Jack Ferry

Although reputedly equipped with the best curveball in major league baseball,1 right-hander Jack Ferry saw only sparing service during his tenure with the 1910-1913 Pittsburgh Pirates, averaging barely 40 innings per season. Yet when given the chance, Ferry turned in solid – at times sterling – performances. In addition, he was an excellent batsman occasionally used as a pinch-hitter. Ferry was also a modest, genial clubhouse presence, well-liked by teammates, club management, the sporting press, and Pittsburgh fans. His banishment to the minors at age 26 was, therefore, puzzling.

The post-mortem on the June 1913 transaction that sent Ferry to the Class AA American Association cited two purported shortcomings. Notwithstanding the hurler’s above-average size (5-feet-11, 175 pounds), critics deemed Ferry’s frame too slight to withstand the rigors of Deadball Era pitching; he needed to be 10-25 pounds heavier, it was said.2 Also postulated was the belief that, with the Pirates constantly needing to keep pace in tight National League pennant chases, manager Fred Clarke could not run the risk of regularly using an inexperienced pitcher.3 In any event, it was widely presumed that the talented Ferry would soon be back in a major league uniform. But that never happened. The onset of chronic arm miseries brought the career of Jack Ferry to a premature close, and he was out of Organized Baseball before his 30th birthday. He spent the ensuing decades in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, engrossed in the civic, political, and athletic affairs of his hometown until felled by heart disease in 1954. His life story follows.

John Francis Ferry was born on April 7, 1887 in Pittsfield, a bustling Western Massachusetts county seat situated in the Berkshire Mountains and long a hotbed of baseball.4 Jack, as he was called, was the sixth of seven children born to railroad switch operator Michael Ferry (1852-1898), a native of upstate New York, and his Irish immigrant wife Delia (née Riley, 1852-1919).5 The family worshiped at St. Mary, the Morning Star Roman Catholic Church, while young Jack attended public schools into his junior year at Pittsfield High School.6 Later they became active parishioners of Pittsfield’s St. Joseph Church.

As a ballplayer Jack followed the path blazed by his older brothers Alfred (known as Cy) and Sylvester (Ves), both standout hurlers. Cy Ferry was a baseball lifer who pitched briefly for the Detroit Tigers (1904) and Cleveland Naps (1905). Drinking and disorderly conduct derailed Ves Ferry’s chances for a professional career. Jack developed his outstanding breaking ball while still a teenager pitching for a junior club from the Morningside neighborhood.7 In May 1905 he capped off his schoolboy exploits by leading Pittsfield High to a second consecutive Berkshire County championship.8 Ferry then spent the summer playing for the Pittsfield Collegians, a newly formed amateur nine, and semipro clubs in Rockville, Connecticut, and Munson, Massachusetts.9

In early 1906 Ferry matriculated to Seton Hall College (now University) in South Orange, New Jersey.10 Installed in the varsity rotation as a freshman, he went 4-111 for a White and Blue squad that enjoyed an excellent 13-3 season.12 He then spent the summer pitching for the champion Waldron club of the semipro Delaware Valley League.13 Ferry returned to the Seton Hall diamond in the spring of 1907 as team captain, alternating between the mound and the outfield for an 11-6-1 ballclub. His season highlights included a complete-game 6-2 victory over Columbia on May 1, with 16 strikeouts and zero walks.14 A five-hit 2-1 triumph over a strong Holy Cross side followed a week later.15 Unanimously re-elected Seton Hall team captain for the next year at season’s end,16 Jack returned home that summer to pitch and play first base for a semipro Pittsfield club organized by older brother Cy.17 Facing the likes of the renowned Cuban Giants and fast area competition, Jack posted a 19-7 record for the 31-21-1 Pittsfield nine.18

When he returned to campus in fall 1907, Ferry, a gifted natural athlete, captured honors at Seton Hall’s annual track and field day, snagging gold in the standing broad jump, running broad jump, and hop, skip, and jump, before anchoring the winning team in the half-mile relay race. He then led his five in scoring in the basketball final.19 Baseball, however, remained Jack’s forte. When not pitching, he played first base and batted cleanup for a Seton Hall team that went 10-5-3 in 1908, gathering plaudits from the press along the way.20

