Jerry Harrington

At the close of the 1890 season, the Cincinnati Reds had high hopes for rookie backstop Jerry Harrington. The 21-year-old had proved a major asset for the fourth-place (77-55-2, .583) ball club – an able handler of pitchers; a sure-handed receiver with a powerful and accurate throwing arm, and a decent enough batter for any late-19th century catcher not named Buck Ewing. To many observers, stardom seemed in the offing for young Harrington.

Less than three seasons later, Jerry Harrington’s professional ballplaying career lay behind him, sabotaged by immaturity, after-hours revelry, barroom brawling, and an ever-expanding waistline. He spent the remaining two decades of his life back home in Keokuk, Iowa, alternating between enforcing the law as a police officer and deputy marshal and breaking it via gambling and disorderly conduct. This all came to an end in April 1913 when Harrington succumbed to head injuries sustained during drunken late-night combat with a neighborhood miscreant. He was 44. An account of his short-circuited life and baseball times follows.

Jeremiah Peter Harrington was born on August 12, 1868, in Hamden, Ohio, an isolated hamlet located about 100 miles east of Cincinnati. He was the sixth of the seven children surviving infancy1 born to day laborer Timothy Harrington (1831-1872) and his wife Mary (née Casey, 1829-1911), an Irish Catholic couple who emigrated to America in the late 1840s. When Jerry was just a toddler, the Harringtons relocated to Keokuk, the place where our subject resided for the rest of his life.

Within months of the family’s arrival at its new home, Timothy Harrington died, leaving his widow and young adult daughter Margaret to manage six often unruly boys. Jerry fitfully attended the elementary school of St. Peter’s parish before leaving to apprentice as a molder at a local stove company plant.2 But his real avocation was playing baseball. A strapping teenager, eventually a shade under six feet tall and about 195 pounds when in condition, Big Jerry’s size and lack of mobility generally restricted him to catching. But good hands, quick reflexes, a strong right arm, and the ability to withstand punishment made him a good fit at that demanding position.

A bustling county seat located on the Mississippi River, Keokuk was a post-Civil War baseball hotbed. In 1871, the city hosted a franchise in the National Association, the game’s first professional circuit, and amateur and semipro baseball thrived thereafter. According to one source, Harrington began playing organized ball for a Keokuk amateur nine in 1883 as an oversized 14-year-old.3 Two summers later, he graduated to membership on a semipro club in the nearby city of Bonaparte.4 He was back home the following season playing for a Keokuk semipro team.

Harrington turned professional in 1887, signing with the Creston entry in the independent Southwestern Iowa State League.5 The following winter he stepped up in class, becoming a member of the Decatur (Illinois) club of the newly formed minor Central Interstate League.6 Based on early season play, a wire service dispatch declared that “Jerry Harrington is the best catcher and the best general player in the Inter-State League.”7 Shortly thereafter, a ninth-inning walk-off homer cemented his status as a Decatur favorite.8 But Harrington did not accompany his teammates when the faltering (6-23, .207) franchise relocated to Lafayette, Indiana, in mid-June. Instead, he joined a league rival, the Danville (Illinois) Browns.9 His stay there, however, proved brief, as the Danville club folded in early July. Harrington then completed his CIL odyssey by signing with the league-leading Davenport (Iowa) club.

The Central Interstate League collapsed in late July, but Davenport did not abandon play. Rather, the team continued as an independent professional nine taking on random opposition. Harrington remained on the roster when the Davenport club was admitted to the minor Western Association as a replacement franchise in late August 1888.10 There is no evidence, however, that Harrington played with Davenport during its Western Association tenure.

The 1889 season was pivotal for Jerry Harrington, serving as the launching pad for his ascension to the major leagues. He began the year by re-signing with a reorganized Davenport club, now nicknamed the Hawkeyes and a member of the newly reconstituted Central Interstate League. More consequential in the long run, Harrington became the receiver for Billy Rhines, a 20-year-old righthander who had pitched the previous season for independent pro clubs on the East Coast. Newcomer Rhines was a real talent, bewildering opposition batsmen with fastballs and breaking stuff thrown from a variety of angles including submarine-style – as difficult to catch as he was to hit. But he and Harrington worked together seamlessly, and the two quickly became fast friends as well as teammates.

