Ed Morris

Left-handed pitchers were a rarity in 19th-century professional baseball. Beyond the simple demographics (left-handers have always been a minority), southpaws carried a social stigma, widely regarded as eccentric or physically awkward. A few lefties distinguished themselves in the early decades: Matt Kilroy, who struck out a staggering 513 batters as a rookie in 1886; Ted Breitenstein, who hurled a no-hitter in his first major league start in 1891; and Frank Killen, who twice led the NL in wins during the 1890s. Ed “Cannonball” Morris, however, debuted before any of them and surpassed them all.

In a seven-year career spanning 1884 to 1890, he won more games (171) than any other left-handed pitcher of the 19th century. In addition, he held the major league record for most wins by a left-hander until Jesse Tannehill eclipsed it during the 1905 season, followed by Rube Waddell in 1908 and Eddie Plank in 1909. Described by baseball historian David Nemec as “the first truly outstanding southpaw pitcher in major league history,” Morris still holds the single-season record for shutouts by a left-hander (12 in 1886) a mark unlikely ever to be broken.1 This is the story of an overlooked star whose premature exit from the game was hastened by injuries, alcohol, and a combative temper.

Edward Morris was born in Brooklyn to Edward and Julia (née Fiddes) Morris, who raised five children (James, Phoebe, Edward, Jane, and Adelaide) born between approximately 1852 and 1866. There is some speculation about the birth date of their third child, Ed. According to his death certificate, he was born on September 29, 1862, which is the date most modern sources (such as Baseball-Reference.com and others) provide.2 However, Ed was more likely born in 1859. He was listed on the 1860 US Census as one year old; US Censuses from 1870 and 1880, as well as the New York State Census from 1865, also suggest he was born in 1859.3 The Morris family resided in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, where the elder Morris was a bookbinder at D. Appleton and Company and his English-born wife tended to the children.4 Around 1876, the family relocated 3,000 miles away to San Francisco, settling in the Nob Hill neighborhood, known for its panoramic view of the bay.

Morris’s introduction to baseball was probably through his father. According to Sporting Life, the elder Morris was an “old-time tosser,” who played for the Enterprise Club of Brooklyn, in the National Association of Base Ball Players in the 1860s.5 Standing 5-foot-7 and weighing about 165 pounds, the younger Morris initially made his mark in amateur circles as a catcher – despite being left-handed. With San Francisco’s population quadrupling from 1860 to 1880, to approximately 235,000, the city was a hotbed for baseball. Morris played with the local Eagles of the Pacific League in 1879 and 18806 and the Nationals in the California League in 1880.7  The San Francisco Examiner described Morris as “comparatively unknown,” but observed that he “gives promise of becoming a steady, reliable [player]” when he signed with the Mystics of the New California League in 1881.8

Baseball was a year-round pursuit on California’s coast, with its temperate climate. In January 1882 Morris caught the attention of the sport’s most famous star at the time, pitcher John Montgomery Ward of the NL Providence Grays, who traveled the coast on a promotional exhibition tour. He also served as a de facto scout for professional and amateur baseball in the East. A beneficiary of this exposure, Morris signed with Philadelphia of the National League satellite League Alliance. Morris began the 1882 season with the San Francisco Nationals of the California League, in a benefit game for the “well-known catcher,” on April 23, a day before his departure.9

Morris made a grand debut with Philadelphia in a victory over the Metropolitans in the first game of League Alliance championship in New York City on May 8. The Philadelphia Times noted that “Morriss (sic) did some wonderful throwing to bases, putting three men out.”10 Morris also showed his resolve and toughness when he was injured by a foul tip, “the mask bending and cutting open his face above and below his right eye,” reported the Times, adding, “He will catch again tomorrow.” [The Mets became members of the American Association in 1883 after the League Alliance was disbanded; the New York Gothams, later the Giants, had played previously in Troy, New York.11

