:Dan Brouthers

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Dan Brouthers

|image=Danbrouthers.jpg

|caption=Brouthers in 1887

|position=First baseman

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{birth date|1858|5|8}}

|birth_place=Sylvan Lake, New York, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|mf=yes|1932|8|2|1858|5|8}}

|death_place=East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=June 23

|debutyear=1879

|debutteam=Troy Trojans

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=October 4

|finalyear=1904

|finalteam=New York Giants

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.342

|stat2label=Hits

|stat2value=2,296

|stat3label=Home runs

|stat3value=106

|stat4label=Runs batted in

|stat4value=1,296

|teams=

Troy Trojans ({{baseball year|1879}}–{{baseball year|1880}})
Buffalo Bisons ({{baseball year|1881}}–{{baseball year|1885}})
Detroit Wolverines ({{baseball year|1886}}–{{baseball year|1888}})
Boston Beaneaters ({{baseball year|1889}})
Boston Reds ({{baseball year|1890}}–{{baseball year|1891}})
Brooklyn Grooms ({{baseball year|1892}}–{{baseball year|1893}})
Baltimore Orioles ({{baseball year|1894}}–{{baseball year|1895}})
Louisville Colonels ({{baseball year|1895}})
Philadelphia Phillies ({{baseball year|1896}})
New York Giants ({{baseball year|1904}})

|highlights=

4× NL batting champion (1882, 1883, 1889, 1892)
2× NL home run leader (1881, 1886)
2× NL RBI leader (1883, 1892)

|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

|hoftype = National

|hofdate=1945

|hofmethod=Old-Timers Committee

}}

Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|uː|θ|ər|z}};{{cite book |title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract |last=James |first=Bill |year=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-7432-2722-0 |page=438 }} May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from {{baseball year|1879}} to {{baseball year|1896}}, with a brief return in {{baseball year|1904}}. Nicknamed "Big Dan" for his size, he was {{convert|6|ft|2|in|m}} and weighed {{convert|207|lb|kg}}, which was large by 19th-century standards.{{cite web|title=The Ballplayers: Dan Brouthers |work=baseballbiography.com |url=https://baseballbiography.com/dan-brouthers-1858 |access-date=2008-06-15 }}

Recognized as the first great slugger in baseball history,{{cite web| title = The National Baseball Hall of Fame: Dan Brouthers | work = baseballhalloffame.org | url=http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=111524 | access-date = 2008-06-19|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080112220118/http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=111524 |archive-date = January 12, 2008|url-status=dead}} and among the greatest sluggers of his era, he briefly held the career home run record from {{baseball year|1887}} to {{baseball year|1889}},{{cite web| title = Progressive Leaders & Records for Home Runs | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_progress.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-19}} with his final total of 106 tying for the fourth most of the 19th century. His career slugging percentage of .520 remained the Major League record until Babe Ruth overtook him in the 1920s. At the time of his initial retirement, he also ranked second in career triples (205), and third in runs batted in (1,296) and hits.Brouthers is credited with differing totals in career hits; at the time, he was credited with 2,349 hits, a figure still recognized by Major League Baseball, but this total includes 71 walks in 1887, when walks were counted as hits. There are slight variations in other seasons as well, but most sources today credit Brouthers with 2,296 hits.

A dominant hitter during the prime of his career, he led (or was in the top of) the league in most offensive categories, including batting average, runs scored, runs batted in (RBI), on-base percentage and hits. He won five batting titles – the most of any player in the 19th century – and his career .342 batting average ranks 12th all-time. Brouthers is one of only 31 players in baseball history who have appeared in Major League games in four decades.

He was also an active players' union member, and was elected vice president of the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players. In 1945, Brouthers was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Early life

Brouthers was born in Sylvan Lake, New York,{{cite web| title = Dan Brouthers Stats | work = retrosheet.org | url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B/Pbroud101.htm | access-date = 2008-06-15}} to Michael and Annie Brooder, Catholic immigrants from Ireland; upon arriving in New York, Michael Brooder had been recruited to Dutchess County to work in open pit iron mines in the town of Beekman. Brouthers may have been named after Saint Denis, as a local Catholic church by that name was founded in the same year.{{r|kerr|p=4}} Brouthers had siblings named Martin, Ellen, and Margaret.{{r|kerr|p=4–5}} The spelling of the family's name gradually shifted from Brooder to Bruder to Brouthers by 1880. The family eventually moved to the nearby hamlet of Fishkill Plains before settling in the village of Wappingers Falls where Michael found safer work at a textile printing mill.{{r|kerr|p=5}}

