John Morrill

“His conduct on the field and off set a standard of conduct for ball players which did much to establish the game with people who believed that sportsmanship should not be lacking even in professional sports.” — Boston Globe, on John Morrill1

John Morrill was Boston’s hometown baseball hero in the 19th century. He learned baseball as a boy at Boston Common, helped lead their National League club to three pennants over 13 seasons (1876-1888), and was both team captain (on-field leader) and manager (off-field leader). Morrill was nicknamed “Honest John” because he was hailed as a “credit to the profession both on and off the field.”2 Morrill was not flashy; his .260 career batting average bears this out, but he was a solid fielder and flexible: his 1,265 career games were spread all over the diamond, including 18 games pitched. Morrill spent his retirement in his hometown, working in sporting goods. “There have been more brilliant stars in baseball,” wrote the Boston Herald, “but none has ever surpassed John F. Morrill as an all-around player.”3

John Francis Morrill was born February 19, 1855, in Boston, Massachusetts to Jeremiah and Bridget (Moylan) Morrill, immigrants from Ireland. Jeremiah was a porter. John had four siblings listed in the 1870 census: Ellen (age 13), Jeremiah Jr. (8), Timothy (2), and Mary Ann (3 months). John (age 15) was a carver’s apprentice.

Morrill’s baseball baptism at Boston Common came with the Beacons and Our Boys. “Those were the good old days,” Morrill later said.4 He also played the Massachusetts Game version of baseball in his early life and remembered “soaking” a runner. “(I) used to take great delight in throwing at the most prominent part of the runner’s back, and being a good shot usually, hit the mark, and left one, too.”5

From 1872-1874 Morrill played for the Stars of Boston, which won the Junior Championship of Massachusetts in 1874.6 In 1875 he joined a club in Lowell, Massachusetts which won the state amateur championship, defeating Lynn, 1-0.7 At the start of 1876, Morrill was sought by both Boston of the National League and the unaffiliated Stars of Syracuse. “I had practically made arrangements to go to Syracuse in ’76,” Morrill said, “but was held up to play on a picked team against Boston on Fast Day,” which was the opening of the exhibition season.8

Morrill starred as a catcher on Fast Day and caught the attention of Boston manager Harry Wright. Morrill’s arm was “equal to the best ever seen on the grounds,” declared the Lowell Daily Citizen and News.9 The Boston Evening Journal called Morrill “a wonderful thrower to second base.”10 Wright signed Morrill to a contract, and Syracuse claimed Wright was “winking at this breach of faith.”11

Just 21 years old, the 5-foot-10, righty-hitting Morrill proved superior to incumbent catcher Tim McGinley, and he looked older than he was.12 “When Morrill broke into baseball,” wrote sportswriter Harold Kaese, “he wore a mustache that looked as though he had been eating blueberry pie and had forgotten to wipe his upper lip.”13 Morrill said of his facial hair, “If you didn’t have whiskers (in that day), they would think you were too young and wouldn’t let you play.”14

On April 22, 1876, McGinley started as Boston’s Opening Day catcher at Philadelphia, the inaugural game of the National League. Morrill made his major league debut in the second game on April 24, playing center field in a laughable 20-3 Philadelphia win. Morrill singled for his first hit.15

Morrill impressed by handling the erratic pitching of Joe Borden.16 Morrill “played his position (catcher) for all it was worth,” boasted the Boston Globe after a 12-3 win on May 6, “throwing to second with a speed and accuracy equal to any ever seen on the field.”17 The Globe even said Morrill “played his position (catcher) fully as well as Jim (Deacon) White.”18 Because Morrill was versatile, Boston signed Lew Brown to catch and released McGinley.19 Morrill played 37 games at second base and 23 behind the plate, with a few games at first base and in the outfield. The New York Clipper called Morrill a promising player” who could both catch and play second base competently.20

Morrill was Boston’s regular third baseman in 1877 (30 games). His 61 total games played tied for the league lead and he batted .302. Boston went 20-1 to finish the season and win the pennant.

