Algie McBride

Outfielder Algie McBride is not a household name today. Yet at the end of the 19th century and into the first year of the 20th, he was a staple of the Cincinnati Reds lineup, playing alongside future Hall of Famer Jake Beckley. While not Hall of Fame material himself, he was a solid player who produced respectable numbers at bat and on the field. However, McBride was plagued by injury over his five years in the majors, cutting down his time on the diamond. After one last season in 1902 with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, he left the game and over the years fell into obscurity.

Algernon Griggs McBride was born on May 23, 1869, to parents John Randolph McBride and Kate Ione McBride (née Griggs). He was the oldest of three children, followed by Parks Randolph and Kate McBride.1 Various sources, such as Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet, give McBride’s place of birth as Washington, D.C. However, this assertion appears erroneous. McBride’s Social Security records show that he was born in Martinsville, Indiana, while the 1870 US Census states that he was born in Indiana and that the family currently resided in “Washington, Morgan, Indiana.”2

His father, John Randolph McBride (1842-March 4, 1912), a native of Indiana, was a soldier during the Civil War. He served in Company C of the 33rd Indiana Volunteers and took part in the Atlanta Campaign.3 After the war, he returned to his home state; the 1870 census records his occupation as “printer.” A decade later he was still in the same line of work and listed as “editor and publisher” in the census. The family had also relocated to Frankfort, Indiana.4

John Randolph was also the author of a book on the complete history of the 33rd Indiana Volunteers. His obituary states that for almost the last 15 years of his life he worked for the government printing office in Washington, D.C. and passed away in the nation’s capital.5

McBride’s mother, Kate Ione McBride (1848-1927) was also a native of Indiana.6 Her father was Algernon Sidney Griggs, a former judge from Morgan County, Indiana as well as a State Senator (1852-1854) and member of the state House of Representatives (1866-1868).7 He appears to be the origin of McBride’s first and middle name. This is the extent of what is known about McBride’s family and childhood – no letters or diaries have been discovered. McBride would not appear again in the historical record until he began his career in professional baseball.

On March 24, 1889, the Memphis Daily Avalanche announced that McBride had signed with Memphis of the Southern League, playing alongside George Bausewine8 The first box score that can be located places McBride in left field in a game against Chattanooga (Tennessee) on opening day, April 20, 1889. He went 1–for-4 at bat.9

The Memphis team disbanded in mid-June. McBride then briefly played third base for Mobile (Alabama) before moving on to Davenport (Iowa) and finishing up with Greenville (Michigan) of the Michigan State League.10 He finished the season with 163 plate appearances over 63 games with 34 runs in aggregate – although it should be noted that his Davenport statistics are not listed on Baseball Reference.

Between 1890 and 1892, McBride missed almost three seasons of baseball owing to illness before venturing south in mid-1892 to play for Waco and Galveston in the Texas League. He also spent some time with a local ballclub in Houston, Pennsylvania.11 In 1893, McBride played briefly for an amateur team in Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania); he also spent three weeks in the Southern League, though for which team is unknown. However, poor health led him to retire from the season early (the exact nature of the illness remains a mystery).12  

In 1894, an apparently healthy McBride played ball in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. The following year, he joined the Austin (Texas) Beavers of the Class B Texas-Southern League, where he batted an impressive .427.13 An August 15 article in the Chicago Tribune stated, “He joined the Austin team at the beginning of the season, coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the tailoring business. His salary when he signed was only $55 per month.”14

McBride was sold to the National League’s Chicago Colts on either August 10 or August 15 (depending on the source). He made his debut with the Colts in an exhibition game against Indianapolis on August 18, but before he could appear in a regular-season game, he was loaned out to the Rockford (Illinois) Reds of the Class B Western Association. In 32 games for the Reds, his batting average was an impressive .407.15 He also played for San Jose in the California Winter League that year.16

The 1896 season started with McBride on loan again to Rockford but on reserve with the Colts.17 However, in March it was announced that he was heading to Galveston for spring training with the big club. A spot in left field had opened up – Walter Wilmot vacated the position because he was done dealing with unruly Chicago fans who gave him a hard time when he misplayed balls.18 A headline in the Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) published on March 16 read “McBride Shows Excellent Control of the Ball and Seems a Great Find”.19 McBride, who batted and threw lefty, stood 5-feet-9 and weighed just 152 pounds, but was athletically built. He was clean-shaven with light-colored hair parted on the side.