Harrington performed ably during the new season but was dogged by the hand injuries that came with catching in 1889.11 When a dislocated finger put him temporarily out of action in late May, Sporting Life’s Davenport correspondent observed that Harrington’s “presence will be sorely missed, as he was doing some heavy hitting and his catching was simply wonderful.”12 Later, a broken finger again put Harrington on the shelf.13 In the end, those injuries likely took their toll on the righty batter’s offense (a soft .202 batting average with only eight extra-base hits in 68 games), but his receiving was sterling throughout the season. Meanwhile, pitching mate Rhines developed into the class of CIL hurlers, going 27-15 (.643).

By mid-August, Davenport was receiving offers for its Rhines-Harrington battery from various National League and American Association clubs. For the time being, however, the same were rebuffed. A few weeks later, a team photo included a muscular, flat-stomached Harrington stretched out among Davenport teammates.14 The (57-45, .559) Hawkeyes were in the thick of the CIL pennant chase when the financially shaky franchise went under on September 10. First to take advantage of the situation were the American Association Cincinnati Reds, who signed the newly free agent battery before competitors could make their bids.15 Rhines reportedly inked a $3,000 deal for the 1890 season; Harrington signed for a $2,200 stipend.16

Unbeknownst to the pair, the situation in Cincinnati was volatile – the pending arrival of the upstart Players League on the major league scene was creating turmoil throughout the game. Dissatisfied with the direction and leadership of the American Association, Cincinnati club boss Aaron Stern transferred the AA Reds to the National League for the oncoming season.17 When Rhines and Harrinton dutifully re-signed with the NL-bound club, Stern expressed his gratitude, informing the press that “the Davenport battery treated me like the gentlemen they are. They loyally kept their promise and I think Cincinnatians will find that I have made no mistake in securing them.”18

Unlike other National League clubs, the Cincinnati Reds were not hard-hit by defections to the Players League. Still, Harrington was virtually assured of making the Reds’ Opening Day roster, given his close relationship with star pitching recruit Billy Rhines. That said, Harrington was held in high regard in his own right. Indeed, in the estimation of one Midwestern newspaper, “Jerry Harrington is a great catcher. The Cincinnati club is certainly fortunate in getting his signature to a contract.”19

As did other clubs, Cincinnati paired its pitchers and catchers into fixed batteries. Frontline starters Jesse Duryea and Frank Foreman were caught by veteran backstop Jim Keenan. Spot starter Lee Viau was assigned catcher Kid Baldwin, while newcomer Rhines (and later temperamental Tony Mullane) was handled by Harrington.

The Rhines-Harrington combination made its major league debut on April 22, 1890. With his club trailing the Chicago Colts 11-3 after four innings, Reds manager Tom Loftus lifted the Viau-Baldwin battery, replacing them with “Rhines and Harrington [who] were greeted with a roar of applause from the 2,100 spectators present” at Cincinnati’s League Park I.20 The youngsters performed tolerably, holding the Colts to two runs over the final four frames. For his part, Harrington handled three fielding chances without miscue but was charged with a passed ball. At the plate, he went 0-for-2.21 Eight days later, the pair showed their mettle against the Cleveland Spiders. Rhines threw a four-hit, six-strikeout 4-0 shutout at the Spiders, his “deceptive curves and puzzling [submarine] rise ball” baffling Cleveland batters.22 Although again hitless at bat, Harrington handled 10 defensive chances flawlessly.

The triumph marked the beginning of an early-season stretch in which the Rhines-Harrington battery posted victories in 13 of its first 14 starts, leaving a Pittsburgh sportswriter to remark that the two “work together and know each other’s signs as well as a magician and his female assistant.”23 Along the way, Harrington finally began hitting. But it was his defensive prowess that garnered most attention, his Pittsburgh admirer exclaiming, “Harrington is one of the best catchers who ever donned a mask for the Cincinnati team. Not only is he a good backstop but his throwing is grand. … [Against base stealers], he sends the ball to the mark with unerring aim and gets them down there so swiftly that it makes [barehanded second baseman Bid] McPhee’s hands sting whenever he handles one.”24 The hometown Cincinnati Commercial Gazette concurred, proclaiming that “Jerry has proved himself one of the finest back-stops in the league.”25

