Kick Kelly

Who was Kick Kelly?

John O. "Kick" Kelly, also nicknamed "Honest John" and "Diamond John," was an American catcher, manager and umpire in Major League Baseball who went on to become a boxing referee and to run gambling houses in his native New York City. He made a notable impact on the development of umpiring, helping to pioneer the use of multiple umpires in games in the 1880s. By the time he initially retired in 1888, he held the record for most games umpired in the major leagues; he returned to work the last two months of the 1897 season.