Based on his previous season’s batting average, McBride looked to be a useful addition to Cap Anson’s Colts, although he was by then nearly 27. The press was favorable to him in the beginning as well. On May 11, Chicago played two exhibition games, one against Detroit and the other against Grand Rapids of the Western League. The Chicago Tribune wrote, “McBride covered his field well with the exception of one play, when he permitted the sun to get into his eyes, and he dodged a long drive which should have been an out but was counted as a home run. At bat he proved his strength, making two hits in one game and four in the other, out of a total of ten times at bat. One two-base hit and two three-base hits went to his credit.”20

However, he appeared in just nine regular-season games for the Colts, batting .241 (7-for-29, including one homer). Chicago stated in June that the reason for his dismissal was his weak fielding; McBride complained about being farmed out and felt shortchanged because he was just getting his swing down.21  He played for Grand Rapids (Michigan) for the remainder of the season.

The following year, 1897, McBride was sold by Chicago to the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints of the Class A Western League, where his batting average rose to .345.22  That same year, Cincinnati began showing interest in the outfielder; it was announced on September 25 that the Reds had signed him.23

The 1898 season would be the first of a three-and-a-half-year stint with that club. McBride arrived in the Queen City on March 1 with a signed contract, ready to play.24 Spring training started out well for him. In a game against San Antonio (Texas) on March 18, the center fielder had four putouts, one assist, a two-bagger, and scored one run.25 However, the first of many injuries was just over the horizon. On April 2, the Cincinnati Post reported, “Algy McBride is nursing a fat thumb, the result of a collision with a misjudged fly at Dallas.”26 Having trouble holding the bat because of the injury, McBride did not return to the lineup until the end of April.27

In early June he was struck with neuralgia but continued to make regular appearances on the diamond.28 Then on Thursday, July 28, McBride took a pitch to the kidney from pitcher Brickyard Kennedy. For two days he was under the care of Dr. Hank Frey. On Saturday, July 30, McBride wasn’t sure if he could play but team manager and future Hall of Famer Buck Ewing told him to “Go out there and try it anyhow.”  The first two times at bat he walked. On his third visit to the plate, he swung and hit a foul ball, the exertion of the swing causing him excruciating pain.29 He was taken out of the game.

Not a week later, McBride wrenched his knee sliding into second during the sixth inning against New York (which knee is unclear).30 That joint would be a recurring issue for the remainder of his major-league career. Notwithstanding his injuries, McBride finished the season with a .302 batting average and a .959 fielding percentage over 120 games.

The 1899 season did not start out as well as the previous one. Cincinnati’s Enquirer reported on March 23 that McBride’s knee was already giving him trouble and that Dr. Frey was working on it.31 He was able to play for the majority of April – but in a game against Chicago on April 29 things became doubtful. While making a “sensational catch,” as one headline put it, McBride fell in a heap on the foul line, again with knee issues.32 The same article went on to retell the event dramatically. “Coming at full speed from deep afield he captured the ball just as his bad knee refused to longer support him, and after throwing the sphere tumbled to the ground like a deer brought down by a well-aimed bullet.”33

The knee problem became so severe that McBride consulted Dr. Ed Walker, one of the top surgeons in Cincinnati.34 Dr. Walker told him that he needed to stay off the knee for 10 days, preferably in a hospital under the care of a competent nurse. McBride chose to stay off the knee but did so with a trusted friend instead. Weeks later, in late June, Walker suggested that McBride would be able to play if he wore support for his knee. So, he visited with the club physician, who gave him a strong rubber bandage.35 McBride lost almost half the season to injury, playing only 64 games, though he did achieve a .347 batting average, his best in the majors.

McBride almost made it through the 1900 season without injury. However, on September 13, he collided with a fence while going after a foul ball; he was carried to the Cincinnati bench, where it was determined that he’d injured his knee and sustained a cut on his chin. That evening at the hotel he was able to move about with the use of a cane.36 He finished out the season with a .275 batting average over 112 games played.

