Mike Muldoon

Mike Muldoon was an 1880s Irish infielder who played four seasons in the major leagues, set an inside-the-park home run record, and was known for quirks like eating dozens of pickles a day. Muldoon’s post-playing career whereabouts have puzzled researchers for decades. His death information is unknown.

Michael D. Muldoon was born in April 1856 in Ballyloughloe, Ireland. His father Michael and mother Catherine (Lally) had one daughter and five sons and moved the family to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1868.1 Michael (the father) worked in a machine shop and Catherine stayed at home and maintained the house.2

It is not clear when Muldoon started playing baseball. His minor-league career began in 1878 with the International Association’s Lynn (Massachusetts) Live Oaks. This club featured Bud Fowler, the first acknowledged African American professional baseball player, and future major-league star pitcher Bobby Mathews. The Live Oaks merged with the franchise in Worcester, Massachusetts, at midseason and played their home games there. The International Association disbanded after the 1878 season and several of its teams joined the minor-league National Association.

Muldoon, who was five-foot-eight and weighed 165 pounds, signed with the National Association club in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1878.3 He joined future 1880s major-league stars Tim Keefe and Harry Stovey. Early in the 1879 season, New Bedford pummeled Harvard University’s baseball team 25-2 in an exhibition; Muldoon had two hits.4

The New Bedfords disbanded on October 4, whereupon Muldoon and Keefe joined the National Association club in Albany, New York, for the remainder of its season.5 There was a home game in which Albany trailed by three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning until Muldoon hit a game-ending grand slam over the right field fence. The ball flew into the Hudson River and a newspaper published a poem about Muldoon the day after his dramatic homer.6 Albany teammate Morrie Critchley said Muldoon “was always the life of the party in his nightly rounds” and that he “had too many admirers for his own good.”7

After being released by Albany, Muldoon signed with the National Association club in Springfield, Massachusetts, in December 1879.8 That organization folded without playing an official game, so Muldoon split the 1880 season between the minor-league teams in Albany and Jersey City, New Jersey.9 Some of Muldoon’s Jersey City road games against Brooklyn were held at historic Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, which was the site of various amateur baseball matches in the first half of the 19th century.10

Muldoon played for the minor-league New York Metropolitans of the Eastern Championship Association in 1881. It was a club talented enough to beat the National League’s Buffalo Bisons 4-3 in an exhibition in front of 1,000 fans at the original Polo Grounds on June 23, 1881.11

After four seasons in the minors, Muldoon signed with the NL’s Cleveland Blues to play third base, joining an infield with stars Jack Glasscock at shortstop and Fred Dunlap at second. After a seventh-place finish in 1881, there were high hopes for the 1882 Blues. Newspaper previews portrayed them as a team on the upswing, writing things like “Cleveland has a strong nine – undoubtedly the strongest they have ever put into the League arena.”12

At first, Muldoon and the Blues didn’t meet those expectations. A 20-1 thumping at Buffalo on May 25 dropped Cleveland’s record to 4-11 and had the Buffalo Commercial criticizing the newcomer Muldoon, writing that he was “not ‘the solid man’ told of in song and story.”13

Later in that series, Muldoon scored a run on a play that epitomized the rough style of 1880s baseball. He was on second base on May 29 when Buffalo first baseman Dan Brouthers couldn’t scoop a low throw from third baseman Davy Force. Cleveland batter Dude Esterbrook toppled on Brouthers and pinned him down so he couldn’t reach the ball. Muldoon ran around third and scored while Brouthers was restrained. Fans shouted angrily and umpire J.L. Hickey sent Muldoon back to second base. It proved to be an important call, as Buffalo won the game by one run. There were three baseballs used in the game.14 Later in the road trip, in a 7-2 win at Troy on June 7, Muldoon made a throwing error and two runs scored when the ball was nabbed by a dog under the bleachers.15

Muldoon hit only 10 home runs in his five-year major-league career, but four of them came in a two-day span in 1882. On both August 18 and August 19 at Worcester, Muldoon hit two inside-the-park home runs. As of 2023, he remains the only player in American League/National League history to hit multiple inside-the-park homers in back-to-back games.16

Cleveland turned its season around and finished 42-40-2, in fifth place, 12 games out of first in the NL. Muldoon hit .246 with six home runs and 45 RBIs in 84 games in his rookie campaign. His six homers were tied with Brouthers for second-most in the NL, trailing only Detroit’s George Wood. Muldoon returned to the Blues in 1883.