On February 18, 1878, Morrill married Georgiana Hogsett, the daughter of George James Hogsett and Mary (Carroll) Hogsett, of St. John’s, Newfoundland. George was a prominent Canadian attorney and political figure.21 George died in 1869; for unknown reasons, Mary moved Georgiana, her sister Caroline and brother John to Boston by the time of the 1870 census.

Morrill moved back to first base in 1878 as Boston led the NL in fielding percentage (.914) and committed the fewest errors (228). Morrill scored a run in Boston’s 5-0 whitewash of Cincinnati on June 20. Boston (13-5) thus drew into a first-place tie with the Reds and went 28-14 from that point on to win their second straight pennant with just 10 players on the roster. “A player could not leave the game,” Morrill recalled, “unless he was physically unable to play, but they did allow runners for a batter, the opposing side generally selecting the slowest runner.”22

George Wright, Boston’s captain, left to manage Providence in 1879, and Morrill replaced him as captain. Boston started poorly, 17-18 and 10 games behind on July 12. On August 27, Boston was tied with Syracuse, 4-4, as they batted in the ninth. Morrill, “realizing the responsibility resting on his shoulders,” doubled to open the inning, the Globe related.23 He moved to third on a groundout. Pop Snyder grounded towards shortstop. Morrill headed for home, but seeing John Richmond’s strong throw to the plate, he scampered back to third. Catcher Mike Dorgan threw wildly to third, where Red Woodhead juggled but secured the ball under his arm as Morrill collided with him. Syracuse players argued Morrill was out, but umpire Foghorn Bradley ruled that Woodhead “did not touch Morrill with the ball, but only with his person,” wrote the Herald.24 Tommy Bond singled home Snyder and Morrill for a 6-4 win. It was Boston’s eighth win in a 10-game winning streak which brought them to within one game of Wright’s Providence team.

Boston lost four of six against Providence, however, to close the season. On September 26, Morrill was at third base in the ninth inning of a 6-6 game. He was joined by George Wright, the current and former Boston captains shared a moment in time. Wright scored on Paul Hines’ single to give Providence the pennant.25

Boston endured two sixth-place finishes in 1880 and 1881. Morrill hit the first two home runs of his career in 1880, both within days of each other on May 19 and 21, and both off John Montgomery Ward.26 In 1880, Morrill split his time between first base (46 games) and third base (40 games) and his 26 assists at first led all NL first basemen. Morrill also pitched in three games in relief. In 1881 he played 74 games at first base.

In 1882, Boston manager Harry Wright left to join his brother in Providence. Morrill was now Boston’s manager and team captain, having charge of the team on and off the field.27 “While on the road,” Morrill remembered, “I not only had to play but also had to watch the gate and run the club from both ends. A spare player would be put on the gate to take tickets and between innings I would go out to see how things were going.”28 Morrill went 4-for-5 in a 9-7 win over Providence on July 18 and 4-for-4 with a double and home run in a 9-4 win over Worchester on July 31.29 Morrill led Boston to an improved third-place finish, playing 76 games at first base while also filling in at shortstop, second, third, and the outfield, also pitching in one game.

Morrill relinquished his captain duties to Jack Burdock prior to the 1883 season, and the move was disastrous for Boston. The team was 4-12 on May 25 after an eight-game losing streak. Burdock was involved in a strange on-field incident on July 13 in Detroit. On a grounder to first, he clearly interfered with Martin Powell to prevent a throw to the plate to get Ezra Sutton. “The performance was such a barefaced cheat that even Sutton stood stone still with amazement and the audience hooted and hissed violently,” the Detroit Free Press reported.30

“It is now deemed a mistake,” the Globe remarked, “that John Morrill should have been deposed from the charge of the nine. His example was an excellent one, and no one in the nine is deemed so well calculated to inspire confidence in the field or at the bat as he.”31

The Boston directors (Arthur Soden, William Conant, James Billings) replaced Burdock with Morrill as captain. “His (Burdock’s) example has not been a good one,” read the directors’ statement. “He is too hot-headed, and before he knows it has gotten himself and the club in trouble.” Morrill, on the other hand, “will be hailed with pleasure,” the directors wrote, “and there is no reason why, with him once more in the captain’s position, a state of things superior to that of last year (third-place finish) may not be expected.”32