In light of their subsequent misadventures, the press portrayal of Rhines and Harrington as paragons of athletic virtue reads ironically today. But as rookies, the two avoided alcohol, adhered to nightly curfews, and stayed in tip-top physical condition, getting up each morning to jog to a local park “where they put in an hour or so pulling a boat around a little lake.”26 But even clean living and daily exercise could not immunize Rhines from the strain that overuse was placing on his young throwing arm. In July, he suffered through a six-game losing streak, but subsequently rebounded to winning form. Rhines finished the season with an excellent 28-17 (.622) record, complete with a league-leading 1.95 ERA in just over 400 innings pitched. He also placed second among NL pitchers in shutouts (6); and fourth in base hits allowed per game (7.56), and opponents’ batting average (.221). After the season, the Reds’ star hurler was magnanimous, attributing “much of his success to catcher Harrington,” adding that he “would not like to pitch without him.”27

Although he did not compile the gaudy stats of his battery partner, Jerry Harrington enjoyed a fine rookie season. In 65 games, he hit .246, solid for a catcher, and a figure far higher than that of the other Reds receivers (Baldwin: .153 in 22 games; Keenan: .139 in 54 games). Harrington also outperformed the other two Cincinnati catchers defensively, posting a club-high .957 fielding percentage, although both Baldwin (47%) and Keenan (43%) bested Harrington (39%) in percentage of baserunners caught stealing.

As the season drew to a close, the baseball situation in Cincinnati was again in turmoil. Unbeknownst to fellow NL magnates, club boss Stern had entered negotiations for the transfer of the Reds franchise to Players League interests fronted by Cleveland industrialist Al Johnson. Although the ensuing demise of the PL rendered the transfer scheme moot, the National League was not about to keep a traitor in its ranks. At its winter meeting, club owners expelled Stern’s ball club and granted the rights to the Cincinnati territory to John T. Brush, formerly majority owner and club president of the NL Indianapolis Hoosiers.28 As a result, Reds players, including Billy Rhines and Jerry Harrington, were now the charges of new club boss Brush, a fair but straitlaced and humorless man who was a stickler for proper ballplayer behavior.29

Brush’s club did not have Cincinnati to itself in 1891, as the American Association installed a new team there under the direction of fading star Mike (King) Kelly. There were rumors that Rhines, Harrington, and Tony Mullane were disposed to join to the AA team, but that club president Louis Kramer refused to engage contract jumpers.30 In any event, “big, good-natured” Jerry Harrington accepted the generous terms offered him by Brush.31 After he had signed his contract, an impressed Harrington declared, “You can talk about your orators and your silver-voiced gentlemen, but that man Brush is very much into it. No wonder he nailed so many men from the brotherhood. He is dead sure to get nearly anybody he goes after.”32 Unhappily for Harrington, future encounters with his new employer would not be so congenial.

The catcher’s propensity to put on weight over the winter first attracted notice when he reported for the 1891 spring camp. And he was still out of playing shape when the regular season began, leaving frustrated Reds manager Loftus to complain that “Jerry would go out and work off six pounds in exercise and then come in and eat an eight pound dinner.”33 When the Reds got off slowly in the early going, Harington was among those players targeted for criticism. After Philadelphia Phillies baserunners stole five bases during a June 10 contest, the Philadelphia Times scoffed that “Harrington could not put enough steam in his [throws] to catch a freight train.”34 Overlooked by the newspaper was the fact that the pitch calling of the maligned backstop had fostered Tony Mullane’s three-hit Reds victory, 3-1. The carping continued the following month, with Sporting Life asserting that “a fruitful source to defeat Cincinnati’s league team is Jerry Harrington’s poor throwing. Last season it was simply suicidal to steal second on him. This season he can’t get near the bag one time in six chances.”35

Immaturity soon compounded Harrington’s problems. Prior to an early August game in Philadelphia, Arlie Latham, the Reds’ disagreeable and unpopular team captain, confiscated the baseball with which Harrington intended to loosen up his arm. Sensitive to the criticism about his throwing, Harrington then refused to play without being properly warmed up, the orders of manager Loftus notwithstanding. Loftus responded by fining the backstop $100, which Harrington refused to pay. And a truculent Harrington would not take the field again until the fine was remitted.36 Like most everyone else, Loftus liked the usually good-humored catcher but was not disposed to putting up with Harrington “acting like a schoolboy.”37 He therefore suspended the catcher and sent him back to Cincinnati.

