Mike Tiernan

Michael Joseph Tiernan
(Silent Mike)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• Debut April 30, 1887
• Final Game July 31, 1899
• Born January 21, 1867 in Trenton, NJ USA
• Died November 7, 1918 in New York, NY USA

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Biographical Information

Tiernan in 1891

"In the early days of the Giants the name of Mike Tiernan was on the lips of every baseball fan, and to this day the old-timers talk about the long drives which Silent Mike used to make in Harlem." - from Mike Tiernan's obituary in the New York Times

Mike Tiernan was one of the best hitters of the 19th Century. The most similar player, according to similarity scores, is Harry Stovey, and there are four Hall of Famers on his similarity list, with the most similar Hall of Famer being Earle Combs (although, since the similarity scores method does not account for differing eras, Tiernan's contemporary, Hall of Famer Sam Thompson, is a better comparison).

Tiernan began playing professionally in New Jersey in 1884. He attracted attention from the New York managers playing with the Jersey Cities in 1886, signing with New York in 1887. See [1]

Playing his whole major league career with the New York Giants, he was an outfielder who also pitched five games when he was a rookie. He led the National League in OPS+ in 1890 and 1891 with scores around 160, and had other years where his OPS+ was almost as high. He was a member of two editions of the Giants that won early versions of the World Series, in 1888 and 1889. He worked one National League game as an umpire in 1895.

He was the keeper of a café in New York in 1907 as per this newspaper article [2].

He died in 1918 after a long illness. His New York Times obituary called him a "Famous Slugger" and a "Great Baseball Hero".

Notable Achievements

• NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1890)
• 2-time NL OPS Leader (1890 & 1891)
• NL Runs Scored Leader (1889)
• NL Total Bases Leader (1890)
• 2-time NL Home Runs Leader (1890 & 1891)
• NL Bases on Balls Leader (1889)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1893)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 7 (1889-1891, 1893 & 1895-1897)
• 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 3 (1888, 1890 & 1891)

Related Sites

• Mike Tiernan at the SABR Bio Project
• Silent Mike Tiernan Dies