Deacon White

Positions: Third Baseman, Catcher and Rightfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
5-11, 175lb (180cm, 79kg)
Born: December 2, 1847 in Caton, NY
Died: July 7, 1939 in Aurora, IL
Buried: Restland Cemetery, Mendota, IL
Debut: May 4, 1871
Last Game: October 4, 1890
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 2013. (Voted by Veteran’s Committee)
View Deacon White’s Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
Full Name: James Laurie White
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Relatives: Brother of Will White; Cousin of Elmer White

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Nine Players Who Debuted in 1871

Cap Anson
Al Spalding
Bobby Mathews
Deacon White
Ezra Sutton
Ross Barnes
George Wright
Harry Wright
Levi Meyerle

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Notable Events and Chronology for Deacon White Career

May 4, 1871

A National Association contest between the Cleveland Forest Citys and Fort Wayne Kekiongas is officially the first Major League game ever played. Fort Wayne is the winner, 2 – 0, behind a four-hit shutout by pitcher Bobby Mathews. Al Pratt is the losing pitcher. Cleveland’s catcher, Deacon White, is 3 for 4, including the first hit (a double) and also is the first to hit into a double play. Bill Lennon becomes the first catcher to throw a runner out trying to steal second base. In the 127 games during the 1871 season, there are a total of four shutouts.

July 20, 1875

The Chicago Tribune states that the Bostons will disband at the end of the season‚ with the Wrights going to Cincinnati

September 27, 1877

With their 19th victory in the last 20 games, the Red Caps, aka the Red Stockings, clinch the National League pennant, beating the Hartford Dark Blues, 13-2. James ‘Deacon’ White, the league’s leading hitter, paces Boston’s attack with a 4-for-4 performance.

November 19, 1885

1885 – At a National League meeting, it is decided that the Buffalo Bisons “Big Four” (Dan Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, Jack Rowe and Deacon White) can play for the Detroit Wolverines next season.

March 22, 1888

3B/C Deacon White signs with the Detroit Wolverines after a prolonged battle with manager Bill Watkins, under whom White had said he’d never play.

November 10, 1888

1888 – In Detroit, MI, a club is organized to compete in the International Association next season to take the place of the disbanded Detroit Wolverines, fifth-place finishers this past season in the National League. The Wolverines sell off their stars, including Big Sam Thompson going to the Philadelphia Quakers, and the so-called “Big Four” Dan Brouthers and Hardy Richardson to the Boston Beaneaters and Jack Rowe and Deacon White to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

December 17, 1888

1888 – Former Detroit players Deacon White and Jack Rowe purchase a controlling interest in the minor league Buffalo club. Though their reserve rights have been sold to Pittsburgh, both men announce plans to play in Buffalo next year.

July 18, 1889

7/18/1889 – The Philadelphia Phillies were hosting the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. The home team elected to bat first and scored three runs in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Pittsburgh had a man on first and two outs with the number four hitter, Al Maul, due to bat. However, James “Deacon” White, the number five batter in the lineup hit a double that scored the runner. The Phillies appealed, and Tom Lynch, the umpire, correctly called Maul out to end the inning without the run counting.

December 3, 2012

The Veterans Committee elects three candidates from the pre-integration era to the Hall of Fame: owner Jacob Ruppert helped build the New York Yankees into the most successful franchise in the major leagues; Hank O’Day was an outstanding umpire who called the shots for the first-ever World Series game; and Deacon White was the first great catcher in baseball history, with one of the longest careers of the 19th century. The three will be inducted next July.

July 28, 2013

In the first Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony without a living inductee in 48 years, Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert, 19th-century backstop Deacon White, and umpire Hank O’Day are inducted in Cooperstown, after being elected by the Pre-Integration Veterans Committee in December. The last time there weren’t any living inductees to be honored occurred in 1968, when Pud Galvin, the game’s first 300-game winner, was enshrined 63 years after his death.

September 28, 2022

Best Catchers of All Time

Biography

The Deacon is a truly historic baseball figure. He began the game early enough to have played, and lost, against the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869. He played three championship seasons with Harry Wright’s Boston Red Stockings of the National Association. He was with Cap Anson’s White Stockings for the first championship of the National League. And, as an ardent supporter of players’ rights, he ended his 22-year career as playing owner of Buffalo’s Brotherhood team.
His long face, walrus mustache, and sober mien made him look out of place on the ball field in that rough-and-tumble era, but precisely like the abstemious, nonsmoking, Bible-toting, church-going deacon he was.

Nonetheless, he was the best barehanded catcher of his time, and when he joined Buffalo in 1881, with the great Jack Rowe behind the plate, he became the best third baseman, too. He threw righthanded and batted left.

With the Association Bostons he was, with Al Spalding, Ross Barnes, and Cal McVey, one of baseball’s first Big Four. They defected to Chicago in 1876, but White returned to Boston for his fifth straight pennant in 1877, plus a league-leading average of .387.

For the next three years Deacon and his brother Will, a righthanded, 222-game winner, were a battery for Cal McVey at Cincinnati. Deacon Jim also had an eight-win, eight-loss stint as manager before handing the job back to McVey. In 1881 he and Will went to Buffalo where, with Dan Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, and Rowe, Jim made up a second Big Four. The owners sold the franchise to Detroit interests in 1886. The lads found Ned Hanlon, Sam Thompson, and Charley Bennett already there, and a Wolverine pennant was won in 1887. In postseason play they thrashed Chris von der Ahe’s Browns in a 15-game “World Series” that traveled through ten cities.

Whiter and Jack Rowe bought back into Buffalo in 1889, although Pittsburgh had rights to their services. After a bitter legal fight they were forced to play for the Alleghenys, a situation that gave impetus to formation of the Players’ League. When the Brotherhood collapsed, Deacon, then 42, retired, honored and respected by all who knew him.@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@

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