“Morrill makes a very favorable impression,” observed the Globe, “by his gentlemanly and quiet (perhaps too quiet) ways on the ball field. If he has any fault, it is that he is not sharp, urgent and quick enough to take advantage of every point. Burdock, however, is an extreme opposite.”33

Boston players responded to Morrill’s leadership. The club was in seventh place on June 5, fourth place on July 18, and continued to climb in the standings. They moved into first place for good on September 11, winning 14 of their final 15 games to secure the pennant. Morrill contributed a 4-for-5 game in which he stole second twice and third once in an 11-5 victory over Detroit on September 18.34

Morrill played “in a manner surpassed by no player,” the Globe declared. His .974 fielding percentage led all NL first basemen. “His work is very clean. His pick-ups, throws and action being very sharp and quick.” Morrill’s .319 batting average and 16 triples – both career highs – made him “the heaviest batsman in the nine, his hits being generally sharp grounders, hard to handle, or long line hits.”35

“I never had any idea that our team would come out as well as it did. I thought that our position would be fourth or fifth,” said Honest John. “The nine have played splendidly together, and altogether the season has been remarkable for its harmony.”36 The Clipper wrote that Morrill did “more. . .in managing a team in one month than your ‘bossy’ style of managers can do in a whole season.”37

Boston players surprised Morrill with the gift of a gold watch during the last game of the season. He smiled, and the game continued after the crowd “had shown its appreciation of the event by a round of hearty applause.” The watch contained the inscription “To Capt. John F. Morrill, in appreciation, by his Boston friends, Sept. 29, 1883.”38 Morrill went 2-for-4 with a triple and scored twice in that final game, a 6-4 win over Cleveland.39

During the offseason, Morrill worked at Estey’s Organ Factory at Brattleboro, Vermont. He also contributed to a manual entitled Wright & Ditson’s Book on Batting and Pitching Illustrated.40

Morrill could never reproduce the success of 1883. His 1884 team finished a distant second behind Providence; the 1885 and 1886 clubs finished fifth. “These were rough days for Honest John Morrill,” wrote Kaese. “His luck was running out, but Honest John never lost his temper, and he never took a dishonest advantage of an opponent.”41

In 1887, Morrill’s quiet, steady leadership was challenged when Boston acquired the boisterous, unpredictable King Kelly from Chicago for the unheard-of sum of $10,000. Tension ensued. There was probably no more polar opposite in personality than Morrill and Kelly. Morrill “has captained the team against his own wishes,” assumed Globe sports editor William D. Sullivan who used the moniker Featherweight, “(and) has long wanted to be relieved of the duties of field captain, and will welcome gladly the new aspirant.”42 Sullivan added, “no better captain can be found for a winning team than John Morrill, but he is of so sensitive a nature that during the time of defeat he quickly loses heart, and so does not play the game of which he is capable. No man is more respected on the ball field than John Morrill.”43

“Never mind about that now,” Kelly said on being captain. “There ain’t a nicer fellow playing ball than John Morrill.”44 Morrill responded to the assumption he never wanted to be captain. “While I never asked them (directors) to let me be captain or manage the nine, I have always been ready and willing to captain,” he affirmed. “If they should want me to captain the team this year, I am ready to do it, but if they don’t want me all they have got to do is tell me so. I want them to do just exactly what is going to be for the best interests of the nine.”45

Morrill remained as manager with Kelly as captain.46 The season started well (19-8) and Morrill “was never playing better ball,” Featherweight wrote. “He is fielding superbly and backs up the other basemen wonderfully.”47 Boston was 40-30 and four games back at the end of July, but a 9-13 August prompted an emergency meeting by the directors. Morrill was reinstated as captain. “The home team has been playing so wretchedly of late that something should be done,” the Herald opined.48 Kelly, thought the Globe, was great “under another’s direction and discipline,” but “as a captain, he seems to be a failure.”49 W.I. Harris of the Globe wrote that the directors “made a grave mistake when they deposed Morrill of the captaincy.” Under Kelly, a captain in name only, “the team drifted about like a ship without a rudder.”50 Boston again flopped to fifth, but Morrill hit a career-high 12 home runs, with a strong .984 fielding percentage at first base in a league-most 127 games.