The Blues were training for the 1883 season in Washington, DC when manager Frank Bancroft lined up a meet-and-greet with US president Chester Arthur for April 3 in the White House’s cabinet room. Arthur greeted Muldoon and most of his teammates and after “a general handshaking the President complimented the nine upon their fine appearance and remarked that they looked like good base-ball players and that good ball-players were good citizens.”17

Observers felt that Muldoon had a strong defensive season. They noticed that he aggressively charged ground balls, which didn’t always happen in this era where most infielders played barehanded.18 On May 7, Cleveland won 5-4 in Buffalo and the Buffalo Commercial applauded Muldoon’s “remarkable stops and catches” in front of the crowd of 800 that included “a galaxy of beauty and fashion in the ladies’ stand. Interest did not lag, at times the enthusiasm ran wild, and at other moments a funeral-like stillness prevailed.”19

Muldoon sometimes held or tripped runners as they passed third base, and he got caught doing so during an 1883 game against Providence. Arthur Irwin hit a line drive over Cleveland left fielder Tom York’s head and scampered around second and toward third with thoughts of an inside-the-park home run. When Irwin turned at third, Muldoon grabbed him with such ferocity that it ripped the jersey off his body. Glasscock received the ball from York in shallow left field and relayed it to the plate in plenty of time to get the raggedly clothed Irwin, who was furious and argued that Muldoon’s obstruction slowed him down. The umpire looked at Muldoon, who was sheepishly still holding Irwin’s jersey, and reversed his decision, calling Irwin safe.20

Muldoon was part of history on September 13, 1883, when he was in the field for teammate Hugh “One Arm” Daily’s no-hitter in Philadelphia. Daily, who lost his left hand in a childhood musket accident, didn’t allow any hits in the Blues’ 1-0 win at Recreation Park.

The Blues finished fourth in 1883 with a 55-42-3 record and drew 60,000 fans. Muldoon hit .228 without any home runs and 29 RBIs in 98 games. The club was considering other potential ballpark locations within Cleveland for 1884, but they stayed at League Park, where they had played since joining the NL in 1879.21 Muldoon came back in 1884 for his third and final season in Cleveland.

After the winning season in 1883, there was optimism around Cleveland’s club for 1884. “We expect to have as strong a team as we had last year,” one of the team’s directors proclaimed in March.22 Muldoon took a train into Cleveland in late March to prepare for the season that started on May 1.23 The Blues’ preseason schedule included two games in mid-April in Brooklyn, New York, against the Atlantics. It was the first time a National League club played an American Association club in Brooklyn in the first three years of the AA.24

The Blues had a woeful start and had an 8-15 record one month into the season. Things didn’t improve in the summer months; the team was 23-44 at the end of July, which is when rumors surfaced that Cleveland’s NL club would disband at the end of the season.25

The 1884 season was a tumultuous one because of the Union Association, a new renegade major league that ignored the reserve clause and poached major-leaguers from other teams. Cleveland’s roster was raided more than any other NL club, when Glasscock, pitcher Jim McCormick, and catcher Fatty Briody all fled in mid-August for more money with the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds. Muldoon later said he “indignantly denies the rumor” that he also wanted to leave for the UA and “that he was not a contract-breaker.”26

Muldoon showed a temper on August 22 in Philadelphia when an argument with Quakers rookie Ed Andrews and umpire Billy McLean turned physical. In the first inning, Cleveland’s Ernie Burch was called out for interfering with a batted ball and Muldoon ran toward McLean to argue for his teammate. Andrews then ran toward McLean to argue in favor of the umpire’s call and then “the three pushed and sparred around the field until McLean lost patience and, shaking his book of rules at Muldoon, said, ‘that settles it.’ Muldoon contemptuously snapped his fingers at the book.”27 He was not ejected.

Cleveland’s wobbly 1884 season ended in seventh place, with a 35-77-1 record, 49 games out of first. Muldoon hit .239 with two home runs and 38 RBIs in 110 games. He wanted to stay in Cleveland28 but the Blues released him in November, and he signed with the major-league American Association’s Baltimore Orioles.29

The Baltimore Sun advocated for Muldoon before the season, writing “Muldoon is one of the best third basemen in the country, and as hard a worker as can be found in any club. He is also a good batter.”30 Muldoon played mostly third base and sometimes spat tobacco on the ball before returning it to the pitcher.31 He had a solid season, hitting .251 with 28 extra-base hits, but the Orioles played badly and finished in last place with a 41-68-1 record. At one point, they lost to a Westminster, Maryland, club team.32

Muldoon was also the protagonist in many amusing anecdotes. He reportedly ate pickles before and after meals, 29 total pickles per day, and told teammates that consuming them would help on-field performance.33 Muldoon’s Baltimore teammates believed he was “a sorcerer” after an 1886 fire in Oriole Park’s grandstand went out as soon as Muldoon smiled at the blaze.34