Harrington quickly capitulated and was back in the lineup to catch Billy Rhines on August 24 when a hard-fought 3-2 decision was lost to the New York Giants. The setback dropped the Reds’ record to a dismal 39-62 (.386). From there, the club limped home, finishing the season at 56-81-1 (.409), only an eyelash out of the National League basement.38 A major contributor to the decline in club performance was the sophomore slump suffered by its star battery of the previous season. Rhines’ 17-24 (.415) record was a disappointment. So was the soft (only 17 extra-base hits in 92 games) .228 batting average posted by Harrington. The pair, however, remained young and promising, and club boss Brush lost no time inking them both for 1892, with each reportedly given a $500 raise.39 But the coming season would prove a trying one for all concerned.

Harrington appeared to have regained form in 1892 spring camp. He was “the Jerry of old,” reported the Cincinnati Post, “and the way he shoots [throws] down to second shows that he is still in it.”40 And the Cincinnati Enquirer subsequently declared that “Jerry Harrington has never hit as hard as he has in the exhibition season just closed.”41 The problem now was Harrington’s behavior, not performance. On the evening of May 4, he and Rhines began a tour of Cincinnati saloons. During their rounds, the pair encountered Eddie Burke, a new Reds teammate whom Rhines disliked. A drunken sidewalk fight which the slightly less intoxicated Harrington attempted to break up left combatants Rhines and Burke battered and bruised. When word of the affair reached new Reds manager Charlie Comiskey, he imposed an indefinite suspension on Rhines, deemed the instigator of the brawl. Burke and Harrington got off with $100 fines.42

Even more put out by the incident was mortified club boss John T. Brush. “The city has given the club great support this season [and] I want the team to deserve the good wishes of base-ball patrons,” Brush declared. “I want the public to know that the club does not and will not tolerate anything like the disgraceful affair of last night. I am bound to have a sober, hard-working team of players, and if there is any repetition of the Rhines-Burke-Harrington affair it will be summarily dealt with.”43

The following afternoon, Harrington seemed to redeem himself, calling a 14-inning, 0-0 masterpiece thrown by Reds right-hander Ice Box Chamberlain and playing superb defense. “Jerry made no errors and stopped everything that was aimed at him. Harrington … is the coming catcher of the country,” crowed the press back in Davenport, Iowa.44 Yet within days, the by then 23-year- old catcher put his future in Cincinnati on the skids.

On the evening of May 10, Harrington went bar-hopping with Willie McGill, a diminutive Reds left-hander with an unquenchable thirst. A night’s drinking left the pair barely able to talk, much less play, when they staggered into the Reds locker room the next afternoon. A furious Comiskey promptly suspended them both.45 And given his previous drunk and disorderly episode, Harrington faced the threat of permanent blacklisting.46 The consensus found expression in the Cincinnati Enquirer, which observed: “In good fettle and duly sober there is no better catcher in the business or a better fellow than Big Jerry. He is jovial and witty and always cheerful. Since he fell into bad ways he has taken on the swagger of a shoulder-hitter and a tough. It is too bad that Jerry should throw away his chances by taking to drink. He probably deserves the black-list, but his many friends who know his worth when he is himself hope that he will not be so severely dealt with.”47 A duly chastened Harrington expressed regret for his behavior, explaining: “I realized the disgrace I brought on myself by my last escapade, and I did not think there was any chance to live it down in this place, and I became desperate. I know I made a lot of good resolutions, but when I got to brooding over my troubles I forgot all about them. I guess I will go back to my home at Keokuk.”48

As it turned out, Harrington was not permanently banished. While sitting out his suspension from the Reds, he took a westward sabbatical, suiting up for the Butte club in the independent Montana State League.49 He proved a hit with Big Sky fans and baseball press, and much regret was later expressed when Harrington was recalled to Cincinnati.50 But on the approach in early July of the second half of the split season, a device intended to maintain fan interest in the bloated 12-club National League of 1892, published reports confirmed that suspended Billy Rhines and Jerry Harrington were soon to be restored to the Cincinnati Reds roster.51 Their reinstatement, however, was contingent upon their signing new contracts that contained pay cuts of $1,000 for Rhines and $500 for Harrington.52

