Jay Budd

Jay Cook Budd

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Debut September 10, 1890
• Final Game September 10, 1890
• Born December 4, 1865 in Groton, OH USA
• Died August 22, 1923 in Cleveland, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jay Budd is most likely the player who played one road game as an outfielder in Pittsburgh for the Cleveland team of the Players League, in 1890, going hitless.

His name was originally simply recorded as Budd, and almost nothing was known about him. Newspapers of the time said he was an amateur player from Cleveland. In 2009, SABR researcher Peter Morris found a reference in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to a Jay Budd playing left field in July 1890 for a club called "Al Johnson's champion team". Al Johnson was the owner of the Cleveland Infants, and the Champs included Larry Twitchell, Pop Snyder and Pete Hotaling, all regular Cleveland players. It is thus almost certain that the mysterious Budd who would play the outfield two months later was the same man.

Jay Budd appears to have been relatively famous for his involvement in the horse racing scene. He was arrested a few times for his involvement in betting on horse races, and he himself claimed, in a letter to the Plain Dealer in 1901, that he had become the "leading jockey in Russia". In 1921, he organized a baseball team in Elyria, OH and is listed as its third baseman. His obituary indicates that he was quite well-known at the time, hailing from a prominent Elyria family. His death was noted around the country in newspapers in places as far away as Boston, Hartford and Chicago. He is buried in Ridgelawn Cemetery in Elyria.

Further Reading

• "This Budd's For You", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June, 2008, p. 2.
• "This Budd's For You", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June, 2009, p. 1.