Tom Gillen

Like other marginal 19th-century playing talents, catcher Tom Gillen owes his initial entry in the record book to the proliferation of major league baseball in 1884. From the National League to the American Association to the upstart Union Association, no fewer than 34 different ball clubs were accorded major league status that year.1 A product of greater Philadelphia amateur leagues, Gillen was engaged by the Philadelphia Keystones, one of the more hapless members of the Union Association. But the novice pro proved unequal to the task of playing at a major league level, unable to hit the servings of opposition hurlers or to efficiently handle the pitching of his own Keystone staff.

After undergoing two years of minor league seasoning, Gillen returned to the majors in late 1886, auditioned by the Detroit Wolverines of the National League. Perhaps unexpectedly, Gillen impressed club leader Bill Watkins with both his batting and his defense. Signed for the coming season, Gillen figured prominently in Watkins’ plans for 1887 until a debilitating preseason wrist injury put him out of commission for the entire year. The wrist did not heal properly and shelved Gillen for the following season, as well. But late in 1888, his future brightened. Gillen was signed by a Detroit club that had entered the fledgling high-minor International Association, affording him the chance to make a comeback. Over the winter, however, a cruel fate intervened, casting Tom Gillen into an early grave. He was only 26. The story of his short life follows.

Thomas J. Gillen was born in Philadelphia on May 18, 1862. He was the youngest of three children2 born to shoe factory worker Bartholomew J. Gillen (1830-1893) and his wife Margaret (née Gettigan, 1837-1897), both Irish Catholic immigrants. Nothing is known of Tom’s early years, but by age 18, he was employed as a blacksmith.3 This physically demanding occupation strengthened his sturdy 5-foot-8, 160-pound frame.

According to his obituaries, Gillen took up the game in his youth, playing baseball on “the old [Philadelphia] Parade Ground.”4 Although modern reference authorities list Gillen as batting and throwing unknown, absent evidence to the contrary, it seems reasonable to assume that he did both right-handed. Tom first attracted press attention in 1883 playing for the Houston club of nearby Chester, Pennsylvania.5 The following spring, he was among the crew of over-the-hill veterans and unproven amateur ballplayers assembled by manager Fergy Malone into the Keystones, Philadelphia’s entry in the newly arrived Union Association.

Although it had been almost eight years since the 39-year-old Malone last appeared in a major league game, he inserted himself behind the plate for the Keystones’ opener, a 14-2 trouncing by the Boston Unions on April 17. Malone then permanently retired to the bench, relinquishing club catching duty to others. Tom Gillen made his major league debut the following day, a 7-6 win over Boston. Although he went hitless at the plate and was charged with an error and five passed balls on defense, Gillen’s press reviews were favorable. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Keystones pitcher Jersey Bakley “was fairly supported by Gillen, who threw finely to bases.”6 Thus was inaugurated a recurring event in Gillen’s playing career curious to modern eyes: a poor statistical performance  accompanied by commendation of his play, in particular defensively, in press game accounts.7 From this it can only be concluded that Gillen must have looked like a far better ballplayer to observers of game action than he did to those only perusing Keystones box scores.

Days later, Gillen replaced an injured Joe Flynn and “caught an excellent game” in the Keystones’ 15-5 win over the Baltimore Monumentals.8 He also recorded his first base hit, a single off of Baltimore pitcher Ed Smith. But more commonplace was a hitless performance in a 15-8 loss to Boston on April 30 in which catcher Gillen was also charged with a staggering nine errors.9 Although rudimentary defensive gear was available to backstops by the mid-1880s, the suspicion here is that Gillen, like many of his contemporaries, was a bare-handed receiver. Still, nine miscues must be considered a wretched single-game performance.

Gillen was not alone in his difficulties. The Philadelphia Keystones, as a whole, played poorly, even at the inferior competitive level of the Union Association. The club also suffered at the gate, as Philadelphia baseball fans showed a decided preference for the club’s local rivals, the Philadelphias [later Phillies] of the National League and the American Association Philadelphia Athletics. With the Keystones’ record standing at a dismal 21-46 (.313) after another loss on August 7, club management pulled the plug on the franchise.