Brouthers played organized baseball beginning in childhood, from playing in the local sandlots{{cite web| title = Dan Brouthers' obituary | work = The New York Times, August 3, 1932 | url=http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Brouthers.Dan.Obit.html | access-date = 2008-06-15 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122715/http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Brouthers.Dan.Obit.html |archive-date = September 29, 2007}} to the semi-professional Actives of Wappingers Falls. On July 7, {{baseball year|1877}}, while running the bases, he collided at home plate with a catcher, named Johnny Quigley, of the Clippers of Harlem. Quigley was knocked unconscious, having suffered a traumatic head injury, and later died from these injuries on August 12. The 19-year-old Brouthers was cleared of any wrongdoing by the authorities.{{cite web|title=Dan Brouthers career chronology |work=baseballbiography.com |url=https://baseballbiography.com/dan-brouthers-1858 |access-date=2008-06-15 }}

Major League career

=Troy=

Brouthers made his Major League debut on June 23, {{baseball year|1879}}, for the Troy Trojans, and contributed a single in a come-from-behind victory against the Syracuse Stars. Although he was a first baseman, he was called upon to pitch that season with the Trojans in three games, one of which was on August 21 against Tommy Bond and the Boston Red Caps. Brouthers lost 16–0, and within two weeks he was released from the club. He hit .274 that first season, with four home runs, and had 17 RBIs in 39 games played.

After his release, Brouthers played for a minor league team in Rochester, New York, and on one occasion in {{baseball year|1880}}, he hit a game-winning home run in an exhibition game versus the Buffalo Bisons, off future Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin. He hit well enough in the minors to get another shot with the Trojans, which lasted just three games when he had only two hits in 12 at bats, and he was released again.{{cite web| title = Dan Brouthers career stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/broutda01.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}}

=Buffalo=

Brouthers got his first chance to be an everyday player in {{baseball year|1881}}, when he was signed by the Bisons, the team that he did well against the previous year. That season he batted .319, and played with them until the team folded after the {{baseball year|1885}} season. In his first season with the Bisons, he led the National League (NL) in home runs and slugging percentage. Brouthers, along with teammates Jack Rowe, Hardy Richardson and Deacon White, became known as the "Big Four". In 1882 and {{baseball year|1883}} he won his first two batting titles, posting .368 and .374 averages, respectively. Along with his two batting titles, during his time in Buffalo he also led the NL in slugging five times, hits and total bases twice each, and triples and RBIs once each, with his 1883 total of 97 RBIs setting a new Major League record; Cap Anson had set the previous mark of 83 the year before, and retook the record the following year with a total of 102. On July 19, {{baseball year|1883}}, Brouthers went 6-for-6 with two doubles in a 25–5 defeat of the Philadelphia Quakers.

=Detroit and The Brotherhood=

File:Dan Brouthers 0556fu.jpg

At the end of the {{baseball year|1885}} season, Buffalo was going through financial trouble and were forced to sell off their players, so "The Big Four" were sold to the Detroit Wolverines of the NL for US$7,000. In {{baseball year|1886}}, his first season in Detroit, he again led the league in slugging percentage, the sixth year in a row, and led the league in total bases and doubles and claimed his first home run title. He finished within the top 10 in most offensive categories, including a third-place finish in the batting race with a lofty .370 average. On September 10, {{baseball year|1886}}, Brouthers hit three home runs‚ along with a double and a single, to set the NL record with 15 total bases in one game. This mark tied the Major League record at the time, as Guy Hecker of the Louisville Colonels totaled 15 the previous month in the American Association.

The Detroit team was filled with stars from the era, including future Hall of Famers Sam Thompson and Ned Hanlon, as well as second baseman Fred Dunlap, the "Big Four", and the pitching of Lady Baldwin and Charlie Getzien.{{cite web| title = 1886 Detroit Wolverines season stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DTN/1886.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} The team finished with a record of 87 wins and 36 losses, in second place behind the Chicago White Stockings by {{frac|2|1|2}} games.{{cite web| title = 1886 National League Standings | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1886.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}}

During the off-season, on November 11, {{baseball year|1886}}, The Executive Council of the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players‚ formed in 1885 as the first organized players' union, met and re-elected John Montgomery Ward as president, and elected Brouthers as vice president.

