Paddy Livingston

Patrick Joseph Livingston

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 197 lb.

• Debut September 2, 1901
• Final Game June 24, 1917
• Born January 14, 1880 in Cleveland, OH USA
• Died September 19, 1977 in Cleveland, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Paddy Livingston was a catcher 23 years (1898-1920), seven in the Majors (1901; 1906; 1909-1912; 1917) and 21 in the minors (1898-1905; 1907-1908; 1910-1920).

Livingston was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues in 1901, with the Cleveland Blues. He played for the Blues (1901); the Cincinnati Reds (1906); the Philadelphia Athletics (1909-1911); the Cleveland Naps (1912); and the St. Louis Cardinals (1917), where he played his final major league game on at age 37. He returned to the minors until 1920, ending his baseball career at age 40. He also starred with the champion Toledo Mud Hens (1912-1913).

He was reputed to be the record holder for fewest strikeouts, 500 or more career ABs, although that record is in dispute because of limited record-keeping.

Livingston was a popular, good-natured, well-liked man who was famous for being frugal. Reportedly, in spring training in 1906 with Cincinnati, he lived the entire camp on the first $25 expense check that was given out for the first week.

After his playing career ended, Livingston was a Philadelphia Athletics coach in 1919. He then worked 43 years for the city of Cleveland's bridge maintenance department, retiring in 1963. Paddy was the last surviving player from the inaugural season of the American League in 1901 and also the oldest living ex-player when he died at age 97 in St. John's Hospital in Cleveland. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.

Gene "Three Finger" Carney's play "Mornings After," is based on the life of Paddy Livingston.

Famous Last

Last living player from the inaugural American League season (1901)

Chronology

• 1911: The "Joss Game" All-Stars: On April 14th, the baseball world was stunned by the news that Addie Joss, star pitcher for Cleveland, had died. The 31-year-old had succumbed to meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain. Charles Somers, the owner of the Cleveland team, wanted to put together a benefit game for the Joss family. These games were a long-standing tradition in baseball, but Somers was calling for the greatest benefit ever seen, with some of the greatest players. On July 24th, they gathered to play and raised well over $13,000 for widow Lillian Joss. Playing were Bobby Wallace, Frank Baker, Joe Wood, Walter Johnson, Hal Chase, Clyde Milan, Russ Ford, Eddie Collins, Germany Schaefer, Tris Speaker, Sam Crawford, Jimmy McAleer, Ty Cobb, Gabby Street and Livingston.
• 1911: On July 12th, in the 1st inning of a 9–0 win over the Philadelphia Athletics at Detroit, Ty Cobb walked then on consecutive pitches stole second base, third base and home off lefty Harry Krause. Twice he beat perfect throws by catcher Ira Thomas. After Cobb reached on a fielder's choice in the 3rd, Crawford hit a home run. In the 7th, Cobb walked, was bunted to second base, and scored on a sacrifice fly, knocking the ball out of the hands of the new catcher Paddy Livingston.
• 1911: On December 6th, Livingston was purchased by the Cleveland Naps from the Athletics.

Notable Achievements

• Won two World Series with the Philadelphia Athletics (1910 & 1911) (he did not play in either World Series)

Sources

Principal sources for Paddy Livingston include newspaper obituaries (OB), government records (VA,CM,CW), Sporting Life (SL), Baseball Digest, The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR), TSN's Daguerreotypes (none) (DAG), The Historical Register, The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase(PD), The Baseball Library (BL); various Encyclopediae including The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball by Turkin & Thompson (T&T), MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia (Mac), Total Baseball (TB), The Bill James Historical Abstract (BJ) and The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (LJ); Retrosheet (RS), The Baseball Chronology (BC), Baseball Page (BP), The Baseball Almanac (BA), Baseball Cube (B3) and obituaries at deadballera.com (DBE) as well as research by Reed Howard (RH), Pat Doyle (PD) and Frank Hamilton (FH).

Related Sites

• Paddy Livingston at the SABR Bio Project