Jerry D'Arcy

Jeremiah Joseph D'Arcy
previously listed as Jerry Dorsey

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut September 23, 1911
• Final Game September 28, 1911
• Born December 4, 1885 in Oakland, CA USA
• Died July 1, 1924 in Eastland, TX USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jerry D'Arcy was a player whose true identity long eluded researchers.

Someone identified as "Jerry Dorsey" played two games as an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates in late September of 1911. He began his professional career that year playing for the Gadsden Steel Makers in the Southeastern League where the local papers called him Jere Dorsey. He then played for the Memphis Turtles of the Southern Association for two weeks before making his way to Pittsburgh. In 1912, he played for a team outside of organized baseball in Henderson, TX, then was with the Bonham Blues of the Texas-Oklahoma League in 1913, and with the Denison Blue Sox of the same league and the McAlester Miners of the Western Association in 1914. He was back in Denison in 1915, also playing for the Tulsa Producers of the Western Association. In 1923, his name pops up on an list of ineligible players issued by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.

This was everything that was known for sure about Jerry Dorsey. The birth details that listed him as being born in Oakland, CA in 1885 came from his player card kept in the Sporting News archive, but they were contradicted by information in other sources that identified him as being either from Alabama, Nashville, TN, or the southern states more generally. None of these leads could be corroborated by census or draft registration data, and no one knew for sure when or where he died.

A breakthrough came in 2013 when SABR researcher Tom Hufford noticed that there were similarities between the mystery man Dorsey and someone named "Jerry Darcy" (whose name was actually spelled D'Arcy) who had also had a player card in the Sporting News archives. When this link was prodded, a World War I draft registration card was found for D'Arcy, as well as other documents that confirmed his identity as the missing Pittsburgh player. As he was living in Denison, TX at the time of the war, a search through the Texas death index found his death details.

Further Reading

• "When Did Jerry Dorsey Take The Last Waltz?", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2007 , p. 3.
• "Jerry Darcy Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August 2013, p. 1.