By then, Ferry had attracted interest from professional baseball. One ardent suitor was manager Joe Bean of the Jersey City Skeeters of the Class A Eastern League (EL), thoroughly impressed by Ferry’s performance against his club in a preseason exhibition game.21 Another was George Stallings, skipper of the EL’s Buffalo Bisons. A few seasons earlier, Stallings had benefited from consecutive 20-win seasons posted for Buffalo by Cy Ferry, and he was now eager to sign his younger brother.22 But for the time being, Jack remained a collegian, burnishing his reputation with outings like a 14-inning, 1-1 draw with Holy Cross in late May, during which he struck out 17 Crusader batsmen.23

After the close of the Seton Hall season, it was widely reported that Ferry had agreed to terms with Jersey City.24 Yet for reasons unclear, he never reported.25 Instead Ferry spent the summer back home playing for the Pittsfield semipro club overseen by Cy. Brother Ves also pitched for the team. As before, Jack alternated between the mound and the field (first base and center field). In early September he assumed leadership duties as well, succeeding Cy as player-manager.26 Over a four-month campaign, the youngest of the three Ferrys on the roster notched a 23-12 record and batted .263 in 66 games overall for a 51-34 Pittsfield club.27

Jack did not return to college for his senior year in 1908-09.28 Instead, he remained home tending to the bowling alley that he and Cy operated. A contract finally mailed to him by the Jersey City club was returned unsigned, and Ferry began the summer again playing for the Pittsfield semipros. In mid-August, however, he and Jersey City came to terms.29 Ferry’s salary was reportedly $350/month,30 nearly double what he had been paid by Pittsfield.31

Jack Ferry made his professional debut on August 22, 1909, dropping the abbreviated, six-inning nightcap of a doubleheader against the Providence Grays, 4-2. He pitched decently, allowing only five hits, but was undone by a shoddy Jersey City defense, which committed four errors. The result, alas, was a harbinger of things to come for Ferry, stuck on a weak-hitting, poor-fielding Skeeters club headed for a last-place finish at 63-87 (.420). In ensuing starts Ferry pitched well but received scant support, as exemplified by 1-0 losses to both Providence and the Newark Indians in early September. Jack did not break into the win column until the final day of the EL season, besting the Montreal Royals, 6-1. In six games, he posted a dreary 1-5 record, notwithstanding solid ratios of 29 base hits allowed in 38 innings pitched and a staff-best 0.947 WHIP. Also used once in the outfield, the righty-hitting Ferry batted .294 (5-for-17). At season’s end he went back to Pittsfield, where he and Cy promptly divested themselves of their financial interest in the hometown semipro club.32

Ferry returned to Jersey City for the 1910 season, but the Skeeters were little better than the year before. Jack’s 8-11 (.421) record was about on par with that of his team (66-88, .429). But his other stats, particularly his 90 strikeouts to 45 walks in 203 innings pitched,33 were eminently respectable and attracted major league attention. With longtime staff stalwarts Deacon Phillippe and Sam Leever in decline, the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates had pressing late-season need of pitching help, as they found themselves in second place, chasing the Chicago Cubs. Disregarding a recent report that young Jack Ferry was suffering from a “lame arm,”34 the club purchased his contract from Jersey City in mid-August.35

Ferry entered the major league ranks on September 4, 1910, coming on in relief of starter Howie Camnitz in the fourth inning with the Pirates trailing Cincinnati, 5-0. The newcomer proceeded to finish the game, holding the Reds to a single run in the final five innings, and going 2-for-3 at the plate. “Ferry … did very well for his first appearance,” declared the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. “He both hit the ball and fielded his position well, besides acting like a young man who knows his business. The Reds could do nothing with him except in one inning, and he was as steady as a prohibitionist.”36

Ferry dropped a 4-2 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals in his maiden starting assignment on September 8, but again press reviews of his work were favorable. The Pittsburg Press was taken by his “varied assortment of curves … cross-fire delivery at times … [and] mixing of slow balls with speeders.”37 But what impressed Pirates skipper Fred Clarke was “that the pitcher did not lose courage when things broke against him.”38 Ferry suffered a second hard-luck defeat in late September, a complete-game four-hitter lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1. Thereafter, he broke the major league victory seal with a 3-2 win over St. Louis on October 1.

