Class of 1883, 2/2: Frank Pidgeon

Francis Pidgeon (1825-1884), Builder
Eligible: 1875
Contribution: Founder of the Brooklyn Eckford, one of the top New York teams of the amateur era, one of the top pitchers of the 1850s, participated in the Fashion Course Games of 1858. Fought viciously against professionalism until his retirement from the game.

One of the great characters from the Roman Republic is Cato the Younger, a skilled orator and politician who fought tooth and nail against Caesar in the Roman Senate, who led the opposition to Caesar's Triumvirate, who was immune to bribes and rooted out corruption, and who killed himself in 46 BC when it was clear Caesar was going to instill himself as dictator. In many ways, Frank Pidgeon was the Cato of baseball. A star of the early sport, Pidgeon pushed back fiercely against the encroaching professionalism of the game until he walked away at the height of his popularity in protest. Like Cato, Pidgeon would be a tragic figure of the game's history.

Pidgeon, 1858

Pidgeon was born on 11 February, 1825 in New York City. As a young man he worked in shipbuilding until leaving New York, as with many young professionals in the city, as a Miner '49er before returning the following summer to marry Mary Orr, who would bear him six children. Pidgeon would continue his career in shipbuilding after returning to New York. In 1851 he also submitted a patent for an improvement to the thimble-making process.

Going to California in 1849 was a popular endeavour for young professional men in New York at the time, and so was playing baseball. Like many young men, Pidgeon met in the parks of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey for rigorous exercise in the form of recreational baseball. In 1855 Pidgeon organized a group of Brooklyn shipbuilders and mechanics to form the Eckford Base Ball Club, named for Scottish-American shipbuilding magnate Henry Eckford. He served as it's first president. Because the men worked long hours at the docks, it was rare for them to meet more than once per week, and no other organized club agreed to meet them for competitive play.

In 1856, after challenging every club in the area, the Union of Morrisania and the Baltics agreed that the winner of one of their matches would play the Eckford. This is not to suggest a kind of championship bracketing, but that Eckford was a kind of aperitif for the winner, easy competition for extra play after the real match. Union, one of the better teams in New York in the mid-1850s, won their game against the Baltic, but were upset by Eckford, 22-8. Demanding a rematch against the lucky underdog Eckford, Union lost again a month later, 22-6. The fledgling baseball press began covering the Eckford as legitimate competition. They were a regular competitor in 1857, and after expanding their membership to include volunteer firemen in 1858, went 5-1, one of the best teams in the city.

For his part, Pidgeon was one of the game's premier players at least until the rise of Jim Creighton in 1860, and likely until his 1863 retirement. Famous for his 'headwork', Pidgeon excelled at changing speeds and arcs, throwing off batters when overhand deliveries were illegal and pitching tools were limited to pitching 'fairly to the bat'. He was also a talented batter and skilled fielder, playing a number of infield and outfield positions well. Pidgeon was selected to participate in the 1858 Fashion Course games, a three-game All-Star series pitting the best of Brooklyn against the best of New York. Pidgeon played game one at shortstop (a loss) and pitched games two and three, suggesting his status as the best pitcher in Brooklyn. He beat New York 29-8 in Game 2 (throwing 290 pitches) and threw 436 pitches in a Game 3 loss.

Eckford lost championship series to the Atlantic Club in 1859 and 1860, wasn't competitive as Pidgeon sat out the 1861 season, and finally took the NABBP championship title from the Atlantic in 1862. Pidgeon suffered a leg injury during a game in 1863 and not only retired from the sport, he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Eckford would go on to be undefeated Association champions for 1863. Following the season, Pidgeon moved his family to Saugerties, NY, and opened a successful contracting business, becoming fabulously wealthy by 1870, building a mansion in Saugerties and maintaining properties all over New York state. He filed another patent, for a steam-driven plough, and took up painting.

Eckford ball club in 1858, Pidgeon centre

While Pidgeon played just eight seasons of competitive baseball, his influence on the sport extends far beyond the field of play. As Eckford's founder, he regularly served as club president or secretary through 1863, and served on the Eckford delegation to the very first meeting of New York area clubs, what would become the NABBP, in 1857, where he chaired a motion and led a committee to meet with city officials to secure a plot of ground for baseball play in Central Park.

In 1859 he authored the rule barring professionalism from baseball. Often ignored or creatively skirted, the rule banned any player for playing for compensation of any kind. Papers at the time argued for professionalism, claiming that compensation would even the playing field between rich and poor men - everyone could afford to play ball if there was money in it, not just the doctors and lawyers that could afford a day off work. Pidgeon responded that only men who could afford to play would ensure that games included honorable men who would respect the game, and that young men should be building their careers, not focusing on playing baseball: "a man who does not pay his obligations and has it in his power to do so is a knave and not fit to be trusted in the game of ball or anywhere else". Pidgeon didn't just see professionalism as a moral wrong, he also saw professionalism as a threat to the parity of the young game. Teams of skilled labours like his Eckford could not possibly keep pace with the wealthy clubs if they could snatch all the good players by paying them more. Reports throughout the early 1860s tied Pidgeon to a move to the Atlantic, his chief rival, and while it is not clear whether he was ever approached, he denied the rumors and remained loyal to his Eckford.

Pidgeon would continue fighting for amateurism after his 1863 retirement, and by the end of the decade was the last great champion of the cause. In 1870 he made his last stand to the NABBP. Baseball had been clandestinely professional for several years, and following the openly-professional and widely successful 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the clubs of the Association wanted to turn fully professional for the 1871 season. At the convention in the fall of 1870 a number of all-amateur clubs, including our old heroes, the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, tabled a motion to ban player emoluments, in any shape of form, once and for all. The motion was championed by Pidgeon, who stumped for votes on behalf of the motion and spoke in its defence at the convention. In what historian William Ryzek called 'amateurism's last stand,' 17 of the 26 present clubs voted to turn professional, with ten of them breaking away to form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which began professional play, as planned, in 1871. The original Association added 'amateur' to it's title (becoming the NAABBP) and lasted just four more years.

Pidgeon stepped away from baseball after it turned professional. His construction company was very successful and, due to his underbidding, won many government contracts and employed many people. The downside to his lowballing was that he had to run a tight ship and had maintain a shoestring budget. In 1881, the practice of underbidding caught up to him. An investigation into Brooklyn city finances meant that payment to Pidgeon's company was withheld, and since Pidgeon had so much overhead and a suppressed cash flow, creditors came after his assets and he had to close his doors. During the 1870s his son Frank jr. had broken off from Pidgeon's company, and Frank Sr. found employment with Jr's company for several years. In 1884, while walking on the Hudson River Line train tracks, Pidgeon was struck and killed by a train. Contemporary reports claimed he was unable to get off the tracks due to his old baseball injury, but with his baseball and business careers in shambles, and some reports claiming that he was facing the train and ignorant of warnings, rumors of suicide have pervaded.

In a way, Pidgeon was the last gunslinger of the amateur era, and he went out on his shield defending amateurism in the game. He was also a key organiser of Brooklyn baseball, and perhaps the game's best pitcher from 1855-60. The ignominy of his retreat from baseball was mirrored by the tragedy of the last few years of his life, and Pidgeon cuts a rather romantic figure as one of the last heroes of the early days of baseball in New York.

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