Cal Broughton

Cecil Calvert Broughton
(Happy Cal)

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Debut May 2, 1883
• Final Game April 21, 1888
• Born December 28, 1860 in Magnolia, WI USA
• Died March 15, 1939 in Evansville, WI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

“Broughton was the idol of the youngsters in all the cities he played, and he always had a bunch of them following him from the park, as he often bought them candy and made them his pals.” - from Cal's obituary in The Sporting News

Cal Broughton played for six teams in three leagues during his four years in the majors. In total, he appeared in 40 games, primarily at catcher. He played for no more than 11 games with any one team, having the most success in 1884 with the Milwaukee Brewers in the Union Association when he hit .308.

"A history of baseball in Evansville" [1] has extensive text on Broughton, Evansville, WI's first professional ballplayer, and, in fact, one of the first players in the majors to hail from Wisconsin (it also includes a photo of him). He was on the (apparently) amateur Evansville team as early as 1879, and later joined the Janesville Mutuals. He also played in the minors during the 1880s (Memphis and probably Savannah), and in 1889 and 1890 was with St. Paul. After his minor league days, he worked for a butter company in Evansville and continued to play for the local team. He served as Evansville's police chief from 1900-1916 and then continued as assistant police chief until six years before his death.

Related Sites

• Cal Broughton at the SABR Bio Project