Used sparingly by a third-place (86-67, .562) Pittsburgh club, Ferry went just 1-2 (.333), but with an excellent 2.32 ERA in 31 innings pitched. He also showed ability as a batsman, going 3-for-9 (.333) with two doubles, and was flawless defensively in 10 fielding chances. Convinced of the 23-year-old’s promise, the Pirates re-signed Ferry for 1911 even before the season was out, raising his stipend to $400/month.39 After pitching in several postseason games for a barnstorming Pittsburgh squad, Jack signed “life’s contract,” marrying former Pittsfield High School classmate Helen Cullen on October 18.40 Sadly the couple’s first-born, daughter Beatrice Helen, did not survive infancy.  Thereafter, the birth of son John Francis, Jr., completed the family.

The 1911 season proved one of mixed fortune for Jack Ferry, with early inactivity and neglect replaced by some notoriety and modest success as the campaign wore on. In the beginning, a front-page profile with photo in Sporting Life predicted big things from the young Pirates prospect.41 But with three established starters in Camnitz (20-15), Babe Adams (22-12), and Lefty Leifield (16-16),42 manager Clarke spent the spring auditioning Elmer Steele, Claude Hendrix, and Ferry for the fourth spot in the starting rotation. Ferry had an uneven spring, and just two days before the season started he was bombarded for 11 hits in four innings by the Double-A Columbus Senators in a game in which he did not expect to pitch.43 As a result, apart from a lackluster outing in mid-May – a six-inning no-decision start in a 7-6 victory over the Boston Braves – Ferry was confined to occasional relief work. He did not register a pitching decision until the season was 46 games old, and that decision was a loss in a 4-3 setback by New York that was decided by an unearned run. In the meantime, Pittsburgh club management denied reports that waivers had been sought for Jack and right-hander Steele.44

Given a second start in mid-June, Ferry threw eight innings of one-hit ball at Boston before weakening in the ninth. But the Pirates rallied in the bottom of the frame, giving Ferry a 4-3 victory. He then resumed bullpen duties for a month. In late July, however, a three-hit, 7-1 triumph over the Brooklyn Dodgers earned Ferry a semi-regular place in the Pittsburgh rotation. A week later, he set down Boston on six hits, 10-2, and followed that by blanking the Philadelphia Phillies, 13-0. By mid-September, a Pittsburgh Post sportswriter was informing readers that Jack Ferry was deemed by peers to have the best curve ball in the majors.45 Through it all, both good and bad, Ferry’s demeanor remained steadfast: calm and cool under pressure on the mound; friendly and uncomplaining in the clubhouse.

In his first full season with Pittsburgh, Ferry contributed a 6-4 (.600) log to a third-place (89-62, .552) Pirates season. In 85 2/3 innings pitched, he allowed 83 base hits and posted a 3.15 ERA. Jack also helped the club with the willow, posting a .310/.375/.414 slash line that incorporated a game played in left field. The bright future forecasted by Sporting Life months earlier therefore seemed in the offing.

Obscured by the passage of more than a century, the subsequent treatment of Ferry by manager Clarke is inexplicable on its face, because no sign of the arm trouble that would later hasten Ferry’s retirement was in evidence. With Phillippe and Leever aging out, and given his strong late-season showing the previous year, Ferry’s time looked to have arrived. He left spring training with a cold, but with the season only a week old, the Pittsburgh Post reported that “Jack Ferry is showing signs of true form and may be marched upon the rubber at any moment now.”46 Instead, he virtually disappeared, making only 11 appearances during the 1912 season. An ineffective outing in his first appearance, in early May – four runs allowed in a relief stint of 1/3 of an inning – may have placed Ferry in Clarke’s doghouse. Whatever the case, Jack’s appearances became few and far between thereafter. From May 5 through August 19, he pitched a total of five innings in three games.

On August 20, however, he redeemed himself with five innings of three-hit, one-run relief of Marty O’Toole in a 9-1 loss to Brooklyn. Given his first starting assignment of the season on August 31, Ferry whitewashed Cincinnati on three hits, winning 4-0.47 Five days later, he pitched and batted the Pirates to a 5-4 victory over St. Louis, his two-run double in the eighth providing the margin of victory. That double would be his only hit in 1912. A no-decision start and a handful of relief appearances closed his season. For the year, the oft-neglected hurler went 2-0, with a 3.00 ERA in a mere 39 innings pitched. Yet despite its treatment of Ferry, Pittsburgh reserved him for 1913.48

