Elmer Smith Marquee

b. March 23, 1868 · Cincinnati Red Stockings 1886–1889, Pittsburgh Pirates 1892–1897, 1901, Cincinnati Reds 1898–1900, New York Giants 1900, Boston Beaneaters 1901

He went 34-17 with a 2.94 earned run average for Cincinnati in the American Association in 1887, at nineteen, and 22-17 the following year. Then the arm went. He spent two seasons in the minor leagues learning to hit and came back as an outfielder in 1892.

The second career was the longer one: 1,456 hits, a .310 average, 136 triples, 639 walks and 233 stolen bases across fourteen seasons, with 179 hits and 103 runs batted in for Pittsburgh in 1893. He is one of a small group who were genuinely good at both jobs.

He finished with 75 pitching wins and a 3.35 earned run average. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him. He died in 1945, at seventy-seven.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1886	CIN	9	28	6	8	1	1	0	2	9	0	0	.286
1887	CIN	52	186	26	47	10	6	0	23	11	16	5	.253
1888	CIN	40	129	15	29	4	1	0	9	20	22	2	.225
1889	CIN	29	83	12	23	3	1	2	17	7	18	1	.277
1892	PIT	138	511	86	140	16	14	4	63	82	43	22	.274
1893	PIT	128	518	121	179	26	23	7	103	77	23	26	.346
1894	PIT	126	490	128	175	33	19	6	74	68	12	34	.357
1895	PIT	125	484	89	146	15	12	1	81	55	25	34	.302
1896	PIT	122	484	121	175	21	14	6	94	74	18	33	.362
1897	PIT	123	467	99	145	19	17	6	54	70	32	25	.310
1898	CIN	123	486	79	166	21	10	1	66	69	17	20	.342
1899	CIN	88	343	65	101	13	6	1	24	47	12	10	.294
1900	CIN/NYG	114	423	61	112	13	11	3	52	42	12	19	.265
1901	BSN/PIT	20	61	5	10	2	1	0	3	8	8	2	.164
Career	—	1237	4693	913	1456	197	136	37	665	639	258	233	.310

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1886	CIN	4	4	9	9	72.2	57	30	44	40	3.72
1887	CIN	34	17	52	52	447.1	400	146	126	176	2.94
1888	CIN	22	17	40	40	348.1	309	106	89	154	2.74
1889	CIN	9	12	29	22	203.0	253	110	101	104	4.88
1892	PIT	6	7	17	13	134.0	140	54	58	51	3.63
1894	PIT	0	0	1	0	4.0	6	2	1	0	4.50
1898	CIN	0	0	1	0	1.0	2	2	3	0	18.00
Career	—	75	57	149	136	1210.1	1167	450	422	525	3.35

On this day & linked events

1868

Born March 23, 1868

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

1945

Died November 3, 1945

1886

Major-league debut: Elmer Smith

Elmer Smith made a major-league debut on September 10, 1886.

1901

Final major-league game: Elmer Smith

Elmer Smith played a final major-league game on June 15, 1901.

Image: Public domain