Buck Ewing

Happy Birthday to the late and great Buck Ewing. In a career that lasted 18 seasons, he would become the first Catcher ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mainly, he played for the New York Giants/Gothams, but also for the Cincinnati Reds as well as the former Troy Trojans and Cleveland Spiders. As a Catcher, he was renowned for his Offensive and Defensive production. Now, Ewing played his whole career in the 1880s and 1890s, so many people don’t even know who this guy is, but that’s what this blog is for.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1880-1897): 

.303 BA 1,625 HITS 71 HR 883 RBI 1,129 RUNS .351 OBP

  • 2x World Series Champion (1888 & 1889)

Offensively, he played in the early Dead Ball Era, a time when Triples were more common than home runs, not to mention all the spacious parks and the balls having poor quality; he led the league with 20 triples in 1884 and was often among the league leaders. It wasn’t just the Triples; he stole a base 354 times in his career. At the plate, Ewing batted over .300 eleven times and drew more Walks than Strikeouts nine times. His career year occurred in 1893 with the Spiders with a stat line of…

.344 BA 172 HITS 6 HR 122 RBI 117 RUNS .394 OBP 47 SB (116 Games)

Before I get into his defense behind the plate, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how versatile Ewing was, spending time playing all nine positions. As a Catcher long before proper equipment was invented, he was among the first to crouch behind home plate. His arm was so strong and accurate that he could throw runners out from a squat position. While they calculated Fielding Percentage differently back than they do today, it’s worthy of note that his lifetime .931 Fielding Percentage behind the plate is .026 higher than the average among other Catchers during his career.

During his career, he was regarded as one of the all-around great players of his era when you factor in that he was excellent in hitting, fielding, catching, baserunning, and throwing. In addition, he managed the Giants and Reds for six seasons, compiling a Win-Loss record of 489-395. Unfortunately, Ewing died at the young age of 47 in 1906. But in 1939, he and Cap Anson were the first 19th-century players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1999, the Society for American Baseball Research ran a poll and ranked him as one of the top 5 players of the 19th century.

References:

  1. Buck Ewing via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Ewing#
  2. Buck Ewing Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/ewingbu01.shtml