John Montgomery Ward
Encyclopedia
John Montgomery Ward known as Monte Ward, was an American
Major League Baseball
pitcher
, shortstop
and manager
. Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania
. He led the formation of the first professional sports players union and a new baseball league, the Players' League.
in the early 1870s and, at 13 years of age, he was sent to Penn State University. In his short time there, he helped jump start a baseball program and is often credited for developing the first curve ball.
The following year, in 1874, his parents died. As a result he was forced to quit school and try to earn his own way. He tried to make it as a travelling salesman
, but when that proved unsuccessful, he returned to his hometown. It was there that he re-discovered baseball. In , the semi-pro team that he was playing for folded, which opened the door for him to move on to a new opportunity. He was offered a contract to pitch for the Providence Grays
of the still new National League
, an all professional major league that had begun its operations in .
. He played that season exclusively as a pitcher, but during the following two seasons he played increasingly in the outfield
and at third base
. Ward had his two finest seasons as a pitcher, going 47-19 with 239 strikeout
s and a 2.15 ERA in 1879 and 39-24 with 230 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA in 1880. He pitched nearly 600 innings each year (587.0 in 1879 and 595.0 in 1880). As a 19 year old pitcher, he won 47 games and led the Providence Grays
to a first place finish.
In , he began to play other positions and also expanded his leadership role to include managing
when he became a player-manager for 32 games, winning 18 of them, as the Grays finished in second place. On June 17, 1880, Ward pitched the second perfect game
in baseball history, defeating future Hall of Famer Pud Galvin
and the Buffalo Bisons
, 5-0. Lee Richmond had thrown baseball's first perfect game just five days before, on June 12. The next perfect game by a National League pitcher would not happen for 84 years, when Jim Bunning
pitched a perfect game in 1964.
The seasons of and were the first in which he played more games in the outfield than he pitched, this was due to a nagging arm injury he originally incurred sliding into a base. He still pitched well when he did pitch, winning 37 games over those two seasons and having ERAs of 2.13 and 2.59 respectively, and on August 17, 1882, he pitched the longest complete game
shutout
in history, blanking the Detroit Wolverines
1-0 in 18 innings. By this time, however, the Grays felt his best days were behind him and sold their former ace hurler to the New York Giants
.
(renamed the Giants in 1885) in 1883, and completed his transition from a pitcher to an everyday player in 1884. With his pitching career over due to his arm injury, he could not wait for his arm to heal before he returned to the field, so he taught himself to throw left-handed in order to play center field
for the remainder of the 1884 season. With his arm fully recuperated, he became the every day shortstop in 1885.
Ward graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885 and led the players in forming the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the first sports labor union. Ward and the players had become frustrated with the owners reserve clause, which allowed them to sign players to one year contracts and then not allow them to negotiate with other teams when those contracts expired. The players felt that the owners had absolute power. At first, the players had some success, gaining the freedom to negotiate with other teams when they were asked to take a pay cut by their current team. In October 1887, Ward married actress Helen Dauvray.
In , after the Giants had finished first in the National League, and had won a playoff series known today as a "World Series". They played the St. Louis Browns
of the American Association
for the "Dauvray Cup", which was named after Ward's wife. The team never actually received the trophy as it was stolen and its whereabouts are still unknown. Ward and a group of All Stars then headed off on a barnstorming world tour. The owners held their winter meetings, and created a classification system that would determine a player's salary. Under the system the most a player could earn was $2,500. The Giants then sold Ward to the Washington Nationals for a record price of $12,000. Ward was furious and left the tour early. He then demanded a meeting with the owners, and said he would refuse to play for Washington unless he received a large portion of his record sale price. Washington would eventually refuse payment on the transaction, nullifying the deal.
The owners denied Ward's request for a meeting to discuss the new classification system, saying there would be no talks until after the upcoming season. Though Ward and the union fought hard for these issues, this did not distract him or his Giants team as he hit .299 and helped the Giants capture their second straight "World Series" title in .
community, and he began to launch the new league. This new Players' League included a profit sharing system for the players and had no reserve clause or classification plan.
The season began in with over half of the National League's players from the previous year in its ranks. Ward acted as a player-manager for the Brooklyn club, nicknamed the Ward's Wonders
, and finished seventh in the league with a .335 batting average. While the Players' League drew well at the box office, the teams' owners grew nervous when the money did not come in as expected because of the profit sharing system. Soon they began holding secret meetings with their National League counterparts and, one by one, sold their teams to the rival league.
. Following the season, Ward expressed his desire to return to the Giants and was sold to his former club for $6,000. Following the 1894 season, he retired at the age of 34. He finished his career with a .275 average, 2,104 hits, and 540 stolen bases. He is the only man in history to win over 100 games as a pitcher and collect over 2,000 hits.
