Batting average .285 Role Baseball Manager Name Charlie Pabor | Runs batted in 80 Home runs 0 | |
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Died April 23, 1913, New Haven, Connecticut, United States | ||
Charlie Pabor, MLB Player 1871-1875. 1st MLB Player in 1871.
Charles Henry "Charlie" Pabor (September 24, 1846 – April 23, 1913), also spelled Charley, nicknamed "The Old Woman in the Red Cap", was an American Major League Baseball left fielder and manager throughout the existence of the National Association, 1871–1875.
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Early life and career
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he played his early baseball in and around the New York City area until he joined the Cleveland Forest Citys of the National Association as a left fielder and manager. On May 4, 1871, Pabor managed and played while batting 0-4 for in the first game of the season, which is considered the first all professional game ever played, a game between his Forest Citys and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas. Cleveland finished 8th that season, and Pabor was replaced as manager in 1872. He had also batted well in 1871, with a .296 batting average, but it dropped to .207 in 1872.
The Cleveland team folded after the season, and Pabor got a fresh start with the Brooklyn Atlantics. He had his best season that year, hitting .360 and driving in 42 runs batted in. After a short season in 1874 with the Philadelphia White Stockings in which he only played in 17 games, he returned to the Atlantics for the 1875 season as the player-manager. The season was a disaster, the Atlantics only won two games for the season. Pabor did not finish the year in Brooklyn, as he signed with the New Haven Elm Citys toward the end of the 1875 season, playing and managing six games and winning only one. Although his record of 13-64 as manager is not prolific, he is credited as starting the careers of both King Kelly and Fred Goldsmith.
Post-career
After the end of the 1875 season and the demise of the National Association, Pabor quit baseball altogether, staying in New Haven, Connecticut. He joined the New Haven Police Department, where he enjoyed a long career. Pabor died in New Haven of pneumonia at the age of 66, and he is interred at Mapledale Cemetery.