When he returned his signed $2,400/season contract in January 1913, Ferry included a note to club management that stated: “I have always tried to give the team my best efforts and I trust that I will be able to show enough this spring to warrant Manager Clarke in using me regularly throughout the season. I would rather pitch every few days rather than only a few times during the season, and I believe in the former case that I would prove much more effective.”49 Days later, Pittsburgh club boss Barney Dreyfuss declared that Ferry “has a better curved ball than any other pitcher” in the National League and that the underused right-hander “is a valuable man even if he doesn’t work regularly.”50 Shortly after spring camp opened, field leader Clarke added his endorsement, telling the press that “Jack Ferry is always quiet and modest and always dependable. Whenever he steps on the rubber the fans may know that he is going to give the best that is in him.” He promised that “Jack will be called upon more frequently [this season] as he is a close student of the game, has profited by his experience, and is heavier and more rugged than he has been at any time since he joined the Pirates.”51

Unhappily for Ferry, Clarke did not keep his word. In the Pirates’ first 46 regular season games, Jack logged exactly four innings of relief work. On June 6, Pittsburgh Gazette-Times sportswriter James Jerpe lamented that the “faithful and hard-working lad” had not been given much chance but expressed confidence that “Ferry’s time will come. He has improved each year with Pittsburgh, and one of these fine days the fans will learn that he hasn’t been kept on the Pirates roster for three years for nothing.”52 One day later, Jack Ferry made his final major league appearance – last-inning mop-up in a 6-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

In mid-June, the Pirates sent Ferry to the Columbus Senators of the high minor American Association as part of a drawn-out package deal to acquire veteran right-hander George McQuillan.53 Although only 26, and with a seemingly promising baseball future ahead of him, Jack Ferry’s days as a major leaguer were over. In a four-season tenure that included only 47 game appearances, he posted a fine 10-6 (.625) record, with a 3.02 ERA in 160 2/3 innings pitched, representing an above-average 111 ERA+. A pitch-to-contact strategy yielded only 56 strikeouts (as compared to 60 walks) but held enemy batsmen to a .249 batting average. Meanwhile, Jack himself posted a useful career .255 batting average (13-for-51).

A disappointed but dutiful Ferry promptly reported to his new club and soon set an American Association single-game endurance record by throwing a 19-inning complete game in a 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.54 He ultimately pitched 224 2/3 innings for Columbus en route to posting a 14-12 (.538) record for the fourth-place (93-74, .557) Senators. Although reserved by Columbus for the 1914 season,55 his hometown press expected that Jack would jump to the Federal League, a newly arrived renegade major league circuit.56 But when Columbus met his salary demands, Ferry re-signed with the Senators.57

Doubtless seeking to impress, Ferry overdid it and came away from a cold-weather preseason game against the Boston Red Sox with the sore shoulder that ruined his pro career.58 In the short term, he took the mound only occasionally for Columbus until able to take his regular rotation turn in early August. In all, he managed 23 appearances, going 8-8 for another fourth-place Columbus club. He returned to the Senators the following season, but recurrence of arm problems and poor support dropped his record to 7-11, despite a team-leading 2.68 ERA.

Released by Columbus in early March 1916,59 Ferry began a minor league odyssey in his final season by signing with the Richmond Climbers of the Class AA International League.60 But he drew his walking papers just as the regular season was getting underway.61 Within a few days Ferry got another chance, engaged by the Shreveport (Louisiana) Gassers of the Class B Texas League.62 After posting a 5-5 record, he abandoned the club and went home, reportedly unable to cope with the Texas heat.63 He gave it one last try in his native Massachusetts, signing with the Springfield Ponies of the Class B Eastern League in early August.64 But by then his arm was shot; two poor outings later his dismissal by Springfield brought the professional baseball career of Jack Ferry to a close.65

Back home, Ferry found employment as a clerk at the General Electric plant in Pittsfield. Although his time as a professional ballplayer was over, Jack remained immersed in the game at the local level. He quickly formed and managed a short-lived local semipro club. After that, Ferry became the captain-first baseman of the GE team in the Berkshire industrial league. Later he coached the varsity baseball squads at both St. Joseph High School66 and his alma mater, Pittsfield High.67 Perhaps most important was his attendance at the organizational meeting and role in the follow-up that laid the groundwork for an Eastern League franchise to be sited in Pittsfield for the 1919 season.68

As in baseball, Ferry followed the lead of his older brother Cy and became involved in local Democratic Party politics. The Berkshire Eagle reported that “Jack’s name and pleasant personality made him a natural in politics,”69 and he served two terms as a Pittsfield councilman and one as an alderman. Ferry discontinued seeking elective office after losing a reelection ballot recount for his alderman post in 1923. Nonetheless, he remained engaged in the party’s internal affairs.70 A decade later, he was appointed to the city Board of Assessors. During this time Jack was also a member of the Holy Name Society of St. Joseph Church and active with his spouse in parish affairs.

