Mike Driscoll

Michael Columbus Driscoll bore the name of a celebrated explorer, but his own travels in professional baseball were limited to 2½ trips through the Detroit Tigers’ lineup on the afternoon of July 6, 1916.

The former University of Maine pitcher was one of numerous college players signed by Philadelphia Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack to rebuild the Athletics’ roster, which was gutted by the losses of key players after the team’s dynastic run of 1910 through 1914.1 Driscoll’s Maine teammates Otis Lawry and Harland Rowe also held roster spots with the Athletics at the same time.

Driscoll’s pitching in his only turn on the mound was described as promising. But he gave up five runs in five innings and took the loss, and Mack tried to farm him out to the minor leagues the next day. Driscoll rejected the assignment and left pro baseball. He served in the US Army in World War I, then spent much of the rest of his life in jobs involving men’s clothing or textiles.

“Mike” Driscoll was born on October 19, 1892, in the village of North Abington, Massachusetts, about 17 miles south of Boston as the crow flies. He was the son of first-generation Irish-Americans Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Parker) Driscoll.2 By the time of the 1900 US Census, the Driscolls had had five children, of whom four – three daughters and a son – were living. Ten years later they had added two more sons to the family.3 Jeremiah was variously listed during these years as a shoemaker, a hotel keeper, and a real estate agent.4

Whatever his line of employment, Jeremiah Driscoll apparently supported his family well enough that his oldest son did not have to abandon his studies for work. Mike graduated from Abington High School in June 1911.5

Boston newspapers took note of several strong pitching performances by Driscoll for Abington High in this period.6 On April 29, 1910, he held Brockton High to one hit; he followed up a few weeks later with a two-hitter against East Bridgewater High.7 He was even better his senior season, striking out 142 batters in 12 games and notching one-hitters against Plymouth and Weymouth high schools.8 A “Driscoll,” first name unspecified, was also listed as playing end on Abington High’s football team.9

From Abington, Driscoll attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for a year, then moved on to the University of Maine at Orono in the fall of 1912 as a member of the university’s Class of 1916.10

Driscoll pledged the Theta Upsilon fraternity upon his arrival on campus.11 It was the first in a long series of activities that made Driscoll a well-known name in university circles. By the time he graduated, Mike had won a term as class vice president; served on the board of the Prism yearbook; chaired the junior prom committee; served as vice president of the “M” Club, an association of athletic letter-winners; and reigned as president of the school athletic association.12

Rounding out his distinguished career, Driscoll was chosen to give an address to undergraduates as part of commencement ceremonies in 1916, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Romance languages with a focus in French.13 “He is popular with his fellow students and everyone on the campus knows Mike,” a Maine newspaper summarized.14

For all that, Driscoll’s right arm was his strongest claim to fame in Orono, as it had been in Abington. A summary of the 1913 season, his freshman year, cited Driscoll as a “real great find” and lauded his pitching in games against Harvard College and rival Bowdoin College.15 Other accounts called him the “mainstay” of Maine’s pitching staff, and a “star.”16 He ended the season by beating Colby College, 6-2, with a six-hitter.17 Driscoll also appeared as a quarterback on a sophomore class football team in the fall of 1913, though he was not serious enough about football to play it at the varsity level.18

In the spring of 1914, he threw a 3-1 one-hit win against Bowdoin. The only hit off Driscoll – an inside-the-park home run – came off the bat of third baseman Lee McElwee, who went on to be a teammate of Driscoll’s in Philadelphia two seasons later.19 Driscoll capped that season with a five-hit shutout of Colby.20

A yearbook entry from his Maine years credits Driscoll with throwing a “famous ‘spitball.’” But the word is in quotes, in the manner of a joke, so we can’t be sure whether wet pitches were indeed part of Driscoll’s arsenal.21 The comment may be a reference to a newspaper item from 1914 that credited Driscoll’s spitter for a no-hitter he threw in an amateur summer league.22

The 1915 season also ended with Driscoll beating Colby, this time with an 8-1 six-hitter.23 In the summer after his junior year, Driscoll was briefly rumored to have signed a contract with the Montreal team of the International League, but he denied the story.24

By his senior year, Driscoll was doing “most of the box work” for Maine and turning in strong performances for a team that won the state’s collegiate championship.25 On April 30, 1916, he scattered six hits over 10 innings to beat Bowdoin.26 And in his final college appearance, on June 13, Driscoll frustrated end-of-season rival Colby for the fourth straight year, allowing only five hits in a 7-2 win. At one point he worked a one-two-three inning on just three pitches.27