Harrington swiftly agreed to terms and pronounced himself “ready to go to work at a moment’s notice.”53 But inactivity and a hearty appetite had had the predictable effect on his waistline, by then the size of “a Cincinnati alderman.”54 When paired with right-hander Big Mike Sullivan, Harrington formed part of the heaviest battery in the league, their combined weight estimated at 430-450 pounds.55 Handicapped by excess weight-related mobility problems, Harrington’s performance was “far from satisfactory,”56 and he was released by the Reds in mid-August.57 A loser of six of eight post-reinstatement starts, Billy Rhines received his walking papers shortly thereafter. After settling debts with Cincinnati creditors,58 Harrington departed for Keokuk, his future in professional baseball uncertain, at best.

Over the winter, it was reported that Harrington had signed with the National League’s Boston Beaneaters for the 1893 season.59 But when spring camp opened, he and his buddy Rhines were wearing the livery of the Louisville Colonels, a lackluster NL non-contender.60 Regrettably, Harrington’s comeback attempt was stymied by recurring leg injuries, making him unavailable for weeks at a time. Meanwhile, teammate Rhines’ problems were performance-related; enemy hitters feasted on his servings to the tune of a .348 opponents’ batting average; Rhines lost four of his five starts. The pair then got themselves into Louisville manager Billy Barnie’s doghouse by late-night carousing during a swing through Baltimore, drawing $100 fines.61 Shortly thereafter, Rhines was released.62 Laid up with a balky knee, Harrington remained on the Louisville roster for the time being. But with his batting average standing at an anemic .111 (4-for-36) in only 10 games played, Harrington drew his unconditional release in late July.63 At the tender age of 24, Jerry Harrington’s days as a professional baseball player had come to their end.

In 189 games spread over four major league seasons, Harrington batted a meek .227 with little power, registering only 28 extra-base hits and a .287 career slugging average. But aside from Buck Ewing, late-19th century catchers were not expected to supply a lot of offense, and Harrington’s numbers were actually markedly superior to those of teammate backstops Jim Keenan, Kid Baldwin, and Morgan Murphy.64 Defense, rather, was Harrington’s forte and contemporary observers deemed him one of the National League’s best catchers, particularly before he went to flesh.

Back home in Keokuk and without job skills, Harrington was at loose ends, living with his elderly mother and various siblings. In April 1895, he applied for the manager’s job with the Dubuque Colts of the minor Eastern Iowa League, but the post went to Joe Cantillon.65 Two years later (and likely through the intervention of his brother Daniel, an attorney active in local Democratic Party politics), Harrington became a member of the Keokuk Police Department.66 In time, he was promoted to deputy marshal.67 His tour as a police officer was over by 1904; he thereafter turned to undiscovered means to earn a living.68

In November 1908, Harrington was fined $10 and assessed court costs after pleading guilty to minor gambling charges.69 The following March, however, that conviction did not deter him from announcing his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for the post of Keokuk City Marshal.70 Harrington did not get the party nod but was appointed to his old job of deputy marshal by the mayor two months later.71 By this time, his weight had ballooned to over 325 pounds.72 But the unhealthy girth apparently did not affect his employment status – Harrington continued on the job, occasionally filling in as assistant police chief.73

By March 1911, Harrington was back on the wrong side of the law, arrested during a gambling raid at a local saloon.74 More gambling and disorderly conduct arrests followed.75 Still, the personable Harrington retained the affection of the hometown press.76 The events which soon brought his life to an end were therefore reported with great sadness.

Early in the morning of April 1, 1913, Harrington was drinking in his favorite saloon when Tom “Diddle” Merritt, a Black ex-convict entered to have a pail filled with beer. Witness accounts of the interaction between Harington and Merritt differed but harsh words were evidently spoken. Harrington then followed Merritt outside onto the sidewalk. According to Merritt, Harington approached him in a menacing manner. Merritt thereupon swung the pail, striking Harrington in the face and knocking him to the pavement, which Harrington’s head hit with some force. Saloon patrons then came to Harrington’s aid and transported him home. Merritt, meanwhile, surrendered himself to authorities, maintaining that he had acted in self-defense.77

Although badly battered, Harrington was coherent and ambulatory, and treating physicians were confident of his recovery.78 But on the morning April 16, the patient was found in a stupor with pronounced swelling about the eyes, manifestations of an undetected skull fracture and cranial bleeding. The following morning, he died.79 Jeremiah Peter Harrington was 44 years old. After a Requiem Mass was said at St. Peter’s Church, the deceased was interred in the family plot at Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk. Unmarried and without issue, he was survived by his sister Margaret, and brothers Timothy, Daniel, James, and Joseph.

