Abner Dalrymple

[Cowtipper]

Abner Dalrymple was a power hitter before there were power hitters - in 1884, he had 24 home runs, and in 1885 he had 11. Oddly, he never hit more than three any other season. Dalrymple played 12 years in the big leagues, posting an OPS+ of 122 and a batting average of .288. He led the league in games once, plate appearances three times, at-bats four times, runs once, hits once, EXBH once, AB/HR once, total bases twice, singles once, and home runs once.

Statistically, he is not similar to any Hall of Famers. However, he is similar to greats such as Taylor Douthit, Mule Haas, Tom York, Ira Flagstead, Fred Schulte, Jack Smith, Barney McCoskey, Harry Rice, Mike Kreevich and Johnny Hopp.

Dalrymple had some great, seasons, like 1878 when he hit .354, 1880 when he hit .330 and led the league in AB, TB, runs, and hits. In 884 he led the league in PA, AB, TB and he hit .309.

Well, do you think Dalrymple should be in the Hall of Fame?

[Francoeurstein]

Abner Dalrymple. That to me seems more like a professional shuffleboarder name rather than a baseball one.

[JDD]

Incorrect, you are thinking of Wahoo Dalrymple, professional surf boarder.

[KCGHOST]

I can't see the HoF needing another short career OFer from the 19th Century.

[Paul Wendt]

Abner Dalrymple was the speedy leftfielder and leadoff batter for the Chicago White Stockings that won five NL pennants in seven years. In 1884 he benefited from home ballpark and grounds rule to hit a lot of homeruns. Without the grounds rule homers he led the league in 1885 with half the number.

All three White Stockings outfielders partied a little more than president Spalding preferred. After the world championship defeat by St Louis in 1886, Chicago sold Dalrymple to Pittsburgh, George Gore to New York, and Mike Kelly to Boston. Dalrymple proved to be done as a productive player.

He is another player like John Reilly. They probably deserved coverage in the first round of the Ultimate Quest for Candidates, in this forum 12-18 months ago. The Hall of Fame is long on outfielders and firstbasemen from the early days, short on other infielders and catchers.

[nerfan]

Didn't he get to hit over the short fence that year?

[Paul Wendt]

Only in 1884, the last season at Lake Front Park. Earlier the grounds rules provided over-the-fence doubles in the short field. With a new home ballpark in 1885 the team dominated homerun leaders again but with much lower numbers. Dalrymple leading the league seems to me a fluke performance.

Home Runs, Chicago White Stockings 1883-1885 (98, 113, and 113 games)

2 27 3 Williamson, 3b
1 25 5 Pfeffer, 2b
2 22 11 *Dalrymple, lf
0 21 7 Anson, 1b
3 13 9 Kelly, rf-c/3/s
0 9 1 Flint, c (1884, 73 of 113 games)
2 7 7 Burns, ss (1884, 83 of 113 games)
2 5 5 *Gore, cf

0 4 2 *Sunday, rf (1884, 43 of 113 games)

* left-hand batters (and speedy runners)

Granting full credit to ties for tenth place, none of them earned grey ink for home runs in 1883, seven in 1884, six in 1885 (bold). In 1884 the team leaders ranked 1-2-3-4 and 6(Kelly) in the league; Flint hit homeruns at Kelly's rate; Burns and Sunday both homered at rate ten per full season. So they had eight players at rate 10 or more plus CF George Gore with 5 homeruns (rate 5) who actually tied for tenth in the league.

By the way, beside Pfeffer the seven regular players were together for all seven seasons 1880-86. The team used eight regulars until 1886 when Jimmy Ryan joined the outfield. Kelly played catcher, right, and everywhere.