Count Sensenderfer

John Phillips Jenkins "Count" Sensenderfer (December 28, 1847 – May 3, 1903) was a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1866 to 1874.

Count Sensenderfer
Outfielder
Born: December 28, 1847
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Died: May 3, 1903(1903-05-03) (aged 55)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Batted: Unknown
Threw: Unknown
MLB debut
May 20, 1871, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
October 21, 1874, for the Philadelphia Athletics
MLB statistics
Home runs0
Runs batted in34
Batting average.299
Teams
  National Association of Base Ball Players
Philadelphia Athletics (1866–1870)
  National Association of Professional BBP
Philadelphia Athletics (1871–1874)

Early life

John Phillip Jenkins Sensenderfer was born on December 28, 1847, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to James, a carpenter, and his wife Mary.[1][2] Initially, he grew up in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia,[2] but later moved to different parts of the city.[3][4] He had at least three brothers (George, William, James), and two sisters (Mary and Hannah).[2][3][4]

Career

Sensenderfer joined the Athletic club at the age of eighteen in 1866, and "The Count" (he got the nickname from his moustache and aristocratic air) quickly became of the top players in the country. Originally playing second base before moving to center field, Count was one of the first players to score two hundred runs in a season, for the championship Philadelphia team of 1868. The following year, Athletic turned professional; in 1871 the club helped form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, baseball's first all-professional league.

It was in 1871 that Sensenderfer (still a solid hitter with a .323 average) began to be plagued by a series of injuries; he was unable to play in the championship contest played October 30 in Brooklyn. (Right fielder George Bechtel took Count's place in center, while Nate Berkenstock, a 40-year-old amateur retired from Athletic for five years, played right; it was his only big-league appearance.) Athletic defeated Chicago, 4-1, clinching the title.

Sensenderfer's injuries kept him out of all but one game in 1872; he returned as the club's regular center fielder in 1873 but his average slipped to .279. He played five more games for Athletic in 1874 before retiring.

After baseball

On October 20, 1881, Sensenderfer married Mary Eudora Wagner in Philadelphia, and listed his religion as protestant episcopal.[5]

After his baseball career, Sensenderfer was involved in politics, serving two terms as Philadelphia County Commissioner. He was also an active member of the Democratic Committee of Philadelphia as well as the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee.

Sensendefer died on May 3, 1903, at the age of 55 in Philadelphia, and is interred at Lawnview Cemetery in Rockledge, Pennsylvania.[6]

References
  1. "Count Sensenderfer". retrosheet.org. Retrosheet, Inc. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  2. "1850 United States Federal Census about John Sensenderfer". ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  3. "1860 United States Federal Census about Jno Sensenderfer". ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  4. "1870 United States Federal Census about Jhon Sensenderfer". ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  5. "Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 about John Philip Jenkins Sensenderfer". ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  6. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 about John P J Sensenderfer". ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
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