| Bob Addy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Right fielder/Second Baseman | |
| Born: February 1842 (1842-02) Port Hope, Canada West[1] | |
| Died: April 9, 1910(1910-04-09) (aged 68) Pocatello, Idaho, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 6, 1871, for the Rockford Forest Citys | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 8, 1877, for the Cincinnati Reds | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .277 |
| Home runs | 1 |
| Runs batted in | 167 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| |
| Member of the Canadian | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 2021 |
Robert Edward Addy (February 1842 – April 9, 1910), nicknamed "the Magnet",[1] was a Canadianright fielder andsecond baseman inMajor League Baseball, whose professional career spanned from1871 in theNational Association to1877 in theNational League. He is credited as the first player to introduce theslide in an organized game, and later attempted to create a game of baseball that would have been played on ice. He is also credited as the first person born in Canada to appear in a major league game.[2][a]
Born inPort Hope, Ontario, he is credited with employing the first slide in an organized baseball game, while playing for the 1866Rockford Forest Citys of theNational Association of Base Ball Players.[3] He was still playing for the Forrest Citys in 1869,[4] and was with them two years later when Rockford joined the first all-professional league, theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players.[5]
Rockford lasted just the one season in the Association, and Addy did not rejoin the league until1873 when he joined thePhiladelphia White Stockings. He played in ten games asplayer-manager, before moving on and joining theBoston Red Stockings later in the season.[1] He helped the Red Stockings win the league title that year,[6] playing in right field,hitting .355, and finished ninth in the league with a .354on-base percentage.[1] On January 20, 1874, the National Association's Judiciary Committee met to discuss, among other things, charges that Addy had joined theBoston Red Stockings before 60 days had elapsed since leaving the Philadelphia club. He was acquitted of the charge and was allowed to play.[7]
He did not play for the Red Stockings in 1874, as he signed to play for theHartford Dark Blues, but his batting declined to .239, and his on-base percentage dropped to .243.[5] For the1875 season, he re-joined the Philadelphia White Stockings,playing in a career high 69 games. He batted .258, and finished ninth in the league with 16stolen bases.[1] For one game on October 28, 1875, Addy was used as a National Associationumpire.
At season's end, the Association folded and was replaced byNational League, and Addy joined theChicago White Stockings. Chicago won the league title that season, with Addy playing 32 games, and hitting .282.[8] Addy moved to his second Major League team in two years, and sixth team in seven years, when he joined theCincinnati Reds, playing every day in right field,[9] and later took over as the team's manager afterLip Pike quit the position.[10]
In a 1900 book,Cap Anson described Addy's playing style, writing, "Bob Addy, who was one of the best of the lot, was a good, hard hustling player, a good base runner and a hard hitter. He was as honest as the day is long... He was an odd sort of a genius and quit the game because he thought he could do better at something else."[11]
Addy later made an unsuccessful attempt to popularize baseball played on ice.[12] He died at the age of 68 inPocatello, Idaho, and is interred at Mountain View Cemetery.[5]
| Preceded by | Philadelphia White Stockings Managers 1875 | Succeeded by League folded |
| Preceded by | Cincinnati Reds (1876–1880) Managers 1877 | Succeeded by |