Morris’s gradual transition to pitcher began when the independent Reading (Pennsylvania) Active acquired him as catcher in late June 1882.12 That season, he “pitched for amusement,” noted the Reading Times; though it is unclear if he pitched in an official game. Morris spent the offseason at home in San Francisco playing baseball and “developed into a quite effective left handed pitcher,” according to the paper.13

In 1883 Morris returned to the Active, which had joined the Interstate Association for its inaugural season. He made his season debut on June 28, playing right field.14 The regular catcher was his good friend and former teammate in San Francisco, 5-foot-11 Fred Carroll, an excellent hitter and fielder. Owing to the accuracy of his throws from the plate to second base, Morris was summoned from the outfield to take the mound to begin the sixth inning of a game played on July 4, replacing starter Doc Landis.  Morris dazzled the crowd and subdued the Harrisburg club with his “deceptive curves,” surrendering only one hit in three innings of relief.15

Morris secured his pitching career two weeks later when the Active released their disgruntled hurler, Dad Reynolds.16 Over the remainder of the short season, Morris emerged as a star, going 16-6 and completing 22 of 23 starts for a third-place team (37-32).17 In mid-September, Reading sold his contract to the Columbus Buckeyes of the major league American Association.18

Columbus was coming off a disastrous 32-65 campaign in the inaugural season of the AA. Nevertheless, “the outlook for base ball in this city has never been better,” quipped a local sportswriter, following the club’s acquisition of Morris and Carroll.19 Morris had his own teammates swinging wildly in his first appearance. Taking the mound on March 30 for the Defiance club in an exhibition game, Morris struck out 22 Buckeyes in what proved to be a series of high-strikeout outings leading to the regular season.20 Named Opening Day starter by skipper Gus Schmelz, Morris whiffed 13 and overcame his teammates’ 10 errors (leading to eight unearned runs) to beat Cincinnati in the Queen City on May 1.21 Four weeks later, he held the (Pittsburgh) Alleghenys hitless, fanning seven and walking one in a quick (80-minute) 5-0 victory.22

Beginning on June 20, Columbus went on a 31-5 tear to engage the New York Metropolitans and Louisville Eclipse in an exciting pennant race. On July 23, Morris shut out the Indianapolis Hoosiers and fanned 11, pulling the Buckeyes within a half-game of the Metropolitans’ lead. 23 They did so again when Morris fanned 22 in two victories against the Hoosiers in three days (August 10-12). But that was the closest the Buckeyes came to first place.24 Starting about half of the team’s games, Morris came down with a sore arm in early September, dooming the club’s pennant chances.25  Columbus went 18-19 down the stretch to finish in second place (69-39), 6½ games behind New York. One of the league’s eight 30-game winners, Morris (34-13) completed 47 of 52 starts and logged 429 2/3 innings (which ranked 12th, well behind Guy Hecker’s league-high 670 2/3).

Early in his pitching career Morris utilized a perplexing hop-skip-and-jump delivery, which Pittsburgh sportswriter MacLean Kennedy described as the hurler’s “best asset.”26 Morris started his motion in the back of the pitcher’s box, the front of which was located 50-feet from home plate.27 He rapidly launched forward, much like a bowler in cricket. According to Sporting Life, Morris’s quick movement made it difficult for umpires to “judge correctly” if he crossed the front line of the pitcher’s box – which would result in a balk.28 In the AA at that time, pitchers were obligated to keep their hand below their shoulder during the delivery, and opposing teams went to great lengths to disrupt Morris’s delivery. (The NL abandoned the requirement for the 1884 season.] According to Morris, the Cincinnati Red Stockings once installed a marble slab in front of the box at League Park I to prevent him from crossing the line. After his spikes hit the slab a few times, causing him to perform “impromptu and disconcerting somersaults,” he changed into rubber-soled shoes.29

Among the first pitchers to revitalize the use of quick pitches after they had fallen out of favor, Morris began his delivery immediately after receiving the ball from his batterymate.30 This often caught the batter out of hitting position. This tactic required Morris to call his own signals; he claimed that he never took signs from a catcher during his big-league career.31 Morris’ approach led to short games; 90- to100-minute contests were commonplace.

