“short-stops are now required to cover the bases so frequently-second base in particular-that they have become almost part and parcel of the basemen-team of a nine.” įour years later Sporting Life added a few more chores: Twelve years later, Chadwick updated his job description: “In selecting your short-stop, let him be an accurate thrower to begin with, but especially should he be noted for his activity in backing up every player in the infield as occasion may require…always on the move and on the lookout, first behind third base, then running home to help the catcher.” Obsessive baseball maven, Henry Chadwick, observed the evolution of the “shortstop” position from Fourth outfielder: Although the play was quite a trick then, it became a commonplace defensive maneuver within a few years. One of the earliest published reports of the 6-4-3 Double-play appeared in Augedition of the New York Clipper. Which shortstop turned the first “double play”? “George Wright was the first man to play the position deep and close to second base…and in 1869 Wright and Charley Sweasy were the first players to work the two positions as they are worked today. “Dickey Pearce…is the first man to play the position as it is played now. That started to change in 1856 when Dickey Pearce joined the Atlantics of Brooklyn…he helped to helped to transform the position into a key defensive one.” “ Since all of these functions were to some extent afterthoughts, shortstop was not a very glamorous position during these years. “I used to play shortstop and I believe I was the first one to occupy that place, as it had formerly been left uncovered.” Īlthough shortstop is the prominent, “star,” position in today’s infield, Peter Morris notes that, it was nearly insignificant in the early days of the game:
The hoary lore of baseball makes it difficult to definitively say who was the “first” man to play the position that we call “shortstop” today.Ī member of the club that founded most of the rules, Daniel Adams, of the Knickerbockers, lays claim: “At each of the bases is stationed one man to watch the runner and the fielders, who are outside, throw the ball to him in order that he may touch the runner with it before he reaches the bag.” In 1859, the “fourth outfielder” was used in a variety of ways with no designated location or position title: “Men played but few games and their arms were not in condition to make long throws.”
Reporter, Tim Murnane, a former player, mentioned another reason that the outfielders required a relay man: “The short-stop acted as a utility man and would go out in the field and take the ball from the out-fielders and send it to the home-plate or to the in-field.” With the “base me” playing close to the three bags, the rover would race out to take the throw from whichever outfielder was making the run for the ball. With the advent of a livelier ball in 1896, the outfielders had to play much deeper and this created the need for the ball to be relayed back to the infield and gave the rover a new assignment. In a very early version of today’s “shift,” the rover would fill the hole either side of the infield, depending on whether it was a Right or Left-handed batter. The man we call the “shortstop” today started as a fourth outfielder. Sometimes the rover would station himself just outside the infield, between the bag-hugging “base men.” Prior to 1849 the three basemen stood on, or very near, their assigned bag that left a rover, who usually roamed between the outfielders and the infielders. 250 at bat are still highly valued, if they can make all the routine plays and that one spectacular play that can save a run and a game. Today, even shortstops who can barely make it to.
But, there were no shortstops when baseball began in America it was the last position to be added to the defense. Today shortstops are considered a premium position and more balls are hit to that player than any other on the field.
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