Charlie Sweasy
| Charlie Sweasy | |||
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| Second baseman | |||
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Born: November 2, 1847 Newark, New Jersey |
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Died: March 30, 1908 (aged 60) Newark, New Jersey |
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| MLB debut | |||
| May 19, 1871, for the Washington Olympics | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 30, 1878, for the Providence Grays | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .194 | ||
| Home runs | 0 | ||
| Runs batted in | 39 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Charles James Sweasy (November 2, 1847 – March 30, 1908), born Swasey, played second base for the original , the first fully professional baseball team. He returned to Cincinnati in 1876, hired by the new club that was a charter member of the National League. In the meantime he played for six teams during the five seasons of the National Association, so he may be considered one of the first "journeyman" ballplayers. A right-handed thrower and batter, he played second base almost exclusively.
Born 1847 in Newark, New Jersey, Sweasy's debut with a "major" team was in 1866 with the New Jersey Irvingtons that hailed from Irvington, New Jersey about 20 miles inland. Irvington was a new member of the National Association of Base Ball Players, with many other clubs as the association tripled in size to more than 90 in its first post-war season. The Irvingtons frightened the champion Brooklyn Atlantics by winning their first meeting on June 14 and losing their third one only in extra innings on October 29. Several team members would later play professionally including Sweasy and Andy Leonard, also of Newark.
For 1868 Sweasy and Leonard moved to Cincinnati and joined the Buckeyes, the chief local rival of the ; the move suggests that they were somehow compensated by club members if not by the club.
When the NABBP permitted professionalism for 1869, Sweasy and Leonard were two of five new men hired to complete the First Nine of the , the first team on salary for a season. All had previously played in the infield, with Harry Wright and Asa Brainard sharing pitcher and second base for Cincinnati. Wright put Sweasy at second and made center field the position shared by the two pitchers.
Sweasy earned $800 for the eight-month season, March 15 to November 15. That was the standard rate with four men earning more. Years later, the son of club officer George Ellard recalled the skills of each player in words of praise. Ellard (1908: 100) covered Sweasy in the field and only in the field, with most attention to his grasp of flies to short center and right, where he was "one of the surest catchers of high fly balls to be found." The limited statistical record suggests that he fit comfortably in the supporting cast during the Red Stockings innings, hitting a little less frequently than team average, with a few more extra bases on hits. In two years, he played all but one of 130 games in the record books, one of six who played essentially without interruption.
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