Morris’s success rested on excellent control of his three primary pitches, all of which he threw with the same arm angle. “[I had] a hopping fast one that I used in driving right-handed batters away from the plate,” said Morris, adding that the “break on that fast one was away from the batter.”32 He confidently claimed that he never tried to back up left-handed swingers, because “they were out the minute they stepped up to face that southpaw delivery.”33 Morris described his curve as a “drop that took a short break right over the plate” and he threw it on any count.34 He credited Tim Keefe with teaching him a change-up, which Morris called the slow ball.35

Some considered Morris to have one of the best pickoff moves of his generation.36 Southpaws have a natural advantage in catching runners on first napping. Morris, however, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. According to reports, he regularly picked off runners on second and third, though successful pickoff attempts were not tabulated in Morris’s era. His infielders learned to cover bags based on his footwork and positioning in the box.37 He kept potential base stealers from taking leads by feigning a throw to first and then delivering to home all in the same motion, a trick which Sporting Life claimed Morris developed to perfection.38 Under rules instituted in the 1887 season, that move was prohibited and called a balk.

Following the 1884 season, there was widespread speculation that the American Association would contract from 12 to eight teams to assure stability and better competition.  To maximize shareholders’ profits, Columbus sold all its players to Allegheny City for a reported $6,000 in October and disbanded.39 Morris signed a contract for $2,300, about five times what an industrial worker then earned annually.40

A charter member of the AA, Allegheny City had suffered through two miserable seasons, going 31-67 and 30-78 in 1883 and 1884, respectively. The new acquisitions – especially the “California battery” of Morris and Carroll and sturdy righthander Frank Mountain (23-17 with Columbus) – evoked a new sense of optimism and promise for the Smoky City club in the reorganized eight-team league. But the 1885 Alleghenys proved to be an inconsistent and streaky club, doomed by a weak, low-scoring offense, ranking sixth in the league, and an underperforming pitching staff. The one exception was Morris, without whom the team would have duplicated the results from the previous two campaigns.

Morris’s performance in April served as a microcosm of his and the club’s season and underscored his importance to the team. In the season opener, Morris shut out the St. Louis Browns on six hits in the Gateway City on April 18.41 Three days later he engaged Louisville’s Guy Hecker in a 13-inning battle, emerging victorious over the Colonels, 4-3.42 On the 24th in Cincinnati, Morris tossed 16 innings to subdue the Red Stockings, 7-6.43 In the home opener in Pittsburgh on April 28, Morris shut out the Colonels on five hits. “His pitching was a problem which racked the brain of all who essayed to tackle it,” wrote the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette.44 For the month, the Alleghenys went 4-5. Morris logged 47 innings to notch all of the victories.

Described by Sporting Life as a “left-handed terror,” Morris started more than half of the Alleghenys’ games (63 of 111) and collected 39 of the club’s 56 wins.45 Pete Meegan was second with seven victories. Morris’s four-hit, 2-1 victory over the Browns on July 25 pushed the Alleghenys a season-high 14 games above .500, though they remained a distant eight games behind the eventual pennant winners, St. Louis.46

Morris’s victory over the Red Stockings on August 27 kept the 51-38 club in second place. Immediately thereafter, the Alleghenys collapsed, winning just five of their final 22 games. Morris –whose 63 starts and complete games, 581 innings, and 298 strikeouts paced the circuit –was forced to leave the club a week before the season concluded. His wife, whom he had married in San Francisco shortly before reporting to the Alleghenys in the spring, was gravely ill with tuberculosis.47 She died in December.48

