Sam Dungan

Samuel Morrison Dungan

• Bats Right, Throws Unknown
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut April 12, 1892
• Final Game September 27, 1901
• Born July 29, 1866 in Ferndale, CA USA
• Died March 16, 1939 in Santa Ana, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Sam Dungan had two careers in the major leagues. In his first career, from 1892-94, he was primarily a regular outfielder for the Chicago Colts. In his second career, from 1900-01, he was primarily a regular outfielder for the Washington Senators. In between, he was a long-time presence in the Western League.

Dungan came up at the age of 25 with the Chicago Colts in 1892, and took the place in the outfield that Cliff Carroll had occupied the previous year. The other outfielders, Jimmy Ryan and Walt Wilmot, continued in 1892. Ryan was the star of the team, and while Dungan's batting average of .284 was almost as high as Ryan's, his slugging percentage (.360) was nowhere near Ryan's.

The same outfield returned in 1893, and Dungan hit .297/.350/.389, while the other outfielders hit .301 and .299. While his raw numbers look better than in '92, the league offensive context had changed drastically, making Sam go from an above-average hitter to a below-average one. The next year he played only 10 games before the Colts traded him to the Louisville Colonels, where he appeared in only 8 games, hitting .344/.417/.375 - with offense getting even more prolific, even this line was below the league average.

He spent most of the 1894 season with the Detroit Wolverines, batting an extremely healthy .447/~.492/.725; had he qualified he would have finished in the offense-friendly Western League in average. In '95, Dungan spent all year with Detroit, nearly winning the batting championship as his .424 as he was 4 points behind leader Perry Werden.

After a year off the leader board, Dungan hit .378 for the 1897 Wolverines, second in the WL again, trailing only Algie McBride. He fell to third place in '98 with a .325 mark for Detroit, behind Jimmy Slagle and Jimmy Williams. He finally won the batting championship in 1899 with a .347 clip, edging Lefty Davis by nine points.

At age 33, he appeared in 6 games with Chicago, now called the Chicago Orphans, hitting .267/.312/.267 on a team that hit .260. In May 1900, he was traded to the Kansas City Blues of the minor-league American League (the former WL), and won the batting championship with a .337/~.382/.433 line. He also led the AL in OBP and was third in slugging (behind Perry Werden and Socks Seybold).

In 1901, he came up with the Washington Senators for his last year in the majors, getting 559 at-bats and hitting .320/.368/.415. His batting average and slugging percentage were 2nd highest on the team. His career offensive line in the majors was .301/.356/.386 for a 107 OPS+, okay for a right fielder.

He played for the Memphis Egyptians in 1905.

Sources include The Western League by W.C. Madden and Patrick Stewart and research by Ray Nemec

Related Sites

Baseball History Daily story about Sam Dungan