Tom Carey (shortstop)

Tom Carey
Shortstop / Second baseman
Born: March 1846
Brooklyn, New York
Died: August 16, 1906(1906-08-16) (aged 60)
San Francisco, California
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 4, 1871, for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1879, for the Cleveland Blues
MLB statistics
Batting average.270
Runs scored405
Runs batted in270
Teams
  National Association of Base Ball Players
Baltimore Marylands (1870)
  League Player
Fort Wayne Kekiongas (1871)
Baltimore Canaries (1872–1873)
New York Mutuals (1874)
Hartford Dark Blues (1875–1877)
Providence Grays (1878)
Cleveland Blues (NL) (1879)
  League Manager
Baltimore Canaries (1873)
New York Mutuals (1874)

Thomas Joseph Carey (March 1846 – August 16, 1906), born J. J. Norton, was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Carey joined the 17th New York Volunteer Infantry in September 1863. He claimed to have fought at Bentonville, Jonesboro and Atlanta before being discharged in July 1865.[1]

Carey played a total of nine seasons of baseball, five of which were in the National Association (1871–1875), and the other four in the National League.[2] During two of the seasons in the National Association, he also spent some time as player-manager, with a career record of 27 wins and 21 losses.[3]

Carey played as a second baseman in his first three seasons in the National Association, and went hitless in three at bats for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas in the first professional game ever played on May 4, 1871, against the Cleveland Forest Citys.[4]

After his playing days were over, he spent the 1882 season as an umpire.

In May 1906, The San Francisco Call reported that Carey was struggling financially and that he was standing in the city's bread lines.[5] He died later that year and is buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery.[6]

  1. ^ Allardice, Bruce; Dellinger, Harold; Hershberger, Richard; Howard, Reed; Lambert, David; Malatzky, Richard; Morris, Peter; Wheeler, Jim. "Civil War Veterans Who Played Major League Baseball Research Project" (PDF). Society of American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Baseball-reference player page
  3. ^ Baseball-reference manager page
  4. ^ Baseball-almanac box score
  5. ^ "Famous player in bread line". The San Francisco Call. May 24, 1906.
  6. ^ Retrosheet