James Henry “Orator Jim” O’Rourke 
Born: 9/1/1850-Bridgeport, CT.
Died: 1/9/1915-Bridgeport, CT.
In his obituary it was explained why Jim O’Rourke received the moniker, Orator Jim. "Words of great length and thunderous sound simply flowed out of his mouth." Based on his lifetime .311 avg. in 22 seasons, in both the National Association and the National League, base hits obviously flowed out of his bat.
An example of his verbosity occurred in 1890. A lion had escaped from the Bridgeport zoo, and was found by a Mrs. Gilligan in her barn getting ready to make a meal out of her calf. She reportedly drove away the lion using a pitchfork. Having read about this in the local newspaper, Orator Jim felt compelled to send her a letter to praise her bravery. It began, “The unparalleled bravery shown by you, and the unwavering fidelity extended by you to your calf during your precarious environment in the cowshed, when a ferocious, carnivorous beast threatened your total destruction, has suddenly exalted your fair name to an altitude much higher than the Egyptian pyramids, where hieroglyphics and other undecipherable mementos of the past are now lying in a state of innocuous desuetude…….” He continues on for quite a bit more, I just wanted to make sure I used the words innocuous desuetude just once in one of my blog posts.
He supposedly used to recite Hamlet’s soliloquy to his teammates before each game. I imagine they were thinking, “To shut up or not to shut up, just get a hit.”
Orator Jim batted over .300 in 13 of those seasons, and played on 7 Championship teams, 5 with his current Boston Red Caps team. Although he never won a batting title, he did finish in the top 5, 5x in his career. He managed to lead the League in HRs 3x, twice with a League leading 6 HRs. It was a slightly less “juiced” time in the 19th Century.
He is credited with making the first base hit in National League history on April 22, 1876, a line drive single into left field.
"O’Rourke has made a brilliant record for himself as an outfielder, being an excellent judge of a ball, a swift runner, and making the most difficult running catches with the utmost ease and certainty. As a thrower, too, he stands pre-eminent, being credited with a throw of 365 feet, the next to the longest yet accomplished by any player." — The Sporting Life
After retiring following the 1893 season, he continued to play in the minor leagues until he was over 50 years old. In 1904 he made an appearance with the New York Giants, becoming at age 54 the oldest player ever to appear in the National League and the oldest player to ever hit safely in a major league game. Upon returning to the minors he became president of the Connecticut League, and in 1912 returned to the field to catch a complete minor league game at the age of 60.
Jim O’Rourke died of pneumonia at age 68 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Veterans Committee.
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+- 1872 21 MAN NA 23 101 25 31 4 1 0 12 1 0 2 0 .307 .320 .366 1873 22 BOS NA 57 280 79 98 19 3 1 48 4 2 14 1 .350 .381 .450 1874 23 BOS NA 70 331 82 104 15 8 5 61 11 1 4 5 .314 .322 .453 1875 24 BOS NA 75 358 97 106 13 7 6 72 17 5 9 6 .296 .313 .422 1876 25 BSN NL 70 312 61 102 17 3 2 43 15 17 .327 .358 .420 1877 26 BSN NL 61 265 68 96 14 4 0 23 20 9 .362 .407 .445 1878 27 BSN NL 60 255 44 71 17 7 1 29 5 21 .278 .292 .412 1879 28 PRO NL 81 362 69 126 19 9 1 46 13 10 .348 .371 .459 1880 29 BSN NL 86 363 71 100 20 11 6 45 21 8 .275 .315 .441 1881 30 BUF NL 83 348 71 105 21 7 0 30 27 18 .302 .352 .402 1882 31 BUF NL 84 370 62 104 15 6 2 37 13 13 .281 .305 .370 1883 32 BUF NL 94 436 102 143 29 8 1 38 15 13 .328 .350 .438 1884 33 BUF NL 108 467 119 162 33 7 5 63 35 17 .347 .392 .480 1885 34 NYG NL 112 477 119 143 21 16 5 42 40 21 .300 .354 .442 1886 35 NYG NL 105 440 106 136 26 6 1 34 14 39 21 .309 .365 .402 1887 36 NYG NL 103 397 73 113 15 13 3 88 46 36 11 .285 .352 .411 1888 37 NYG NL 107 409 50 112 16 6 4 50 25 24 30 .274 .319 .372 1889 38 NYG NL 128 502 89 161 36 7 3 81 33 40 34 .321 .372 .438 1890 39 NYI PL 111 478 112 172 37 5 9 115 23 33 20 .360 .410 .515 1891 40 NYG NL 136 555 92 164 28 7 5 95 19 26 29 .295 .334 .398 1892 41 NYG NL 115 448 62 136 28 5 0 56 16 30 30 .304 .354 .388 1893 42 WHS NL 129 547 75 157 22 5 2 95 15 49 26 .287 .354 .356 1904 53 NYG NL 1 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 .250 .250 +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+- 23 Seasons 8505 2643 151 1203 8 360 .311 .352 .423 1999 1729 465 62 224 510
