Andy Swan

Andrew J. Swan

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown

• Debut July 23, 1884
• Final Game October 13, 1884
• Born August, 1858 in Falls Township, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Andy Swan played a total of 8 games in the American Association in 1884, 5 with the Washington Nationals and 3 with the Richmond Virginians. A first baseman and third baseman, he hit .258 in 31 at-bats.

He was the son of Francis and Julia Swan and was born around 1858 in Falls Township, PA. After his baseball career, he worked as a telegraph operator and appeared in telegrapher competitions. He was married in 1887 to Catherine Hogan, a resident of Washington, DC and lived there until around 1901. In 1903, his wife was listed as a widow and she had remarried by 1910. This seems straightforward, except for the fact that Swan was reported still alive in a newspaper article from 1904, and there is a record that a telegraph operator named Andy Swan was arrested in Chicago, IL in 1903, so it's quite possible that Swan's later life was more complicated than first appears. There are other gray areas in his biography: he was long thought to have been the first former major leaguer to have been murdered, but this bit of misinformation was based on his name's similarity to that of one Albert Swan, a prominent businessman and former amateur player who was shot dead in 1885. When his brother died in 1920, he was not listed as a survivor, so this gives an approximate range for his death, although it's not clear what part of the country he was living in at the time of his passing, complicating research.

Further Reading

• "Andy Swan", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June 2018, p. 2.
• "Andy Swan", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2019, p. 5.

Related Sites

• Andy Swan at the SABR Bio Project