Kelly denied any tension with Morrill. “I found him a pleasant affable gentleman and I do not think a man ever played ball in the Boston nine who doesn’t say the same thing,” Kelly said, adding that Morrill fully supported him as captain. “Morrill is a careful man and saves the Boston club a good many dollars in the course of the year as a manager. He is worth a load of money to the Boston management.”51

Morrill was both manager and captain for the 1888 season.52 Boston started the season 9-0, but a 5-17 July took them out of pennant contention. Boston’s ownership and media soured on Morrill. “Our disasters,” the Globe maintained, “are due to lack of proper discipline…an army of donkeys led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a donkey.” Boston needed a forceful, strong leader and Morrill, a “courteous gentleman,” lacked “the ability to handle a team successfully.”53 A fourth-place finish put his job in jeopardy.

“I never know what the directors intend to do until I see it in the papers,” a content Morrill said, looking “as though a great load had been lifted off his heart.”54 The Boston directors coveted John Montgomery Ward as captain. Meanwhile, Kelly told friends he would be captain.55

“There is one thing I have learned,” Morrill said. “A player should make all the money possible out of the business and save it; for when he is done playing baseball that settles him…I may get out of the business.”56 Meanwhile, Morrill worked at the A. Shuman & Co. clothing store, waiting to hear from the club directors.57 Finally, he signed a contract on March 18. “It is getting late in the season,” Morrill said, “and I was anxious to get to work.”58

Morrill had been discovered on Fast Day 13 years before. In 1889, there was a Fast Day doubleheader slated for April 4. Kelly captained Boston; Morrill was assigned to captain the Picked Nine. Unbeknownst to the public, Morrill had told Soden and Conant that he refused to captain the latter club, feeling disrespected. The directors then chose John Clarkson instead.

Morrill received a warm reception on Fast Day – “like the beat of a snare drum,” observed the Globe, which “grew louder and louder until the voices of the entire multitude blended in one grand organ swell in honor of the deservedly popular player.”59 On the opposite side, Kelly was heckled by the crowd, which did not “tend to heal any breach which may exist,” noted the Boston Journal.60 The Herald commented “there is one way in which Mr. Kelly can regain much of the popularity which he has lost in this city, and that is by going to the directors of the club, admitting the deep opposition on the part of the general public to his being made captain of the team, and for the sake of harmony among the players, and to restore good feeling with the public, declare that he does not want the position, and would not take it if offered.”61

The event marked Morrill’s last appearance in an NL Boston uniform. As fans opened their evening edition of the April 5 Globe, they were shocked to read that Boston had sold their long-time leader and infielder Sam Wise to Washington. Morrill became the Nationals’ captain and manager.62 Fans were enraged at the news. “The cranks gazed at the bulletin open-mouthed,” the Herald reported of the fans gathering at their building, “and could scarcely credit their eyes … The blow is a severe one to thousands of lovers of the game in this city.” One irate fan warned, “Mark my words, such action means disaster for the Boston club. . . as I feel now, it is a matter of little concern to me whether the team wins or not.”63 Defensively, Soden explained that, “It was very evident that Kelly and Morrill could not play in the same team in this city, so we allowed that man to go we felt could be the best spared.”64

Morrill returned to Boston when Washington came to town on June 13. The crowd of 4,000 waited to see their hometown hero. “The old warrior’s face and form was familiar to everyone in the park,” wrote Globe sportswriter Tim Murnane. “The demonstration was full of love for an honest man. ‘Twas not the ball player, but the upright youth and conscientious citizen the crowd loved to cheer until the cap was lifted several times…his old admirers on the bleaching boards gave three rousing cheers … Never did a ballplayer get such a welcome in this country.”65 Morrill went 1-for-4 as Boston defeated the Senators, 7-1. Years later, Murnane wrote that this was still the greatest ovation he ever saw, “fit for the most loyal patriot.”66 “The greatest demonstration ever made in Boston in honor of a base ball player,” agreed the Boston Journal.67

