MLB Forgotten Players: Meet Joe Quinn, Australia’s First MLBer

These days, MLB players from other countries are not newsworthy at all. When Joe Quinn, the first Australian in the Majors, played over a century ago, that was not the case.

Throughout MLB history, there have been 28 Australians to reach the Majors. Of that total, more than half of those players have debuted in this millennium. All but one of those players have debuted in the Majors since 1986, when infielder Craig Shipley first reached the Majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, long before Shipley made his debut, the first Australian player appeared in the Majors. That player was Joe Quinn, a middle infielder/outfielder who was born on this day in 1862. He made his debut in the Union Association, serving as the primary first baseman as the St. Louis Maroons. As a 21 year old rookie, Quinn posted a .270/.285/.324 batting line. Interestingly, despite playing 100 games as a first baseman that year, Quinn would only play 20 more games at the position in his 17 year career.

After bouncing around to different positions with the Maroons, Quinn settled in as a second baseman in Boston. He spent five years in the city, including his one season in the Player’s League. Eventually, he was traded to the St. Louis Browns prior to the 1893 season, in exchange for left fielder Cliff Carroll.

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While Carroll would only play one more season in the Majors before his career ended, Quinn became a key part of the Browns lineup. He twice led the National League in games played, while establishing himself as one of the premier defensive players in the game. During the 1890’s, Quinn led the league in fielding percentage three times, while ranking among the league leaders in double players, putouts, and assists.

Quinn ended his playing career in 1901, having played for eleven different teams and in four leagues. He appeared in the only seasons of the Player’s League and the Union Association, while ending his career in the first year of the American League. All told, Quinn posted a .262/.302/.328 batting line, finishing his career with exactly 1800 hits.

For his exploits on the diamond, Quinn may be most infamous for what he did as a manager. He was the person destined to manage the Cleveland Spiders in their ill-fated 1899 season, when the team was gutted of anything resembling Major League talent. The best player on the team, Quinn was 12-104 as the manager of the Spiders. That certainly did not help his overall performance, as his career .148 winning percentage is the lowest in MLB history of any manager with 100 or more games on the bench.

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It took more than 100 years after Joe Quinn’s debut for another Australian to reach the Majors. A stellar defensive second baseman, it is surprising that it took that long for someone else to make their mark on the MLB.