List of 19th-century Major League Baseball players with unidentified given names

Thirty-two individuals who played professional baseball at the major league level before 1900 lack identified given names (there are hundreds of other players of which this is true from the twentieth-century Negro leagues). All 32 played between 1872 and 1892; 18 played in the National Association, which folded in 1875. Identification of players remains difficult due to a lack of biographical information. A Brooklyn, New York, directory, for instance, lists more than 30 men who could be the professional player "Stoddard".^[1] Philadelphia Athletics manager Bill Sharsig signed three of the 32, "local players" McBride, Stafford and Sweigert, for Philadelphia's last game of the season against the Syracuse Stars on October 12, 1890. McBride, Philadelphia's center fielder, and Stafford, the team's right fielder, both failed to reach base, but left fielder Sweigert reached base on a walk and stole a base. Society for American Baseball Research writer Bill Carle "doubt[s] we will ever be able to identify them".^[2] David Nemec has commented on this phenomenon with both major league and minor league players, noting, for example, that a McGuire (not on this list because he was a minor league player) is probably the player with an unknown first name whose appearances came closest to the twentieth century.^[3]

Despite their relative anonymity, several of these players received media coverage describing their games. In 1872, The New York Times described O'Rourke as a new player on Eckford of Brooklyn who "appear[ed] to be an improvement over the recent incumbents": in his only game, the pitcher allowed 15 runs to score in a complete game against the Troy Trojans.^[1] Lewis received a mention in Sporting Life (pictured) that recapped his performance, and another in the Pittsburgh Press, with a synopsis that summarized the game as "one of the greatest slugging matches ever seen since curve pitching came into vogue".^[4][5]

Of the 32 athletes with an unidentified given name, Baltimore Monumentals right fielder Scott played in the most games at the major league level, with 13, followed by Wills with 9. Scott also has the most hits among these players, with 12, followed by both Wills and Jones with 5 each. Among pitchers, Lewis has the highest earned run average, 60.00,^[6] whereas McDoolan has the lowest, 3.00.

Players without identified given names

A Sporting Life clip that describes Lewis as a "much disgusted ball tosser", taken from an article dated July 19, 1890.^[4]

National Association

1872–1874

Name	Position	Team	League	Year	Ref
Higby	Right fielder	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1872	[7]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 1 error
O'Rourke	Pitcher	Eckford of Brooklyn	National Association	1872	[8]
	Summary: 0–1 win–loss record 9.0 innings pitched 8.00 earned run average 15 runs allowed
Spencer	Shortstop	Washington Nationals	National Association	1872	[9]
	Summary: 1 game played 1 run 4 errors
McDoolan	Pitcher	Baltimore Marylands	National Association	1873	[10]
	Summary: 0–1 win–loss record 9.0 innings pitched 3.00 earned run average 24 runs allowed
Quinlan	Shortstop	Philadelphia White Stockings	National Association	1874	[11]
	Summary: 1 game played 1 hit 1 run batted in
Wood	Second baseman	Baltimore Canaries	National Association	1874	[12]
	Summary: 1 game played 5 plate appearances 0 hits

1875

Name	Position	Team	League	Year	Ref
Boland	Third baseman	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[13]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 1 error
Booth	Shortstop	New Haven Elm Citys	National Association	1875	[14]
	Summary: 1 game played 2 plate appearances 1 error
Edwards	Center fielder / Pitcher	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[15]
	Summary: 1 game played 5 plate appearances 1 hit 0–1 win–loss record 2.0 innings pitched 4.50 earned run average
Evans	Left fielder	New Haven Elm Citys	National Association	1875	[16]
	Summary: 1 game played 2 hits 1 run batted in
Hellings	Second baseman	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[17]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 1 hit
Quinn	Outfielder / Shortstop	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[18]
	Summary: 2 games played 1 hit 2 runs
Shaffer	Right fielder	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[19]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 1 error
Sheridan	Left fielder	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[20]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 0 hits
D. Smith	Second baseman	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[21]
	Summary: Misidentified until 2023 as Thomas N. Smith[22] 3 games played 13 plate appearances 1 hit
Stoddard	Outfielder	Brooklyn Atlantics	National Association	1875	[23]
	Summary: 2 games played 9 plate appearances 1 hit
Sullivan	Right fielder	New Haven Elm Citys	National Association	1875	[24]
	Summary: 2 games played 3 hits 3 runs batted in

Union Association, American Association and Players' League

1884–1885

Name	Position	Team	League	Year	Ref
Carroll	Left fielder	Washington Nationals	Union Association	1884	[25]
	Summary: 4 games played 16 plate appearances 4 hits 4 errors
Franklin	Center fielder	Washington Nationals	Union Association	1884	[26]
	Summary: 1 game played 3 plate appearances 2 putouts
Jones	Left fielder	Washington Nationals	American Association	1884	[27]
	Summary: 4 games played 5 hits .294 batting average
McRemer	Right fielder	Washington Nationals	Union Association	1884	[28]
	Summary: 1 game played 3 plate appearances 0 hits
Murphy	Catcher / Left fielder	Boston Reds	Union Association	1884	[29]
	Summary: 2 games played 4 plate appearances 1 walk
Scott	Right fielder / Third baseman	Baltimore Monumentals	Union Association	1884	[30]
	Summary: 13 games played 12 hits 1 home run
Smith	Pitcher / Right fielder	Baltimore Monumentals	Union Association	1884	[31]
	Summary: 1 game played 5 plate appearances 1 hits 0–0 win–loss record 6.0 innings pitched 9.00 earned run average
Wills	Center fielder	Washington Nationals	American Association Kansas City Cowboys (UA)	1884	[32]
	Summary: 9 games played 36 plate appearances 5 hits
Jones	Third baseman	New York Metropolitans	American Association	1885	[33]
	Summary: 1 game played 4 plate appearances 1 hit

1890–1892

Name	Position	Team	League	Year	Ref
Lewis	Left fielder / Pitcher	Buffalo Bisons	Players' League	1890	[34]
	Summary: For broader coverage of this topic, see 1890 Buffalo Bisons season § Brooklyn vs Buffalo game and the story of Lewis. 1 game played 5 plate appearances 1 hit 0–1 win–loss record 3.0 innings pitched 60.00 earned run average
Macey	Catcher	Philadelphia Athletics	American Association	1890	[35]
	Summary: 1 game played 1 plate appearance 0 hits
McBride	Center fielder	Philadelphia Athletics	American Association	1890	[36]
	Summary: 1 game played 2 plate appearances 0 hits
Stafford	Right fielder	Philadelphia Athletics	American Association	1890	[37]
	Summary: 1 game played 2 plate appearances 0 hits
Sweigert	Left fielder	Philadelphia Athletics	American Association	1890	[38]
	Summary: 1 game played 2 plate appearances 1 stolen base
Leonard	Right fielder	St. Louis Browns	American Association	1892	[39]
	Summary: 1 game played 1 walk 1 stolen base