Morrill never felt at home in Washington, and fans soon called for his dismissal.68 He suffered an injured finger early in the season and never got on track. He was released on July 6, batting a meager .185 with the team in eighth place.69 “His purchase money and his salary might as well have been thrown away,” ripped the Washington Post. “Morrill had proved a colossal failure.”70

In 1890, Morrill and George Wright became investors in the Boston Reds of the new Players League, formed by players revolting against club owners over labor issues, including the reserve clause.71 Morrill announced that many “public men in Boston” were ready to support the endeavor.72 The team played at the Congress Street Grounds, and King Kelly was team captain.

On July 5, Morrill returned to the field, greeted “several rounds of applause” and showed his “big famous pickups” at first base, wrote Murnane.73 Boston won over Buffalo, 10-8. Morrill concluded his major league career three days later when he played shortstop in a 9-7 loss to Cleveland. He singled for his last hit and walked in his last at-bat.74 Morrill’s career ended with yet another Boston pennant in the Players League’s only season. Morrill knew his time in baseball was over; he turned his focus to “the less exciting, but equally exacting, field of business,” the Herald revealed.75

Morrill had enrolled in a business college and in 1890 opened a Boston sporting goods store with Walcott R. Burdett called John F. Morrill & Co.76 He also sponsored the John F. Morrills baseball team. The business lasted until 1892. George Wright and Henry Ditson created their own sporting goods store in Boston known as Wright & Ditson. Ditson died in 1891 and Wright sold the business to Albert Spalding, who kept the Wright & Ditson name.77 In 1893, Morrill was hired as manager and treasurer.

Over the years at Wright & Ditson, Morrill made several contributions to the athletic world. He patented the rubber “Morrill Nose Guard” for football players, marketed with an ad “save your noses.”78 The product can still be found in auction houses and on eBay.79 Morrill designed the “Morrill” catcher’s mitt, football pants, and a hot water bottle; he also attended bicycle shows.80

Morrill penned columns for the Boston Journal, umpired some National League games, and played cricket, golf, and an occasional old-timer’s game. He became chairman of the New England Senior Golf Association. He advocated for regular exercise, writing, “athletic exercise, when properly indulged in, most certainly has the effect of prolonging life, and making that life more enjoyable.”81

The Morrills lived in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, where they raised their daughters Marion, Caroline, Georgena, and Lillian. They later rented quarters in Brookline.82 The Morrills had also lost two infant daughters, Mary Irene (1879), and Dorothy Helene (1896).

On November 1, 1931, the 76-year-old Morrill retired from Wright & Ditson after 38 years. His boss, 84-year-old George Wright, was near Morrill in an office filled with sports relics. “John Morrill and I have come past a great many milestones together,” he said. Morrill and Wright’s 55-year friendship traced back to that Fast Day in 1876. Their long business partnership began with a few employees when golf and tennis were new sports and ended with many Wright & Ditson stores as the duo “helped plow the ground for the athletic harvests that have since been reaped by this country’s youth,” recalled the Boston Evening Transcript.83

Honest John Morrill died on April 2, 1932, at the age of 77 in Brookline. He had been ill with pneumonia for the last 10 days of his life.84 His wife of 54 years and his four daughters survived him.85 He is buried at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline. George Wright served as a pallbearer and joined Honest John there in 1937.86

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Photo credit: John Morrill, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author wishes to acknowledge the following for research assistance with this biography:

Baseball-Reference.com

John Morrill’s Hall of Fame file, courtesy of.Cassidy Lent, A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center, Baseball Hall of Fame

Familysearch.org

Find-a-grave.com

Frederick Ivor-Campbell, “Morrill, John Francis ‘Honest John,” in Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: G-P. David L. Porter, ed. (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000), 1081-1082.

Marty Appel, Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike “King” Kelly. (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1996).

Retrosheet.org

Notes

1 “John Morrill Dies, Noted Ball Player,” Boston Globe, April 3, 1932: A20.

2 “Local Lines,” Boston Globe, November 5, 1888: 5.

3 “John F. Morrill,” Boston Herald, April 4, 1932: 10.

