View source for Jimmy Ryan (baseball)

{{Short description|American baseball player (1863–1923)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Jimmy Ryan
|image=Jimmy_Ryan_Baseball.jpg
|caption=Ryan in 1903
|position=[[Outfielder]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1863|2|11}}
|birth_place=[[Clinton, Massachusetts]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1923|10|29|1863|2|11}}
|death_place=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
|bats=Right
|throws=Left
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=October 8
|debutyear=1885
|debutteam=Chicago White Stockings
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=September 24
|finalyear=1903
|finalteam=Washington Senators
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.308
|stat2label=[[Hit (baseball)|Hit]]s
|stat2value=2,513
|stat3label=[[Home run]]s
|stat3value=118
|stat4label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat4value=1,093
|teams=
* [[Chicago White Stockings (1870–89)|Chicago White Stockings]] ({{Baseball year|1885}}–{{Baseball year|1889}})
* [[Chicago Pirates]] ({{Baseball year|1890}})
* [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago Colts / Orphans]] ({{Baseball year|1891}}–{{Baseball year|1900}})
* [[History of the Washington Senators (1901–1960)|Washington Senators]] ({{Baseball year|1902}}–{{Baseball year|1903}})
|highlights=
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders|NL home run leader]] (1888)
* [[Chicago Cubs#Cubs Hall of Fame|Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame]]
}}
'''James Edward Ryan''' (February 11, 1863 – October 29, 1923), nicknamed "'''Pony'''", was an American [[center fielder]] in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) who played between 1885 and 1903, primarily for the [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago White Stockings / Colts / Orphans]]. He [[batting average|batted]] .300 eleven times, retiring with a career average of .308, and was the seventh player to hit 100 career [[home run]]s. Ryan set major league records for career [[games played|games]] (1,945) and [[assist (baseball)|assists]] (375) as an [[outfielder]] that were later broken by [[Jesse Burkett]] and [[Tris Speaker]] respectively. He also ended his career ranking second in [[putout]]s (3,701) and fourth in [[double play]]s (71). He was sixth all-time in hits for all major league players when he retired (four Hall of Famers were ahead of him).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stathead.com/tiny/Ibjkp |title=For combined seasons, from 1871 to 1903, in the regular season, sorted by descending Hits. |accessdate=July 15, 2025|website=[[Sports Reference|Stathead]]}}</ref>

==Baseball career==
A native of [[Clinton, Massachusetts]], Ryan started his major league career with Chicago of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] (NL) in 1885. He played for the team until 1900, except for the 1890 season when he played for the [[Chicago Pirates]] of the [[Players' League]].<ref name="stats">[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ryanji01.shtml "Jimmy Ryan Stats"]. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2021.</ref>

Ryan had his best season in 1888, leading the NL in [[Hit (baseball)|hits]] (182), [[Double (baseball)|doubles]] (33), home runs (16), [[total bases]] (283), and [[slugging percentage]] (.515). He was also second in batting average (.332), [[extra-base hit]]s (59) and [[Run (baseball)|runs scored]] (115).<ref name="stats"/> During that season, Ryan [[Hitting for the cycle|hit for the cycle]] on July 28. He also appeared in that game as a [[pitcher]], becoming the first player in major league history to hit for the cycle and pitch in the same game. The White Stockings beat the [[Detroit Wolverines]], 21–17.<ref>[[Larry Twitchell]] of Cleveland pitched while hitting for the cycle on August 15, 1889.</ref>

Ryan was the most severely injured player when the Chicago team was involved in a train wreck at [[Lindsey, Ohio]] on August 6, 1893 when their sleeper cars derailed and crashed into a freight train that was stopped on a siding, resulting in three fatalities. Ryan's legs were shattered, and for weeks there were doubts that he would even be able to walk again, resulting in a $10,000 settlement from the [[Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway]]. As late as the following January, it was still considered unlikely that he would be able to resume his career, but he returned to post a career-high .357 batting average. Almost exactly one year after the wreck, on August 5, 1894, Ryan and teammate [[Walt Wilmot]] were credited with saving hundreds of lives when a fire broke out in the stands at [[West Side Park]]; the two players used bats to break down barbed-wire fencing, allowing fans to escape onto the field.

