Scrappy Carroll
From BR Bullpen
John E. Carroll
- Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
- Debut September 27, 1884
- Final Game October 3, 1887
- Born August 27, 1860 in Buffalo, NY USA
- Died November 14, 1942 in Buffalo, NY USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Scrappy Carroll was born and died in Buffalo, NY, and played for several teams in Buffalo in both the majors and minors. He also played for other major league and minor league teams, including multiple years in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Utica.
Carroll was remembered recently when Dustin Pedroia won the MVP award. The term "scrappy" was analyzed by at least a couple writers, and Carroll was identified as perhaps the first ballplayer to have the moniker.
In fact, he and Scrappy Moore are the only major leaguers (through 2009) with that first name, while "Scrappy" Bill Joyce informally had the nickname.
Carroll is mentioned in the article about the 1884 Union Association in the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. He had the most hits in a group of 72 1884 Union Association players that Bill James put together to analyze whether players without much major league playing time outside of the UA had success.
