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FOUR OF GAME’S EARLY STARS END THEIR CAREERS
DAVIS, HEILMAN, HUNTLEY, & MALONEY HANG UP THEIR CLEATS FOR THE LAST TIME

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (Oct. 1, 1874) - After the end of each baseball season, the more experienced men of the sport must decide whether or not to continue playing for one more season or to quit the endeavor and go back to year-round employment at a more standard full-time job.

For four of the early stars of the sport of baseball, the decision has been made: the uniforms have been put away, the bats have been set aside, and it’s time to stop playing competitive baseball. The four players: Willie Davis, James Heilman, Edward Huntley, & Thomas Maloney, three legends in the APBL and an NBBO star who took a while to receive his due.

For the three APBL retirees stardom came almost instantly. After a fine debut campaign in 1858 (.318, 40 RBI, 34 SB, 2.6 WAR) as a 21-year-old, Davis spent the next three seasons winning an NEL Most Valuable Player Award and back-to-back Batsman of the Year awards for Susquehanna. As a 21-year-old in the NBBO’s inaugural season Huntley led the NYL in Batsman WAR (4.4), something he would do in eleven of the league’s first thirteen seasons, and he also took home a Golden Glove (3B) while batting .359 for Orange. Maloney was also 21 in the league’s inaugural season, during which he hit .364 (.865 OPS, 43 RBI, 30 SB, 3.4 WAR) for Shamrock in one of the most difficult hitting environments in the sport, and just two seasons later he would lead the NEL with a .401 average while becoming one of the first set of NBBO All-Stars.

Heilman’s path to stardom took longer. As a 27-year-old in the NBBO’s inaugural season he was a very good player for Nassau County (.329, 46 RBI, 28 SB, 2.4 WAR) and over time was consistently one of the more valuable corner outfielders in the NBBO, but proper recognition eluded him until 1871, when he was named an All-Star for the first time at the age of 41. Heilman would make three All-Star Games and two Teams of the Year in his last four NBBO seasons, and he ended his career by winning NYL Batsman of the Year at the age of 44.


Willie Davis’ career statistics & accomplishments:

• 2x APBL Champion (1872-73)
• 2x NBBO NEL Batsman of the Year (1860-61)
• 2x NBBO NEL Most Valuable Player (1859, 65)
• 13x All-Star (10x NBBO, 3x APBL)
• 5x NBBO NEL Team of the Year (1859-61, 64-65)
• 6x Golden Glove (5x APBL, 1x NBBO)
• 3x NBBO NEL leader in Total Bases (1860-62)
• 3x NBBO NEL leader in Slugging % (1860-61, 65)
• 2x NBBO NEL leader in Batsman WAR (1865, 69)
• 2x NBBO NEL leader in Hits, 2B, OPS


Davis joined the NBBO in 1858 with Susquehanna. After spending the first seven years of his career with the team, he joined American in his hometown of Philadelphia ahead of the 1865 season and spent the last ten years of his career there. Davis remains the youngest player to win either Batsman of the Year or Most Valuable Player in any league, and he also remains the youngest batsman ever to lead his league in OPS. Over time, he may end up most remembered for being part of American’s back-to-back APBL championship teams in 1872 & 73, and a key piece of the ‘72 title winners.


Edward Huntley’s career statistics & accomplishments:

• 3x NBBO Champion (1859, 65, 67)
• 1x NBBO NYL Batsman of the Year (1866)
• 4x NBBO NYL Most Valuable Player (1859, 62, 65, 69)
• 16x All-Star (12x NBBO, 4x APBL)
• 10x Team of the Year (9x NBBO, 1x APBL)
• 9x NBBO NEL Golden Glove (1857, 59-63, 65, 67-68)
• 11x NBBO NEL leader in WAR (1857, 59-63, 65-69)
• 2x league leader in BB, SLG, & TB
• Career Zone Rating of +226.7 as 3B & SS
• WPA of 7.92 in 1873 is the all-leagues record


Huntley immediately became one of the stars of the sport as a 21-year-old with Orange, with his talent & popularity never waning during his eighteen-year career. After eight seasons with Orange he joined the other Manhattan team, Knickerbocker, and immediately won a championship with the famous 58-12 team of 1865. He spent nine more seasons with the team, all of them All-Star worthy, before calling for an end to his career.

Of course, a discussion of Huntley’s career wouldn’t be complete without noting his legendary exploits during the postseason:

Somehow, a player who was talented enough to lead his league in Batsman WAR eleven times in thirteen seasons played even better in the most high-pressure baseball on the calendar against the best teams in the sport. He and James Burke are the only players to go to the playoffs more than twice and have a career postseason Batting Average over .400, but Burke has played 27 games over three postseason appearances while Huntley had 74 games played over seven.

Simply put, Edward Huntley was one of the best batsmen and fielders in the sport for eighteen years, both during the regular season and postseason.


Thomas Maloney’s career statistics & accomplishments:

• 1x NBBO Champion (1862)
• 1x NBBO NEL Batsman of the Year (1865)
• 2x NBBO NEL Batting Champion (1859, 65)
• 12x NBBO NEL All-Star (1859-70)
• 4x NBBO NEL Team of the Year (1859-60, 62, 65)
• Career .354 postseason Batting Average


Maloney began his career with a remarkable run for Shamrock. After a dip from his .364 average in the inaugural season of the NBBO, his .401 in 1859 is heralded as one of the most remarkable feats of batsmanship ever considering Shamrock’s home grounds (AVG factor: .884) even though he didn’t win BotY (Anderson MacGyver). Stunningly, Shamrock let him leave after a down year in 1864. Maloney then joined Reading, where he rebounded with a BotY campaign in 1865. After another stellar campaign for Reading in 1866 Maloney came back to Boston, where he would join Massachusetts Bay and spend the final eight seasons of his career.


James Heilman’s career statistics & accomplishments:

• 1x NBBO Champion (1873)
• 1x NYL Batsman of the Year (1874)
• 3x NBBO All-Star (1871-72, 74)
• 2x NYL Team of the Year (1872, 74)
• 1x NEL Golden Glove (1867)
• 7x league leader in Bases on Balls (1858, 60, 70-74)


What made James Heilman so popular wasn’t that he put up superstar levels of production for his entire career. Instead, it was that he was a very good player who then peaked after he hit the age of forty thanks to a combination of extraordinary patience at the plate – his 77 Bases on Balls in 1871 are the all-leagues record – and fundamental baseball ability. Heilman bounced around more than the other three men, playing for four different teams after spending the first eight seasons of the NBBO playing for Nassau County. Yet, Heilman stands as a beloved figure whose 1874 season, in which he led the NYL in OPS and won Batsman of the Year at age 44, will be remembered as one of the most remarkable seasons of all time.


So, here’s to the retirements of four of the early history of the sport’s brightest stars. One can only hope that their legacies will be remembered for generations.