Muldoon wound down his professional career with minor-league clubs in Jersey City in 1887, Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1888, and Birmingham, Alabama, in 1889. His once solid defensive skills at third base had deteriorated. Reporters covering his Allentown games said, “Muldoon’s playing was certainly wretched”35 and that he was “a complete failure at third base.”36

The last known mention of a living Mike Muldoon came in 1890. In 1886, he had told Sporting Life that he overcame his fear of the sea and planned to travel by ship back to Ireland because he had many relatives there. However, it’s unknown if that’s where he settled once his playing days ended.37 Muldoon’s parents and four of his siblings are buried in the same section of Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Connecticut, but there’s no sign of Mike there.38

Baseball historians have searched for Muldoon’s death details over the years, and they’ve even identified deceased individuals with matching biographical details. For example, a man with Muldoon’s first name, last name, age, home country, and parents’ names died from being kicked by a horse in Massachusetts in 1892, but he proved to be a different Mike Muldoon.39

In 1897, Muldoon’s former Buffalo teammate Herm Doscher told The Sporting News that Muldoon was dead, but no other details appeared.40 Whether they took place in Ireland, the United States, or elsewhere, Mike Muldoon’s final days and resting place remain unaccounted for.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Tony Oliver.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also used Baseball-Reference.com, FamilySearch.org, Retrosheet.org, and Newspapers.com.

Notes

1 New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906.

2 US Census Bureau, 1880 US Census.

3 “Base Ball,” Boston Globe, December 1, 1878: 8.

4 “New Bedfords, 25; Harvards, 2.” Boston Globe, April 14, 1879: 3.

5 “Disbandment of the New Bedfords,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1879: 2.

6 “Critchley Mows ’em Down,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 19, 1922: 25.

7 “Critchley Mows ’em Down.”

8 “Springfield’s Ball Team for 1880,” Boston Globe, December 18, 1879: 2.

9 “The Jersey City Club,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 5, 1880: 1.

10 “At the Bat,” New York Times, June 1, 1880: 8.

11 “Good Fielding on Both Sides,” New York Times, June 24, 1881: 8.

12 “Time!” Buffalo Morning Express, May 1, 1882: 4.

13 “Sporting,” Buffalo Commercial, May 26, 1882: 3.

14 “Sporting.,” Buffalo Commercial, May 30, 1882: 3.

15 “Notes,” Buffalo Commercial, June 9, 1882: 3.

16 “Inside-the-Park Home Run Records,” Baseball Almanac, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_isphr.shtml

17 “Calling on the President,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1883: 7

18 “Sporting,” Buffalo Commercial, May 21, 1883: 3.

19 “Sporting,” Buffalo Commercial, May 8, 1883: 3.

20 “Another Batch of Yarns for Baseball Fans,” Buffalo Times, January 17, 1905: 10.

21 “Base Ball Gleanings,” Boston Globe, November 11, 1883: 6.

22 “The Cleveland Nine for 1884,” Boston Globe, March 16, 1884: 3.

23 “Sporting Notes,” Buffalo Commercial, March 28, 1884: 3.

24 “Sports and Pastimes.,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 6, 1884: 10.

25 “An Easy Victory,” Buffalo Times, July 29, 1884: 8.

26 “Fair Balls,” Detroit Free Press, September 18, 1884: 3.

27 “Base Ball in the Rain,” Philadelphia Times, August 23, 1884: 3.

28 “Gossipy Gleanings,” Boston Globe, November 23, 1884: 6.

29 “General Sporting Gossip,” Boston Globe, November 29, 1884: 2.

30 “The National Game,” Baltimore Sun, February 2, 1885: 5.

31 Preston D. Orem, Baseball (1882-1891) From the Newspaper Accounts (Phoenix, Arizona, Society for American Baseball Research, 2021), 232.

32 “The Baltimore ‘Orioles’ Defeated,” Westminster, Maryland Democratic Advocate, June 27, 1885: 3.

33 “Threetees’ Meditations,” Sporting Life, March 3, 1886: 2.

34 “Notes of the Game,” Nebraska State Journal, August 28, 1886: 1.

35 “Notes,” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, May 23, 1888: 1.

36 “In Third Place,” Morning Call, May 27, 1888: 8.

37 “Minor Mentions,” Sporting Life, February 17, 1886: 2.

38 Email correspondence with Ancestral Line’s Séamus O’Donoghue and State of Connecticut History & Genealogy Librarian Mel E. Smith.

39 “Kicked Sunday, Died Monday,” Boston Globe, December 27, 1892: 5.

40 David Nemec, Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 2: The Hall of Famers and Memorable Personalities Who Shaped the Game, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland (2011): 243.