Known today as “the Babe Ruth of the 1880s,” Hall of Famer Roger Connor was the greatest of the nineteenth-century home run hitters, his career total (138) having stood as the major league record for nearly 24 years—until it was broken by Ruth himself. When he retired in 1897, he was also tops in triples (233), second in walks and total bases, third in hits, and fourth in doubles. But Connor did more than swing from his heels. He was an expert bunter who averaged more than twenty stolen bases a year (some credit him with inventing the “pop-up” slide) and led the league four times in fielding. Called “The Gentleman of the Diamond,” the slugger was never ejected from a game in seventeen major league seasons.
This biography sheds new light on the life and five-decade baseball career of one of the games most admired and beloved players.

Roy Kerr, a retired professor of Spanish and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), lives in Lakeland, Florida.

Roy Kerr
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 212
Bibliographic Info: 31 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-5958-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8513-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix

Preface      1

Prologue: September 11, 1886      3

1. The Manchild      7

2. The Apprentice      23

3. The Veteran      49

4. The Brotherhood Rebel      95

5. The Journeyman      109

6. The Squire of Waterbury      138

7. The Forgotten Star      155

8. The Past Recaptured      166

Epilogue: The Giants of New York      177

Appendix A: Connor’s Nicknames      181

Appendix B: Connor’s Major and Minor League Statistics      183

Notes      185

Bibliography      196

Index      199

“how did Connor escape the mills to become the greatest baseball of his era? I refer you to Kerr’s terrific work for the answer.”—Joe Palladino, Waterbury Republican-American; “Finally, we have a qualitative biography about Roger Connor. It has been a long wait, much too long, but Roy Kerr has made it all worthwhile. This is truly important work. I couldn’t put it down.”—Bill Jenkinson, baseball historian.