Doc Bushong
| Doc Bushong | |||
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| Catcher | |||
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Born: September 15, 1856 Philadelphia |
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Died: August 19, 1908 (aged 51) Brooklyn, New York |
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 19, 1875, for the Brooklyn Atlantics | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 9, 1890, for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .214 | ||
| Home runs | 13 | ||
| Runs batted in | 184 | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Albert John Bushong, D.D.S (September 15, 1856 – August 19, 1908), known as Doc Bushong, was a catcher in Major League Baseball. Bushong also made appearances as an umpire and after his retirement from baseball, he practiced as a dentist. Some sources credit him with the invention of the catcher's mitt.
Descended from the Colonial immigrant Bushong family, Albert John Bushong was born September 15, 1856, in Philadelphia, the son of Charles A. Bushong and Margaret Moore Bushong. Bushong attended public schools in Philadelphia and graduated from Central High School in 1876. After playing baseball in various minor league teams for a couple of years, he enrolled in 1878 in dental school at the University of Pennsylvania. Bushong was one of the first to matriculate in the brand-new Department of Dentistry and he received his D.D.S. in 1882. While attending dental school, he played professional baseball every year, catching in more than 230 games as well as "barnstorming" in the off-season with a different team, the Hop Bitters. Bushong was the first University of Pennsylvania graduate to play in Major League baseball. He did not play ball for the university, as he was already playing pro-ball. Shortly after graduation Albert J. Bushong and Theresa M. Gottery were married and together they had seven children.
His baseball career, spanned from 1875 to 1891, and Bushong played on various professional minor league and major league teams, including the Brooklyn Atlantics (1875), Philadelphia Athletics (1876), Worcester Ruby Legs (1880–82), Cleveland Blues (1883–84), St. Louis Browns (1885–87), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1888–90).
Some believe his greatest success came in the latter part of his career, when Bushong played on five pennant winning teams and was in post-season play five times. His most notable performance is most likely in the 1886 St. Louis Browns of the American Association when they beat the of the National League, for the Championship (later called World Series). For his part in the championship, in 1886, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, honored Bushong and several other players by renaming some of their whistle-stop towns. The town of Weeks in Kansas, became, Bushong, Kansas.
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