Barney Gilligan – in the National Association??
November 2nd, 2010 | Author: BMcKenna
Barney Gilligan – in the National Association??
I recently submitted a bio of Barney Gilligan to the SABR Biography Project. Here is a snippet:
At the age of 18 in 1874, he joined the amateur New York Flyaways by September of that year, playing in right field. The Flyaways were acknowledged as the leading club of the area in 1874 and ’75, winning various championships each season. In truth, the Flyaways were a semipro outfit like many clubs of the era typically identified as amateur.
Gilligan returned with the Flyaways in 1875, gaining time at catcher, his main position throughout his career, by June. That season, he caught a pitcher named Fallon. Among his teammates, Molly Moore joined the Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association, the top league of the time, at the end of June.
In September the Atlantics found themselves in need of more bodies. According to the New York Times, “The Atlantic club, of Brooklyn, having disbanded last week and several of the members going to other clubs, a new nine has been organized by the introduction of several amateur players.” Gilligan and former Flyaway players Bill Rexter and a man named Stoddard joined the Atlantics on September 25. Gilligan, at 19, was among the youngest players in the National Association in 1875.
In New York on the 25th, Gilligan caught Frank Fleet and went hitless against the Mutuals’ Bobby Mathews in a 10-7 loss. It was the next-to-last game of the season. The team didn’t play another league contest until October 9. Very few took note of the game so late in the season, “not more than one hundred persons were present,” according to the Times. Gilligan manned right field and collected two hits and a run off Tommy Bond of Hartford in an otherwise humiliating 20-7 loss. The Atlantics of 1875 were an overmatched club, finishing the year with a 2-42 record.
My references sparked an email from Richard Malatzky:
Accd tio the 3 27 1875 NY Commercial Advertiser, Hugh Gilgan was a member of the Flyaways. And the box score for his debut had Gilgan as the spelling for this player.
Unless there is direct evidence that Bernie Gilligan went from Boston where they had plenty of semi pro play, to NYC, I don’t see the reason to attribute Bernie to the Atlantics. I don’t know if there is a box score of the Flyaways with a Gilligan or Gilgan, maybe in the Clipper.
Hugh J Gilgan was born 1850 in Ireland and was a policeman in NYC.
My response to the head of the project:
I think I was first put on to Gilligan with the Flyaways by David Nemec whose upcoming bio book on 19th century players names him with the team.
Mr. Malatzky’s finding is interesting. First, I have a Brooklyn Eagle article from 1874 (9/28/1874) which shows GILLIGAN with the Flyaways. If GILGAN made his debut with the club in March 1875, was there a GILGAN and a GILLIGAN with the Flyaways?
Other articles from 1875:
GILLIGAN with Flyaways, New York Times 5/21/1875
GILIGAN with Flyaways, Brooklyn Eagle 6/4/1875
GILLIGAN with Flyaways, Brooklyn Eagle 6/18/1875
GILGAN with Flyaways, Brooklyn Eagle 7/23/1875
GILLIGAN with Flyaways, Brooklyn Eagle 8/9/1875
GILGAN with Flyaways, New York Times 8/15/1875
GILLIGAN with Atlantics, New York Times 9/26/1875
GILLIGAN with Atlantics, Brooklyn Eagle 9/27/1875
In short, this may need further research.
It is clear that the player who ended up with the Atlantics came from the Flyaways:
New York Times 9/26/1875
So the question stems – Was it Gilgan or Gilligan?
Unfortunately, most of the contemporary sources don’t mention a first name.
Anyone have any insight?
Posted in 19th Century Baseball History
4 Responses to “Barney Gilligan – in the National Association??”
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Based just on the evidence we have here, which is about all I know, here’s what I see:
(1) The Flyaway and Atlantic players are identified with one another by the Times item of Sep. 26, although it’s not absolutely impossible the writer may have made an error in identifying Gilligan as the ex-Flyaway man.
(2) I take it that in all the items you list, no two players with the various similar names ever appear simultaneously. This makes it very likely, although not certain, that we have one player whose name is being spelled in different ways.
(3) if I understand Richard Malatzky’s communication exactly right, Hugh Gilgan is the only individual clearly identified by full name as playing with either of these clubs.
(4) Barney Gilligan was a New Englander whom we believe played in Massachusetts at least most of the time up to June, 1879. That doesn’t by any means rule out a foray into New York in 1875, but it is not particularly likely.
(5) There’s a natural tendency for researchers to see a familiar name and try to associate it with somebody well known from other contexts — say, Barney Gilligan.
Taking all this into account, I’d say that, pending information as to any good positive grounds there may be for believing the Atlantic player actually was Barney, there’s probably quite a strong case he was not. Given the various qualifications I’ve made, it’s not a dead certainty, certainly.
If I were a betting man, I would put my money on our talking about two different people, or perhaps even three. It is likely that the Flyaway accounts of “Gilgan” and “Gilligan” are talking about the same person, but we should be open to the possibility that they are different people. My guess is that this is one person, but not Barney.
More generally, I tend to be a bit leery of biographical identifications of obscure early players. Most of them turn out to be correct, but enough are not that they merit skeptical examination. I just have a feeling that this one is based on nothing more than the surname being the same.
In principle an obit might clear this up. I assume you have already gone that route, though.
I guess that’s part of my question as well.
How confident are we that the person who played those two games for the Atlantic is the same as the one who played for Cleveland, etc., some years later?