Arlie Latham

Infobox MLB retired
name=Arlie Latham

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caption=Latham (right) in 1909, serving as a player/coach for the New York Giants.
position=Third baseman
birthdate=March 15, 1860
city-state|West Lebanon|New Hampshire
deathdate=death date and age|1952|11|29|1860|3|15
city-state|Garden City|New York
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=July 5
debutyear=by|1880
debutteam=Buffalo Bisons
finaldate=September 30
finalyear=by|1909
finalteam=New York Giants
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.269
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=1,833
stat3label=Runs
stat3value=1,478
teams=As Player
*Buffalo Bisons (by|1880)
*St. Louis Browns (by|1883-by|1889)
*Chicago Pirates (by|1890)
*Cincinnati Reds (by|1890-by|1895)
*St. Louis Browns (by|1896)
*Washington Senators (by|1899)
*New York Giants (by|1909)As Manager
*St. Louis Browns (by|1896)
highlights=
* 8th all time for stolen bases in a career (739)
* Led the American Association for most runs scored (1886, with 152)
* Led the Major Leagues for most stolen bases (1888, with 109)
* Oldest Player in the Major Leagues (1909, at 49)

Walter Arlington Latham (March 15 1860 – November 29 1952) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball from by|1880-by|1909. Nicknamed "The Freshest Man on Earth", Latham was a colorful player known for playing practical jokes on his owner Chris von der Ahe and manager Charles Comiskey. In one famous stunt, he lit a firecracker under third base in an effort to "wake himself up", after Comiskey had been complaining about him falling asleep on the job. Also he would occasionally put on a clown's nose while walking behind von der Ahe.

Latham was known as a very good base stealer in his day. In by|1887, as a member of the St. Louis Browns, he stole 129 bases. This record is not recognized by Major League Baseball, as stolen bases were defined differently prior to by|1898. In 1909, he became the oldest man in Major League history to steal a base, at the age of 49, a record that still stands today. Latham ended his career with 739 stolen bases. Latham’s baserunning expertise was apparently purely instinctive.

He holds the career record for errors at third base, with 822, more than 200 more than the next player on the list. He apparently had the habbit of letting catchable ground balls go by him by standing still as one passed to his side. Until decades after his playing days, when a third baseman did this it was said that he "Arlie Lathamed it."

Latham was major league baseball's first full-time coach... When he was a player, as at that time there were of course no coaches, he would stand on the third base line and yell insults at the other team's pitcher, attempting to distract him and give the Browns an advantage. One of his techniques was to scream while running up and down the third base line during the pitcher's delivery. The coach's box was introduced to prevent him from doing this.

In 1907, John McGraw, the manager of the New York Giants, hired him as their third base coach. Latham tried to do the same things in New York as he had done years earlier in St. Louis, but times had changed and screaming obscenities was not looked well upon, as baseball was being changed into more of a family-friendly game by then. In the opinion of Fred Snodgrass he was “probably the worst third base coach that ever lived”.

He died in Garden City, New York, at the age of 92.

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball players with 300 stolen bases
* List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions

External links

*baseball-reference|id=l/lathaar01