With memories of the club’s late-season collapse still fresh, skipper Horace Phillips‘ squad conducted spring training in Georgia and toured the South in 1886. Players were dogged by injuries and a lackadaisical attitude, leading Sporting Life to state, “As a means of getting the men into proper trim, it has not been a brilliant success.”49 The club was expected to contend for the pennant, especially with Morris and a full season from right-hander Jim “Pud” Galvin. But the lethargy continued as the Allegheny\s struggled to play .500 ball for the first month. Morris lost the season opener to the St. Louis Browns, 8-4 on April 18.50 Reports later emerged that he and batterymate Carroll were “continually bickering” and “do not seem to work well together as formerly.”51

Morris reached the pinnacle of his baseball career in 1886, even while reports of his intemperate behavior off the diamond became more prevalent. He tossed the first of a record-setting 12 shutouts on May 6, a four-hitter against the Browns in Pittsburgh.52 As of 2026, Morris still holds the big-league record for most shutouts by a left-hander in a season and is tied for the fifth-most in history. Not known as a hitter (a career .161 hitter in 1,113 at-bats), Morris starred with both bat and ball in two victories in three days over the Reds in Cincinnati. After tossing a three-hitter and raking a triple in a 5-1 win on June 10,53 his dramatic three-run, walk-off home run against Tony Mullane pushed the Alleghenys to within one game of the AA lead.54 That proved to be the closest the club came to the Browns, who ran roughshod over the circuit.

By midseason, Morris’s “lushing” was as much of a news story as his mound exploits.55 “Ed Morris is drinking again,” read one report sardonically. “I’ll declare! So Ed, don’t use that large half-gallon ‘funnel’ this summer.”56 Another queried, “Is there any truth in the many rumors that . . . he has been dissipating more or less all season?”57 Gossip about his imbibing forced Morris to publicly defend himself. “If a club happens to get onto my curves and touches me up lively,” he remarked testily, “the first thing I see in the newspapers is that I have been drinking.”  Morris admitted that he savored an “occasional glass of cool lager beer, but only in the evening.”58 Morris played through the controversies, tying the Browns’ Dave Foutz for the league lead with 41 wins, and finishing third in innings (555 ⅓) and strikeouts (326).

Speculation was rife that the National League intended to invite the financially sound and popularly supported Alleghenys to jump leagues. Against that backdrop, Morris hurled one of the most consequential games of his life in an exhibition on September 24 in Pittsburgh. He tossed a six-hitter, fanning six and yielding no earned runs to defeat Cap Anson’s Chicago White Stockings, the reigning NL pennant winner and acknowledged best team in baseball. Proving the club’s mettle, Morris’s “rapidity, varied with his slow movements, puzzled the visitors,” remarked the Pittsburgh Gazette,.59

Morris developed a reputation for his “cranky streak” and “bad temper.”60 That was compounded by ego. One sportswriter declared that Morris was “without doubt, the most conceited and affected pitcher in the land and he apparently has no foundation for his inordinate self-esteem.”61 Meanwhile, the Alleghenys had switched allegiance, joining the NL over the winter. Morris was upset about changing leagues. “The American Association and 25 cents admission were good enough for the Pittsburg people,” he quipped.62

Furthermore, Morris was especially agitated about far-reaching rule changes that he called a “blunder” and suspected would impair his effectiveness.63 His hopping delivery and twirling feigned pickoff move were now banned. According to new rules, the pitcher was required to stand with his back foot on the line of a 5½-foot-long by 4-foot-wide pitcher’s box, the front of which was 50 feet from home plate.64 Overhand pitching was permitted as of 1884 in the NL, but the pitcher had to grip the ball so that the umpire saw it and was allowed only one step to home plate; The AA permitted overhand pitching beginning in June 1885. Another change had perhaps even more impact on the game in the 1887 season. Historian John Thorn called it a “controversial capitulation” to the hitters. For one season only, batters were given four strikes and five balls.65 Also for the 1887 season only, walks were counted as hits, causing batting averages to rise dramatically.66

Morris’s first season in the National League was one long, rolling disaster even before the season opener. Residing in the Bay Area in the offseason, he was implicated in a fixing scandal while playing for a local team against an American Association squad consisting of Louisville Colonels and other AA players.67 While the “Hippodrome” scandal drew headlines on the West Coast and in the Sporting Life, neither Morris nor any other player was ever charged with game-fixing.

