John McCarthy

John Andrew McCarthy

• Bats Unknown, Throws Right

• Debut April 18, 1889
• Final Game July 7, 1889
• Born February 9, 1867 in Independence, MO USA
• Died August 20, 1942 in Tulsa, OK USA

BR page

Biographical Information

John McCarthy pitched well for the Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association in 1889. He was one of the few pitchers who had a winning record for the team, and his ERA was lower than the team average. He gave up lots of unearned runs, but so did everyone else. He also umpired one American Association game in 1889.

His name was listed as "McCarty" in many records, but all of his official documents use the more common spelling, McCarthy.

During his baseball-playing days, he lived in Kansas City, MO with his mother Margaret Conroy, widow of Patrick McCarthy, according to census records. His parents married in Liberty, MO in 1853, and John was born in Independence, MO 14 years later. John then moved to Chicago, IL and appeared there in the 1900 census, living with wife Edna, and two children. He then moved back to Kansas City, where his mother died in 1923. He was still alive at the time, according to her obituary. He then moved to Tulsa, OK, where Edna died at some time before the 1940 census, as he is listed there as living with his son John Jr. and a nurse named Philomena Roberts. Her unusual name helped to find McCarthy's death details, as they are buried in the same plot in Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa (she presumably became John Jr.'s wife at some point). John Sr. died in 1942.

Further Reading

• "John McCarthy", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August 2013, p. 3.