name changed in 1904 to the Springfield Hustlers and then back to the Senators in 1905.

Most sources on Kinsella report that he became the owner of the Springfield franchise in 1904, but that is incorrect. Harry Jones owned most of the stock of the Springfield Baseball Association until fall 1905, when Kinsella challenged allegedly improper payments to the association’s secretary – Jones – and its treasurer. The legal dispute was settled in November 1905, with Kinsella paying $5,000 for 80 percent control of the team, according to newspaper reports.

As owner (or what newspapers called “the Springfield magnate”), Kinsella put together a winning organization, and the Senators were league champions in 1908 and 1910. However, his approach was to churn the team’s roster, hiring promising prospects and then, once they showed potential, selling their contracts elsewhere. Critics, many of them his Three-I competitors, said that was unfair and damaging to the league.

The Illinois State Register also crossed swords with Kinsella in 1910. Angered when the newspaper reprinted a St. Louis item suggesting Kinsella had assaulted an umpire – actually, he apparently had come to the ump’s defense – he barred Register reporters from League Park, the field at 11th Street and Black Avenue where the Senators played. The ban was to apply, Kinsella said, even if the reporters bought tickets and even at games not involving Three-I teams. (Town leagues also used the park.)

The Register responded in a June 16 commentary, one perhaps written by “sporting editor” Jimmie Dix, who was the special object of Kinsella’s ire.

If Dick Kinsella wants to run a baseball nine, that’s all right. He is a baseball genius in the picking of players and organizing pennant-winning teams. The State Register prints the news about it. Dick Kinsella’s business in this matter is running a ball nine. The State Register’s business is printing the news. We owe that to our 17,000 subscribers, not one of whom has ever made a request that we let Dick Kinsella tell us who we shall send to report the news or how we shall report it.

Despite the Senators’ on-field success, attendance at League Park in 1910 fell short of the Three-I League’s minimum of 35,000 patrons.

Meanwhile, Kinsella had begun scouting for McGraw’s Giants in 1907. So when he was offered the chance in 1910 to head the St. Louis Browns scouting organization, Kinsella put the Senators up for sale. Getting no solid offers in Springfield, he moved the franchise to Decatur in May 1911; that December, he sold out to another Springfield syndicate, once again headed by Harry Jones.

After scouting for the Cardinals, Kinsella joined the New York Yankees staff in 1916. He later returned to the Giants organization.

Jim Sandoval, writing for the Society for American Baseball research, outlined Kinsella’s scouting secrets.

Kinsella … subscribed to newspapers in every town or city that had professional baseball. He made connections with the compilers of league statistics to get the official averages in advance of publication. He also acquired lists of players on waivers.

Kinsella once signed a player, Benny Kauff, by taking a job on a plantation near a Mississippi resort where the player and other baseball figures were holding meetings, Sandoval wrote: “While the baseball people were meeting, Kinsella was meeting secretly with Kauff.”

Sandoval debunks another characteristic Kinsella story, that he once bought the contract of a prospect for $25 and a bird dog. Kinsella did give the dog to St. Louis Cardinals manager Roger Bresnahan, but as a gift, not as part of a player deal, Sandoval wrote.

However, Kinsella was part of a spectacular brawl at a St. Louis hotel in 1915. The fight grew out of an argument between Giants catcher Larry McLean; Sandoval describes the result:

As many as six players helped Kinsella. Accounts say two chairs were broken on McLean, with Kinsella breaking a rocking chair over his head, then chasing him around the fountain in the courtyard. McLean ran away, chased by McGraw and Kinsella, and McLean escaped by jumping into a passing automobile.

Kinsella retired from scouting in 1930. He remained active in politics, however, and ran Henry Horner’s Sangamon County campaign for governor in 1932. In return, Horner in 1933 named Kinsella director of the state division of oil inspection, a job he held till his death in 1939.

Long-time Illinois State Journal sports editor Bob Drysdale remembered Kinsella in his “Dope Bucket” column on Oct. 15, 1939:

One of the best – and greatest – of baseball’s old guard was called out by the Great Umpire last night when Richard F. (Dick) Kinsella died. Mr. Kinsella, more than anyone else, brought baseball fame to Springfield. As a player, manager and scout, he put this city in the forefront of the game. Stars discovered by him as a scout for the New York Giants have become baseball immortals. … He saw the game grow. He helped it to grow. If scouts ever gain their deserved recognition and win places in baseball’s Hall of Fame, Richard F. Kinsella will lead them all. He was the best.

Notes

*The Rippon-Kinsella House, the Kinsella family home at 1317 N. Third St., is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. As of 2015, it was a bed-and-breakfast home.

*Richard Kinsella and his wife Mary Kathryn had four sons, three of whom died as young men. The fourth, Robert (1899-1951), played in four games for the New York Giants in 1919 and 1920.

*Some biographies give Dick Kinsella credit for building Springfield’s first baseball stadium. That appears to be overstated. League Park was created in 1902, and the grandstand was built in 1903 and improved in 1904. As a director of the Springfield Baseball Association, Kinsella no doubt played a role in the construction, but he didn’t take control of the Springfield team until late 1905. League Park’s grandstand and bleachers were destroyed by an arson fire in June 1911, a couple of months after Kinsella moved the team to Decatur. (Kinsella later wrote that he moved the team because of the fire; that was incorrect.)

The site of League Park, after lying vacant for decades — for many years, it was a periodic circus and carnival grounds — is again a baseball facility. Renamed David Lawless Park and operated by the Springfield Park District, it is the home of four diamonds.