Count Sensenderfer

Count Sensenderfer
Outfielder
Born: December 28, 1847 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died: May 3, 1903(1903-05-03) (aged 55) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Batted: Unknown	Threw: Unknown
MLB debut
May 20, 1871 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
October 21, 1874 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Career statistics
Games played	51
Batting average	.299
Runs batted in	34
Teams
National Association of Base Ball Players Philadelphia Athletics (1868–1870)   National Association of Professional BBP Philadelphia Athletics (1871–1874)

John Phillips Jenkins "Count" Sensenderfer (December 28, 1847 – May 3, 1903) was a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1866 to 1874.

Career

Sensenderfer joined the Athletic club at the age of eighteen in 1866, and "The Count" (he got the nickname from his moustache and aristocratic air) quickly became of the top players in the country. Originally playing second base before moving to center field, Count was one of the first players to score two hundred runs in a season, for the championship Philadelphia team of 1868. The following year, Athletic turned professional; in 1871 the club helped form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, baseball's first all-professional league.

It was in 1871 that Sensenderfer (still a solid hitter with a .323 average) began to be plagued by a series of injuries; he was unable to play in the championship contest played October 30 in Brooklyn. (Right fielder George Bechtel took Count's place in center, while Nate Berkenstock, a 40-year-old amateur retired from Athletic for five years, played right; it was his only big-league appearance.) Athletic defeated Chicago, 4-1, clinching the title.

Sensenderfer's injuries kept him out of all but one game in 1872; he returned as the club's regular center fielder in 1873 but his average slipped to .279. He played five more games for Athletic in 1874 before retiring.

After baseball

After his baseball career, Sensenderfer was involved in politics, serving two terms as Philadelphia County Commissioner. He was also an active member of the Democratic Committee of Philadelphia as well as the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee.

Count Sensendefer died in Philadelphia in 1903, at the age of 55.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Sensenderfer, Count
Alternative names	Sensenderfer, John Phillips Jenkins
Short description	Professional baseball player
Date of birth	December 28, 1847
Place of birth	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of death	May 3, 1903
Place of death	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania