Introduction
John Francis Dwyer (March 25, 1868 – February 4, 1943) was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Stockings (1888–1889), Chicago Pirates (1890), Cincinnati Kelly's Killers (1891), Milwaukee Brewers (1891), St. Louis Browns (1892) and Cincinnati Reds (1892–1899). He currently ranks 61st on the MLB career complete games List (270) and 85th on the MLB career hits allowed list (3,301).
Biography
He was born on March 25, 1868.
He led the National League in saves (2) in 1893 and home runs allowed (27) in 1894.
In 12 seasons he had a 176–152 win-loss record, 365 games (318 started), 270 complete games, 12 shutouts, 6 saves, 2,810 innings pitched, 3,301 hits allowed, 1,782 runs allowed, 1,202 earned runs allowed, 109 home runs allowed, 764 walks allowed, 563 strikeouts, and a 3.85 ERA. On June 23, 1896, Dwyer gave up Roger Connor's 123rd homer, breaking Harry Stovey's previous record of 122. Connor's record of 138 would eventually be broken by Babe Ruth.
He later served as the second manager of the Detroit Tigers, managing for one season in 1902. Dwyer briefly umpired in the NL in 1899 and 1901, and in American League in 1904; during which he umpired Cy Young's perfect game.
He died on February 4, 1943 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 74.