In 29 games, Tom Gillen posted an anemic .155 batting average (18-for-116). With only two doubles and a single walk, his on-base (.162) and slugging (.172) percentages were also embarrassing. His defensive stats, however, were tolerable (.895 fielding percentage with 73 passed balls in 27 games), comparable to those of fellow rookie backstop Jack Clements (.890, 45 PB in 20 games), and superior to those of Joe Flynn (.774, 23 PB in 10 games).

Although abandoning Union Association play, the Philadelphia Keystones stayed intact as an independent club with Malone at the helm, taking on local competition.10 In addition to playing for the reincarnated Keystones, Gillen also returned to the Philadelphia amateur scene, playing for the Foley Club and the Wharton A.C. But most significantly, he reentered major league ranks, if only briefly, catching Con Murphy for the National League Philadelphias in a 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Bisons on September 18. Facing future Hall of Famer Pud Galvin, Gillen registered a base hit and provided solid defense – but newspaper box scores conflict on his exact stats in both departments.11

Although our subject is unmistakably the “Gillen” noted in press game accounts and box scores, his one-game appearance for the Philadelphias is inexplicably unrecognized in Tom Gillen’s official major league record.12 Gillen also appeared in at least two mid-September exhibition contests played by the Philadelphias.13

Gillen spent most of the next two seasons in the Southern League. There is some newsprint to suggest that he began his time in Dixie with an unaffiliated Savannah team, but Gillen spent most of 1885 with the Macon (Georgia) club of the Southern League.14 During the season, the catcher’s unprotected hands took constant punishment. In early August, the Macon Telegraph expressed its admiration of Tom’s grit: “Gillen is one of the pluckiest little fellows in the league. His fingers are split, yet he was anxious to catch yesterday.”15 And chronically injured hands notwithstanding, Gillen posted an improved, if utterly powerless, .254 batting average – with all 30 base hits being singles, his slugging percentage was an identical .254. However light his stickwork, Gillen’s defensive work was stellar, his .972 fielding percentage being the second-best among 24 listed Southern League receivers that season.16

Over the winter, Gillen returned to Savannah, which had become a member of the Southern League.17 Once the 1886 season started, he formed a battery with right-handed pitcher (and future Hall of Fame umpire) Hank O’Day. Gillen’s batting, however, regressed. In 58 games, he hit a meek .212 (43-for-203), with only four extra-base knocks. But his defense remained sound (.940 fielding percentage)18 and he did a good job handling the club pitchers, particularly staff ace O’Day (26-11). Savannah (59-33, .641) was firmly ensconced in second place when Charleston-area earthquakes brought the Southern League season to an abrupt close on September 4.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Wolverines, locked in a tight struggle with the Chicago White Stockings for the top spot in the National League, had already purchased Savannah’s leading battery, and the cessation of Southern League play made the pair available for immediate delivery.19 On September 8, Detroit manager Bill Watkins paired his newly arrived receiver with right-hander Pete Conway for a home game against the Washington Nationals. Gillen’s work during the game drew a favorable press response. “Gillen, the new catcher for the Detroits, made his first appearance and, though evidently very nervous at times, played a good game and made a favorable impression. In his over anxiety to do well, he missed several high fouls [but] his actions are quick and graceful,” reported the Detroit Evening News.20 The review of the Detroit Free Press sounded similar notes: “Gillen … with the exception of total inability to judge foul flies, did good work. He catches very neatly, and after steadying down will doubtless prove a valuable acquisition for the Detroits.”21 Tom also contributed with the stick, recording a base hit, a run scored, and three RBIs in a 21-2 Detroit laugher.