The sudden death of wife Helen in mid-October 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression shortly thereafter significantly affected Ferry, by then a self-employed house painter and decorator. But he managed to get by. Jack remained a widower until he took Marcella Jeanette Bastion, a 40-year-old shipping clerk at the GE plant, as his second wife in January 1948. The union of this middle-aged couple produced no offspring.

In the 1950s Ferry found work as a census enumerator and a bartender.71 On the evening of August 28, 1954, he became ill while behind the bar of a tavern in Morningside. John Francis “Jack” Ferry died the following morning from the effects of heart disease at St. Luke’s Hospital in Pittsfield.72 He was 67. Following a High Requiem Mass said at St. Joseph, his remains were interred alongside those of other deceased family members in the parish cemetery. Survivors included second wife Jeannette, son John, Jr., and sister Alice Ferry Pendergast.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Rick Zucker and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted above include the Jack Ferry file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; US Census and other government data accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes, particularly the reportage of the Berkshire Evening Eagle and North Adams Evening Transcript. Unless otherwise specified, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 James Jerpe, “Jack Ferry’s Curve Ball Is Rated the Best Possessed by Any Major League Twirler,” Pittsburgh Post, September 17, 1911: 20. In the opinion of Pirates club boss Barney Dreyfuss, Ferry “has a better curved ball than any other pitcher in the league.” See “Baseball Notes,” Pittsburg Press, February 11, 1913: 19.

2 See e.g., Leslie C. MacPherson, Jr., “Sporting Chat, Pittsburgh Post, June 17, 1913: 13; “Hofman and Jack Ferry Are No Longer Pirates,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, June 15, 1913: 18.

3 See e.g., James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, June 6, 1913: 12; “Hofman and Jack Ferry Are No Longer Pirates,” above.

4 Professional baseball had been played in Pittsfield since 1877. See “Pittsfield’s First Professional Team,” (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) Berkshire Evening Eagle, January 24, 1910: 10. But evidence that some form of the game was played locally dates to 1791. See John Thorn, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, New York: Simon & Schuster (2011): 23, 55-57.

5 The other Ferry children were James (born 1876), Alfred (Cy, 1877), William (1879), Mary Ellen (1882), Sylvester (Ves, 1883), and Alice (1890).

6 According to local obituaries published in 1954, Ferry graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1905. But a contemporary news account stated that he left high school during his junior year. See “Pittsburg Gets ‘Jack’ Ferry,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, August 16, 1910: 10. And after his passing, a Ferry reminiscence by a longtime acquaintance said the same. See John M. Flynn, “The Referee’s Sporting Chat,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, September 4, 1954: 10.

7 By the time that he turned 15, the local press was taking note of the “good curve” that Jack had learned from older brother Cy. “Morningside Won,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, May 19, 1902: 7.

8 For 1905, as recalled in the Ferry obituaries and John M. Flynn, “The Referee’s Sporting Chat, above. Regarding 1904, see “Pittsfield Wins from Old Rival,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, May 16, 1904: 7; “Pittsfield’s Hitting; Drury’s Poor Fielding,” North Adams (Massachusetts) Evening Transcript, May 16, 1904: 2. Ferry pitched Pittsfield to a 14-6 victory over Drury HS.

9 James Jerpe, “Jack Ferry’s Curve Ball Is Rated the Best Possessed by Any Major League Twirler,” Pittsburgh Post, September 17, 1911: 20.

10 “P.H.S. Team May Disband,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, February 19, 1906: 10.

11 As calculated by the writer from published accounts of Seton Hall games. Ferry’s only defeat was a complete-game, 11-inning setback by Dartmouth, 5-2.

12 “Baseball Team That Earned Laurels for Seton Hall,” Jersey City Evening Journal, June 19, 1906: 9, with team photo including freshman pitcher Jack Ferry.

13 “Baseball,” Perth Amboy (New Jersey) Evening News, June 14, 1906: 1; “Waldrons Sign Ferry,” Trenton (New Jersey) Evening News, June 13, 1906: 11.

