Germany Smith Marquee

b. April 20, 1859 · Altoona Mountain City 1884, Cleveland Blues 1884, Brooklyn Grays 1885–1887, Brooklyn Bridegrooms 1888–1890, 1897, Cincinnati Reds 1891–1896, St. Louis Browns 1898

He hit .243 across fifteen seasons and stayed in the lineup anyway, because in the 1880s and 1890s a shortstop who could field was worth keeping no matter what he did at the plate. Contemporaries rated him with the best of them, and he played the position bare-handed for years.

Fifteen seasons gave him 1,597 hits, 252 doubles, 95 triples, 800 runs batted in and 235 stolen bases across 1,712 games. He was Brooklyn's shortstop for the American Association pennant of 1889 and the National League pennant of 1890, and Cincinnati's for six years after.

He was born in Pittsburgh to German parents, which is where the name came from. He was struck by a car in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in December 1927 and died of it, at sixty-eight. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1884	ALT/CLV	97	399	40	108	22	5	4	26	3	45	0	.271
1885	BRO	108	419	63	108	17	11	4	62	10	0	0	.258
1886	BRO	105	426	66	105	17	6	2	45	19	0	22	.246
1887	BRO	103	435	79	128	19	16	4	72	13	18	26	.294
1888	BRO	103	402	47	86	10	7	3	61	22	39	27	.214
1889	BRO	121	446	89	103	22	3	3	53	40	42	35	.231
1890	BRO	129	481	76	92	6	5	1	47	42	23	24	.191
1891	CIN	138	512	50	103	11	5	3	53	38	32	16	.201
1892	CIN	139	506	58	123	13	6	8	63	42	52	19	.243
1893	CIN	130	500	63	118	18	6	4	56	38	20	14	.236
1894	CIN	129	492	73	130	34	6	3	79	41	28	15	.264
1895	CIN	127	503	75	151	23	6	4	74	34	24	13	.300
1896	CIN	120	456	65	131	21	9	3	71	28	22	22	.287
1897	BRO	112	428	47	86	17	3	0	29	14	23	1	.201
1898	STL	51	157	16	25	2	1	1	9	24	22	1	.159
Career	—	1712	6562	907	1597	252	95	47	800	408	390	235	.243

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1884	ALT	0	0	1	0	0	1.0	3	1	0	1	9.00
Career	—	0	0	1	0	0	1.0	3	1	0	1	9.00

On this day & linked events

1859

Born April 20, 1859

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

1927

Died December 1, 1927

1884

Major-league debut: Germany Smith

Germany Smith made a major-league debut on April 17, 1884.

1898

Final major-league game: Germany Smith

Germany Smith played a final major-league game on October 9, 1898.

Image: Mayo's Cut Plug, public domain