A week later, Watkins called upon the Conway-Gillen battery again. The outcome was much the same, a 14-2 rout of the Kansas City Cowboys. In the process, Gillen had a banner day on offense, going 3-for-4, with a run scored and an RBI.22 He saw no further regular season action for the second-place (87-36-3, .707) Wolverines, but his 4-for-10 (.400) batting with four RBIs, and decent receiving (only one error and two passed balls in 15 innings) showed promise. Thereafter, he played for Detroit in postseason exhibition games. And before leaving for his winter job on the Savannah wharfs, Gillen inked a pact for the 1887 season with the club.23

Manager Watkins had been favorably impressed by Gillen’s work but his plans for the young catcher were derailed when Gillen injured his wrist in a preseason workout. The injury left him unable to either throw or catch,24 and it seemed unlikely that Gillen would be able to play during the 1887 season.25 Detroit therefore unconditionally released him in late March.26 Unhappily for Gillen, a long layoff did not cure his wrist, and as the 1888 season was about to start, Sporting Life declared that “the well-known catcher, Gillen, is hardly ever likely to play ball again, as his broken wrist will not come around to proper shape again.”27 Gillen, however, was not abandoning involvement in baseball. Rather, “he proposes … to put his knowledge of the game to use as an umpire, and has made application for a position on the Western League staff.”28 His engagement drew a ringing second from the hometown baseball weekly: Gillen “is honest, sober, and capable, and his application bears the endorsement of many prominent men.”29

The Western League did not hire Gillen, but he found work in the independent minor Pennsylvania Central League and local amateur circuits. Like all men in blue, Gillen’s decisions were not always met with approval, with the Chester Times blaming him for the local club’s 3-2 loss to Brandywine in late July.30 But for the most part, his umpiring was unremarkable and passed without critical notice in the press. After the season, Gillen convinced management of Detroit’s entry in the new high-minor International Association that his wrist had mended.31 And in November 1888, the club him to a $2,000 pact for the coming season.32 But Gillen never got the chance to resume his ballplaying career.

On January 26, 1889, Thomas J. Gillen died at the family residence in Philadelphia. Certain newspapers reporting the sad event attributed Gillen’s demise to kidney disease.33 But treating physicians certified the cause of death as “congestion of lungs” as a result of heart disease.34 Whatever the cause, Gillen was dead at the tender age of 26. Following a Requiem Mass said at the Church of the Annunciation, his remains were interred in Old Cathedral Cemetery, Philadelphia. Survivors included his grieving parents, brother Bart, and sister Sallie. “Once promised to be a star,”35 young Tom Gillen did not get the chance to achieve that destiny.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Darren Gibson and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Tony Oliver.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted herein include the Tom Gillen file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Gillen profile in David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012); US Censuses and other governmental records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 The 1884 season is the subject of two enlightening new works. For a global view, see William J. Ryczek, Baseball Wildest Season: Three Leagues, Thirty-Four Teams and the Chaos of 1884 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2023). For the Union Association specifically, see Justin Mckinney, Baseball’s Union Association: The Short, Strange Life of a 19th-Century Major League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2022).

2 The older Gillen children were Bartholomew, Jr. (born 1857) and Sallie (Sarah, 1860).

3 Per the 1880 US Census.

4 See “The Last of Tom Gillen,” Detroit Evening News, January 30, 1889: 1; “Tom Gillen’s Funeral,” Philadelphia Times, January 30, 1889: 5.

5 See e.g., “The Nationals’ Defeat,” Chester (Pennsylvania) Times, July 3, 1883: 1: Catcher “Gillan [sic] “play[ed] an excellent game” and “distinguished himself in a running foul-fly catch in the eighth inning.” The Houston team took the name of its home playing grounds, Houston Park. See also, “Base Ball,” Sporting Life, April 2, 1884: 1: “Gillen caught last year for the Thurlow [sic] Club of Chester, Pa., and made quite a reputation.”

6 “Base Ball,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 1884: 3.

7 See e.g., “Base Ball,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 1884: 2: Despite Gillen being charged with two errors and two passed balls, Keystones pitcher Bakley “was admirably supported behind the bat by Gillen, whose throwing to the bases was the principal feature of the game.”