Year-round pitching and the new pitching rules had an effect on Morris’s arm and already unpleasant disposition. The Pittsburgh Post branded him a “failure” after his season debut on May 3, in which he yielded 16 hits and seven earned runs in a complete-game loss to Detroit, 14-5.68 Six days later, Morris was unable to pitch in Detroit, igniting the most contentious period in his professional career. According to one account, Morris had been drinking at a local saloon prior to the game and was unable to enter the box. When skipper Horace Phillips discovered Morris pounding lagers after the game, he suspended and fined him on the spot.69 “I am disgusted with him,” declared team president William A. Nimick.70 Adamant that his shoulder and not alcohol was his problem, Morris threatened to leave the team and return to the Bay Area. “I can make $50 almost every Sunday playing ball out there,” he claimed.71

Phillips and Nimick eventually reconciled with Morris, who returned to action in the second game of a twin bill on May 30. He defeated Phildelphia, 6-4, despite surrendering 13 hits and not striking out a batter.72 One of the best pitchers in baseball the previous three seasons, Morris limped to a 14-22 record for a sixth-place club. “Morris is badly crippled by the new rules,” opined Sporting Life about the pitcher’s effectiveness. “His jump and fancy motions, which puzzled the batsmen are, of course gone, and again he cannot play his trick of getting in and out of the box so quick.”73

In addition to his arm problems, an ongoing factor contributed to his ineffectiveness: his drinking. In July, Morris was again in the newspapers for the wrong reason. Detectives, hired by Nimick and Phillips, discovered Morris imbibing. He was subsequently fined and threatened with outright release.74

After the season, Morris was severely injured in an exhibition game in Pittsburgh. Ad Gumbert, a local teenage hurling sensation and future big-leaguer, hit him “[so] violently on the head,” reported the Post, “[that] Morris was knocked insensible and taken home in a carriage.”75

In 1888 Morris enjoyed his finest season in the National League. Reports from Pittsburgh claimed the oft-ornery pitcher had been “induc[ed] to take a temperance pledge” before the season,76 while others claimed that he had joined the YMCA.77 Whether those stories were truthful or apocryphal, Morris largely avoided clashes with Phillips and Nimick, though he still occasionally berated teammates for poor play and drew fines for his ungovernable disposition.78 Batterymate George Miller suggested that Morris had finally acclimated to the new pitching regulations and depended “more on his control of the ball than on mere speed.”79

While the Alleghenys finished sixth (66-68-5), Morris had a remarkable seven-game stretch from September 8 through September 21, opening with four consecutive shutouts and surrendering just three runs across 62 innings.80 His only defeat in those contests came in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel with future Hall of Famer Mickey Welch in Pittsburgh, in which Morris held the Giants to three hits. In what proved his last statistical hurrah in baseball, he led the NL in starts and complete games (55) and ranked second in innings pitched (480) and fourth in wins (29).

Morris appeared poised to reclaim his place among the game’s finest pitchers – but was out of baseball in less than two years, undone by injuries, alcohol, and his own volatile temperament. A month before the 1889 season opened, Morris and teammate Bill Kuehne were charged with “maintaining a gambling room” in a billiard hall that they owned on Federal Street in Pittsburgh. Both were ultimately acquitted in court.81 Plagued by a series of ailments ranging from a shoulder injury to stomach trouble, Morris clashed repeatedly with club officials. Team secretary Al Scandrett concluded that Morris was “inclined to shirk his work” and suspended him without pay in May.82 Morris managed only 21 starts and finished a disappointing 6-13.