Two people likely paved Driscoll’s path from Orono to Philadelphia. The first was Monte Cross, Driscoll’s coach at Maine his senior year, who had played shortstop for Mack’s Athletics from 1902 to 1907. Cross would have had nothing to lose in recommending his top pitcher to his old boss, since Driscoll was graduating and would not play again for Maine in any event.28

The other was Lawry, a second baseman and shortstop who’d been scouted by several big-league teams but had chosen the Athletics. He traveled with the team in fall 1915 and considered attending Athletics spring training the following season, but opted for one more season of college play.29 Lawry was said to have brought third baseman Rowe (who had not graduated, but chose to leave school) to Philadelphia, and at least one news report credited Lawry with bringing Driscoll to the Athletics in late June as well.30

Rowe made his big-league debut on June 23, and Lawry followed five days later. Other 1916 Athletics who joined the team directly from colleges included pitcher Jing Johnson of Ursinus College; infielder-outfielder Edward “Lee” King from the University of Massachusetts; outfielder-pitcher Red Lanning of Wesleyan University; McElwee and shortstop Whitey Witt of Bowdoin; pitcher Walt Whittaker and catcher Ralph “Red” Carroll of Tufts University; pitcher Marsh Williams of the University of North Carolina; and pitcher George Hesselbacher of Penn State.31

Driscoll got his chance to pitch on July 6. The Athletics entered the game at Shibe Park far and away in last place with a 17-47 record,32 22 games behind the league-leading New York Yankees, en route to a 36-117 finish. The Tigers held sixth place at 35-36,33 7½ games out. They boasted a potent offense: Detroit led both major leagues that season in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, and RBIs, and ranked near the top in doubles, triples, and walks.34

The Athletics started Tom Sheehan, who entered with a 1-7 record en route to a dismal 1-16 slate for the season. Sheehan surrendered three runs in the first two innings. When Philadelphia mounted an offensive rally in the bottom of the second, Mack sent Elmer Myers to hit for Sheehan, then tapped Driscoll to take over in the top of the third.

Driscoll surrendered a run in the third on a walk, an error, a groundout, and a double by Bobby Veach. The Athletics tied the game, 4-4, in the bottom half on three hits, an error, and a walk, but Driscoll struck out with the bases loaded, and Jimmy Walsh’s grounder to third ended the frame. Driscoll then coughed up three more hits and two runs in the fourth, with the big blow a two-run double by Donie Bush.

While Tigers rookie reliever George Cunningham held the Philadelphia offense in check, the Tigers’ unquenchable Ty Cobb spurred his team to two more runs off Driscoll. In the fifth, Cobb drew a walk, stole second, took third on a throwing error by rookie catcher Billy Meyer,35 and scored on George Burns’s single. A similar order of events took place in the seventh. This time Cobb singled, after which another stolen base, another throwing error, and another single by Burns brought the score to 8-4, Tigers.

When Meyer tripled in the bottom of the seventh, Mack pulled Driscoll for pinch-hitter Lawry, who struck out. Driscoll’s final line: five innings pitched; seven hits; five runs, three earned; two walks; no strikeouts; and a 5.40 ERA.36 Whittaker, also making his only big-league appearance, gave up another run over the final two innings as the Tigers won, 9-4.

The Philadelphia Inquirer praised Driscoll for having “a lot of stuff,” adding that he “looked promising.”37 The Detroit Free Press, in contrast, scoffed at “Connie Mack’s frat boys” and “Mack’s so-called pitchers.” “While [Driscoll] was better than his predecessor, he wasn’t good enough to check the Jungaleers,” Detroit sportswriter E.A. Batchelor summarized, using a nickname for the Tigers.38

Mack thought so little of Driscoll and Whittaker’s pitching that he tried to demote both players to the minors the next day. Both pitchers refused the assignment and quit professional baseball.39 As of June 2025, Baseball-Reference had no record of either man pitching any further games as a pro.40 When Driscoll returned to Orono that fall to watch a football game, the University of Maine newspaper noted that he was working for “a leather company in Boston,” adding, “Pretty soft.”41

With the onset of American involvement in World War I, the “soft” civilian life – including a stretch with an amateur team in Braintree, Massachusetts42 – gave way to a stint in the US Army. Driscoll enlisted in July 1917 and was honorably discharged in April 1919, having attained the rank of sergeant.43

His military records include a special pass allowing him to travel freely in France as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces’ Intelligence Personnel. Presumably, Driscoll’s college education in French served him well in this role.44 Discharge papers indicate that he did not take part in any battles and was not wounded. Driscoll’s military papers, incidentally, give his height as 5 feet 11 inches. (Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet give his playing weight as 160 pounds.)

