All-Time Indians: Jack O’Connor

While he may have been born and died in St. Louis, Jack O’Connor was an Ohio man as a player, performing his first 12 Major League seasons in that state. He was initially signed by the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1887, the sixth season ever for the first professional franchise. He began there as a catcher/outfielder, an odd combination even for the day. After just two seasons and 48 games, O’Connor was off to his second Ohio franchise, the Columbus Solons. After three solid seasons there, mostly as a catcher, he was finally ready for the National League and he joined the 1892 Cleveland Spiders.

The Spiders already had a great catcher in Chief Zimmer, but O’Connor still found plenty of at bats as both the back up catcher and fourth outfielder. That year, he played in 140 games, more than he ever had before or would again in his lengthy career. While he batted just .248 that season, he still knocked in 58 runs and set a career high with 142 hits. O’Connor wouldn’t play in more than 100 games in any of the next four seasons, but these saw him become a better player overall. In 1893, he had his best season as a Spider, batting .286 with career bests of 75 RBI, 72 runs scored, 23 doubles and four home runs. In addition, despite being a catcher, O’Connor still had some great speed as he stole 29 bases for the second time in his career. Overall, he would steal 115 bases in his seven years in Cleveland and 219 in his career as a whole.

The next four seasons were more of the same, although he shifted the majority of his games from outfield to catcher. Starting in 1894, O’Connor began adding other positions to his repertoire as he played seven games at first base that year and even played a game at third later on. As he progressed in age, he played more and more at first and catcher instead of the outfield. From 1894 through 1897, O’Connor batted .315, .292, .297 and .290 while playing in between 68 and 103 games each year. While still without power (he hit just five home runs in those four seasons), he averaged 15 steals, 55 RBI and 52 runs scored over that span as a solid bottom of the lineup offensive performer. While there were better hitters year-by-year for the Spiders, there were few who were able to put up the career numbers that O’Connor did, thanks to his consistency and length of tenure.

In 1898, player/manager Patsy Tebeau was getting old as well, leaving more games open at first base and O’Connor took advantage, playing more games at first than either outfield or catcher for the first time in his career. Across all three positions, he played in 130 games total, but batted just .249 and posted similar cumulative stats, despite the increase in games. This would be his final season in Cleveland as, along with every other decent player on the team, he was transferred from the Spiders to the St. Louis Perfectos by the Robison brothers, who owned both teams. While he was in Cleveland, O’Connor accumulated 410 RBI, hit 131 doubles and stole 139 bases, making him one of the top hitting Spiders in team history.

O’Connor would go on to play nine more seasons at the Major League level for the Pirates, Highlanders and St. Louis Browns. During these later seasons, he would never play in the outfield again and spent the majority of his playing time as the reserve catcher and was the manager as well in 1910. As great as his career was, it ended in scandal as he was informally banned from baseball at the end of that season. In the final game of the year, the Browns were playing against the Cleveland Naps with the team’s namesake and starting second baseman Napoleon Lajoie just a few hits behind the hated Ty Cobb in the batting race. As the manager, O’Connor didn’t play a man at third base while Lajoie was batting, allowing him to go 5/6 (there was an error that allowed Lajoie to reach safely in his final at bat) and raise his average to just below Cobb’s. No team would sign O’Connor after this immoral management style keeping him out of baseball for the rest of his life. After being born, playing and managing in St. Louis, he died there as well in 1937 at the age of 71.