In {{baseball year|1887}}, with the 1886 roster intact,{{cite web| title = 1887 Detroit Wolverines season stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DTN/1887.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} the Wolverines finished in first place, besting the Quakers by {{frac|3|1|2}} games. Brouthers batted .338, and led the league in runs scored with 153, doubles with 36, and on-base percentage, while again finishing in the top 10 in most offensive categories. The Wolverines, behind the bats of Brouthers, Thompson and Richardson, led the League in batting, runs scored and slugging,{{cite web|title=Detroit Wolverines/1887 World Series |work=michigan.gov |url=http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19271_19357-145945--,00.html |access-date=2008-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311160749/http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0%2C1607%2C7-160-15481_19271_19357-145945--%2C00.html |archive-date=March 11, 2008 |url-status=dead }} and went on to face the St. Louis Browns in a best-of-15 post-season tournament, the "World's Series". The Wolverines sealed a series championship with their eighth victory in 11 games; however, the two teams finished the series anyway, with Detroit winning 10 games to the Browns' five.{{cite web| title = 1887 National League Standings | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1887.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} Brouthers only played in one of those games, getting two hits in three at bats.{{cite web| title = 1887 World Series stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1887_WS.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}}

Following the season, on November 17, {{baseball year|1887}}, members of the NL officially recognized the Brotherhood and met with a Brotherhood committee that consisted of three players – Ward‚ Hanlon and Brouthers.

The {{baseball year|1888}} Detroit team did not fare as well, finishing in fifth place with a record of 68–63, which was a full 16 games behind the first-place New York Giants.{{cite web| title = 1888 National League Standings | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1888.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} Brouthers' numbers declined as well, as he did not produce at the same level of his previous seasons. Even with the lower numbers, he still led the league in runs scored with 118, and doubles for the third year in a row. The team's decline is attributed to prolonged injuries sustained by key players, while turmoil that unfolded concerning veteran stars' salary demands, and with falling attendance numbers, the club was forced to fold at the season's end. Brouthers was then purchased by the Boston Beaneaters of the NL on October 16.

=Boston=

File:Dan Brouthers of the Boston Players League team - DPLA - f2f9e80e3c1ac26ddbbbccb06e2c81b7.jpg

In {{baseball year|1889}}, his only season with the Beaneaters, he batted a league-leading .373, along with 105 runs scored and 118 runs batted in; he struck out only six times. The first strikeout occurred on June 11 against Mickey Welch of the Giants.

After the season, he – along with many Major League players – jumped to the Players' League, a league established by the Brotherhood which competed against the two other Major Leagues already in existence.{{cite web| title = A Structure To Last Forever":The Players' League And The Brotherhood War of 1890 | work = by Ethan M. Lewis | url=http://www.ethanlewis.org/pl/ch1.html | access-date = 2008-06-15}} Brouthers signed with the Boston Reds, and batted .330 while leading the league in on-base percentage and slugging. The Reds, behind the talents of Brouthers, Harry Stovey, Hardy Richardson, Charles Radbourn and player-manager King Kelly,{{cite web| title = 1890 Boston Reds season stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1890.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} finished in first place, {{frac|6|1|2}} games ahead of the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders.{{cite web | title = 1890 Players' League Standings | work = baseball-reference.com | url = https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/PL_1890.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090216191250/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/PL_1890.shtml | archive-date = 2009-02-16 | url-status = dead }}

The Players' League lasted just the one season, and the Reds merged into the American Association, carrying many of the championship team's previous players.{{cite web| title = 1891 Boston Reds season stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1891.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} Again, the team won the league's championship, finishing {{frac|8|1|2}} games ahead of the St. Louis Browns.{{cite web| title = 1891 American Association Standings | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AA_1891.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} Brouthers led the league in batting average (.350), on-base percentage and slugging, while finishing second in triples with 19, sixth in doubles with 26, and third in RBIs with 109.

=Later career=

File:Dan Brouthers HOF plaque.jpg]]

After the American Association folded following the {{baseball year|1891}} season, Brouthers was sent to the Brooklyn Grooms of the NL, where he played two seasons. Most of his success came in that first season, when he led the league in batting average, hits, RBIs and total bases. For the {{baseball year|1893}} season, he played in only 77 of the team's games, but did well, hitting .337. After the season, Brouthers was traded along with Willie Keeler to the Baltimore Orioles for Billy Shindle and George Treadway.