Driscoll became engaged to Mildred O’Hayre of Brockton, Massachusetts, prior to his discharge from the military, and the two were married in that city on October 22, 1919.45 They remained married for the rest of Driscoll’s life. Their first child, son Gerald, arrived in November 1920. Their second, daughter Doris, followed in August 1924.46 Throughout his post-Army life, Driscoll and family lived at 144 Forest Avenue in Brockton.47

Official records indicate that Driscoll spent much of his post-baseball life in clothing- or textile-related jobs. On his 1919 marriage certificate, he was a manager in a felt factory; at the time of son Gerald’s birth in 1920, he was a clothing dealer; by Doris’s birth in 1924, he was a store manager.48 The 1930 and 1940 US Censuses continued this trend of Driscoll being in the same industry, but not necessarily in the same place. In 1930 he was a salesman in a dry goods store, while a decade later, he was a sales clerk in “men’s retail furnishing.”49 (One consistent theme: Driscoll was generally not listed as an owner of his own store or company.)

Driscoll shifted to military work during World War II. A military draft card filled out in 1942 lists his job as “National Fireworks Co. British Navy Inspector.”50 This convoluted-sounding title has a simple explanation: National Fireworks, a major employer in towns south of Boston, produced munitions for the United States and other nations during the war.51 Driscoll also apparently spent time working at the massive Boston-area Watertown Arsenal, though it’s not known exactly when.52 By the spring of 1950, Driscoll had transitioned back into retail as a salesman of televisions.53

Unfortunately, illness clouded Driscoll’s late life. He died at age 60 on March 22, 1953, at Foxborough State Hospital, a Massachusetts institution for those with mental illnesses. Driscoll’s immediate cause of death was listed as bronchopneumonia, but his death certificate noted that he’d suffered from encephalopathy – a generalized term for brain dysfunction, stemming from various causes – for 18 months.54

Driscoll’s obituary noted that he’d been an American Legion member and had belonged to two church groups. He was survived by his wife, son, daughter, two brothers and a sister, and two grandchildren.55 He is buried alongside his wife and in-laws in Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Easton, Massachusetts, about nine miles as the crow flies from his birthplace of North Abington.56

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Rory Costello and Len Levin and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team.

The author thanks the Giamatti Research Library at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum for assistance and also thanks the University of Maine at Orono for digitizing its yearbooks and campus newspaper.

Sources and photo credits

In addition to the sources credited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for background information on players, teams, and seasons.

Photo at top of story from the 1916 University of Maine Prism yearbook: 267. Photo at bottom from the Portland (Maine) Sunday Telegram, April 4, 1915: 17.

Notes

1 In that five-year span, the Athletics won four American League pennants and three World Series titles.

2 Birth record for Michael Columbus Driscoll (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXW4-HTK?lang=en) and 1900 US Census record for Jeremiah Driscoll and family (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9YQ-M79?lang=en), both accessed through Familysearch.org in June 2025.

3 1900 and 1910 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2KH-KJP?lang=en) US Census records for Jeremiah Driscoll and family, both accessed through Familysearch.org in June 2025.

4 Birth record for Michael Driscoll and 1900 and 1910 US Census listings for Jeremiah Driscoll and family, cited above.

5 “Senior Class Reception,” Boston Globe, June 27, 1911: 16.

6 Although Driscoll’s first name was not included in news accounts from 1910-11, one Boston Globe story mentioned that the young pitcher was “a son of J.P. Driscoll of [North Abington],” matching Driscoll’s father’s initials and the village of his birth. “North Abington,” Boston Globe, June 3, 1911: 4.

7 “Abington H.S. 3, Brockton H.S. 0,” Boston Globe, April 30, 1910: 8; “Abington HS 7, E. Bridgewater HS 1,” Boston Globe, May 21, 1910: 4.

8 “Abington High Pitcher Struck Out 142, Catcher Led in Batting,” Boston Globe, June 19, 1911: 7; “One Hit Off Driscoll,” Boston Globe, May 13, 1911: 4; “One Hit All Off Driscoll,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1911: 7.

9 “Scores On 75-Yard Run,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1910: 6; “Middleboro Wins, 14 to 6,” Boston Globe, October 16, 1910: 16.

10 Driscoll’s year at Exeter is mentioned in “Driscoll Goes to Exeter,” Boston Globe, September 16, 1911: 9. Had Driscoll gone straight to Maine after graduation from Abington High, he would have been a member of the university’s Class of 1915. A list of members of the Class of ’15, as of their arrival at school in 1911, is included in the university’s 1913 yearbook, the Prism. Driscoll’s name is not on the list. (The Prism, in those years, had an information gap of one to two years; the 1913 edition includes information on athletic and campus events from 1911.) University of Maine Prism, 1913: 103-109, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/16/.

