So it’s Daniel Murphy’s day and the Mets are wearing green versus the Bosox, but none of today’s major leaguers was actually born in the old country. According to my exhaustive research (20 minutes on Wikipedia and “the Google”) there have been dozens of Major League players who were born in Ireland, but relatively few who graced New York’s diamonds – kind of surprising, since New York was the largest Irish city outside of Ireland for most of the 19th century, and much of the 20th. Even more surprising: their lack of success. Generally speaking, the Irish who played in New York were light-hitting part-timers with far from stellar fielding records. Still, as the pipes play up Fifth Avenue and the beer turns green, let’s take a quick look a few few Gaelic baseballers from days gone by.
Easily the best-known of New York’s Irish immigrant baseball figures was one Jack Doyle of Killorglin, Ireland (pictured, left). Also known as “Dirty Jack” for his hot temper and legendary feuds, Doyle was a famed nemesis of New York Giants manager John J. McGraw. On July 1, 1901, after being heckled by a Polo Grounds fan, Doyle jumped into the stands and hit him once with his left hand – breaking it. Still smarting from a feud that dated to their Baltimore days, Doyle and McGraw got into it in New York. When he was named to manage the Giants, McGraw’s first act was to release Doyle, who was hitting .301 at the time. Classic case of off-the-boat vs. second generation. Doyle played 17 seasons as a first-baseman, catcher and outfielder – eight of them for the Giants and two for the Brooklyn Superbas – and hit .299.
Henry Cooke “Irish” McIlveen of Belfast played two seasons with that incredibly imaginative nickname for the New York Highlanders. A part-time outfielder, he hit a robust .213.
Going back a ways, Cyclone Ryan of Cappagh White, Ireland played first base for the original New York Metropolitans for one season, smacking the horsehide at a stinging .219 clip.
Paddy O’Connor (another clever nickname) was born Patrick Francis O’Connor in 1879 in County Kerry, Ireland and hit .225 in mostly part-time catching duty for four major league teams, finishing up with the New York Yankees under Miller Huggins in a war-shortened 1918 season.
Four years earlier, James Charles Walsh of Kallila, Ireland also played for the Yankees as a reserve infielder hitting only a buck-91. But Walsh played six seasons in total, hitting .232.
Faring better in the transition from shillelagh to bat was John Joseph “Jocko” Fields of Cork, Ireland. Fields played 341 games in the majors, with 358 hits in 1,319 at bats. He had a lifetime average of .271. He had 12 home runs and 176 RBI. In his final season, he hit a respectable .273 in part-time duty for the Giants.
UPDATE: Greg Prince remembers Tug McGraw and points readers to the foundation and the cause that bears his Irish name. Ya gotta believe.
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