On January 16, 1901, McBride married Ada Belle Losee of Portsmouth, Ohio, at the home of his relatives in Martinsville, Indiana.37 Following the ceremony, the couple headed to Washington, D.C. to witness the inauguration of President William McKinley.38 The marriage produced two children, Helen and Griggs R. McBride.39

Also at the beginning of 1901 came signs that the union between McBride and the Reds was ending. His services were claimed in March by both Chicago and Baltimore of the American League.40 However, by the first week of April, he was re-signed by Cincinnati.41 Unfortunately, his performance suffered during the first part of the season, especially his batting. It got so bad that at the end of June one headline read, “Algy M’Bride’s Head Likely To Be Cut Off.” That proved prophetic — he was released by Cincinnati on June 28.42 Also of note: the Enquirer reported that he wasn’t well and had lost 12 pounds on a recent road trip43. In 30 games that season with the Reds, he batted .236,

McBride was signed the next day by the New York Giants. With that club, he posted a .280 batting average in 68 games before being released on September 17, 1901, with a few weeks left on the schedule. Thus, he finished his major -league career with a .292 batting average over 403 games and a .946 fielding average over 396 games.

McBride went on to play one more full season with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association before leaving the professional game for good. He also spent time with a semipro team in Punxsutawney and had knee surgery with unrealized hopes of returning to the majors someday.44

McBride lived with the Smith family (relatives of his mother) in Punxsutawney and played semipro ball there for at least a few years,45 According to the 1910 census, he and his young family were living in Punxsutawney, where he worked as a salesman at a fruit store.46  He also ran a pool hall as well as maintaining a small zoo with alligators, snakes, and other odd animals.47 He also supposedly owned a hen that would lay massive eggs always containing two yolks.48

A decade later, the census shows that Algie and Ada relocated to Washington, Brown County, Ohio. There he was employed as an express agent for Norfolk and Western Railway.49 By 1930, at the age of 60, he was express manager and living in Sardinia, Ohio with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, Margaret.50

On January 10, 1956, Algie McBride passed away at the age of 86 from injuries sustained from a fall six weeks earlier.51 He was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Ohio, in the Losee family plot next to his wife, in-laws, and other family members.52

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Ancestry.com

Findagrave.com

Newspapers.com

US Census reports from 1870, 1880, 1910, 1920, and 1930

Notes

1 John Randolph McBride: Family tree by Lori SAMUELSON (lsamuelson) – Geneanet; 1880 US Federal Census.

2 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 – Ancestry.com, 1870 US Census.

3“Indiana Deaths,” Indianapolis News, March 5, 1912: 7.

4 1870 US Census; 1880 US Census.

5 John R. McBride (1842-1912) – Find a Grave Memorial.

6 Kate Ione Griggs McBride (1848-1927) – Find a Grave Memorial.

7 Information on Algernon Sidney Griggs « Capitol & Washington (capitolandwashington.com). Morgan County Indiana (genealogytrails.com)

8 “Memphis Players Signed,” Memphis Daily Avalanche, March 24, 1889: 2. Happy Birthday, George Bausewine! | Mighty Casey Baseball

9 “A Great Game, “ (Chattanooga, Tennessee) Sunday Times, April 21, 1889: 4.

10 “Baseball,” (Memphis) Public Ledger, June 15, 1889: 1; “Greenville Defeats Flint,” Detroit Free Press, September 28, 1889: 8. Peter Pelter, “Davenport Dotlets,“ The Sporting Life, July 10, 1889:

11 Personal,” Sporting Life, August 31, 1895: 2. “Pittsburg Done Up,” Punxsutawney Spirit, October 18, 1893: 5.

12 “Pittsburgs Play the Colts Today,” Chicago Tribune, August 15, 1895: 4. “Pittsburg Done Up,” Punxsutawney Spirit, October 18, 1893: 5.

13 Tips From the Diamond,” Austin Weekly Statesman, March 28, 1895: 5. “The Finishing Up,” Indiana Progress, September 5, 1894: 4.

