Doug Allison#References

{{For|the English soccer player and coach|Doug Allison (footballer)}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Doug Allison

|image=Doug Allison cropped.png

|position=Catcher

|birth_date={{birth date|1846|7|12}}

|birth_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1916|12|19|1846|7|12}}

|death_place=Washington, D.C., U.S.

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=May 5

|debutyear=1871

|debutteam=Washington Olympics

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=July 13

|finalyear=1883

|finalteam=Baltimore Orioles

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.271

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=2

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=139

|teams=

; National Association of Base Ball Players

: Geary of Philadelphia (1868)

: Cincinnati Red Stockings (1868–1870)

; League player

: Washington Olympics ({{baseball year|1871}})

: Troy Haymakers ({{baseball year|1872}})

: Brooklyn Eckfords ({{baseball year|1872}})

: Elizabeth Resolutes ({{baseball year|1873}})

: New York Mutuals ({{baseball year|1873}}–{{baseball year|1874}})

: Hartford Dark Blues ({{baseball year|1875}}–{{baseball year|1877}})

: Providence Grays ({{baseball year|1878}}–{{baseball year|1879}})

: Baltimore Orioles ({{baseball year|1883}})

; League manager

: Elizabeth Resolutes ({{baseball year|1873}})

}}

Douglas L. Allison (July 12, 1846 – December 19, 1916) was an American Major League Baseball player. He began his career as a catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. Allison was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind the batter, as a means to prevent baserunners from stealing bases.{{cite book |title=Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero |last=Morris |first=Peter |year=2010 |publisher=Government Institutes |isbn=978-1-5666-3870-8 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86P2pteOc40C&q=catcher+peter+morris&pg=PP1 |access-date=10 July 2012}} He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. Allison became the earliest known player to use a type of baseball glove when he donned buckskin mittens to protect his hands in 1870.{{cite web|url=http://baseballgloves.com/interviews/first-glove.html|title=The First Glove - Ever|publisher=BaseballGloves.com|access-date=2006-08-28}}

Prior to his baseball career, Allison served as a private in Company L of the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War.{{Cite web |title=Those Who Served – Civil War |url=http://www.thedeadballera.com/ThoseWhoServed_CivilWar.html |access-date=February 18, 2021 |website=TheDeadballEra.com}} His brother Art Allison also played in the Major Leagues.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Career

=Cincinnati Red Stockings=

Not quite 22 years old, Allison moved to Cincinnati for the 1868 season and played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings managed by Harry Wright. Open professionalism was one year away but the long move from Philadelphia, where he worked as a bricklayer,Puff, Richard (1996). "Douglas L. Allison." Baseball's First Stars. Edited by Frederick Ivor-Campbell, Robert L. Tiemann and Mark Rucker. Cleveland, OH: SABR. {{ISBN|0-910137-58-7}} suggests that Allison was somehow compensated by club members, if not by the club. Cincinnati fielded a strong team that year, with five of the famous team already in place. Allison was a defensive specialist, whose job was simply to catch pitcher Asa Brainard.

Most catchers of Allison's era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter. His technique of moving closer to the batter proved effective in curtailing baserunners from stealing bases. In the 1860s, it was common for teams to score fifty or sixty runs a game, but as the technique of moving closer to the batter became more widespread among other catchers, run production began to plummet, helping usher in what became known as the dead-ball era.

When the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) permitted professionalism, the Red Stockings hired five incumbents including Allison and five new men to complete its roster, the first team that consisted of salaried players. A few of the others had previously played some catcher (all played at the six infield positions in 1868), but Allison filled the role in almost every game. Cincinnati toured the continent undefeated in 1869 and may have been the strongest team in 1870, but the club dropped professional base ball after the second season.

=Later career=

Harry Wright was hired to organize a new team in Boston, where he signed three teammates for {{baseball year|1871}}. The other five regulars including Allison signed with Nick Young's Washington Olympics, an established club that also joined the new, entirely professional National Association (NA). The five former Red Stockings led the Olympics to a respectable finish in the inaugural NA season.

Later, Doug Allison played in the Major Leagues with the Troy Haymakers in {{baseball year|1872}}, the Brooklyn Eckfords in {{baseball year|1872}}, the Elizabeth Resolutes in {{baseball year|1873}}, the New York Mutuals from {{baseball year|1873}} to {{baseball year|1874}}, the Hartford Dark Blues from {{baseball year|1875}} to {{baseball year|1877}}, the Providence Grays from {{baseball year|1878}} to {{baseball year|1879}}, and one game with the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association in {{baseball year|1883}}.

Later life

Allison was reported playing for a post office team in 1882. Thirty-four years later he died in a car accident in Washington, D.C., at age 70, en route to his job at the Post Office Department. He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington.Retrosheet. [http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pallid101.htm "Doug Allison"]. Retrieved 2006-08-29.

References

Liberman, Noah (2003). Glove Affairs: The Romance, History, and Tradition of the Baseball Glove. Triumph Books. {{ISBN|1-57243-420-1}}.
Wright, Marshall (2000). The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. {{ISBN|0-7864-0779-4}}.