John Montgomery Ward also holds the third-best career WHIP in major league baseball history behind only Addie Joss and Ed Walsh.
he represented baseball players against the National League. Later he acted as president and part-owner of the Boston Braves
franchise and became an official in the short-lived Federal League
in 1914, acting a the business manager
of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
.
In the last quarter century of his life, Ward’s sporting passion became golf
. He won several championships around New York, played all over Europe
, and competed regularly in the United States Golf Association
U.S. Amateur, he finished second in the prestigious North and South Amateur Championship
at Pinehurst Country Club
in North Carolina
in 1903. The North and South Amateur was the equal of any major golf event at the turn of the century. The first North and South event took place in 1901. Ever the organizer, he was one of the founders of the New York Golf Association and the Long Island Golf Association.
Ward died in Augusta, Georgia
, the day following his 65th birthday on March 4, 1925 after a bout of pneumonia
, and is interred in Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, Long Island, New York
.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
in 1964.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
, shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
and manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
. Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Bellefonte is a borough in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies about twelve miles northeast of State College and is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania
Renovo, Pennsylvania
Renovo is a borough in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Lock Haven. Deposits of bituminous coal and fire clay are in the region. In 1900, 4,082 people lived there, and in 1910, 4,621 lived there...
. He led the formation of the first professional sports players union and a new baseball league, the Players' League.
Early life
Monte attended the Bellefonte AcademyBellefonte Academy
Bellefonte Academy was a historic school building located at Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania. The original building was built in 1805, as a two-story, rectangular limestone building. It was enlarged between 1839 and 1845, with the addition of two bays and wings to the north and south...
in the early 1870s and, at 13 years of age, he was sent to Penn State University. In his short time there, he helped jump start a baseball program and is often credited for developing the first curve ball.
The following year, in 1874, his parents died. As a result he was forced to quit school and try to earn his own way. He tried to make it as a travelling salesman
Vendor (supply chain)
A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.- History :...
, but when that proved unsuccessful, he returned to his hometown. It was there that he re-discovered baseball. In , the semi-pro team that he was playing for folded, which opened the door for him to move on to a new opportunity. He was offered a contract to pitch for the Providence Grays
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at Messer Field in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National League title twice, in and...
of the still new National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
, an all professional major league that had begun its operations in .
Providence Grays
Ward's first season with the Grays was a successful one, going 22-13 with a 1.51 ERAEarned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
. He played that season exclusively as a pitcher, but during the following two seasons he played increasingly in the outfield
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
and at third base
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
. Ward had his two finest seasons as a pitcher, going 47-19 with 239 strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s and a 2.15 ERA in 1879 and 39-24 with 230 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA in 1880. He pitched nearly 600 innings each year (587.0 in 1879 and 595.0 in 1880). As a 19 year old pitcher, he won 47 games and led the Providence Grays
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at Messer Field in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National League title twice, in and...
to a first place finish.
In , he began to play other positions and also expanded his leadership role to include managing
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
when he became a player-manager for 32 games, winning 18 of them, as the Grays finished in second place. On June 17, 1880, Ward pitched the second perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
in baseball history, defeating future Hall of Famer Pud Galvin
Pud Galvin
James Francis Galvin , nicknamed "Pud", "Gentle Jeems", and "The Little Steam Engine", was an American National Association and Major League Baseball pitcher. He was Major League Baseball's first 300-game winner...
and the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons (1879-1885)
The original Buffalo Bisons baseball club played in the National League between 1879 and 1885. The Bisons played their games at Riverside Park and Olympic Park in Buffalo, New York.-Year-by-year records:-Players of note:*Dan Brouthers...
, 5-0. Lee Richmond had thrown baseball's first perfect game just five days before, on June 12. The next perfect game by a National League pitcher would not happen for 84 years, when Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
pitched a perfect game in 1964.
The seasons of and were the first in which he played more games in the outfield than he pitched, this was due to a nagging arm injury he originally incurred sliding into a base. He still pitched well when he did pitch, winning 37 games over those two seasons and having ERAs of 2.13 and 2.59 respectively, and on August 17, 1882, he pitched the longest complete game
Complete game
In baseball, a complete game is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher.As demonstrated by the charts below, in the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. Pitchers were...
shutout
Shutout
In team sports, a shutout refers to a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball....
in history, blanking the Detroit Wolverines
Detroit Wolverines
The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th century baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant in 1887. The team was disbanded following the 1888 season.-Franchise...
1-0 in 18 innings. By this time, however, the Grays felt his best days were behind him and sold their former ace hurler to the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
.
New York and Reserve Clause
Ward moved to the New York GothamsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
(renamed the Giants in 1885) in 1883, and completed his transition from a pitcher to an everyday player in 1884. With his pitching career over due to his arm injury, he could not wait for his arm to heal before he returned to the field, so he taught himself to throw left-handed in order to play center field
Center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...
for the remainder of the 1884 season. With his arm fully recuperated, he became the every day shortstop in 1885.
