Mike Ryan (ryanmi01)

Michael Patrick Ryan

• Bats Unknown, Throws Right

• Debut July 25, 1895
• Final Game July 27, 1895
• Born June 7, 1868 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died September 3, 1935 in Natchez, MS USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Mike Ryan played two games with the St. Louis Browns of the National League in July of 1895. The record shows that third baseman Ryan appeared at bat twice and recorded no base hits but committed one error in his time with the Browns.

For years this player had been listed as John J. Ryan, but notes from the St. Louis Republic Newspaper state that his name was Mike Ryan and that he had played with the Memphis Giants of the Southern Association in 1892 and the Natchez Team of the Mississippi State League in 1893.

SABR Researcher Peter Morris found an article in the Dallas Morning News from 1903 that states: "Mike Ryan, former Southern League ballplayer, for some years a Natchez policeman, shot and killed a burglar".

The researcher contacted some people he knew in Natchez and found that Mike Ryan became the Natchez police chief, died in 1935, and was buried in the Natchez City Cemetery. The researcher sent for both a death certificate and an obituary. Ryan died September 3, 1935 in Natchez, MS and the obituary stated that he had been a professional baseball player when he moved to Natchez. As it says on his Headstone, "He was a terror to all evildoers."

Sources and Further Reading

• Baseball-Reference.com
  
• SABR MILB Database:page
  
• "Mike Ryan", in Bill Carle, ed.: January/February 2009 Report, Biographical Research Commmittee, SABR, Cleveland, OH, p. 1.