Capitol Seismograph Notes Fall of O’Rourke House

The Blogster is saddened by the long-delayed, but-inevitable fall of the house of Jim O’Rourke. No, not the state representative from Cromwell who’s still under investigation following an incident last winter in which a woman he met in a local bar got into his car and was let out in nearby Rocky Hill without shoes, coat or purse and died of exposure  that night.

No, this Jim O’Rourke, who played as the early rules were drastically changing, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. His house, which was built in 1891 and was torn down yesterday on Pemroke Street in Bridgeport, has been a lone outpost on a desolate, weed-strewn strip called Steel Point. You’d see it driving north on I-95 and wonder why it hadn’t been torched. Because the Blogster loves the Baseball Encyclopedia, let’s stroll through “Orator Jim’s” lines. He batted and threw right-handed; 5’8″ 185 pounds. Father of James Steven “Queenie” O’Rourke, who played 34 games as a utility player for the cellar dwelling New York Highlanders of 1908.

Orator Jim was born on August 24, 1852 in Bridgeport and died on January 8, 1919 in Bridgeport. He was a manager of the Buffalo team in the National League from 1881 through 1884, then Washington in 1893. He amassed a managerial record of 246-258. He recorded the first hit in National League history in his rookie year, 1876. He played in Boston, Providence, back to Boston, Buffalo, New York for five years in the National League, then the Players’ League in 1890, which was a strike league. The New York team was mostly the same lineup as the National League squad of the year before. Anyway, O’Rourke’s 19-year major-league career ended in 1904 (!!!) with one game catching for the New York National league entry, four at-bats and a final hit. In all, 1,774 games, 7,435 at-bats, 2,304 hits, 414 doubles, 132 triples, 51 homers, 830 RBIs, 481 bases on balls, 348 strike outs, 177 stolen bases, .310 batting average. He played 1,377 games in the outfield, caught 209 games, played 119 games at third base, 103 games at first, 25 at short stop, 6 pitching and 2 at second base.

 In 1881, the year O’Rourke broke into the majors, the pitcher was moved back from 45 feet to 50 feet. It’s now 60 feet six inches. In 1882, a batter was allowed to take a base on seven balls. In 1883, a foul ball was no longer an out if it was caught on a bounce. In 1884, a base on balls was cut to six balls. In 1885, batters could still use cricket-like bats, with a flat side. In 1886, the base-on-balls rule was back to seven.

In 1887, batters were no longer allowed to call for a high or low pitch and bases on balls were cut to five; and a strike out was four strikes instead of three, but the first called third strike did not count. In 1888, a strike out became three strikes. In 1889, a base on balls, finally, was four balls. In 1893, the pitcher was pushed back to 60’6″ and the bat was required to be round. That year was really O’Rourke final year, since it was 11 more years before he played that last game in 1904. In 1895 the infield-fly rule was adopted.