4 Harold Kaese. The Boston Braves, 1871-1953. (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004), 21.

5 John F. Morrill, “The Old Game,” Boston Journal, July 7, 1894.

6 Tim Murnane, “Great Ovation to a Ball Player,” Boston Globe, January 7, 1906: SM3.

7 “City and Vicinity,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Daily Citizen and News, October 19, 1875: 2; Charles J. Foley, “The Stars of Boston,” Boston Globe, May 2, 1887: 2.

8 Murnane, “Great Ovation to a Ball Player,”

9 “Base Ball,” Lowell Daily Citizen and News, April 17, 1876: 3.

10 “Base Ball,” Boston Evening Journal, April 14, 1876: 2.

11 “Morrill, the Base Ballist,” Lowell Daily Citizen and News, April 24, 1876: 2.

12 “Base Ball,” Lowell Daily Citizen and News, April 17, 1876: 3; “Base Ball,” Boston Daily Advertiser, April 20, 1876: 4.

13 Kaese, 21-22.

14 Ed Cunningham, “Whiskers an Asset When John Morrill Played Ball,” Boston Herald, February 2, 1920: 9.

15 “Base, Ball and Bat,” Philadelphia Press, April 25, 1876: 6.

16 “Sporting Intelligence,” Boston Traveler, May 4, 1876: 3.

17 “Bat and Ball,” Boston Globe, May 8, 1876: 3.

18 “Chicagos, 5; Bostons, 1,” Boston Globe, May 31, 1876: 1.

19 “Changes in the Nine,” Boston Daily Advertiser, June 19, 1876: 4.

20 “Baseball. The Players of 1876,” New York Clipper, January 13, 1877: 331.

21 “Hogsett, George James,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. IX. Retrieved June 3, 2026. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hogsett_george_james_9E.html;.

22 Cunningham, “Whiskers an Asset When John Morrill Played Ball.”

23 “The Diamond,” Boston Globe, August 28, 1879: 1.

24 “Pulling for the Pennant,” Boston Herald, August 28, 1879: 4.

25 “The Gray Champions,” Providence Journal, September 27, 1879: 1.

26 “John Morrill Home Runs,” Baseball Almanac. Retrieved June 6, 2026. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/home_run.php?p=morrijo01

27 “Base Ball,” Boston Globe, March 26, 1882: 2.

28 Cunningham, “Whiskers an Asset When John Morrill Played Ball.”

29 “Boston vs. Providence,” New York Clipper, July 29, 1882: 301; “Summer Sports,” Boston Globe, August 1, 1882: 4.

30 “Sporting Matters,” Detroit Free Press, July 14, 1883: 1.

31 “Stops and Throws,” Boston Globe, July 19, 1883: 4.

32 “Captain Burdock Removed,” Boston Globe, July 22, 1883: 1.

33 “The Sporting World,” Boston Globe, July 23, 1883: 4.

34 “Better and Better,” Boston Globe, September 19, 1883: 2.

35 “Our Boys. Who They are and What They Have Done,” Boston Globe, October 1, 1883: 1.

36 “Struck Out,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1883: 1.

37 “Baseball,” New York Clipper, January 19, 1884: 745.

38 “Time Called on Capt. Morrill,” Boston Herald, September 30, 1883: 3.

39 “Yesterday’s Games,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1883: 2.

40 “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Herald, January 14, 1883: 12; New York Clipper, June 7, 1884: 192.

41 Kaese, 40.

42 Featherweight, “The Only Kel,” Boston Globe, February 14, 1887: 5.

43 Featherweight, “The Only Kel.”

44 Featherweight, “Kelly, the King,” Boston Globe, February 15, 1887: 1.

45 Featherweight, “Not Against His Wishes,” Boston Globe, February 21, 1887: 4.

46 “At Work Again,” Boston Globe, March 22, 1887: 3.

47 Featherweight, “Philadelphia Pick-Ups,” Boston Globe, May 5, 1887: 5.

48 “Mike Kelly Probably Deposed,” Boston Herald, August 31, 1887: 1.

49 “Diamond Points,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1887: 3.

