Fergy Malone

Fergus G. Malone

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 156 lb.

• Debut June 3, 1871
• Final Game April 17, 1884
• Born August, 1844 in County Tyrone Ireland
• Died January 18, 1905 in Seattle, WA USA

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Biographical Information

Fergy Malone, born in Ireland in 1844, was 27 when the National Association played its first season. He played well, hitting .343 on the pennant-winning 1871 Philadelphia Athletics. He caught all but one of the team's games. The next year, 1872, he was one of the ten oldest players in the league.

In 1876, he also played when the National League played its first season. He was again the regular catcher.

1876 was to be his last major league season except that he came back for one game in 1884 in the Union Association in its first (and only) season. He was the oldest player in the league at age 42.

He served as player-manager in 1873, 1874, and 1884, although in 1884 he managed 67 games while only playing in one.

According to N.L. Umpires 1884, Malone had been a cricket player in the 1850s and then an amateur baseball player in the 1860s with the Athletics and a couple of other teams. He was a left-handed catcher, and stopped playing after 1876 due to arm problems. When he left his managerial job in 1884, he briefly became a National League umpire. He briefly managed in the International League in 1887, and thereafter worked for many years for the federal government.

Malone was one of several Irish-born players who appeared in 1871 in the National Association, so he shares the privilege of being called the first Irish-born player in the major leagues (Andy Leonard actually played a few days before any of the others that year). Of those Irish-born players who appeared in 1871, he was the oldest.

He served in the Civil War in the same Company as Dick McBride.

Related Sites

• BR Manager page
• BR Minors page

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