Patrick “Patsy” Dougherty undoubtedly had his most success elsewhere as a big leaguer. In his sophomore season in Boston, he hit two home runs in a World Series game (one of them an inside-the-parker) to help secure a title in the very first Fall Classic. A few years later, he won another championship with the White Sox, in one of baseball’s most famous World Series.
In between those two stops, he spent some time in New York, manning the outfield. And getting in a fistfight with his manager. But let
one who has never wanted to fight their boss cast the first stone. (And he isn’t the last man in franchise history to get into it with his manager, obviously.) Finally, in an historical quirk, he’s specifically linked to the name “Yankees,” and might be the first player ever officially referred to by that famed moniker.
Patrick Henry “Patsy” Dougherty
Born: October 27, 1876 (Andover, NY)
Died: April 30, 1940 (Bolivar, NY)
Yankees Tenure: 1904-06
The son of an Irish immigrant, Dougherty grew up in southwestern New York, with his family settling in Bolivar. He drew attention on his high school team and gradually made the climb from the prep ranks to town ball to the minors and then to California late in 1901. They had a winter league back then, and his manager in LA happened to also be the skipper of Boston’s new American League club. So Patsy broke in with Boston in 1902 and hit the cover off the ball. He hit .342 as a rookie (a career-best) with a .407 OBP (ditto) and .805 OPS (likewise). He followed that up with a sensational sophomore season in 1903 that saw him pace the Junior Circuit in at-bats, runs, and hits, while hitting .331. Not a bad first two years.
That year, he also starred in a game against the New York Highlanders that one would expect to be a pitcher’s duel. Cy Young versus Jack Chesbro. That’s supposed to be a battle of the titans. Instead, it was more like a sustained exchange of artillery fire. The Highlanders outlasted the Americans 15-14 and Dougherty hit for the cycle.
Come playoff time, Dougherty etched his name in baseball history. With a pair of round-trippers in Game 2 of the World Series against Pittsburgh, he became the first player to homer twice in a World Series game. It was all part of an .827 OPS series as Boston won the first Fall Classic, five games to three ina best-of-nine.
In 1904, his bat fell off and, perhaps due to that, Boston was willing to move him. It might also have had something to do with Dougherty pushing to be paid more, after two pretty darn good first seasons in the big leagues. Either way, Boston moved him. In June 1904, the Americans sent him to New York for the somewhat-infamous Bob Unglaub.
The Boston Herald trumpeted “DOUGHERTY AS A YANKEE,” the first time on record the club was referred to by the name that has become ubiquitous. Meanwhile, Boston fans were furious, seeing through the club’s justifications of Dougherty’s defensive lapses being reason to send him packing. Le plus ca change, as they say.
Patsy quickly adjusted to life in New York. Though his bat never rebounded to its peak in Boston, he was still comfortably above-average with the stick for New York (120 OPS+ in 1904 after the trade). The Highlanders, unfortunately, missed the playoffs. Boston beat them out by 1.5 games to take home the American League pennant, with his new teammate and ace Chesbro uncorking a wild one to doom them in the penultimate game of the season.
Dougherty may not have been the greatest defender though, in fairness to Boston’s front office. On August 15th, 1905, Dougherty dropped two fly balls in left field, costing New York against Detroit and prompting The New York Times to declare “DOUGHERTY’S MISTAKES DEFEAT NEW YORK.” He also went through the worst offensive season of his career, coinciding with the Highlanders slipping to sixth place in the Junior Circuit.
1906 saw another contract dispute between Dougherty and his club. Worse, he got in a fistfight with New York skipper Clark Griffith. Unsurprisingly, he was gone from New York shortly after. Dougherty abandoned the team for the Tri-State League and found himself banned from the American League by president Ban Johnson.
Eventually, in July, the Chicago White Sox managed to massage things with Johnson and purchased his contract. He struggled down the stretch and was putrid in the World Series (2-for-20) but won his second World Series title nonetheless, as the “Hitless Wonder” White Sox pulled off an all-time upset against the crosstown rival 116-win Cubs of “Tinker to Evers to Chance” fame.
Dougherty spent the rest of his career in the Windy City and rediscovered his stroke, remaining a productive big-league hitter through his final season in 1911. Reputedly wealthy due to investments during his playing days, Dougherty began working at a bank shortly after his retirement, where he remained for almost three decades.
Patsy Dougherty died of a heart attack on April 30, 1940. He would have been 150 years old today. Happy birthday to a man nearly as old as the National League itself.
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