Ward graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885 and led the players in forming the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the first sports labor union. Ward and the players had become frustrated with the owners reserve clause, which allowed them to sign players to one year contracts and then not allow them to negotiate with other teams when those contracts expired. The players felt that the owners had absolute power. At first, the players had some success, gaining the freedom to negotiate with other teams when they were asked to take a pay cut by their current team. In October 1887, Ward married actress Helen Dauvray.
In , after the Giants had finished first in the National League, and had won a playoff series known today as a "World Series". They played the St. Louis Browns
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
for the "Dauvray Cup", which was named after Ward's wife. The team never actually received the trophy as it was stolen and its whereabouts are still unknown. Ward and a group of All Stars then headed off on a barnstorming world tour. The owners held their winter meetings, and created a classification system that would determine a player's salary. Under the system the most a player could earn was $2,500. The Giants then sold Ward to the Washington Nationals for a record price of $12,000. Ward was furious and left the tour early. He then demanded a meeting with the owners, and said he would refuse to play for Washington unless he received a large portion of his record sale price. Washington would eventually refuse payment on the transaction, nullifying the deal.
The owners denied Ward's request for a meeting to discuss the new classification system, saying there would be no talks until after the upcoming season. Though Ward and the union fought hard for these issues, this did not distract him or his Giants team as he hit .299 and helped the Giants capture their second straight "World Series" title in .
The Players' League
Ward realized that negotiations with the owners were going nowhere and threatened to create a Players' League. The owners thought of it as nothing more than an idle threat but had failed to realize Ward's connections in the businessBusiness
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
community, and he began to launch the new league. This new Players' League included a profit sharing system for the players and had no reserve clause or classification plan.
The season began in with over half of the National League's players from the previous year in its ranks. Ward acted as a player-manager for the Brooklyn club, nicknamed the Ward's Wonders
Brooklyn Ward's Wonders
The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders was a team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76-56 record, good enough to finish in second place. Other notable players for Brooklyn that...
, and finished seventh in the league with a .335 batting average. While the Players' League drew well at the box office, the teams' owners grew nervous when the money did not come in as expected because of the profit sharing system. Soon they began holding secret meetings with their National League counterparts and, one by one, sold their teams to the rival league.
Later career
Due to an agreement after the dissolution of the Players' League, Ward stayed in Brooklyn as player-manager for the National League team, the Brooklyn GroomsLos Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. Following the season, Ward expressed his desire to return to the Giants and was sold to his former club for $6,000. Following the 1894 season, he retired at the age of 34. He finished his career with a .275 average, 2,104 hits, and 540 stolen bases. He is the only man in history to win over 100 games as a pitcher and collect over 2,000 hits.
John Montgomery Ward also holds the third-best career WHIP in major league baseball history behind only Addie Joss and Ed Walsh.
Post-career
Ward retired from baseball at age 34 in order to enter the legal profession. As a successful lawyerLawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
he represented baseball players against the National League. Later he acted as president and part-owner of the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
franchise and became an official in the short-lived Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
in 1914, acting a the business manager
Business manager
In a general context, a business manager is a person who manages the work of others in order to run a business efficiently and make a large profit...
of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
Brooklyn Tip-Tops
The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team was named by owner Robert Ward, who owned the Tip Top Bakery. They were sometimes informally called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal...
.
In the last quarter century of his life, Ward’s sporting passion became golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
. He won several championships around New York, played all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and competed regularly in the United States Golf Association
United States Golf Association
The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...
U.S. Amateur, he finished second in the prestigious North and South Amateur Championship
North and South Men's Amateur Golf Championship
The North and South Men's Amateur Golf Championship is an annual golf tournament held since 1901 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina...
at Pinehurst Country Club
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst Resort is a historic upmarket golf resort at Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments.-History:...
in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in 1903. The North and South Amateur was the equal of any major golf event at the turn of the century. The first North and South event took place in 1901. Ever the organizer, he was one of the founders of the New York Golf Association and the Long Island Golf Association.
Ward died in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, the day following his 65th birthday on March 4, 1925 after a bout of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, and is interred in Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, Long Island, New York
Uniondale, New York
Uniondale is a hamlet as well as a suburb of New York City in Nassau County, New York, United States, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead. The population was 24,759 at the 2010 United States Census.-Geography:...
.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players, a committee of the U.S...
in 1964.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball players with 2000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball saves champions
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
- List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- Perfect game#Major League Baseball perfect games
- Los Angeles Dodgers all-time rosterLos Angeles Dodgers all-time rosterThe following is a list of players, both past and current, who appeared at least in one game for the Los Angeles Dodgers National League franchise , and for the Brooklyn-based teams known as the Atlantics , Grays , Bridegrooms , Grooms , Superbas , Dodgers...
External links
- Box score for Ward's perfect game
- Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, by John M. Ward, 1888, from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
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