KINGS TO CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY YEAR
1933 is a very important year both to the borough of Brooklyn and it's baseball club. Brooklyn celebrates it's 100th anniversary since it was incorporated as a city back in 1834. Originally dubbed Breukelen by Dutch settlers in the 1600s, it remained a city until 1898 when according to the Municipal Charter of Greater New York, Brooklyn was consolidated with the other cities, boroughs and counties to form the modern city of New York. Regardless if you consider it a borough of New York or a city of it's own, Brooklyn turns 100 this year.
It is also an anniversary season for Brooklyn's ball team as the Continental Association Kings will be playing their 50th season of professional baseball. The Kings were founded in 1884 and played in the long since gone Border Association. The were actually the second professional club to be based in Brooklyn as the Unions played from 1876 until 1885 in the Peerless League before they were absorbed by the Kings when FABL was created in 1892. The Kings hold the distinction of being the final champion of the Border Assocation, winning their second league title in 1891. The Kings won two Border Association pennants in their 8 years in that league but titles have been much rarer for Brooklyn in the Federally Alligned Baseball Leagues for Brooklyn as the Kings have never won the World Championship Series and own just three Continental Association pennants with the most recent one coming in 1927.
To celebrate fifty years of baseball the Kings organization will be honouring many of their all-time greats prior to select games this sesaon and have also unveiled the club's 50th Anniversary Squad, featuring the best players to ever wear the purple and gold of Brooklyn.
Here are the 11 players (3 pitchers and 8 position players) and two executives that comprise the 50th anniversay club.
Pitcher: Ferdinand Hawkins (1884-1892)- An original King, Hawkins won 191 games in a Brooklyn uniform including 28 in each of the two seasons he led the Kings to Border Association titles.
Pitcher: Phil Miller (1909-1924)- Spent his entire career with the Kings going 288-284 including 7 seasons of at least twenty victories. He led the Kings to their first Continental Association pennant in 1912 and was also around for the second one in 1923.
Pitcher: Danny Goff (1911-16, 1924-26)- While it can easily be argued Goff's greatest days came with the New York Gothams he did win 124 of his 252 career big league games in a Brooklyn uniform. Goff, who remains with the organization in a minor league managerial role, was a key piece of the 1912 pennant winner.
CATCHER: Amos Gatlin (1890-1897)- Had 1,162 hits in 1,017 career games as a King. Gatlin was the starting catcher for 8 years in Brooklyn and helped the team win the 1890 Border Association.
FIRST BASE: Paul Tattersall (1908-24)- Better known as a catcher, Tattersall started his career in Brooklyn at first base and gets the nod here instead of behind the plate because of a shortage of quality first baseman. He played 1,710 games in Brooklyn before ending his career with stops with the Gothams, Montreal and finally the Keystones. He was a key piece of both the 1912 and 1923 pennant winning clubs and his 201 career homers and 1,023 rbi's are far and away the most in either category by a Brooklyn player. Tattersall returned to the organization after his playing days and is currently the hitting coach at Class B Tampa.
SECOND BASE: John Noviello (1904-12) - Another position where there has never been an established player for a long period of time, Noviello played 898 for Brooklyn and hit .277. He was a member of the 1912 pennant winner but played sparingly as it was his final major league season.
SHORTSTOP: Albert Davis (1885-1898) - No one played more games in a Brooklyn uniform than the 1,773 that Davis suited up for. Slick with the leather, Davis would bat .254 in his career with the Kings and be a starter on both Border Association pennant winning clubs.
THIRD BASE: Jim Gerhart (1904-18)- Ranks #2 all-time in games played and hits as a member of the Kings. Spent his entire big league career wearing the crown and amassed 1.697 big league hits. He was a member of the 1912 pennant winning squad.
OUTFIELD: Ira Williams (1892-1902)- The all-time leader in hits and runs and fifth in career games played as a King, Williams jooined the squad in 1892 and spent two decades patrolling the Brooklyn outfield. Williams hit .311 as a King and his 2,022 career hits are 325 more than the next closest King.
OUTFIELD: Doug Ligthbody (1926-present)- Just 29 years old but Lightbody has already established himself as one of the greatest Kings players of all-time. He remains the only King to win a Whitney Award which he earned in 1927 when he led the Kings to their most recent pennant. In 839 career games he has 1,179 hits and is the face of the modern day Kings after being the first draft selection ever made by current management when it took over following the 1925 season. Lightbody is also one of the very few players to go straight from college to the big leagues and never played a day in the minors.
OUTFIELD: Jacob Gray: (1889-1895)- There were several other strong candidates for the final outfield spot including Jack Gilmore, Jake Hopper and current King Ab Thomas but although his time as a King was brief one could easily argue that few players captivated the city of Brooklyn like Gray did in his prime. He is 5th all-time in runs scored as a King despite playing just 916 games with the franchise. He joined Brooklyn from Toronto in 1889 and from 1892-1895 was among the best hitters in the game, winning a batting title in 1892 and hitting a career best .373 in 1894. Then he simply was gone. At the age of 30 in 1895 Gray abruptly retired from baseball despite the fact he was batting .316 in 82 games that season. He was a key piece of both the 1889 and 1891 Border Association championship squads.
EXECUTIVE: Barnabas Colson (1884-1897)- The original owner of the Kings, he guided the club from it's days as an expansion team to a pair of Border Association titles and finally to it's survival when that loop folded and became part of the FABL.
EXECUTIVE: RUFUS BARRELL (1891-1908)- The story is well known as Barrell was signed as a teenage pitching phenom but never played an official game in the major leagues, having his skull fractured by a batted ball in his preseason debut with Brooklyn. His playing days suddenly over, Barrell would join the Kings in a scouting capacity and would later go on to play a key role in creating the league's central scouting organization. Barrell was credited for discovering many future stars during his tenure as a Kings scout including Danny Goff, who he joins on the all-time Kings team. Barrell is also the father to five professional ballplayers including four currently in the Kings organization.