Described by Scandrett as ‘the bane of the Allegheny club,” Morris jumped to the upstart Players League in 1890.83 Former Alleghenys player-manager Ned Hanlon enticed him and teammates Galvin, Carroll, Kuehne, Jake Beckley, and Harry Staley to join the Pittsburgh Burghers. While not as bad as the raided Allegheny club – which finished a ghastly 23-113-2 – Morris’s season was a calamity of its own. Slowed by arm injuries, he pitched sparingly. On August 9, the Pittsburgh Dispatch reported that Morris was “released for drinking.”84 According to that report, Morris had been on a conditional contract which stipulated that “he was compelled to play winning ball and not take a drink during the playing season.” Morris was reinstated a month later.

When the Players League revolution collapsed after a single season, Morris had nowhere to land – he had long since burned his bridges with the Alleghenys. His major league career was over with a record of 171-122 in seven seasons,

After his playing days, Morris never left Pittsburgh. On March 6, 1889 he had married Jane McKee, the daughter of Irish and Scottish immigrants, and the two settled into a quiet life together without children.

Morris proved as industrious off the field as he had been on it. When he retired from baseball, he opened a tavern near Exposition Park – the grounds where the Pirates began playing in 1891, on the north side of the Allegheny River not far from where PNC Park stands today. In the 1895 and 1897 seasons, he also umpired a handful of NL games. A block away, on Lacock Street, he ran a saloon; both establishments became familiar haunts for ballplayers. Around 1907 he moved into wholesale liquor, operating that business for five years. His wife had died prior to 1910.

Morris was also a well-connected figure in Pittsburgh civic life. He campaigned for his former Burghers teammate John Tener in his successful bids for U.S. Congress (1909–1911) and then the Pennsylvania governorship (1911–1915). Tener later served as National League president from 1913 to 1918. From 1912 to 1915, Morris served as deputy warden of Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary, where he organized baseball games among the inmates. “Baseball is a great thing for convicts,” he remarked. “It helps them to get their minds off their incarceration.”85 In 1916 Morris was appointed to the county road department by County Commissioner Ad Gumbert, who had beaned him almost 30 years earlier, and worked there until retirement.

Through all of it, Morris kept one foot in baseball. Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss supplied him with season passes, and Morris was a fixture at games, old-timers’ events, banquets, and galas for decades. He occasionally joined Dreyfuss at the leagues winter meetings and served, in his way, as a living bridge from the rowdy origins of Pittsburgh baseball through the Deadball Era and into the modern game.86 By every account he was gregarious and warm, never happier than when holding court on how the game had been played in his time.

Ed Morris died on April 12, 1937, at Allegheny General Hospital, of a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by an infected foot.87 He was 77 years old.88 Following funeral services, he was buried in Union Dale Cemetery, Pittsburgh.89

Acknowledgments

This article was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and SABR.org.

Notes

1 David Nemec, The Beer & Whiskey League (Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2004): 65.

2 State of Pennsylvania Death Certificate accessed via Ancestry.com.

3 US Census from 1860, 1870, and 1880; 1865 New York Census accessed from Ancestry.com.

4 Edward F. Ballinger, “Old Timers Recall Hurling Feats of Ed Morris, Ex-Pirates Southpaw,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 2, 1931: 16.

5 “Notes and Comments,” Sporting Life, March 5, 1884: 3.

6 US Census. https://www.webcitation.org/6G4J8TS75?url=http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

7 “A Good Game by Amateurs,” San Francisco Morning Call, October 25, 1880: 3.

8 “Bad Balling Matches,” San Francisco Examiner, April 4, 1881: 2.

9 “Baseball,” San Francisco Examiner, April 24, 1882: 3.

10 “The ‘Mets’ Defeated,” Philadelphia Times, May 9, 1882: 3.

11 For a concise history of the League Alliance, see Brock Helander, “The League Alliance,” SABR BioProject (https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/league-alliance).

12 “Base Ball Notes,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, June 29, 1882: 1.

13 “Our National Game,” Reading Times, June 27, 1883: 1.

14 “The Brooklyn Beaten,” Reading Times, June 29, 1883: 1.