11 “Fraternity Pledges,” Maine Campus (Orono, Maine), October 1, 1912: 2, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4507&context=mainecampus. The Maine Campus is the University of Maine’s student newspaper. Driscoll is misidentified as “C.M. Driscoll” here, but his hometown of North Abington is correct.

12 Senior entry for Michael Columbus Driscoll, University of Maine Prism yearbook, 1917: 37; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/25/.

13 “Commencement Parts at U. of M.,” Bangor (Maine) Daily Commercial, April 8, 1916: 7; senior entry for Michael Columbus Driscoll in 1917 Prism yearbook, cited above; “Degrees to Be Conferred at the U. of M. This Week,” Bangor Daily Commercial, June 12, 1916: 5.

14 “Mike Driscoll Maine’s 1915 Pitching Mainstay,” Portland (Maine) Sunday Telegram, April 4, 1915: 17.

15 Arthur W. Abbott, “The Baseball Team,” University of Maine Prism, 1915: 240, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/20/.

16 “Bates Team Will Disband Today” and “Driscoll Proved Bad Proposition,” both Lewiston (Maine) Evening Journal, June 6, 1913: 7.

17 The game had been postponed several days by rain. “Waterville Local News,” Waterville (Maine) Morning Sentinel, May 26, 1913: 5; “Maine 6, Colby 2,” Bangor Daily News, May 29, 1913: 11. The 1913 baseball schedule printed in the university’s 1915 yearbook makes clear that the Colby game was the last of the season, although the schedule printed in the yearbook failed to take the rainout into account. University of Maine Prism, 1915: 242, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/20/.

18 “Sophomores 3, Freshmen 0,” Maine Campus, November 18, 1913: 1, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4550&context=mainecampus. The all-time list of letter winners in Maine’s 2024 football media guide (https://goblackbears.com/documents/2025/4/21/2024_FB_Media_Guide.pdf) does not include Driscoll.

19 “Maine Downed Bowdoin, 3 to 1,” Bangor (Maine) Daily News, May 21, 1914: 11.

20 “Maine Put on the Whitewash,” Bangor Daily News, May 25, 1914: 12.

21 University of Maine Prism, 1916: 57, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/21/.

22 “Trolley League Notes,” Daily Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine), July 20, 1914: 2.

23 “Maine Had the Better of Colby,” Bangor Daily News, June 9, 1915: 11.

24 “Driscoll Story Is Denied,” Lewiston (Maine) Daily Sun, June 14, 1915: 9.

25 “Maine Wins 1916 Championship in College Ball,” Daily Kennebec Journal, June 19, 1916: 2.

26 “First State Game a Maine Victory,” Maine Campus, May 2, 1916: 1, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4626&context=mainecampus.

27 “Five Hits Off Mike Driscoll,” Waterville Morning Sentinel, June 14, 1916: 10; “Colby Easy for Maine in Commencement Game,” Bangor Daily Commercial, June 14, 1916: 2.

28 In addition to Lawry, Rowe, and Driscoll, a fourth University of Maine product – outfielder Pat French – got a three-game tryout with the Athletics the following season.

29 “Baseball Prospects at the U. of M.,” Bangor Daily News, February 7, 1916: 2; “To Play with Mack,” Biddeford (Maine) Journal, March 28, 1916: 6.

30 “To Join Athletics,” Waterville (Maine) Morning Sentinel, June 17, 1916: 10; “More Collegians for the Mackmen,” Reading (Pennsylvania) News-Times, June 29, 1916: 9.

31 This list, which also appears in the author’s SABR biography of Harland Rowe, is based on several news articles from May and June 1916 about Mack’s collegiate signings, as well as player listings in Baseball-Reference. The list focuses on ex-collegians who made their debuts with the 1916 Athletics. It omits a few veterans, like outfielders Jimmy Walsh and Shag Thompson and pitcher Weldon Wyckoff, who also attended college but entered the major leagues prior to 1916.

32 And one tie.

33 And one tie.

34 The Tigers finished the season in third place, with an 87-67-1 record, four games behind the league champion Boston Red Sox.

35 Meyer later claimed that manager Mack allowed veteran catcher Wally Schang to play the outfield when young pitchers were on the mound, so that backup catcher Meyer would have to deal with all the wild pitches. True enough, Schang played center field on July 6, 1916. Denis Repp, “Billy Meyer,” SABR Biography Project, accessed June 2025, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/billy-meyer/.