This trade brought in two future Hall of Fame players, which added to the already established Orioles core of players including third baseman John McGraw, catcher Wilbert Robinson, shortstop Hughie Jennings, and center fielder Joe Kelley, all future Hall of Fame members.{{cite web| title = 1894 Baltimore Orioles season stats | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BLN/1894.shtml | access-date = 2008-06-15}} The Orioles won the league's championship that season, and it was Brouthers' last full season in the majors, as he again produced great numbers, batting .347, finishing seventh in total bases, fifth in RBIs (128), fourth in doubles (39), and fifth in triples (23).

During his career, and most notably during his time in Baltimore, he was known to always have his dog, an Irish setter named Kelly, and had him sit in the players' area. It is claimed that the players never minded much, as he was very well-behaved and never left the area to run out on the field or made much noise.{{cite book |title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract |last=James |first=Bill |year=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-7432-2722-0 |pages=438–39 }}

Early in the {{baseball year|1895}} season, Baltimore sold Brouthers to the Louisville Colonels for $500, as his skills seemed to have diminished, and he only played in 24 of Louisville's games that season; he came back to hit .309 for them, ending the year with a .300 overall mark. Following the season, Louisville sold him to the Philadelphia Phillies for $500, where he played in 57 games in {{baseball year|1896}}, batting .344. After being released by the Phillies, Brouthers continued to play in the minors, in the Eastern League (now the International League) with Rochester, Toronto and Springfield, Massachusetts before finally "retiring" after the 1899 season. In 1903, however, Brouthers came back to play and coach in the Class D Hudson River League; after batting .373 for Poughkeepsie in {{baseball year|1904}}, he made it back to the majors with the New York Giants, where he was 0-for-5 in a two-game stint. (But Brouthers still wasn't done as a player; he returned to Poughkeepsie in 1905, then was named player/manager for the Newburgh Hill Climbers in 1906, where he notched six hits in 16 at-bats (.375) before finally hanging them up at the age of 48.

Brouthers is still among the all-time leaders in many offensive categories. His .342 batting average ranks ninth, 205 triples ranks eighth, and his .423 on-base percentage ranks 15th. He is tied with Mike Tiernan for fourth among 19th-century home run hitters with a total of 106, behind Roger Connor (138), Sam Thompson (127), and Stovey (122).{{cite web| title = 19th Century Baseball History | work = geocities.com | url=http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/oldbase.html | access-date = 2008-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020065321/http://geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/oldbase.html|archive-date=2009-10-20}}

Later life and legacy

File:Grave of Dan Brouthers.jpg

Brouthers played minor league baseball for the {{baseball year|1898}} Toronto Maple Leafs of the Eastern League, where he won a batting title with a .415 average. Later he played for the Poughkeepsie Colts of the Hudson River League, batting a league-leading .373 at age 46.

He remained near baseball for many years, working for his former teammate and New York Giants manager John McGraw, who placed him in charge of the Polo Grounds press gate. He was with the Giants for nearly 20 years in this and other capacities.

On New Year's Eve in 1884, Brouthers married Mary Ellen Croak, an Irish immigrant to New York and fellow Catholic, at St. Mary's in Wappingers Falls. They had four children together and were married for 48 years until his death.{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Roy |title=Big Dan Brouthers: Baseball's First Great Slugger |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786475605 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaYCAQAAQBAJ |access-date=5 July 2018 |language=en}}

Brouthers died at the age of 74 at his home in East Orange, New Jersey, and is interred at St. Mary's Church Cemetery in Wappingers Falls, New York. There is a statue dedicated to him located in Veteran's Park in the same village.{{cite web| title = Dan Brouthers' Monument | work = www.ballparkreviews.com | url=http://www.ballparkreviews.com/places/brouthers.htm | access-date = 2008-06-15}} In {{baseball year|1945}}, Brouthers and several other stars of the era prior to 1910 were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. In honor of his achievements in Buffalo, he was inducted into the newly formed Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.{{cite web|url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-8132850|title=Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame|access-date=29 August 2012}} In 1999, a survey of the Society for American Baseball Research ranked him as the sixth-greatest player of the 19th century.{{cite journal |date=July–August 1999 |title=SABR Century Survey Results |journal=The SABR Bulletin |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=8–9 |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |location=Cleveland }}