Hardball Times: Kelly Now Catching

[weams]

http://www.hardballtimes.com/kelly-now-catching-king-kelly-and-baseballs-substitution-rules/

Another theory is that the story is apocrypha - that is, it didn't happen at all, or was highly embellished to begin with. It's not at all unusual for people to craft tales to exemplify certain famed aspects of an individual's disposition. Think of the myth of George Washington and the cherry tree, meant to showcase the Father of the Country's trademark honesty. It?s possible that's what Bennett was doing here with Kelly, attempting to honor his friend and teammate by helping to further Kelly's already larger-than-life public perception. Even though there are scores of other Kelly tales we know to be true, perhaps Bennett felt none of them thoroughly encapsulated the kind of player and person Kelly was, and hence he came up with this one instead.

Maybe it happened. Maybe it didn't. If nothing else, it?s something King Kelly's contemporaries apparently believed, which speaks volumes about the man's character.

[DrungoHazewood]

Almost certainly aprocyphal, unless it happened in some kind of exhibition where they negotiated different substitution rules. As they mention, prior to 1891 you have to have the opponent's permission to substitute anyone at any time. There are documented cases of teams having to play someone with a pretty serious injuries like broken bones or major cuts because the other team wouldn't allow a sub.

Another somewhat related King Kelly observation is his fielding stats as an outfielder. For example, in 1880 he's listed as having played 64 games in the outfield with 49 putouts, 32 assists, and 23 errors (good for a .771 fielding percentage). Even accounting for the era those are bizarre numbers. 32 outfield assists in 64 games? With 23 errors? Apparently what happened was he would often sneak in and play 5th infielder, kind of a Paleozoic version of the modern shifts that even today mess with fielding metrics.

[weams]

Almost certainly aprocyphal, unless it happened in some kind of exhibition where they negotiated different substitution rules. As they mention, prior to 1891 you have to have the opponent's permission to substitute anyone at any time. There are documented cases of teams having to play someone with a pretty serious injuries like broken bones or major cuts because the other team wouldn't allow a sub.

Another somewhat related King Kelly observation is his fielding stats as an outfielder. For example, in 1880 he's listed as having played 64 games in the outfield with 49 putouts, 32 assists, and 23 errors (good for a .771 fielding percentage). Even accounting for the era those are bizarre numbers. 32 outfield assists in 64 games? With 23 errors? Apparently what happened was he would often sneak in and play 5th infielder, kind of a Paleozoic version of the modern shifts that even today mess with fielding metrics.

I did however, post this for you.