Thomas Rivers Lovelace was a American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional baseball

Professional baseball

Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

 player. Lovelace played in the minor leagues

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 for 11 years, from 1920 to 1932, and played in one 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...

 game with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

 in 1922.

Lovelace was born in Wolfe City, Texas

Wolfe City, Texas

Wolfe City is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States located at the intersection of state highways 34 and 11. It is approximately seventeen miles north of Greenville in north central Hunt County, and was settled in the 1860s or 1870s when J. Pinckney Wolfe built a mill near the banks of Oyster...

 on October 19, 1897. He made his Minor League debut in 1920 as an outfielder

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...

 for the Ranger Nitros

Ranger Nitros

The Ranger Nitros were a West Texas League baseball team based in Ranger, Texas, USA that existed from 1920 to 1922. Major league baseball players Tom Lovelace and Jim Galloway played for them . In 1921, they were managed by Sled Allen...

 of the West Texas League

West Texas League

The West Texas League was a class-D minor league baseball league that existed from 1920 to 1922 and from 1928 to 1929.-1920-1922:The following teams played in 1920:*Abilene Eagles*Ranger Nitros*Mineral Wells Resorters*Cisco Scouts...

. He had a .267 batting average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 in 102 games for the Nitros. In 1922, Lovelace split time with the Greenville Togs

Greenville Togs

The Greenville Togs were a Texas-Oklahoma League baseball team based in Greenville, Texas, USA that played during the 1922 season. Notable players include Horace Allen and Tom Lovelace....

 and the Dallas Steers. He hit .332 for both teams in 146 games.

On September 5, 1922, while playing for Dallas, Lovelace was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

 of the 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...

. On September 23, 1922, the Pirates were playing the Brooklyn Robins

Los 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...

 in the first game of a doubleheader

Doubleheader (baseball)

A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...

 at Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...

 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. In the top of the 9th inning, with the Pirates down 9-5, Lovelace pinch hit for pitcher Hal Carlson

Hal Carlson

Harold Gust Carlson , was a former professional baseball pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1917–1930, for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Pittsburgh Pirates.-External links:...

. With a runner, Charlie Grimm

Charlie Grimm

Charles John Grimm , nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was a first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball best known for his years with the Chicago Cubs; he was also a sometime radio broadcaster, and a popular goodwill ambassador for baseball...

, on first, Lovelace lined out to the Robins' second baseman Ivy Olson

Ivy Olson

Ivan Massie Olson born in Kansas City, Missouri was a Major League Baseball Shortstop for the Cleveland Naps , Cincinnati Reds And Brooklyn Robins...

. Rabbit Maranville

Rabbit Maranville

Walter James Vincent Maranville , better known as Rabbit Maranville due to his speed and small stature , was a Major League Baseball shortstop. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which wasn't broken until 1986 by Pete Rose...

 grounded out to first base for the final out of the game, and the Robins won 9-5. It was the only major league game of his career.

Lovelace continued to play with various minor league teams until 1932. He finished with a career .309 batting average in the minors in 914 games. He died on July 12, 1979 in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 and was cremated

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

.

External links