Jack Ogden

Who was Jack Ogden?

John Mahlon Ogden, was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played five seasons in the majors, between 1918 and 1932, for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, and St. Louis Browns.

Ogden attended Swarthmore College, where he played baseball and was a member of Phi Psi. His brother, Warren "Curly" Ogden, also played for Swarthmore and went on to play in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators, also as a pitcher.

Ogden was signed out of college by the Giants in 1918, but pitched just five games in relief before being sent to the minor league Newark Bears of the International League. In January 1919, he was traded along with four other players—including future Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt—to the Rochester Hustlers for catcher Earl Smith.

After spending one season with Rochester, Ogden joined the Baltimore Orioles, for whom he was a rotation mainstay for eight seasons, leading the IL in wins four times. He finally returned to the majors in 1928, ten years after his debut, with the Browns. He pitched two seasons in St. Louis, then missed the entire 1930 season before pitching two more seasons for the Reds. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1933, playing briefly for their Rochester Red Wings before returning to the Orioles, finishing his playing career there in 1934.