8 “The Union Championship,” Philadelphia Times, April 23, 1884: 1.

9 Per the box score in “The New Grounds Opened,” Boston Daily Globe, May 1, 1884: 3. Gillen was also charged with seven passed balls, which leads to the suspicion that those passed balls were double-counted in the box score as errors, as well.

10 See “Base Ball” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 10, 1884: 3; “Base Ball Briefs,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Daily Intelligencer, August 16, 1884: 3.

11 Compare “Closely Contested,” Buffalo Daily Times, September 19, 1884: 1 (1-for-2) to “Pulverized Phillies,” Buffalo Daily Republic, September 19, 1884: 4 (1-for-3). Similar box score inconsistency appears regarding Gillen’s defensive work. See e.g., “Buffalos, 6; Philadelphias, 2,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 19, 1884: 8 (no errors); “Beaten Again,” Philadelphia Times,” September 19, 1884: 3 (two errors).

12 According to 19th century baseball scholar David Nemec, Gillen’s September 18 stats are “attributed by MLB and other reference works to Tom Lynch, primarily a [Philadelphia] outfielder.” David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012), 103.

13 Gillen played for Philadelphia in a September 12 exhibition game against the Trenton (New Jersey) Trentonians of the minor Eastern League (See, ‘Base Ball,” Philadelphia Times, September 13, 1884: 3) and a September 15 game against a semipro club from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. See “Base Ball Notes,” Philadelphia Times, September 14, 1884: 2.

14 See “Notes and Comments,” Sporting Life, June 24, 1885: 7: “Catcher Gillen, late of Savannah, has joined Macon.”

15 “Notes,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, August 6, 1885: 5.

16 Per Southern League catching stats published in Sporting Life, November 18, 1885: 2.

17 “Morton’s Team,” Sporting Life, January 20, 1886: 2.

18 Per Southern League fielding stats published in the 1887 Reach Official American Association Guide, 59.

19 See “Miscellaneous,” Saginaw (Michigan) Evening News, September 1, 1886: 3.

20 “The Sluggers at Work,” Detroit Evening News, September 9, 1886: 2.

21 “A Story of Slaughter,” Detroit Free Press, September 9, 1886: 3. Embedded in the article was an ink drawing head shot of the boyish, clean-shaven Gillen. It is the only known image of him.

22 See “The Sporting World,” Kansas City Journal, September 16, 1886: 2.

23 As reported in “From Detroit,” Sporting Life, November 3, 1886: 4. One press report placed the Gillen salary at $1,800 for the 1887 season. See “Sporting Notes,” Detroit Evening News, March 20, 1887: 5. Others put it at $1,500. See e.g., “Sporting Notes,” Detroit Sunday News, March 20, 1887: 5; “Detroit Is Satisfied,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 25, 1886: 5.

24 Per “Base Ball News,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 1887: 3: “Sporting Notes,” Detroit Free Press, March 3, 1887: 8.

25 According to “Base Ball,” Detroit Free Press, March 29, 1887: 8.

26 As reported in “Base Ball Pickups,” Savannah Morning News, March 29, 1887: 8; “Base Ball,” above; and elsewhere.

27 “Philadelphia Pointers,” Sporting Life, April 11, 1888: 5.

28 Same as above.

29 Same as above.

30 Per “Chester Chips,” Sporting Life, August 1, 1888: 5.

31 Per Nemec, above at 103.

32 As noted in various Gillen obituaries. See e.g., “Tom Gillen’s Funeral,” Philadelphia Times, January 30, 1889: 5; “Death of a B.B. Catcher,” West Chester (Pennsylvania) Daily Local News, January 29, 1889: 3.

33 See e.g., “Catcher Gillen Dead,” Savannah Morning News, January 30, 1889: 9; “Death of a B.B. Catcher,” above.

34 As recorded on the Gillen death certificate.

35 “Base Ball Notes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 28, 1889: 5.