Arthur Irwin

Arthur Albert "Foxy" Irwin (February 14 1858 – July 16 1921) was a Canadian-American shortstop and manager in Major League Baseball during the late nineteenth century. The fame earned by Irwin during a 13-year (1880-1891; 1894) playing career and eight years as a manager would be eclipsed by the circumstances of his death – an apparent suicide – more than two decades after his last major league game.

Born in Toronto, United Canada, and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Irwin played for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1880-82), Providence Grays (1883-85), Philadelphia Quakers/Phillies (1886-89, 1894), and Washington Nationals (1889) of the National League and for the Boston Reds in the Players League (1890) and American Association (1891). A left-handed hitter, Irwin appeared in 1,010 games and batted .241.

Irwin was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and his plaque notes that he is "best known for popularizing the fielder's glove. Not wanting to miss any games after he broke two fingers on his left hand in a game, Irwin improvised and made a glove from a large driving glove, adding padding, a button at the back, and sewed the third and fourth fingers together. The glove was soon adopted by other players and became known as the 'Irwin Glove.'" [ [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=irwinar01 Arthur Irwin Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac ] ]

He managed Washington (1889, 1892, 1898-99), the Phillies (1894-95), and the New York Giants (1896) of the National League, and Boston of the American Association in 1891. He led Boston to the 1891 AA pennant – the last year the Association was classified as a major league – and compiled a winning record (149-110) with the Phillies. But in his other five seasons as a pilot, his clubs posted losing records and over his managing career he won 416 and lost 427 (.493). In 1897, he returned to his hometown to manage the Toronto team in the Eastern League, leading the team for two seasons.

After serving as a scout for the New York Highlanders in the early years of the American League, Irwin left baseball entirely due to ill health. In July 1921, he was a passenger on the vessel "Calvin Austin" as it steamed from New York City to Boston when he mysteriously disappeared. Irwin, 63, was presumed drowned. Within days of his apparent suicide, it was discovered that Irwin had led a "double life" for 30 years, with a wife and child in Boston and a common-law wife and three offspring in New York. He was apparently successful in keeping these arrangements secret; they only came to light after his death.

According to one report, Irwin had learned that he had an incurable disease just before his ill-fated steamer trip. Said his legal wife, in Boston, upon hearing of Irwin's double life: "I feel confident and happy in the belief that, although he had this other woman in New York, he was on his way to me when he died … He turned to me as the woman he loved at the last. He wanted to die in my arms."

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/i/irwinar01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com] - career playing statistics and managing record
* [http://www.thedeadballera.com http://www.thedeadballera.com]