Jim McCormick

Who was Jim McCormick?

James McCormick was a Scottish right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. A native of Glasgow, he was the first ballplayer born in Scotland to appear in a major league game.

McCormick was great friends with Mike "King" Kelly and was also very well liked by Cap Anson, two of the great personalities of early baseball. Anson was McCormick's captain-manager in 1885 and 1886, when Chicago won its last 19th-century pennants.

In Paterson starting in 1885, McCormick co-owned a bar with a fellow former local player, Dave Treado. It had a ticker, to post results of games and races. Before the 1888 season and probably at other times, Kelly did some bartending for him. That August, when McCormick’s wife Jennie died, Kelly wired a former mutual Chicago teammate, and "telegraphed Mr. Joseph Towell, the [Paterson] florist, to get up something handsome, and this consisted of `The Gates Ajar,’ the sides of which were made from nephetos [presumably nepetas, aromatic herbs in the mint family] and white roses, the base of carnations, yellow roses and white lilies. The gates were made of ivy leaves, the whole being surmounted by a dove."

Back in 1885, after their Chicago team won the pennant, Kelly and McCormick returned by train to Paterson with teammate Tom Burns, who was heading to Connecticut. A local social club met the players and took them to McCormick’s bar. There, a state senator handed a silver ball to McCormick, "who was loudly called upon and cheered. He said he was suffering from the effects of a severe cold and he would like to make a speech but even if he did he could not tell them how much he appreciated this token of friendship, more than anything he had ever yet received. Kelly was called on and was cheered; in fact, the crowd at this stage was prepared to cheer everybody. As he arose some one [sic] called: 'Make a dead hit this time, Mike!' He said on behalf of Mr. McCormick and himself he desired to thank the donors of the ball; they would never forget this occasion and would ever keep this gift and try to be in the best club [sic]; but we are getting pretty old now."