36 As of July 2025, Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet disagreed on the number of hits Driscoll surrendered, with Baseball-Reference listing six and Retrosheet seven. Retrosheet’s gameplay narrative and the Detroit Free Press’s game story both list seven hits against Driscoll. Driscoll also batted twice without a hit, striking out once.

37 “Freaky Pitching Beats the Macks,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 7, 1916: 14.

38 E.A. Batchelor, “Tigers Have Tigeresque Day at Bat,” Detroit Free Press, July 7, 1916: 15.

39 The Boston Globe reported on July 19, 1916, that Driscoll had received “numerous” offers to play professionally, “but it is doubtful if he will accept, as he plans to enter business.” “Sportsman,” “Live Tips and Topics,” Boston Globe, July 19, 1916: 7.

40 “American League Notes,” Sporting Life, July 29, 1916: 4; “Stuffy M’Innis Now Is Batting for His Boss,” Philadelphia Evening Ledger, July 8, 1916: 1. The Sporting News database of player contract cards, useful in tracing ballplayers’ professional travels, had no card on record for Driscoll when searched in June 2025.

41 “With the Alumni,” Maine Campus, November 14, 1916: 3, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4633&context=mainecampus.

42 “Braintree White Sox Starts Season Next Week,” Boston Globe, May 22, 1917: 7.

43 Department of Veterans Affairs service record for Michael Driscoll, accessed via FamilySearch.org in June 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5T-C8XB?lang=en; honorable discharge record for Michael Driscoll in Driscoll’s clip file at the Giamatti Research Center of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

44 The special pass is in Driscoll’s clip file at the Giamatti Research Center of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

45 Massachusetts certificate of marriage for Michael C. Driscoll and Mildred J. O’Hayre, accessed June 2025 via FamilySearch.org, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGR-1WF6?lang=en. The marriage record misspells Mildred’s maiden name as “O’Hayer”; it is spelled O’Hayre on the family gravestone in Easton, Massachusetts, where the Driscolls and Mildred’s parents are buried. Michael Columbus Driscoll entry on Findagrave.com, accessed June 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52406286/michael-columbus-driscoll. Driscoll and O’Hayre are mentioned as engaged in “Wed in North Abington,” Boston Globe, August 21, 1918: 3; Driscoll was serving in France at this time.

46 Massachusetts birth records for Gerald Driscoll (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGR-N44C?lang=en) and Doris Driscoll (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZSR-3WDY?lang=en), accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2025.

47 This address appears on the birth records of both of Driscoll’s children, on Driscoll’s World War II draft card, and on the 1930 through 1950 Censuses. (All of these documents are cited elsewhere in these endnotes.)

48 Marriage certificate for Michael and Mildred Driscoll and birth records for Gerald and Doris Driscoll, cited above.

49 1930 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ5X-VKB?lang=en) and 1940 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4NK-42R?lang=en) US Census listings for Michael Driscoll and family, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2025. “Dry goods” is variously defined as textiles and clothing, nonperishable groceries, or both. Also, these listings do not include the names of Driscoll’s various employers.

50 World War II draft registration card for Michael Columbus Driscoll, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V12Y-DB7?lang=en.

51 National Fireworks’ plans to supply munitions to Great Britain are mentioned in “Big Munitions Plant Given Town Approval,” Boston Globe, August 7, 1940: 13. General information on National Fireworks’ munitions work is found in “Fireworks Plant Starts Work on War Orders,” Boston Globe, July 5, 1940: 4.

52  “Michael C. Driscoll” (obituary), Brockton (Massachusetts) Daily Enterprise, March 23, 1953: 2.

53 1950 US Census listing for Michael Driscoll, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F3R-9HC1?lang=en.

54 Massachusetts death certificate for Michael Columbus Driscoll, included in Driscoll’s clip file at the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; “Encephalopathy,” Cleveland Clinic website, accessed June 2025, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/encephalopathy. Driscoll’s obituary in the Brockton Daily Enterprise, cited above, lists his place of death as “a Boston hospital.” Since mental illness was stigmatized in Driscoll’s day, the author assumes that “a Boston hospital” was a euphemism for the truth, or a more socially acceptable cover story.

55 “Michael C. Driscoll.” Incidentally, Driscoll had fallen so far off the baseball radar that The Sporting News, known as the “Bible of Baseball,” made no mention of his death. (The same was true for Driscoll’s one-game teammate, Walt Whittaker, who died in August 1965.)

56 Findagrave.com entry for Michael Columbus Driscoll, cited above.