1868
Born December 4, 1868
Wheeling, WV, USA
Jesse Burkett Marquee Hall of Fame 1946
b. December 4, 1868 · New York Giants 1890, Cleveland Spiders 1891–1898, St. Louis Perfectos 1899, St. Louis Cardinals 1900–1901, St. Louis Browns 1902–1904, Boston Americans 1905
Five feet eight and 155 pounds, batting left-handed, he collected 2,850 hits, 1,720 runs and 389 stolen bases across sixteen seasons, and 75 home runs in the whole of it. He batted .338 for his career, hit .405 in 1895 and .410 in 1896, and led the National League in hits three times and in runs twice.
The Robison brothers owned both Cleveland and St. Louis, and after the 1898 season they moved Burkett and the rest of the Spiders' best players to the second club. St. Louis went 84-67. Cleveland went 20-134, still the most losses any major league team has taken, and was dropped from the league.
He was called Crab, for a disposition he aimed at umpires, opponents and occasionally his own side, and the ejections did as much for his name as the hitting. He jumped to the new American League's St. Louis Browns in 1902, finished with Boston in 1905, and was not elected to the Hall of Fame until 1946.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | NYG | 101 | 401 | 67 | 124 | 23 | 13 | 4 | 60 | 33 | 52 | 14 | .309 |
| 1891 | CLV | 40 | 167 | 29 | 45 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 23 | 19 | 1 | .269 |
| 1892 | CLV | 145 | 608 | 119 | 167 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 66 | 67 | 59 | 36 | .275 |
| 1893 | CLV | 125 | 511 | 145 | 178 | 25 | 15 | 6 | 82 | 98 | 23 | 39 | .348 |
| 1894 | CLV | 125 | 523 | 138 | 187 | 27 | 14 | 8 | 94 | 84 | 27 | 28 | .358 |
| 1895 | CLV | 132 | 555 | 153 | 225 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 83 | 74 | 32 | 41 | .405 |
| 1896 | CLV | 133 | 586 | 160 | 240 | 27 | 16 | 6 | 72 | 49 | 19 | 34 | .410 |
| 1897 | CLV | 127 | 517 | 129 | 198 | 28 | 7 | 2 | 60 | 76 | 25 | 28 | .383 |
| 1898 | CLV | 150 | 624 | 114 | 213 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 42 | 69 | 30 | 19 | .341 |
| 1899 | STL | 141 | 558 | 116 | 221 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 71 | 67 | 23 | 25 | .396 |
| 1900 | STL | 141 | 559 | 88 | 203 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 68 | 62 | 35 | 32 | .363 |
| 1901 | STL | 142 | 601 | 142 | 226 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 75 | 59 | 70 | 27 | .376 |
| 1902 | SLB | 138 | 553 | 97 | 169 | 29 | 9 | 5 | 52 | 71 | 25 | 23 | .306 |
| 1903 | SLB | 132 | 515 | 73 | 151 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 40 | 52 | 47 | 17 | .293 |
| 1904 | SLB | 147 | 575 | 72 | 156 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 27 | 78 | 64 | 12 | .271 |
| 1905 | BOS | 148 | 573 | 78 | 147 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 47 | 67 | 63 | 13 | .257 |
| Career | — | 2067 | 8426 | 1720 | 2850 | 320 | 182 | 75 | 952 | 1029 | 613 | 389 | .338 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | NYG | 3 | 10 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 118.0 | 134 | 73 | 92 | 82 | 5.57 |
| 1894 | CLV | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 |
| 1902 | SLB | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9.00 |
| Career | — | 3 | 11 | 23 | 14 | 0 | 123.0 | 144 | 76 | 94 | 84 | 5.56 |
On this day & linked events
1953
Died May 27, 1953
1890
Major-league debut: Jesse Burkett
Jesse Burkett made a major-league debut on April 22, 1890.
1905
Final major-league game: Jesse Burkett
Jesse Burkett played a final major-league game on October 7, 1905.
Image: The Sporting News via [1], public domain