Leech Maskrey

Samuel Leech Maskrey (February 11, 1854 – April 1, 1922) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played five seasons in the majors, from 1882 to 1886, for the Louisville Eclipse/Colonels and Cincinnati Red Stockings.[1] His brother, Harry Maskrey, was his teammate on the 1882 Eclipse.

Leech Maskrey
Maskrey with the Louisville Eclipse in 1882
Outfielder
Born: (1854-02-11)February 11, 1854
Mercer, Pennsylvania
Died: April 1, 1922(1922-04-01) (aged 68)
Mercer, Pennsylvania
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 2, 1882, for the Louisville Eclipse
Last MLB appearance
July 7, 1886, for the Cincinnati Red Stockings
MLB statistics
Batting average.225
Home runs2
Runs scored190
Teams

Biography

After spending the 1887 to 1889 seasons playing minor league baseball, Maskrey was part of a contingent sent to England in 1890 by Albert Spalding at the behest of the newly-formed professional National League of Baseball of Great Britain. He was signed by Preston North End Baseball Club as player-coach and was club captain.[2] This organization had sent a letter to the American Spalding requesting help in establishing a league. They requested eight to ten players to coach and convert the existing players (whose primary game was usually soccer). Spalding sent a skilled manager, Jim Hart, along with players Maskrey, William J. Barr, Charles Bartlett, and J. E. Prior.[3] Maskrey was the only one of the players who had played in the majors to that point, and he stayed there for one season as a player-manager of Preston North End.

Following his time in England, Maskrey returned to the U.S. minor leagues in 1891, where he played for the Tacoma team in the Pacific Northwestern League. After spending the 1892 season with the Atlanta Firecrackers of the Southern Association, part of which he spent as a player-manager, he retired and went into the hotel business with his brother Harry.

References
  1. "Leech Maskrey's career statistics". retrosheet.org. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  2. "The Baseball Championship". Lancashire Evening Post. 24 June 1890. p. 4.
  3. Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines, Jerry Kuntz, p.47, accessed May 2010
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