Joe Kelley

Joseph James Kelley batted .317 over 17 major league seasons, stole 443 bases, and played left field on the Baltimore Orioles teams that won three consecutive National League pennants from 1894 through 1896. He was one of five future Hall of Famers on those rosters, alongside John McGraw, Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, and Wilbert Robinson. Kelley, McGraw, Keeler, and Jennings were known as the "Big Four," and Kelley led the group in power and run production. Female fans in Baltimore called him "Handsome Joe," and the left field bleachers at Union Park were dubbed "Kelleyville." He kept a mirror and a comb in his back pocket during games.

Cambridge

Kelley was born on December 9, 1871, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents, Patrick and Ann Carney Kelley, were Irish immigrants. Patrick worked as a marble cutter. Kelley attended St. Thomas Aquinas school in Cambridge and practiced with the Harvard Crimson baseball team while working for a local piano manufacturer and the John P. Lowell Arms Company. He played semipro ball for the Lowell Arms team before signing with Lowell of the New England League in 1891, where he pitched and played every position in the field, batted .323, and won 10 games on the mound before the team folded in July.

The Boston Beaneaters picked him up for 12 games at the end of 1891. He played for Omaha in the Western League in early 1892, hitting .316, before Pittsburgh purchased his contract in July. He hit .239 in 56 games for Pittsburgh before Baltimore acquired him that September, sending George Van Haltren to the Pirates and receiving Kelley and $2,000.

Baltimore

Manager Ned Hanlon transformed Kelley from a mediocre utility player into a Hall of Famer. Hanlon gave him intensive personal instruction, moved him from center field to left, and built an offense around speed, deception, and intimidation. The Orioles reportedly packed the dirt around home plate hard enough to produce high-bouncing ground balls (the "Baltimore chop"), sprinkled soap flakes on the pitcher's mound, and sharpened their spikes before games in full view of the opposition.

Kelley thrived. He hit .393 in 1894, .365 in 1895, .364 in 1896, and .362 in 1897, posting 11 consecutive seasons at .300 or better from 1893 through 1903. He stole 87 bases in 1896, leading the National League. On September 3, 1894, in a doubleheader sweep of the Cleveland Spiders, he went 9-for-9 across both games, including four consecutive doubles off Cy Young in the nightcap.

The Orioles won the pennant in 1894, 1895, and 1896, and won the Temple Cup in 1896 and 1897. Kelley hit .471 in the 1896 Temple Cup and .313 in the 1897 Cup. McGraw later said of him, "Joe had no prominent weakness. He was fast on the bases, could hit the ball hard and was as graceful an outfielder as one would care to see."

Kelley married Margaret Mahon on October 14, 1897. Keeler served as best man, and McGraw and Jennings were in the wedding party. His father-in-law, John J. "Sonny" Mahon, was a prominent Baltimore Democratic politician.

Brooklyn and Cincinnati

When syndicate ownership sent most of Baltimore's stars to Brooklyn in 1899, Kelley went reluctantly. He hit .325 in 1899 and .319 in 1900 as Brooklyn won pennants both years. He returned briefly to a reconstituted Baltimore club in the American League in 1902, serving as co-manager with Robinson after McGraw's departure, before joining the Cincinnati Reds as player-manager that July.

He managed the Reds through 1905, compiling a 275-230 record, and resigned after the season. "I am tired of being roasted," he said. "I had a great deal of hard luck while manager of the team and somehow or other couldn't get the best out of the material I had at hand." He managed the Boston Doves in 1908 and was fired after one season.

After Baseball

Kelley managed the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1907, left for the Boston job, then returned and managed Toronto from 1909 through 1914, winning pennants in 1907 and 1912. He earned $5,000, the highest salary in the minor leagues at the time. He returned to the major leagues briefly as a coach for Wilbert Robinson's Brooklyn Robins in 1926.

He scouted for the New York Yankees in 1915 and 1916. In retirement he worked as a court clerk at the Baltimore courthouse and served on the Maryland State Racing Commission. He followed baseball through the newspapers and attended Old-Timers' games in Baltimore.

He died on August 14, 1943, at his home on North Calvert Street in Baltimore, at 71, after a yearlong illness. The vigil was held at his home and a high mass at St. Philip and James Church. He was buried at New Cathedral Cemetery in west Baltimore, where McGraw, Robinson, and Hanlon are also interred.

In 17 seasons he accumulated 1,853 games, 2,220 hits, 358 doubles, 194 triples, 65 home runs, 1,194 RBI, 443 stolen bases, and a .317 batting average. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1971.