50 W.I. Harris, “Puzzled Triumvirs,” Boston Globe, January 1, 1888: 14.

51 M.J. Kelly, “The Only Kel,” Boston Globe, March 11, 1888: 20.

52 “Morrill Made Dictator,” Boston Globe, March 22, 1888: 1.

53 “Base Ball Discipline,” Boston Globe, July 11, 1888: 4.

54 “Level-Headed Morrill,” Boston Globe, October 20, 1888: 5.

55 Tim Murnane, “Morrill to be retained,” Boston Globe, January 20, 1889: 5.

56 “Morrill On His Future,” Boston Globe, October 30, 1888: 5.

57 “Local Lines,” Boston Globe, November 5, 1888: 5.

58 “Beaneater Once More,” Boston Globe, March 19, 1889: 5.

59 T.H. Murnane, “Full War Paint,” Boston Globe, April 5, 1889: 3.

60 “The Season Opens,” Boston Journal, April 5, 1889: 5.

61 “Hits and Tips,” Boston Herald, April 5, 1889: 8.

62 “Senators Both,” Boston Globe (evening edition), April 5, 1889: 1.

63 “For the Sake of Harmony,” Boston Herald, April 6, 1889: 5.

64 “For the Sake of Harmony.”

65 T.H. Murnane, “Welcome Home,” June 14, 1889: 3.

66 T.H. Murnane, “Great Ovation to a Ball Player,”

67 “Boston 7; Washington 1. The Reappearance of Morrill and Wise the Occasion of Great Cheering,” Boston Journal, June 14, 1889: 3.

68 “No Longer a Senator,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), July 6, 1889: 3.

69 “Morrill in Boston.,” Boston Globe, July 7, 1889: 6.

70 “Morrill is Released,” Washington Post, July 7, 1889: 3.

71 “The New League,” Boston Globe, September 22, 1889: 2.

72 “Morrill Confident,” Boston Globe, November 9, 1889: 2.

73 T.H. Murnane, “Morrill’s Welcome,” Boston Globe, July 6, 1890: 4.

74 T.H. Murnane, “Second Fiddle Now,” Boston Globe, July 9, 1890: 3.

75 “John F. Morrill,” Boston Herald, April 4, 1932: 10.

76 “John Morrill’s New Venture,” Boston Herald, March 12, 1890: 8; “Boston’s Old Favorite,” Boston Globe, February 16, 1890: 6.

77 Jeffrey Orens, Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America. (Lanham, Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield, 2025), 188-189.

78 “Save Your Noses,” Boston Herald, September 25, 1893: 5.

79 “Turn of the Century Eight-Spoke Football Helmet and Morril’s (sic) Nose Guard (2), retrieved June 27, 2026. https://lelands.com/past-auctions/fall-2013-catalog-auction/turn-of-the-century-eight-spoke-football-helmet-and-morril%27s-nose-guard–2;  eBay listing “Morrill Style Nose Guard Patented May 16, 1905,” retrieved June 27, 2026. https://ebay.us/m/l7Od6c

80 Spalding’s base ball guide, and official league book for, 1895-1896, New York: A.G. Spalding & Bros, https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/spaldingquotsba1895 Retrieved June 27, 2026; “On Bicycle Row,” Boston Post, February 23, 1895: 3; Murnane, “Great Ovation to a Ball Player,”

81 “John Morrill, Former Boston Manager, Dies,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, April 3, 1932: 28; John F. Morrill, “Prudent Exercise Lengthens Life,” Boston Globe, July 10, 1904: 32.

82 Murnane, “Great Ovation to a Ball Player;” “South End- Roxbury,” Boston Globe, January 20, 1914: 5.

83 “John Morrill Passes Another Milestone,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 22, 1931; “Morrill to Resign as Executive,” Boston Post, October 23, 1931: 37.

84 “Morrill, Veteran, Dies,” New York Times, April 3, 1932.

85 “John F. Morrill,” Boston Herald, April 3, 1932: 16.

86 “Final Rites for John Morrill,” article of unknown origin labeled April 5, 1932 in Morrill’s Hall of Fame file.