15 “Yesterday’s Ball Game,” Reading Times, July 4, 1883: 1.

16 “Current Base Ball Topics,” Reading Times, July 23, 1883: 1.

18 “Base Ball Budget,” Reading Times, September 20, 1883: 1.

19 “Base Ball,” Sporting Life, February 6, 1884: 4.

20 “Base Ball,” Sporting Life, April 16, 1884: 6.

21 “Hard Slugging,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 2, 1884: 2.

22 “Poor Batting by the Allegheny Club Yesterday,” Pittsburgh Post, May 30, 1884: 4.

23 “Games Played July 23,” Sporting Life, July 30, 1884: 4.

24 Morris was “almost invincible” on August 10, striking out 13 in the Buckeyes’ 11-2 win on August 10. On August 12, he fanned nine in a 5-4 win. Morris played right field in the second game. See Sporting Life, August 20, 1884: 4.

25 “Games Played Sept. 7,” Sporting Life, September 17, 1884: 3

26 MacLean Kennedy, “Morris a Great Hurler,” Pittsburgh Press, May 18, 1919: 23.

27 Eric Miklich, “The Pitcher’s Area,” 19C Baseball. http://www.19cbaseball.com/field-8.html.

28 “Notes and Comments,” Sporting Life, August 18, 1886: 5.

29 Guy L. Ralston “Speaking of Rooting,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, May 20, 1923: III, 9. In this article, Morris had mistakenly identified the park as Redland Field.

30 Al Spalding (1876) and George Washington Bradley (1877) used quick pitches. According to Peter Morris, that style of pitching had fallen in disuse in the early 1880s; Morris was one of the first to revive the practice. See Larry DeFillipo, “John Clapp,” SABR BioProject https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-clapp/

31 Guy L. Ralston, Diamond Strategy of Other Days,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 24, 1923: III, 9.

32 Guy L. Ralston, The Hair-Trigger Sport,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, March 4, 1913: III, 7.

33 Ralston, “The Hair-Trigger Sport.”

34 Ralston, “The Hair-Trigger Sport.”

35 Ralston, “Diamond Strategy of Other Days.”

36 David Nemec, Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 1, The Ballplayers Who Built the Game (Lincoln, NE and London: The University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 136-137.

37 Guy L. Ralston, “Diamond Strategy of Other Days,”

38 “From Cincinnati,” Sporting Life, July 26, 1887: 4.

39 “Exit Columbus,” Sporting Life, November 5, 1884: 3.

40 Morris’ s salary from “The Columbus Break-Up,” Sporting Life, November 12, 884: 3.  Industrial workers’ salaries from Price and Wages by Decade: 1880-1889. Libraries. The University of Missouri. libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1880-1889

41 “Pittsburgs 7; St. Louis 0,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 19, 1885: 9.

42 “In Thirteen Innings,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 22, 1885: 8.

43 “Games Played April 24,” Sporting Life, April 29, 1885: 4.

44 “In the Wind and Wet,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 29, 1885: 2.

45 “Games Played June 16,” Sporting Life, June 24, 1885: 6.

46 Pittsburgs, 2; St. Louis 1,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 26, 1885: 8.

47 The name of Morris’s first wife is not clear. She was referred to as his “wife” in Pittsburgh and San Francisco newspapers, as well as Sporting Life, and is not listed with him on US Census reports from 1880 or 1890. The most extensive information about the situation is provided in “McKnight’s Balliwick,” Sporting Life, September 30, 1885: 5. 

48 “A Ball Player’s Wife Dead,” Pittsburgh Post, December 21, 1885: 6. “The fraternity and press of the [West] coast are in sympathy,” reported Sporting Life shortly after the death of Morris’s wife. “From ‘Frisco,” Sporting Life, January 6, 1886: 2.

49 “From the Smoky City,” Sporting Life, April 21, 1886: 5.

