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Joe Kelley

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Joe Kelley was born on Saturday, December 9, 1871, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kelley was 19 years old when he broke into the big leagues on July 27, 1891, with the Boston Beaneaters. His height was five foot eleven inches and weight is 190 pounds. He died on 14 August 1943, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Joseph James Kelly was 1891 to 1908 standout hitter and left fielder of champion 1894-95-96 Baltimore orioles and 1899-1900 Brooklyn superbas. He batted over 0.300 for 11 consecutive years with high of 0.391 in 1894. He was equaled record with 9 hits in 9 at-bats in doubleheader. Kelley also led the Brooklyn Superbas to the National League pennant in 1900 and later managed the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Doves.

Kelley broke into the National League in 1891 with the Boston Beaneaters and after a brief stint in Pittsburgh the following year, came into his own as a member of the Baltimore Orioles in 1893. Kelley continued his fine hitting throughout his career, which included stops with the Brooklyn Superbas from 1899 to 1901, the fledgling American League's Baltimore Orioles franchise in 1902, the Cincinnati Reds from 1902 to 1906 and Boston again in 1908.

Aside from consistent run production and hitting which included 11 consecutive .300-plus seasons, Kelley was also know as a good base runner and stole a career high 87 bases in 1896. He retired with a career 0.317 batting, 0.402 on base percentage, 65 home runs including a career high 10 in 1895, 1421 runs, 1194 RBI runs batted in and 443 stolen bases in 1853 career games. Kelley was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

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