Pete Daniels

Note: This page discusses 1890s pitcher Pete Daniels. For the college coach of the same name, click here.

Peter J. Daniels
(Smiling Pete)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8½" Weight 160 lb.

• Debut April 19, 1890
• Final Game May 31, 1898
• Born April 8, 1864 in County Cavan, Ireland
• Died February 13, 1928 in Indianapolis, IN USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Smiling Pete Daniels pitched in the majors with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1890 and the St. Louis Browns in 1898.

Pete was born in Ireland in 1864.He and Jocko Fields are the only two major leaguers born in Ireland that year.

His parents emigrated to the United States when he was just an infant, and he grew up mainly around Louisville, KY, where his father was a stonecutter and he was apprenticed to the trade. He had minimal schooling and began to play semi-pro baseball as a teenager. In 1887, he joined the St. Joseph Reds of the Western League, his first professional team. The franchise disbanded during the year, and he found his way to the Wichita Braves later that season. He was a two-way player in the minors, getting time in the infield and outfield when he wasn't pitching; in the majors, he was strictly a pitcher, however.

He pitched in the minors at least through 1902, when he was 38.

The book Iron Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography says that Pete also had nicknames such as "Lucky Pete" and the "Smiling Mickey Welch of the Western League". The book says he was on the minor-league Kansas City Blues with McGinnity in 1894 and had played with some of the team members with the Mobile Blackbirds the previous season.

In 1896 he signed with the St. Paul Apostles of the Western League.

Related Sites

• Pete Daniels at the SABR Bio Project