14 “Pitcher Ferry Made a Record,” Jersey City Evening Journal, May 2, 1907: 1.

15 “College Games,” Waterbury (Connecticut) Evening Democrat, May 10, 1907: 11.

16 “Athletic Officers for Seton Hall,” Jersey City Evening Journal, June 12, 1907: 9.

17 “Pittsfield Will Have a Team,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, May 24, 1907: 13.

18 “Baseball Season a Success Financially and Otherwise,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, September 24, 1907: 3. Jack batted .226 in 46 games played, overall.

19 “Athletic Games at Seton Hall,” Newark Evening Star, October 23, 1907: 2.

20 See e.g., “‘Cy’ Ferry One of Best Pitchers in Collegiate Ranks,” Newark Evening Star, May 28, 1908:7. Early in his career, the trite sports writing practice of re-naming a new player for a then-better known one with the same surname (like his brother Cy) was applied to Jack.

21 “The Referee’s Sporting Chat,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, April 8, 1908: 6, which revealed that Jack had turned down a Jersey City contract offer after dropping a 1-0 decision to the Skeeters days before.

22 “Stallings Has Eye on Ferry,” Buffalo Evening Times, April 13, 1908: 8.

23 Six weeks earlier, Holy Cross had edged Ferry, 1-0.

24 See e.g., “Jersey City Gets Young Jack Ferry,” Newark Evening Star, June 10, 1908: 7. The Ferry signing was also noted in the Jersey City Evening Journal, June 11, 1908: 9, and Passaic (New Jersey) Daily Herald, June 11, 1908: 3.

25 It was subsequently reported that Ferry went home to Pittsfield to await the arrival of a formal contract that never came while club management assumed that Ferry would report to the club in Jersey City and then sign a contract. “Ferry Has Sent Out His Papers,” North Adams Evening Transcript, January 19, 1909: 2.

26 “And Now Its Jack,” North Adams Evening Transcript, September 4, 1908: 2; “‘Jack’ Ferry New Manager of Pittsfield Team,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, September 3, 1908: 9.

27 “Pittsfield Players’ Records,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, September 28, 1908: 9.

28 “Seton Hall Varsity and Prep to Play,” Newark Evening Star, March 11, 1909: 7.

29 “Ferry Goes to Jersey City Team,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, August 19, 1909: 11; “Jack Ferry Quits ‘Cy,’ Joins Jersey City,” North Adams Evening Transcript, August 19, 1909: 2.

30 “Baseball Bunts,” Bennington (Vermont) Evening Banner, August 20, 1909: 5; “Berkshire County: Pittsfield,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily Republican, August 20, 1909: 10.

31 Pittsfield was reportedly paying Ferry $200/month. “Wants J. Ferry to Stay at Home,” North Adams Evening Transcript, February 9, 1909: 2.

32 “Ferry Boys Dispose of Stock,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, October 21, 1909: 13.

33 1910 Eastern League final statistics published in Sporting Life, January 14, 1911: 8.

34 “Baseball Bunts,” Bennington Evening Banner, July 28, 1910: 5.

35 “Jack Ferry Sold to Pittsburgs,” (Jersey City) Jersey Journal, August 16, 1910: 7; “Jack Ferry, Skeeter Pitcher, Who Has Been Signed by the Pirates,” Newark Evening Star, August 16, 1910: 11.

36 “Pirates and the Reds Each Win a Game,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, September 5, 1910: 7.

37 “Pittsburg Fans Think Ferry Looks Promising,” Pittsburg Press, September 9, 1910: 22.

38 “Pittsburg Fans Think Ferry Looks Promising.”

39 “Pittsburg Team Signs Jack Ferry,” North Adams Evening Transcript, September 29, 1910: 2.

40 “Ferry Signs Life’s Contract,” North Adams Evening Transcript, October 19, 1910: 2. The couple was married in St. Joseph Church.

41 Sporting Life, May 13, 1911: 1.

42 The won-loss records provided are the final 1911 records for the three Pirate starters.

43 “Pirates Are Again Beaten at Columbus,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 11, 1911: 9.

44 See “Sports Gossip,” Richmond (Indiana) Palladium and Sun, June 25, 1911: 7; “Base Ball Briefs,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, June 22, 1911: 17.