Following Harrington’s passing, the county attorney announced his intention to file a murder charge against Merritt,80 “but it was thought he will escape punishment as most of the evidence indicates that Harrington was the aggressor in the affair.”81 True enough, no prosecution was ever instituted against Merritt, leaving him at liberty to be arrested on theft charges later that year.82

Nearly a century after Jerry Harrington’s demise, 19th century baseball scholars David Nemec and David Ball concluded that “Harrington does not seem to have been genuinely vicious or dissipated, but he was uneducated, immature, and probably more than a little self-indulgent.”83 To that apt assessment, it might be added that by squandering the opportunity that his considerable ballplaying talents afforded him, Jerry Harrington joined that legion of “what might have been” major leaguers.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Sources

Sources for the biographical information imparted herein include the Jerry Harrington profile in Major League Player Profiles, 1871-1900, Vol. 1, David Nemec, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011); US Census and other government records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes, particularly obituaries and remembrances published in the Keokuk and Davenport, Iowa, press at the time of Harrington’s death in April 1913. Unless otherwise specified, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Photo credit: Jerry Harrington, Sporting Life, 1890.

Notes

1 Jerry’s identifiable siblings are Margaret (born 1852), Timothy (1860), Dennis (1862), Daniel (1865), James (1867), and Joseph (1870). Five other Harrington children, names unknown, did not live long enough to be recorded by census takers.

2 Per “Jerry Harrington, His Life Ended,” a remembrance published in the (Keokuk, Iowa) Daily Gate City, April 17, 1913: 5.

3 “Sporting Views,” Daily Gate City, April 17, 1913: 6.

4 Same as above. In June 1885, the Keokuk Hawkeyes entered the minor Western League as a replacement franchise, but veteran Keokuk playing manager Bill Harrington was not related to our subject.

5 “Sporting Views,” above. See also, “New Leagues,” Sporting Life, March 21, 1891: 3.

6 As noted in “The League,” (Davenport, Iowa) Evening Democrat-Gazette, January 16, 1888: 1.

7 See “Diamond Dust,” Decatur (Illinois) Herald, May 11, 1888: 3.

8 On May 21, Harrington clouted a ninth-inning homer to defeat Rockford, 4-3. “Harrington’s a Jewel,” Decatur Herald, May 22, 1888: 3: “It was a home run drive, but the game was won when Eliff crossed the plate and Jerry’s run didn’t count.”

9 Per “Diamond Dust,” Decatur Herald, June 15, 1888: 3.

10 See “Items in Brief,” (Davenport, Iowa) Morning Democrat-Gazette, August 25, 1888: 1; “Local Happenings,” Davenport (Iowa) Evening Times, August 23, 1888: 4.

11 By 1889, catchers were regularly equipped with a face mask and chest protector, but not shin guards. The deluxe version catcher’s mitt advertised in the 1890 Spalding Official Base Ball Guide was “padded with extra thick felt” but was still far smaller and less protective than the mitts available in the ensuing Deadball Era.

12 Peter Pelter, “Davenport Doings,” Sporting Life, June 5, 1889: 2. The Harington injury was also reported in “Notes,” Morning Democrat-Gazette, May 28, 1889: 4.

13 Per “Eleven Inning Contest” Morning Democrat-Gazette, August 22, 1889: 4.

14 Years later, the 1889 Davenport Hawkeyes team photo was re-published in the Davenport (Iowa) Democrat and Leader, August 20, 1912: 36.

15 As reported in “Notes and Gossip,” Sporting Life, September 25, 1889: 5; “Notes of the Diamond Field,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 23, 1889: 6; “Personal and General,” Davenport Evening Times, September 20, 1889: 4; and elsewhere.

