Kid Carsey

Wilfred Carsey

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 168 lb.

• Debut April 8, 1891
• Final Game July 20, 1901
• Born October 22, 1872 in New York, NY USA
• Died March 29, 1960 in Miami, FL USA

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Biographical Information

"They called me a fooler. I made a study of each batter's weakness and knew just where to throw the ball. Sometimes I'd get 'em out and sometimes I wouldn't." - Kid Carsey, quoted in the article "Memories of Kid Carsey" in the May 1951 Baseball Digest

Wilfred "Kid" Carsey pitched 10 seasons in the majors, twice winning 20-plus games. More than half of his major league career was with the Philadelphia Phillies in a lively ball era.

Carsey was born in New York City and was playing minor league ball by age 16. In 1890, at 17, he was all the way out in California, playing for Oakland with much older players such as Peek-A-Boo Veach. Kid made his major league debut at 18 with the Washington Statesmen in 1891, the last year of the major league American Association. He led the league in losses, finishing 14-37, as well as hits allowed (513 in 415 innings), home runs allowed (17), earned runs allowed (230) and wild pitches (29). In a plus, his 174 strikeouts were 6th in the league.

He moved over to the NL in 1892 to spend five-plus seasons with the Phillies. He won at least 18 games each year from 1892 to 1895. It was a high-run environment: when he went 18-12 in 1894, his 5.52 ERA was better than the team ERA of 5.63 on a team which finished 71-57. As the league ERA's went down in the later years of the 1890s, Carsey's did not. He struggled in his major league career after 1896 and spent part of 1900 in the minors. He wrapped his big league career with two appearances for the Brooklyn Superbas in 1901. In 1902, he pitched at least one game of interborough baseball in New York City, playing for the Metropolitans, according to an article in the New York Times of September 1, 1902. He also worked a number of games as a fill-in umpire during his career: one in the American Association in 1891, two in the National League in 1894, one in the NL in 1896 and another one in 1901. In his 1891 game, he both played and umpired in the game, which may be the only such incidence of that occurrence in MLB annals.

The January 1917 issue of Baseball Magazine, in an article lamenting the decline of the drop ball, said that "Another delivery that has gone, but mainly through the change of rules, was the cross-fire, Kid Carsey’s best stock in trade. When a man's foot is glued to a small slab, he can't do much cross-firing."

Baseball Digest, in May 1951, did an article called "Memories of Kid Carsey". Carsey recalled that when he was a young player, his father served as his catcher. When Carsey pitched for Oakland, he threw a no-hitter against San Francisco. In the article, he gave his recollections about Billy Hamilton, Connie Mack and John McGraw. He apparently was working for the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time of the interview, at least during spring training.

Notable Achievements

• 20 Wins Seasons: 2 (1893 & 1895)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 5 (1891-1895)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 4 (1891-1893 & 1895)
• 400 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1891)

Related Sites

• Kid Carsey at the SABR Bio Project