Jay Pike

Jacob Emanuel Pike was an outfielder who played in Major League Baseball during the 1877 season.

Baseball career

Pike batted and threw left-handed. He is credited as the first ballplayer named Jay to appear in a major league game. His brother, Lipman Emanuel Pike, had much more renown and is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Pike was a major league player whose major league career, statistically speaking, was only slightly different than that of Red Bluhm, Eddie Gaedel, or Moonlight Graham. On August 27, 1877, he appeared in one game for the Brooklyn Hartfords of the National League. Pike connected one hit in four at-bats in his only game for a .250 batting average, but he made an error in the outfield. [Note that although [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pikeja01.shtml baseball-reference.com] says his only game was played in right field, a contemporaneous box score from "The New York Times" reports that he played center field. The box score also credits him with a putout that is omitted from the [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pikeja01.shtml baseball-reference.com] version of his record. See citation | title=Base-Ball: The Cincinnati Red Stockings Defeated by the Brooklyn Hartfords | newspaper=The New York Times | pages=2 | date=1877-08-28 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F05E5DA1F3BE532A2575BC2A96E9C946690D7CF .] Pike also played the outfield for the Lowell, Massachusetts team that won the 1875 state championship and claimed the New England title. That same year, he also served as a umpire in the National Association.

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pikeja01.shtml Baseball Reference stats]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jay_Pike BR Bullpen profile]
* [http://www.futilityinfielder.com/leadoff03.html Futility Infielder]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=baseball&ID=136 Jews in Sports]