16 Per “The Crack Battery,” Morning Democrat-Gazette, September 20, 1889: 4, and Evening Gazette-Democrat, September 20, 1889: 1.

17 Cincinnati and Brooklyn resigned from the American Association during the circuit’s annual meeting in November 1889. Reds club president Stern then had his players sign National League contracts to preclude their being snatched by the Players League. For more, see David Nemec, The Beer and Whisky League: The Illustrated History of the American Association – Baseball’s Renegade Major League (New York: Lyons & Burford, 1994), 187.

18 “Cincinnati Chips,” Sporting Life, October 30, 1889: 2.

19 “Flashes from the Diamond,” Omaha Daily Bee, April 13, 1890: 12.

20 “Badly Trounced,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 23, 1890: 2.

21 Per the box score published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, above. Other box scores charged Harrington with two passed balls. See e.g., “Disaster for Cincinnati,” New York Herald, April 23, 1890: 5.

22 “Cincinnati 4, Cleveland 0,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 1, 1890: 4.

23 Charles J. Foley, “Foley’s Letters from the Hub,” Pittsburg Dispatch, Jun 1, 1890: 14.

24 Same as above.

25 “Short Innings,” Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, July 27, 1890: 6.

26 “Great Playing,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 22, 1890: 10.

27 “Personal News and Gossip,” Sporting News, January 24, 1891: 4.

28 See “National League,” Sporting Life, November 22, 1890: 4, and the BioProject profile of Al Johnson for more detail. Brush’s Indianapolis club had been liquidated during the previous winter by the National League in the run-up to battle with the newly-arrived Players League.

29 In 1898, Brush was the author of punitive National League resolutions that attempted, with little success, to regulate player conduct.

30 According to “Dissatisfied Players,” Sporting Life, July 11, 1891: 1.

31 Per “They Are Off,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 31, 1891: 2.

32 “Heard after the Game,” Boston Herald, April 3, 1891: 7.

33 “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1891: 9.

34 “Still Losing Games,” Philadelphia Times, June 11, 1891: 3.

35 “News, Gossip and Comment,” Sporting Life, July 4, 1891: 2.

36 As reported in “Baseball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 8, 1891: 2; “For Sports,” Cincinnati Post, August 8, 1891: 4; and elsewhere.

37 “Base Ball Gossip,” Omaha World-Herald, August 23, 1891: 16.

38 Seventh-place Cincinnati’s final log was .002 better than that of the last place (55-80-2, .407) Pittsburgh Pirates.

39 As reported in “Sporting,” Cincinnati Post, October 29, 1891: 2; “Two More Men Signed,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Register, October 29, 1891: 1; and elsewhere. The $500 raise was mentioned in “City Chat,” Rock Island (Illinois) Argus, November 16, 1891: 8, and “Jerry Harrington Here,” Morning Democrat-Gazette, November 15, 1891: 1.

40 “Sporting,” Cincinnati Post, March 26, 1892: 5.

41 “Base-Ball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 12, 1892: 2.

42 As reported in “Disgraced,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 6, 1892: 3; “Fighting Drunk,” Cincinnati Post, May 5, 1892: 1; and elsewhere.

43 “Disgraced,” above.

44 “City Items,” Morning Democrat-Gazette, May 11, 1892: 4.

45 As reported in “Players Drunk,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 12, 1892: 2; “Sloppy Drunk,” Cincinnati Post, May 11, 1892: 2; and elsewhere.

46 See “Proper Punishment,” Sporting Life, May 14, 1892: 1; “Jerry Harrington in Trouble,” Decatur (Illinois) Herald-Despatch (sic), May 13, 1892: 3.

47 “No Game,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 12, 1892: 2.

48 “Jerry Harrington’s Disgrace,” (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Evening Gazette, May 14, 1892: 5.

49 As reported in “They’ve Got ‘Em,” Anaconda (Montana) Standard, June 10, 1892: 4.

50 See e.g., “Jerry Will Leave Us,” Anaconda Standard, July 8, 1892: 5.

51 See “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Globe, June 25, 1892: 5; “Editorial News, Views and Comments,” Sporting Life, June 25, 1892: 2.

52 According to a letter by Harrington penned to a friend published in the Anaconda Standard, July 29, 1892: 5.

53 “Base-Ball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 16, 1892: 2.

