Jump to content

John Sterling (baseball)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the New York Yankees sportscaster, see John Sterling (sportscaster).

John Sterling
Pitcher
Born: (1865-09-00)September 1865
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died: November 10, 1908(1908-11-10) (aged 43)
Gloucester City, New Jersey, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
October 12, 1890, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
October 12, 1890, for the Philadelphia Athletics
MLB statistics
Win–loss record0–1
Earned run average21.60
Strikeouts1
Teams

John Albert Sterling (September 1865 – November 10, 1908) was an American baseball player who played one game for the 1890 Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association. Until 2023, Sterling was known to baseball historians by only his last name.

Early life

[edit]

Sterling was born in Philadelphia to Jesse and Henrietta Sterling (née Brown)[1] in September 1865. His birth registration lists his name as John Pierce Sterling.[2] Sterling was raised in Philadelphia and was the oldest of five brothers. In the 1880 census, his middle name was given as "Albert." At fourteen years old, he was recorded as being home instead of attending school. His father, a sailmaker[3] and Civil War veteran,[4] was afflicted by rheumatism and his mother was a homemaker.[3] That same year, his father was charged with "beating and abusing" his mother. His mother alleged that Mr. Sterling had knocked her down.[5]

Baseball career

[edit]

Sterling began the 1888 season with a minor league club in Minneapolis.[6] By May 22, however, he was released along with teammate Frank Graves.[7] He next joined the Jackson, Michigan club of the Tri-State League but was released in early June along with Ed Flynn.[8] In July, Sterling was playing for a minor league team in Ashland, Pennsylvania when he was signed by the St. Louis Browns.[9] Before appearing in any games, however, Browns treasurer Jim Gifford[10] arranged for him to pitch to Browns catchers Jack Boyle and Jocko Milligan. The catchers were not impressed and Sterling was given his release without having appeared in a game.[11][12] The following year, Sterling returned to Pennsylvania to play for Charlie Mason's minor league Philadelphia Giants.[13]

Prior to the 1890 season, Sterling was one of roughly 300 players who responded to a circular issued by National League president Nicholas Young, making it known that he was interested in joining the league.[14] Sterling may also have been the pitcher for a team of locals picked to play an exhibition against the Athletics prior to the start of the 1890 season.[15]

Sterling began 1890 with Charlie Mason's minor league club in Allentown[16] but, by early June, he had parted ways with the dysfunctional club which would later fold midseason after Mason abandoned it in July.[17] On June 10, 1890, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Sterling was seeking a tryout with manager Jack Clements of the Philadelphia Phillies.[18] Instead, two days later, Sterling settled for a contract with Tom York's Albany club in the New York State League.[19] York was replaced by William Primrose in early July and The Sun reported that the majority of the team's players were expected to be released.[20] A day later, the Albany Morning Express reported that Sterling had been released, ostensibly due to drunkenness.[21]

Philadelphia Athletics

[edit]

In 1890, the Philadelphia Athletics were one of three professional baseball teams in Philadelphia, which hosted the Phillies and the Players' League club also known as the Philadelphia Athletics. By July, the club had not been able to fully pay its players. In September, William Whitaker announced the club was bankrupt and ownership was transferred to Billy Barnie, who also owned and managed the Baltimore Orioles. Barnie released most of the team's players and signed many of them to the Orioles. Others abandoned the team voluntarily. The Athletics, as a result, filled out their roster with players who had limited playing experience and who agreed to receive a portion of ticket sales instead of a salary.[22] Sterling was one of those players. He pitched the entirety of a rain-shortened,[23] five-inning game against the Syracuse Stars on October 12, 1890 in front of only twenty spectators[24] in Gloucester City, New Jersey. Sterling, who pitched "in a black cloth suit, with low cut vest and white stand-up collar" allowed 12 runs in his five innings of work.[25] Sterling would never appear in another professional baseball game.[26] It was the final loss in a 21-game season-ending losing streak for the Athletics[27] and the final game in franchise history. Owner and manager Bill Sharsig announced the following day that the team would be disbanded for good.[24]

Personal life

[edit]

Sterling married his wife, Maggie (née Brady),[28] in 1887.[29] Their first son, also named John, was born in Pennsylvania in January 1891.[30] By the late 1890s, Sterling was working as a minstrel performer, singing "comic songs" and coon songs.[31][32] On June 28, 1899, Sterling's wife gave birth to their second son, William, in Gloucester City.[28] In the 1900 census, Sterling's occupation was listed as "Musician." By that point, he was living with his family in a rented home in Gloucester City.[29]

Sterling became active in Democratic Party politics in New Jersey in the early 20th century. In 1901, he was one of the party's nominees for Justice of the Peace for Gloucester City.[33] In September 1904, he was nominated by the party to be the city's Overseer of the Poor.[34] After a recount, Sterling won the position by ten votes, a margin of less than one percent.[35] He served in that position for a year. In 1905, he was on the losing end of a ten-vote margin in the election for Constable of Gloucester City.[36] That year, his occupation was listed in the New Jersey state census as "Laborer."[37] Two years later, he was floated as a possible candidate for the city's Chief of Police.[38]

Later life and death

[edit]

Sterling's father died in November 1904 after suffering a paralytic stroke in an old soldiers' home in Erie, Pennsylvania, across the entire state of Pennsylvania from Sterling.[4] In August 1908, Sterling filed a personal injury suit seeking $5,000 in damages (equivalent to $170,000 in 2023) after being seriously injured in a fall on a sidewalk in Gloucester City.[39]

