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Mordecai Davidson

{{short description|American baseball owner and manager}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name = Mordecai Davidson

|image = Mordecai_Davidson.jpg

|image_size = 150

|caption =

|position = Owner / Manager

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1845|11|30}}

|birth_place= Port Washington, Ohio

|death_date = {{death date and age|1940|9|6|1845|11|30}}

|death_place= Louisville, Kentucky

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Managerial record

|stat1value=35–54

|stat2label=Winning %

|stat2value={{winning percentage|35|54}}

|teams=

As manager

}}

Mordecai Hamilton Davidson (November 30, 1845 – September 6, 1940) was a professional baseball owner and manager. A Civil War veteran, he is best known as the primary owner of the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in the late 1880s, during the worst period of the team's history. He was one of three managers of the 1888 Colonels, during his ownership of the team.

Biography

Davidson was working for a local mercantile house in Louisville, Kentucky, when he became a shareholder of the Louisville Colonels in 1887.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} The Colonels were members of the American Association (AA), a major league.

Prior to the 1888 season, Davidson was named the Colonels' secretary-treasurer,{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} and on June 6 he bought out most of the team's other shareholders.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58809915/the-louisvilles-sold/ |title=The Louisvilles Sold |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=6 |date=June 7, 1888 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} Two days later, Davidson relieved manager Kick Kelly,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58810034/the-colonels-return/ |title=The Colonels Return |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=5 |date=June 9, 1888 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} with the team having won only 10 of 39 games played. Davidson then managed the team himself for three games, winning one. After John Kerins managed the team for seven games, winning three, Davidson took over as manager once again and managed the team for the rest of the season. During his second tenure as manager, Davidson managed 90 games, winning 34 and losing 52 with 4 ties.{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1888/TLS201888.htm |title=The 1888 Louisville Colonels |website=Retrosheet |accessdate=September 7, 2020}} Overall, Davidson's record as manager was 35 wins, 54 losses and 4 ties. It was his only experience as a major league manager.{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/D/Pdavim801.htm |title=Mordecai Davidson |website=Retrosheet |accessdate=September 7, 2020}} The Colonels finished the season with a record of 48–87, next-to-last in the eight-team AA.{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1888/Y_1888.htm |title=The 1888 Season |website=Retrosheet |accessdate=September 7, 2020}}

Prior to the 1889 season, Davidson brought in Dude Esterbrook as manager,{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1889/TLS201889.htm |title=The 1889 Louisville Colonels |website=Retrosheet |accessdate=September 7, 2020}} while also seeking to sell the team.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} Esterbrook only lasted 10 games, winning two, and the club went through four managers during the season. By June, the players were in open revolt over Davidson's handling of the club, and several of them refused to play outright on June 14.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58810512/poor-disrupted-louisville/ |title=Poor Disrupted Louisville |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |page=1 |date=June 14, 1889 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} A special meeting of the AA board was called,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58810553/the-louisville-club-all-right/ |title=The Louisville Club All Right |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=7 |date=June 15, 1889 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} and Davidson was issued an ultimatum to strengthen the club or be forced out.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} In early July, Davidson surrendered control of the Colonels to the AA.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58810632/untitled/ |title=(untitled) |newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer |page=2 |date=July 3, 1889 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} The team finished the season in last place, with a record of 27–111,{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1889/Y_1889.htm |title=The 1889 Season |website=Retrosheet |accessdate=September 7, 2020}} and had a 26-game losing streak.

{{further|List of worst Major League Baseball season records|List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks}}

Davidson served three years in the Union Army during the Civil War, in Company A, 17th Indiana Regiment.{{sfnp|Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 4| p = 345}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58808429/louisvilles-only-member-of-gar/ |title=Louisville's Only Member of G.A.R. Greeted On His 94th Birthday |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=2 |date=December 1, 1939 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) through at least December 1939. Davidson died in Louisville in September 1940;{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58808088/deaths/ |title=Deaths |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=18 |date=September 10, 1940 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} he was survived by a son.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58808738/m-h-davidson-union-veteran-dies/|title=M. H. Davidson, Union Veteran, Dies After Brief Illness At 93 (sic) |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=11 |date=September 7, 1940 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

Bibliography

  • {{Cite book |title=Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 |last=Sullivan |first=Dean A. |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyinningsdocu00sull/page/178 |pages=178–179 |year=1997 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9244-4 |quote=Player Strike by Louisville Players (1889)}}
  • {{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58811238/didnt-know-base-hit-from-bass-viol-but/ |title=Didn't Know Base Hit From Bass Viol But Davidson Saved Baseball Here |first=A. H. |last=Tarvin |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=54 |date=November 7, 1943 |accessdate=September 7, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}
  • {{Cite book | last = Terrell| first = William Henry Harrison, Adjutant General| title = Roster of Enlisted Men [incl.] Indiana Regiments Sixth to Twenty-Ninth 1861-1865| publisher = Samuel R. Douglas, State Printer| place = Indianapolis, IN| volume = IV| series =Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana| year = 1866| oclc =558004259| url = https://archive.org/details/reportofadjutant04indi| format = PDF| access-date = 2020-04-19| ref={{sfnref|Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 4}} | pages = 344–371}}

External links

{{baseball-reference manager|davidmo99}}

  • {{find a Grave|103441036}}

{{Louisville Colonels managers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Mordecai}}

Category:1845 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:Louisville Colonels managers

Category:Louisville Colonels owners

Category:Sportspeople from Ohio

Category:People from Port Washington, Ohio

Category:Union army soldiers