[tm1681]

THE CHEETAH ENDS THE HUNT

The end of the 1893 season marked the end of the career of baseball’s winningest player: Alva “The Cheetah” Burgess.

Burgess’ career spanned from 1876-1893, with all but the final season spent playing for the Boston Shamrocks in the APBL and the Detroit Robins in the MWBA. During his eighteen-year career he won seven professional championships: three in the APBL (1881, 82, 84), three in the MWBA (1887-89), and the SEAL championship in his final season as a player/coach with the Savannah Schooners. Not only had he won more titles than any other player, but he’d also become the first to be part of championship teams in all three professional leagues in the United States.

While Burgess wasn’t a key figure in the 1893 Savannah squad that went 84-42 and won the SEAL by eight games, he was the star player on each of the other six title winners he played on. At the height of his powers, Alva Burgess was a center fielder who could hit for contact and gap power, draw a fair number of walks, steal bases at will, move teammates on the basepaths, play Golden Glove defense with 80/80 range, work harder than anyone else, and be a leader in the clubhouse (NOTE: He had the “Captain” personality type).

His career stats:





NOTE: because of an issue with my game during OOTP23 I had to reload a backup after the 1881 season, and for some reason lost all of the black/grey ink & leaderboard highlighting up to that point.

His career honors and leaderboard appearances:

7x Championship winner (3x APBL, 3x MWBA, 1x SEAL)
11x Team of the Year at OF (7x APBL, 4x MWBA)
5x Most Valuable Player (2x APBL, 3x MWBA)
3x Golden Glove (2x APBL, 1x MWBA)
2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1880, 86)
2x APBL President’s Cup MVP (1882, 85)
2x APBL Batting Champion (1880, 86)
17x Player of the Week
9x Batsman of the Month
1876 APBL Newcomer of the Year

All-time leader (all levels) in Stolen Bases at 1,359 (George Reese in second at 953)
2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WAR at 85.2 (Anthony Mascherino in first at 85.7)
2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WPA at 84.27 (Konrad Jensen in first at 100.47)

16x League leader in Stolen Bases (11x APBL, 5x MWBA)
6x League leader in Position Player WAR (4x APBL, 2x MWBA)
6x League leader in Runs (3x APBL, 3x MWBA)
4x APBL leader in Hits (1880, 82, 84, 86)
4x APBL leader in Total Bases (1880, 82, 85, 86)
3x APBL leader in Slugging % (1880, 82, 86)
2x APBL leader in OPS (1880, 86)
2x APBL leader in Triples (1880, 82)
1x APBL leader in Extra-Base Hits (1878)
1x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1886)

His 1886 season for the 88-24 Boston Shamrocks was one of the finest ever put forth by any player. His subsequent move to the Detroit Robins for the 1887 season became the catalyst for open competition between for talent the APBL and the MWBA, and it led many to believe that there were now two “major” professional leagues. The sixteen consecutive seasons he led his league in stolen bases will be almost impossible to match, as well as his career stolen base total of over 1,300.

It is perhaps not surprising that, given how much of a clubhouse leader he was, Burgess ended up becoming a manager less than a year after retirement, taking over as the new manager for Continental B.B.C. in the New York League just before the end of the 1894 season. A team that was 37-70 went 4-1 after he took them over for the final week.

If the powers the be ever decide to open a Hall of Fame for the sport of baseball, surely Burgess will be part of the first class of players to be inducted.