In 1900, Ryan broke [[Tom Brown (center fielder)|Tom Brown]]'s career record of 348 assists by an outfielder. Ryan finished his career with 375 assists. He held the record until [[Tris Speaker]] broke it in 1924. Ryan ended his major league career with the [[History of the Washington Senators (1901–1960)|Washington Senators]] of the [[American League]] in 1902–1903. From 1898 to 1910, Ryan was [[List of Major League Baseball progressive career hits leaders|top ten in hits all-time]].

==Career statistics==
He was a career .308 hitter with 118 home runs and 1,093 [[Run batted in|runs batted in]] in 2,014 games. As a pitcher, he compiled a 6–1 record with a 3.62 [[earned run average]] and 43 [[strikeout]]s in 117 [[innings pitched]].<ref name="stats"/> Ryan is 36th in [[List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders|runs scored]], with him being 7th among 19th century players; the six ahead of him are each in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

==Player profile==
On the tough side, Ryan was one of the few players to punch a reporter at least twice. After his first episode, in 1887, Charlie Seymour of the ''[[Chicago Herald (1881–95)|Chicago Herald]]'' wrote, "Ryan slugged the magnificent Chicago reporter in Pittsburg[h] the other day." In the other, in 1892, he took exception to George Beachel of the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]''. In the clubhouse after a game, Ryan "picked a quarrel with [Beachel], and then attacked him, using him up pretty badly. No arrests have been made." In 1896, he punched a train conductor after losing his place and his teammates had gone to bed. A conductor who intervened was "called down by Mr. Ryan, who got in one upper cut before [his longtime-captain manager Cap] [[Cap Anson|Anson]] stopped the fun," wrote [[Tim Murnane]] of the ''[[Boston Globe]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Howard W.|title=Cap Anson 4: Bigger Than Babe Ruth: Captain Anson of Chicago|publisher=Tile Books|year=2006|page=560|isbn=978-0-9725574-3-6|url=http://www.capanson.com/cap_anson_books.html|access-date=October 16, 2006|archive-date=August 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827025911/http://capanson.com/cap_anson_books.html|url-status=dead}}, p. 268.</ref> 

In the 2001 book ''[[The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract]]'', writer [[Bill James]] ranked Ryan as the 26th greatest center fielder of all time.<ref>James, Bill (2001). ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract''. p. 739.</ref> 

==Personal life and death==
Ryan died in [[Chicago]] at age 60. He was married twice and left no children.<ref name="stats"/> He was buried in an unmarked grave until 2022 until the help of the SABR Grave Marker Project helped efforts to lend a proper gravestone.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2022/12/3/23490897/cubs-dedicate-headstone-19th-century-star-jimmy-ryan | title=The Cubs dedicate a headstone for 19th-Century star Jimmy Ryan | date=December 3, 2022 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Baseballstats|br=r/ryanji01|brm=ryan--003jam}}, or [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/R/Pryanj105.htm Retrosheet]
* {{Find a Grave|7384513}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ach|ach}}
{{Succession box| before = [[Sam Barkley]]<br>[[Farmer Weaver]] | title = [[Hitting for the cycle]]| years = July 28, 1888<br>July 1, 1891 | after = [[Mike Tiernan]]<br>[[Abner Dalrymple]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Syracuse Orangemen baseball coach navbox}}
{{1886 Chicago White Stockings}}
{{Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame}}
{{NL home run champions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jimmy}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1923 deaths]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball center fielders]]
[[Category:Chicago White Stockings players]]
[[Category:Chicago Colts players]]
[[Category:Chicago Orphans players]]
[[Category:Chicago Pirates players]]
[[Category:Washington Senators (1901–1960) players]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:National League home run champions]]
[[Category:Bridgeport Giants players]]
[[Category:Colorado Springs Millionaires players]]
[[Category:Evansville River Rats players]]
[[Category:Holyoke (minor league baseball) players]]
[[Category:Meriden (minor league baseball) players]]
[[Category:Montgomery Senators players]]
[[Category:New Britain (minor league baseball) players]]
[[Category:St. Paul Saints (Western League) players]]
[[Category:Minor league baseball managers]]
[[Category:Syracuse Orangemen baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Worcester County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Chicago]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Clinton, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois)]]