John A. "Jack" Farrell. "Moose". Second baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 877 hits and 23 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Syracuse Stars in 1879. His best season was 1883 with the Providence Grays as he posted a .329 OBP with 92 runs scored in 435 plate appearances. He was the second baseman for the Providence Gray's in 1879-1885, a consistently good team that won the pennant in 1879 and 1884. He last played for the Baltimore Orioles in 1888-1889. In 1881, he managed the Providence Grays.
Rob Bauer in Book 1 in the Outside the Lines of Gilded Age Baseball Series makes the case that Farrell was often unfit to play, which suggests his odd stance in the card below may depict a pre-game sobriety check: Jack Farrell's saga also shows how, if a player behaved poorly and drank, too, his career might become a rollercoaster. After his falling out with Providence in 1885, Farrell got a fresh start for 1886, catching on with the Philadelphia Quakers, but it was not long before he wore out his welcome in the City of Brotherly Love, for the same reasons Providence had tired of him. The team decided to release him after only seventeen games after he "grossly insulted his late manager, Mr. Wright," to the extent that "the latter felt greatly annoyed at Farrell's conduct, and seriously contemplated bringing his case to the attention of the league," but Wright eventually relented after Farrell signed on with Washington, perhaps simply wishing to wash his hands of the troublesome infielder altogether and let the Nationals deal with him.
Surprisingly, the Nationals appointed Farrell field captain for 1887, and for a few months, he held onto this position, but by September, the team demoted him in favor of third baseman Jim Donnelly. The reason was not poor judgment on the field but poor judgment off it. While in New York, Farrell and one teammate, reserve catcher Barney Gilligan, "engaged in a slugging match with John L. Redeye when they were booked to play." While recovering from this bender, Farrell took French leave, not reappearing for about a week, and the loss of the team's captaincy was the predictable result. The team also suspended him for the season but later changed its mind and reinstated him. At the end of the 1887 campaign, Washington parted ways with Farrell, who despite all his capers, still claimed that the Nationals' management had it out for him. The Sporting Life reported: "Farrell has been released and will leave for his home in a few days. I understand that he claims that he was downed. He did it himself, and if he could have curbed his vicious habits he would be today as popular as ever, for he can play ball when he will." (Book 1 in the Outside the Lines of Gilded Baseball Series by Rob Bauer.
Card featuring a cornered and possibly tipsy Moose Farrell at second base.
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