14  “Pittsburgs Play the Colts Today,” Chicago Tribune, August 15, 1895: 4.

15 “Peoria vs. Rockford,” Chicago Chronical, September 26, 1895: 4. “Base Ball at Austin,” Houston Daily Post, August 11, 1895: 19. “Lose by Miserable Play,” Chicago Chronicle, August 18, 1895: 4.

16 “Baseball,” San Antonio Sunday Light, November 10, 1895: 2.

17 “Loaned Chicago Players Are Second and Third in Batting,” (Chicago) Inter Ocean, February 1, 1896: 4.

18 “Takes His Men to Texas,” Chicago Chronical, March 1, 1896: 8. “Wilmot to Retire,” Sporting Life, September 14, 1895: 1.

19 “Colts Are Training,” Inter Ocean, March 16, 1896: 4.

20 “Anson’s Men Have Fun,” Chicago Tribune, May 11, 1896: 8.

21 Chicago Gleanings,” Sporting Life, June 13, 1896: 6, and “Will Farm M’Bride,” Chicago Inter Ocean, June 8, 1896: 4

22 “Won and Lost,” Minneapolis Times, August 12, 1897: 3. “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, February 13, 1897: 5.

23 . “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, September 25, 1897: 5. New Players,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 26, 1897: 2

24 “M’Bride Here,” above.

25 “M’Farland,” Cincinnati Post, March 18, 1898: 2.

26 “As Fans Like It,” Cincinnati Post, April 6, 1898: 2.

27 “Baseball Gossip, Enquirer, April 18, 1898: 3; “Baseball,” Cincinnati Post, April 28, 1898: 7.

28 “Hot Shot for Joyce,” Cincinnati Post, June 6, 1898: 2.

29 “Baseball Gossip,” Enquirer, July 31, 1898: 26.

30 “Baseball Gossip,” Enquirer, August 6, 1898: 3. “Second Game,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 5, 1898: 4.

31 “Knockers Not Among the Reds,” Enquirer, April 18, 1899: 4.

32 “Algy McBride Made Sensational Catch,” Enquirer, April 30, 1898: 6.

33 “Algy McBride Made Sensational Catch.”

34 “Baseball Gossip,” Enquirer, May 24, 1899: 4.

35 Base Ball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 25, 1899: 4. “After a Two-Days Lay Off..,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 28, 1899: 4.

36 “Gossip of the Game,” Enquirer, September 14, 1900: 4.

37 “M’Bride-Losee, Indianapolis Journal, January 17, 1901: 3.

38 “Baseball Squibs,” Cincinnati Post, January 17, 1901: 2.

39 1870 US Census; Griggs R. McBride (1905-1976) – Find a Grave Memorial.

40 “Algy Gets a Contract,” Cincinnati Post, March 20, 1901: 7.

41 “Ready for Real Work,” Cincinnati Post, April 4, 1901: 2.

42 “Luck with Brooklyns,” Cincinnati Post, May 15, 1901: 2; “Red Cherries to Pick,” Cincinnati Post, June 14, 1901: 3; “Simply Awful,” Cincinnati Post, June 22, 1901: 2.

43 “Baseball Notes,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 27, 1901: 4.

44 Local Intelligence,” Punxsutawney Spirit, January 28, 1903: 2.

45 “Spirit Rappings,” Punxsutawney Spirit, January 13, 1956: 4.

46 1910 US Census.

47 A Successful Meeting,” Punxsutawney Spirit, January 16, 1907: 5. “Algie’s Alligator Takes Little Trip,” Punxsutawney Spirit, October 23, 1906: 2. “Algie’s Zoo is a Thing of the Past,” Punxsutawney Spirit, December 13, 1906: 1.

48 Punxsutawney Spirit, March 6, 1907: 5.

49 “Player Claimed,” Press Gazette (Hillsboro, OH), January 13, 1956: 14.

50 1930 US Census.

51 Major League Player Profiles: 1871-1900, Vol. 1, David Nemec, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 580.

52 Algernon Griggs McBride (1869-1956) – Find a Grave Memorial; Silas O. Losee (1832-1895) – Find a Grave Memorial.