MLB: Players born on the Fourth of July
Mickey Welch (July 4, 1859 – July 30, 1941)
Of the 50 players born on our nations birthday, Welch is the only one that had a career worthy of being enshrined in Cooperstown. He was selected by the Veterans Committee to the Hall in 1973.
Welch made his debut in the National League in 1880, just four years following its inception. He joined with the Troy Trojans of Troy, New York just one year after it was established as a team in the National League, He stayed with the team until 1882 when he was forced to leave because it was disbanded.
Following his former teams’ disbandment, Welch took his talents to southern New York State to the newly formed New York Gotham’s which would be renamed the Giants two years later. In his time with the Giants, Welch would pitch his way to a 238-146 record in 10 seasons. In those ten seasons, Welch started 412 games and completed an astounding 391 of them.
Welch is the epitome of an old school pitcher. He was a force to be reckoned with on the mound, which was five inches taller than the ten-inch-high mound we know today. By any standard, he was a workhorse of a man. With the Giants, he consistently pitched over 400 innings a season with a career high of 557.1 in 1884.
Welch’s production would fade as he aged. In his final three seasons, he ‘only’ pitched 300 innings, 160 innings and 5 innings in his final season.
His final season came in 1892 at the age of 32.
Next: Control was not his strength