On November 10, Sterling was reported to be lying at home seriously ill.[40] He died the same day.[41] He was remembered in the Courier-Post as "an all-around athlete" and "quite a pugilist."[42] He was remembered in the Philadelphia Inquirer as "a well-known minstrel and Democratic politician."[43] His funeral was well attended by the Democrats of Gloucester City. He was interred in the city's Union Cemetery.[44] A few days later, Sterling's mother also passed away at her home on the same street.[45] The Philadelphia Inquirer, which described her as "the largest woman in Gloucester," speculated that grief over the death of her son, a "well-known minstrel and Democratic politician ... doubtlessly hastened her death."[43]

Identification

[edit]

Sterling, along with McBride, Stafford and Sweigert, was one of four Athletics who appeared in their only Major League game on October 12, 1890. For years, these players were conflated with other baseball people of the era who shared their last names. Lacking any evidence to confirm these identifications, however, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) determined in 2007 that their biographical information would be removed and that their given names would be reclassified as unidentified.[46] The only clue as to Sterling's identity came from the Philadelphia Inquirer's coverage of the game which identified him as a "young man of Camden."[25][46] Camden County, New Jersey is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, where Sterling was born, and home to Gloucester City, where Sterling was living by the 1890s.

In February 2023, Sterling was identified for the first time in a report by SABR. Researchers tracked him from team to team between 1888 and 1890 and were able to corroborate many details of his life via his obituary and genealogical records.[47] SABR published a biography of Sterling by Tim Hagerty on its website that year.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Jesse D. E. Sterling death notice". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 2, 1904. p. 7. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  2. ^ "John Pierce Sterling, "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860–1906"". FamilySearch. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "John Albert Sterling", United States census, 1880; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; page 3, line 46, enumeration district 78. Retrieved on March 14, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Jesse D. Sterling death notice". Courier-Post. November 2, 1904. p. 6. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  5. ^ "Spousal abuse". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 4, 1880. p. 2. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Hagerty, Tim. "John Sterling". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  7. ^ "Notes and Comments". The Des Moines Register. May 22, 1888. p. 8. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  8. ^ "Base Ball Briefs". The Pittsburgh Press. June 15, 1888. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  9. ^ "Base Ball Notes". Pottsville Republican. July 31, 1888. p. 4. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  10. ^ "Chris Instructs Der Prowns". Kansas City Journal. March 23, 1888. p. 2. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  11. ^ "The Ball-Players". Connecticut Western News. August 8, 1888. p. 4. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  12. ^ "1888 St. Louis Browns Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  13. ^ "Opening Championship Game". Reading Times. May 2, 1889. p. 1. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  14. ^ "Nick Young's List". Pittsburg Dispatch. January 27, 1890. p. 6. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  15. ^ "Two Promising Young Pitchers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 26, 1890. p. 6. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  16. ^ "1890 Lancaster/Allentown Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  17. ^ "Allentown Goes Under". The Philadelphia Times. July 6, 1890. p. 2. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "Notes of the Diamond Field". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 10, 1890. p. 3. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  19. ^ "Sky-Scrapers and Daisy-Cutters" (PDF). Troy Daily Times. June 12, 1890. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  20. ^ "Base Ball Notes". The Sun. July 3, 1890. p. 4. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  21. ^ "Base Ball Notes" (PDF). Albany Morning Express. July 4, 1890. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  22. ^ Blau, Cliff (October 10, 2012). "The 1890 Athletics: The Worst Team in Major League Baseball History". Seamheads. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  23. ^ "Baseball Games Yesterday". Passaic Daily News. October 13, 1890. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  24. ^ a b "The Alleged Athletics Disband". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. October 14, 1890. p. 9. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  25. ^ a b "The Athletic and Syracuse Clubs Play Five Innings at Gloucester". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 13, 1890. p. 3. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  26. ^ "John Sterling Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  27. ^ "1890 Philadelphia Athletics Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  28. ^ a b "William Sterling in the New Jersey, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1660–1931". Ancestry.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  29. ^ a b "John Sterling", United States census, 1900; Gloucester, Camden, New Jersey; page 29, line 26, enumeration district 97. Retrieved on March 14, 2024.
  30. ^ "John Sterling in the New Jersey, U.S., State Census, 1905". Ancestry.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  31. ^ "Cycling". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 25, 1898. p. 7. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  32. ^ "Cycle Notes". The Philadelphia Times. February 20, 1899. p. 8. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  33. ^ "Gloucester City Gleanings". Evening Courier. October 22, 1901. p. 4. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  34. ^ "Banner-Raising in Gloucester City". Courier-Post. September 24, 1904. p. 8. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  35. ^ "Thompson Wins on the Recount". Courier-Post. December 5, 1904. p. 1. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  36. ^ "Thompson Defeated for Freeholder Seat". Courier-Post. November 8, 1905. p. 10. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  37. ^ "John Sterling in the New Jersey, U.S., State Census, 1905". Ancestry.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  38. ^ "Democrats Want the Jobs". Courier-Post. November 16, 1907. p. 2. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  39. ^ "Suits Brought for Personal Injuries". Courier-Post. August 26, 1908. p. 9. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  40. ^ "Jottings Through Jersey". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 10, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  41. ^ "Miss Rencorn a Home Bride". Courier-Post. November 11, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  42. ^ "John Sterling's Funeral". Courier-Post. November 12, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  43. ^ a b "Grief Hastened Her Death". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 17, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  44. ^ "Mr. Sterling's Funeral". Courier-Post. November 13, 1908. p. 7. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  45. ^ "Mrs. Sterling Dead". Courier-Post. November 16, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  46. ^ a b "October 12, 1890" (PDF). SABR Biographical Research Committee Report (September/October 2007): 1. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  47. ^ "John Sterling Found" (PDF). SABR Biographical Research Committee Report (January/February 2023): 1. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Sterling_(baseball)&oldid=1240293577"