Art Allison

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Art Allison

| image = Art Allison baseball.jpg

| position = Outfielder

| birth_date = January 29, 1849

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|1916|2|25|1849|1|29}}

| death_place = Washington, D.C., US

| bats = Unknown

| throws = Unknown

|debutleague = MLB

| debutdate = May 4

| debutyear = 1871

| debutteam = Cleveland Forest Citys

|finalleague = MLB

| finaldate = October 5

| finalyear = 1876

| finalteam = Louisville Grays

|statleague = MLB

| stat1label = Batting Average

| stat1value = .254

| stat2label = Hits

| stat2value = 188

| stat3label = Runs Batted In

| stat3value = 70

| teams =

; National Association of Base Ball Players

: Geary of Philadelphia (1868)

: Cleveland Forest Citys (1869–1870)

; National Association of Professional BBP

: Cleveland Forest Citys (1871–1872)

: Elizabeth Resolutes (1873)

: Washington Nationals (1875)

: Hartford Dark Blues (1875)

: Louisville Grays (1876)

}}

Arthur Algernon Allison (January 29, 1849 – February 25, 1916) was an American Major League Baseball player from 1871 to 1876, who played his career primarily as an outfielder. He is known for playing in the first professional baseball game on May 4, 1871{{Cite web |title=First Major League Game Ever Played |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/1stGame.htm |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=www.retrosheet.org}} between the Cleveland Forest Citys and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas,{{Cite web |date=2017-05-04 |title=MLB History: First MLB Game Played in National Association |url=https://calltothepen.com/2017/05/04/mlb-history-first-mlb-game-played-national-association/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Call to the Pen |language=en-US}} as Cleveland's Center Fielder.

Biography

Allison is also known as being the first ever strikeout recorded in major league history.{{cn|date=October 2022}} Allison had a peak year during the 1873 season whilst playing for the Elizabeth Resolutes, where he had a career-high batting average of .320.{{Cite web |title=Art Allison Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/allisar01.shtml |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} Despite Allison having the second highest batting average of the 1873 season,{{Cite web |title=1873 NA Player Standard Batting |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NA/1873-standard-batting.shtml}} the Resolutes as a team would place second to last in the National Association.{{Cite web |title=1873 National Association Season Summary |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NA/1873.shtml |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} After his baseball career, Arthur worked as a printer and resided in Washington D.C. for over 20 years until he died on February 25, 1916, after a fatal accident caused by colliding with a truck due to snowy weather while heading to work.