50 The season opener had been scheduled on April 17, but rain forced it postponement to April 18 as part of a doubleheader. “Games Played Sunday April 18,” Sporting Life, April 28, 1886: 2.

51 “Hustler Phillips’ Team,” Sporting Life, June 9, 1886: 1.

52 “Shut Out,” Pittsburgh Post, May 7, 1886: 1.

53 “The Mismanaged,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 11, 1886: 2.

54 “More Sorrow,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 13, 1886: 10.

55 “From St. Louis,” Sporting Life, September 1, 1886: 4.

56 “From St. Louis,” Sporting Life, August 4, 1886: 3.

57 “Notes and Comments,” Sporting Life, August 11, 1886: 5.

58 “From St. Louis,” Sporting Life, September 1, 1886: 4.

59 “The Chicago Babes,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, September 25, 1886: 5.

60 “From the Smoky City,” Sporting Life, October 13, 1886: 1.

61 “The Dandy Detroits,” Sporting Life, May 11, 1887: 7/

62 “Not Altogether Pleased,” Sporting Life, January 12, 1887: 5.

63 “Not Altogether Pleased.”

64 The pitcher’s box was reduced from seven feet long by four feet wide to 5½ feet-long by four feet wide in 1887.

65 John Thorn, “Pitching: Evolution and Revolution,” Our Game, August 6, 2014 (https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/pitching-evolution-and-revolution-efd3a5ebaa83).

66 From 1886 to 1887, the AA saw increases in team scoring per game (5.7 to 6.6), batting average (.243 to .273), and slugging percentage (.323 to .367). The NL saw averages increases in scoring (5.3 to 6.1), batting average (.251 to .269), and slugging (.342 to .381). The most pronounced effect was the drastic decrease in strikeouts. The AA went from 4,730 to 3,075, a drop of 35%, and the NL dropped 34.3% (4,321 to 2,840). [Strikeout totals from Baseball-Reference.com.

67 Thom Karmik, “The Game Was Not Exactly ‘on the Square,’” Baseball History Daily (https://baseballhistorydaily.com/tag/ed-morris/).

68 “Morris Was the Jonah,” Pittsburgh Post, May 4, 1887: 6.

69 “Morris Suspended,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 13, 1887: 3

70 The Allies Return,” Pittsburgh Post, May 12, 1887: 6.

71 “From Pittsburg,” Sporting Life, May 25, 1887: 9.

72 “It is an Even Thing,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 31, 1887: 8.

73 “From Pittsburg,” Sporting Life, June 8, 1887: 9.

74 “Caught by Detectives,” Pittsburgh Post, July 7, 1887: 6.

75 “Another Defeat for the Amateurs,” Pittsburgh Post, October 17, 1887: 6.

76 “Farrell’s Ambition,” Pittsburgh Press, April 4, 1888: 5.

77 Clippings from player’s file in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

78 “Will Surely Stand,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette,” August 29, 1888: 8.

79 “Sporting,” Pittsburgh Press, July 2, 1888: 4.

80 All box scores of these games are from Sporting Life September 19, 1888: 3 and September 26, 1888: 3.

81 “Ed Morris Gives Himself Up,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, March 8, 1889: 2; and “They Were Acquitted,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, March 15, 1889: 6.

82 “Morris Answers Scandrett,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 17, 1889: 6.

84 “Released for Drinking,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, August 9, 1890: 6

85 Ed Morris Caller at Pirate Headquarters,” Pittsburgh Press, July 28, 1915: 24.

86 “National League to Dine Tomorrow in Room Where Loop Organized in 1876,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 1, 1925: III, 7.

87 Cause of death from Pennsylvania Death Certificate.

88 Morris’s age based on his birth date of 1859. Furthermore, several obituaries also gave his age as 77. For example, “Ed Morris, Ex Buc Hurler, Dies After Long Illness,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 13, 1937: 19-20.

89 Funeral and burial information from “Ed Morris, Ex Buc Hurler, Dies After Long Illness.”