| John Sterling | |
|---|---|
| Pitcher | |
| Born:(1865-09-00)September 1865 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| Died: November 10, 1908(1908-11-10) (aged 43) Gloucester City, New Jersey, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| October 12, 1890, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 12, 1890, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 0–1 |
| Earned run average | 21.60 |
| Strikeouts | 1 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
John Albert Sterling (September 1865 – November 10, 1908) was an Americanbaseball player who played one game for the1890 Philadelphia Athletics of theAmerican Association. Until 2023, Sterling was known tobaseball historians byonly his last name.
Sterling was born in Philadelphia to Jesse and Henrietta Sterling (née Brown)[1] in September 1865. His birth registration lists his name asJohn Pierce Sterling.[2] Sterling was raised in Philadelphia and was the oldest of five brothers. In the1880 census, his middle name was given as "Albert." At fourteen years old, he was recorded as being home instead of attending school. His father, asailmaker[3] andCivil War veteran,[4] was afflicted byrheumatism and his mother was ahomemaker.[3] That same year, his father was charged with "beating and abusing" his mother. His mother alleged that Mr. Sterling had knocked her down.[5]
Sterling began the 1888 season with aminor league club inMinneapolis.[6] By May 22, however, he was released along with teammateFrank Graves.[7] He next joined theJackson, Michigan club of theTri-State League but was released in early June along withEd Flynn.[8] In July, Sterling was playing for a minor league team inAshland, Pennsylvania when he was signed by theSt. Louis Browns.[9] Before appearing in any games, however, Browns treasurerJim Gifford[10] arranged for him to pitch to Browns catchersJack Boyle andJocko Milligan. The catchers were not impressed and Sterling was given his release without having appeared in a game.[11][12] The following year, Sterling returned to Pennsylvania to play forCharlie Mason's minor leaguePhiladelphia Giants.[13]
Prior to the 1890 season, Sterling was one of roughly 300 players who responded to acircular issued byNational League presidentNicholas Young, making it known that he was interested in joining the league.[14] Sterling may also have been the pitcher for a team of locals picked to play an exhibition against the Athletics prior to the start of the 1890 season.[15]
Sterling began 1890 with Charlie Mason's minor league club inAllentown[16] but, by early June, he had parted ways with the dysfunctional club which would later fold midseason after Mason abandoned it in July.[17] On June 10, 1890, thePhiladelphia Inquirer reported that Sterling was seeking a tryout with managerJack Clements of thePhiladelphia Phillies.[18] Instead, two days later, Sterling settled for a contract withTom York'sAlbany club in theNew York State League.[19] York was replaced by William Primrose in early July andThe Sun reported that the majority of the team's players were expected to be released.[20] A day later, theAlbany Morning Express reported that Sterling had been released, ostensibly due to drunkenness.[21]
In 1890, the Philadelphia Athletics were one of three professional baseball teams in Philadelphia, which hosted the Phillies and thePlayers' League club also known as thePhiladelphia Athletics. By July, the club had not been able to fully pay its players. In September,William Whitaker announced the club was bankrupt and ownership was transferred toBilly Barnie, who also owned and managed theBaltimore Orioles. Barnie released most of the team's players and signed many of them to the Orioles. Others abandoned the team voluntarily. The Athletics, as a result, filled out their roster with players who had limited playing experience and who agreed to receive a portion of ticket sales instead of a salary.[22] Sterling was one of those players. He pitched the entirety of a rain-shortened,[23] five-inning game against theSyracuse Stars on October 12, 1890 in front of only twenty spectators[24] inGloucester City, New Jersey. Sterling, who pitched "in a black cloth suit, with low cut vest and white stand-up collar" allowed 12 runs in his five innings of work.[25] Sterling would never appear in another professional baseball game.[26] It was the final loss in a 21-game season-ending losing streak for the Athletics[27] and the final game in franchise history. Owner and managerBill Sharsig announced the following day that the team would be disbanded for good.[24]
Sterling married his wife, Maggie (née Brady),[28] in 1887.[29] Their first son, also named John, was born in Pennsylvania in January 1891.[30] By the late 1890s, Sterling was working as aminstrel performer, singing "comic songs" andcoon songs.[31][32] On June 28, 1899, Sterling's wife gave birth to their second son, William, in Gloucester City.[28] In the1900 census, Sterling's occupation was listed as "Musician." By that point, he was living with his family in a rented home in Gloucester City.[29]
Sterling became active inDemocratic Party politics in New Jersey in the early 20th century. In 1901, he was one of the party's nominees for Justice of the Peace for Gloucester City.[33] In September 1904, he was nominated by the party to be the city'sOverseer of the Poor.[34] After a recount, Sterling won the position by ten votes, a margin of less than one percent.[35] He served in that position for a year. In 1905, he was on the losing end of a ten-vote margin in the election for Constable of Gloucester City.[36] That year, his occupation was listed in the New Jersey state census as "Laborer."[37] Two years later, he was floated as a possible candidate for the city's Chief of Police.[38]
Sterling's father died in November 1904 after suffering aparalytic stroke in anold soldiers' home inErie, Pennsylvania, across the entire state of Pennsylvania from Sterling.[4] In August 1908, Sterling filed apersonal injury suit seeking $5,000 in damages (equivalent to $175,000 in 2024) after being seriously injured in a fall on a sidewalk in Gloucester City.[39]
On November 10, Sterling was reported to be lying at home seriously ill.[40] He died the same day.[41] He was remembered in theCourier-Post as "an all-around athlete" and "quite a pugilist."[42] He was remembered in thePhiladelphia Inquirer as "a well-known minstrel and Democratic politician."[43] His funeral was well attended by the Democrats of Gloucester City. He was interred in the city's Union Cemetery.[44] A few days later, Sterling's mother also died at her home on the same street.[45] ThePhiladelphia Inquirer, which described her as "the largest woman in Gloucester," speculated that grief over the death of her son, a "well-known minstrel and Democratic politician ... doubtlessly hastened her death."[43]
Sterling, along withMcBride,Stafford andSweigert, was one of four Athletics who appeared in their only Major League game on October 12, 1890. For years, these players were conflated with other baseball people of the era who shared their last names. Lacking any evidence to confirm these identifications, however, theSociety for American Baseball Research (SABR) determined in 2007 that their biographical information would be removed and that their given names would be reclassified asunidentified.[46] The only clue as to Sterling's identity came from thePhiladelphia Inquirer's coverage of the game which identified him as a "young man of Camden."[25][46]CamdenCounty, New Jersey is across theDelaware River from Philadelphia, where Sterling was born, and home to Gloucester City, where Sterling was living by the 1890s.
In February 2023, Sterling was identified for the first time in a report by SABR. Researchers tracked him from team to team between 1888 and 1890 and were able to corroborate many details of his life via hisobituary andgenealogical records.[47] SABR published a biography of Sterling by Tim Hagerty on its website that year.[6]
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