Phenomenal Smith

From BR Bullpen

John Francis Smith born John Francis Gammon

Bats Left, Throws Left
Weight 161 lb.

Debut April 18, 1884
Final Game June 15, 1891
Born December 12, 1864 in Philadelphia, PA USA
Died April 3, 1952 in Manchester, NH USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Phenomenal Smith was born John Francis Gammon in 1864 in Philadelphia, PA. According to the Museum of New Hampshire History, Smith lived most of his life in New Hampshire and got his nickname when he struck out 16 batters in a game in 1885 while pitching for Newark, with no batter hitting the ball out of the infield.

He broke into the majors in 1884 at the age of 19 with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association. He lost 4 games in 1884 and 1885 - giving up 43 runs in those four games - before winning one with the 1886 Detroit Wolverines, who went 87-36. The Wolverines that year featured the famous Big Four.

The next year, he and Matt Kilroy constituted the starting rotation of the 1887 Baltimore Orioles, with Smith winning 25 games. However, he lost 30, on a team whose record was 77-58. Kilroy went 46-19. The team's performance dropped substantially the following year, with both Kilroy and Smith losing more games than they won, as did Bert Cunningham, the third pitcher in the rotation.

Smith went back to Philadelphia for most of the remainder of his career, getting most of his decisions in 1890, when he went 8-12 on a Phillies team that had a record of 78-53. Kid Gleason, the star of the rotation, went 38-17.

In spite of his won/lost records, though, he often had decent ERA's, finishing in the top ten in the league in 1887. And he could hit and also run decently, with a .250 batting average, a .332 on-base percentage, 10 triples and 17 stolen bases.

He became a minor league manager and discovered Christy Mathewson. He managed at Norfolk and also at Manchester, where as a player-manager he won the batting championship in 1902. Later, he was on the Manchester police force for many years and after retirement continued to live in Manchester until his death.