Jack Remsen

John Jay Remsen

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 189 lb.

• Debut May 2, 1872
• Final Game October 15, 1884
• Born April, 1850 in Brooklyn, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Centerfielder Jack Remsen played for eight teams in his ten-year career in the National Association, National League, and American Association.

He broke in with the 1872 Brooklyn Atlantics, in the second season of the first professional league, and then was on the 1876 Hartford Dark Blues in the first year of the National League.

On May 1, 1877, he participated in the "Greatest of St. Louis Ball Games" according to an article of remembrance in the May 1, 1910 issue of the Sunday Evening Telegraph. The game took place between the 1877 Brown Stockings and Syracuse Stars, who were not in the National League that year. It was a 15-inning game with a final score of 0-0 (called on account of darkness).

Remsen, as lead-off hitter for the Dark Blues on July 6, 1876, hit the first lead-off home run in National League history. He is said to have been the last player in major league baseball to wear a full beard on the field, but the 1876 photo above does not show him wearing a beard at that time.

He umpired two games in the National Association, in 1873 and 1874 and two in the National League in 1880.

After his major league playing time, Remsen managed Hartford in the Southern New England League.

The Peter Morris website lists him as one of the "Cold Cases of the Diamond" because no death record has been found. When the trail goes cold, he was living in New York in 1921.

Notable Achievements

• NL Bases on Balls Leader (1878)

Related Sites

• Jack Remsen at the SABR Bio Project
• A photo of Remsen can be found here: 1876 Hartford Dark Blues.