Phil Powers

Philip J. Powers
(Grandmother)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 166 lb.

• Debut August 31, 1878
• Final Game August 26, 1885
• Born July 26, 1854 in New York, NY USA
• Died December 22, 1914 in New York, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Phil Powers played at a time when catchers didn't have to hit .200 to stick in the majors. Powers played seven seasons and hit .180.

Powers, who played for a team in London, Ontario, Canada, before and after his major league days, was an early experimenter while at London with a catcher's glove. Powers, not a Canadian, had been one of several U.S. players recruited to stock the London team. He suffered a broken finger while with the team in 1877, which may have been an incentive to experiment with a glove.

Powers also was a major league umpire, working a total of 529 games in the National League between 1879 and 1891, a very considerable number for the time.

In early 1915 one of Sporting Life's columnists wrote about the death of Phil Powers as follows:

"Phil Powers is dead. Only one of Cincinnati's papers carried the story. . . and yet Phil belongs in the Red Hall of Fame. He was one of the famed team which captured the only pennant Cincinnati ever hoisted to the breezes. . . He was a tall, rawboned fellow . . ."

Related Sites

• Phil Powers at Retrosheet,org
• Baseball History Daily story on Phil Powers part 1
• Baseball History Daily story on Phil Powers part 2