54 “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Globe, July 28, 1892: 5.

55 See “Baseball,” Salt Lake Herald, August 28, 1892: 7: (450 pounds); “Baseball Notes,” Boston Post, August 11, 1892: 3: (430 pounds).

56 “Cincinnati’s Plight,” Sporting Life, August 13, 1892: 1.

57 See “Sporting,” Cincinnati Post, August 8, 1892: 3, regarding Harrington’s imminent departure.

58 See “Jerry Harrington Squared Up and Left,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 27, 1892: 4.

59 According to “General Sporting Notes,” Buffalo Enquirer, January 24, 1893: 3; and “Harrington to Play with Boston,” Passaic (New Jersey) Daily News, January 23, 1893: 3.

60 See “Harrington Signed by Louisville,” Chicago Inter Ocean, March 3, 1893: 7; “No Hope for Buffalo,” Buffalo Courier, March 1, 1893: 8.

61 See “Baltimore Budget,” Sporting Life, June 10, 1893: 2; “Orioles Win in the Eighth,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 6, 1893: 3.

62 Per “Outside the Diamond,” Chicago Inter Ocean, June 20, 1893: 4; “Condensed Telegrams,” (New London, Connecticut) Day, June 17, 1893: 2.

63 As reported in “Down in Louisville,” Sporting Life, July 29, 1893: 7; “Jerry Harrington Released,” (Louisville) Courier-Journal, July 23, 1893: 4.

64 Like those of every other position, the offensive numbers posted by catchers skyrocketed after the elongation of the pitching distance to the modern 60 feet, six inches in 1893. Except for his ten games with the Louisville Colonels, Harrington did not get the benefit of this pitching rule change.

65 Per “Burlington Busy,” Sporting Life, April 20, 1895: 6.

66 See “Baseball Notes,” (Council Bluffs, Iowa) Daily Nonpareil, June 13, 1897: 2.

67 The Harington occupation listed on the 1900 US Census.

68 No occupation is listed for Harrington in the 1905 Iowa State Census.

69 “City News,” Daily Gate City, November 6, 1908: 8, and November 10, 1908: 3.

70 “Announcement,” Daily Gate City, March 19, 1909: 8.

71 Per “The Police Force Change Tomorrow,” Daily Gate City, May 31, 1909: 8, and “Mayor Appoints the Policemen,” Daily Gate City, May 29, 1909: 8.

72 As noted in “To Play Baseball,” Daily Gate City, August 28, 1909: 2.

73 See e.g., “M’Millan Spent a Fast Evening,” Daily Gate City, December 21, 1909: 5.

74 As reported in “Gambling Joint Raided Today,” Daily Gate City, March 12, 1911: 3.

75 See “City News,” Daily Gate City, October 22, 1911: 14; “Gamblers Locked Behind Bars,” Daily Gate City, July 23, 1911: 3.

76 See e.g., “Looking Backward in Baseball World,” Daily Gate City, August 25, 1912: 6.

77 As recounted in “Jerry Harrington in Bad Shape,” Daily Gate City, April 4, 1913: 5. See also, “Murder Charge Will Be Filled,” Daily Gate City, April 17, 1913: 2.

78 As reported in “Harrington Is Recovering,” Evening Gazette, April 8, 1913: 2; “Harrington Not Badly Hurt,” Davenport Evening Times, April 8, 1913: 13.

79 A news report placed the time of death at 7:30 AM on April 17, 1913. See “Jerry Harrington, His Life Ended,” above. The Harrington death notice pushed the time of death back to 7:40 AM. See “Death Notice,” Daily Gate City, April 17, 1913: 3.

80 See again, “Murder Charge Will Be Filled,” above.

81 “Ball Player Dead from Injuries,” Rockford (Illinois) Republic, April 18, 1913: 10. Indeed, the notion that a lone Black man would enter a white saloon to start trouble with a 300-pound ex-policeman bordered on ludicrous.

82 A local grand jury declined to return any charges against Merritt. In December 1913, Merritt was sentenced to 30 days in the county jail for stealing coal. See “City News,” Daily Gate City, December 31, 1913: 3.

83 Jerry Harrington profile in Major League Player Profiles, 1871-1900, Vol. 1, David Nemec, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 395.