King Kelly

Michael Joseph Kelly was professional baseball's first matinee idol. He was the first ballplayer to publish an autobiography, the first to have a hit song written about him, and the first to build a successful career as a stage performer. He won two batting titles, helped Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings to five pennants, invented or popularized the hook slide and the hit-and-run play, and exploited so many loopholes that it was said half the rules in the rulebook were rewritten because of him. He was sold for a record $10,000, earned the nickname the King of Baseball, drank himself into early decline, and died of pneumonia at thirty-six.

Troy to Chicago

Kelly was born on December 31, 1857, in Troy, New York, the son of Irish immigrants who had fled the potato famine. His father joined the Union Army when Mike was four. The family moved to Washington, then to Paterson, New Jersey, where both parents died while Kelly was still a boy. He and his brother James were left to fend for themselves.

He began playing professionally with the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1878, and by 1879 he was hitting .348. Cap Anson recruited him for the Chicago White Stockings before the 1880 season. In Chicago, Kelly became a star. The White Stockings won five pennants in seven years (1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886), and Kelly was at the center of all of it, batting .354 with a .524 slugging percentage in 1884 and .388 with 155 runs scored in 1886.

He played everywhere. Right field and catcher were his primary positions, but over the course of his career he also played third base, shortstop, second base, first base, left field, center field, and even pitched a dozen games. He experimented relentlessly with ways to gain an advantage. He cut corners on the basepaths when umpires looked away. He dropped his catcher's mask in front of home plate to block sliding runners. He reportedly kept an extra ball in his outfield pocket. He invented the hook slide, which in his era was called the Chicago slide, and Anson credited him with originating the hit-and-run play.

The $10,000 Beauty

After the 1886 season, Albert Spalding and Anson decided to break up the team following a World Series loss to the St. Louis Browns. Boston believed Kelly would draw the city's large Irish population to the ballpark. The purchase price was $10,000, an unheard-of sum. Kelly received a salary of $5,000 ($2,000 under the league maximum plus $3,000 "for the use of his picture for advertising purposes"). The sale made front-page news nationally. More than 10,000 fans packed the park for his first home games. Young fans followed him around town asking for autographs. A sled, a shoe polish, and a painting of Kelly sliding headfirst into second base all bore his name. In Irish taverns across Boston, reproductions of the painting replaced Custer's Last Stand on the walls.

He was perhaps the most famous person in Boston. He was handsome, red-haired, stylishly dressed, and generous with his time and money. He loved the theater, the racetrack, and the saloons. Cap Anson later wrote that Kelly "came to Chicago from Cincinnati, and soon became a general favorite. He was a whole-souled, genial fellow, with a host of friends, and but one enemy, that one being himself."

Slide, Kelly, Slide

In 1889, vaudeville songwriter John W. Kelly (no relation) wrote "Slide, Kelly, Slide!" Maggie Cline, known as the Irish Queen, performed it on stage. The sheet music was wildly popular. In 1891, Irish-born singer George J. Gaskin made a wax cylinder recording that became one of the first baseball songs to enter the charts and, by some accounts, America's first hit record.

Kelly published his autobiography, "Play Ball: Stories of the Ball Field," in 1888, a ninety-six-page softcover ghostwritten by Boston Globe journalist Jack Drohan. It was the first autobiography by a professional baseball player. He performed on the vaudeville circuit, reciting "Casey at the Bat" to mixed reviews.

The Players League and Decline

In 1890, Kelly joined the Players League, the breakaway circuit formed by players in revolt against the reserve clause. He captained and managed the Boston Reds, sharing the roster with Dan Brouthers and Old Hoss Radbourn. The team won the Players League pennant.

Albert Spalding offered Kelly $10,000 and a blank-check contract to return to the National League. Kelly asked for time to think, went for a walk, came back, and said, "I've decided not to accept." Spalding asked, "What? You don't want the $10,000?" Kelly replied, "Aw, I want the $10,000 bad enough, but I've thought the matter all over, and I can't go back on the boys. And, neither would you." Spalding shook his hand. Then Kelly borrowed $500 from him.

When the Players League collapsed after one season, Kelly's skills were fading. He played on several teams through 1893 and spent the 1894 season in the minor leagues. He had spent every cent he earned in baseball.

Boston, November 1894

Kelly left New York by boat on November 4, 1894, heading to Boston for a vaudeville engagement. A snowstorm hit during the journey. He arrived with chills and fever. Pneumonia set in by the afternoon of November 5. Hospital attendants carried his stretcher, and it slipped. "This is my last slide," he reportedly said. He held on for three days. His wife Agnes, delayed by the storm, did not arrive in time.

King Kelly died at 9:55 PM on November 8, 1894, at thirty-six years old. By some estimates, 7,000 people attended his funeral. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Old Timers Committee. His .307 career batting average, 46.0 career WAR, and 138 OPS+ confirm that the King was not merely famous. He was, by the measures available, genuinely great.