45 James Jerpe, “Jack Ferry’s Curve Ball Is Rated the Best Possessed by Any Major League Twirler,” above.

46 Ed F. Balinger, “Pirates Prepare to Launch Baseball Season at Home,” Pittsburgh Post, April 18, 1912: 10.

47 According to one Pittsburgh sportswriter, the outing saved Ferry from release to the minors. See A.R. Cratty, “Pittsburgh Points,” Sporting Life, September 7, 1912: 7.

48 “National League Bulletin: Reserve List, Pittsburgh,” Sporting Life, October 12, 1912: 15.

49 “Jack Ferry Sends on Contract to Pirates,” North Adams Evening Transcript, February 3, 1913: 7. An abbreviated version of the Ferry note was published in “Artie Hofman Delivers His Contract in Person,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, January 31, 1913: 10.

50 “Pittsburg Scribes Praise Jack Ferry,” North Adams Evening Transcript, February 8, 1913: 8, re-printing Dreyfuss quotations published in the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegram.

51 “Manager Fred Clarke Is Well Pleased with Condition of Men,” Pittsburgh Post, March 10, 1913: 11. Weeks earlier, club owner Dreyfuss had expressed his approval of Ferry’s weight gain.

52 Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” above.

53 “McQuillan Added to Pirate Lineup,” Pittsburg Press, July 8, 1913: 20; “Pirates Get Pitcher M’Quillan from Columbus Club in Exchange,” Pittsburgh Post, July 8, 1913: 13. Earlier, Pittsburgh had withdrawn waivers sought on Ferry when the pitcher was claimed by Boston Braves manager George Stallings, a longtime Ferry admirer. See “Stallings Wanted ‘Jack’ Ferry,” Springfield Daily Republican, August 16, 1913: 12.

54 “Jack Ferry Hurls Magnificent Game,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, July 17, 1913: 14; “Longest Game of the Season,” Tulsa World, July 17, 1913: 1.

55 “The Reserves,” Sporting Life, October 18, 1913: 16.

56 “Wanted Ferry,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, February 19, 1914: 10; “Jack Ferry Wanted by Federal League,” North Adams Evening Transcript, January 29, 1914: 7.

57 “Jack Ferry Signs Up with Columbus Club,” North Adams Evening Transcript, January 31, 1914: 4; “Jack Ferry Signs with Columbus,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, January 29, 1914: 14.

58 “Victory Over Red Sox Costly to Jack Ferry,” North Adams Evening Transcript, June 6, 1914: 8.

59 “Columbus Club Releases Ferry,” North Adams Evening Transcript, March 7, 1916: 8; “Sporting Notes,” (Springfield) Illinois State Journal, March 19, 1916: 1.

60 “Local Ints Will Report To-Morrow,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 19, 1916: 25; “Ferry Signs with Richmond, Va., Team,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, March 18, 1916: 15.

61 “Smith Is After Players,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 10, 1916: 8.

62 “Smith Signs Ferry,” Dallas Morning News, May 11, 1916: 10.

63 “‘Jack’ Ferry Is Home from Texas,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, July 27, 1916: 21.

64 “Ferry Joins Club,” Springfield Daily Republican, August 2, 1916: 2; “Ferry Secured by Springfield,” North Adams Evening Transcript, August 2, 1916: 8.

65 Ferry’s release by Springfield was reported in “Chief La Roy and Ferry Go,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News, August 16, 1916: 6; “La Roy and Ferry Bumped,” Springfield Daily Republican, August 16, 1916: 8.

66 “Ferry Secured to Coach Team,” North Adams Evening Transcript, March 16, 1922: 10.

67 “Ferry to Coach Shire City Nine,” North Adams Evening Transcript, April 13, 1929: 11; “Jack Ferry to Coach P.H.S. Baseball Candidates,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, April 12, 1929: 30.

68 “Pittsfield Hopes for Club in League,” North Adams Evening Transcript, April 15, 1919: 15; “Pittsfield Gets League Ball, New London Team Comes Here,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, April 11, 1919: 22. The Pittsfield Hillies played in the Class A Eastern League from 1919 to 1930.

69 Roger O’Gara, “Fair or Foul,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, August 31, 1954: 17.

70 “New Democratic Caucus Wanted by Leary; Ferry Eliminated by Mistake,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, December 11, 1928: 9.

71 According to the 1950 US Census and Roger O’Gara, “Fair or Foul,” above.

72 Ferry’s death certificate lists paroxysmal tachycardia as a result of hypertensive cardiovascular disease as the official cause of his demise.