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Mike Donlin
Nickname(s): Turkey Mike
1878-1933

OF 1899-1906, 08, 11-12, 14 Cardinals, Orioles, Reds, Giants , Braves, Pirates

GamesAverageHRRBI
Career 1050.33351543
World Series 5.31601

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Donlin became the idol of Giants fans after coming to New York in 1904. A superb hitter, he topped .300 ten times in 12 ML seasons. He hit .356 and scored a league-high 124 runs in 1905, then paced the Giants with six hits in their World Series victory over the Athletics. A broken leg limited him to 37 games in 1906, and he was a season-long holdout the next year. After another strong season in 1908 (.334, 106 RBI), Donlin left baseball for a fling at a vaudeville and movie career. Donlin again announced his retirement when Pittsburgh sold him to the Phillies in 1912, but returned as a pinch hitter with the Giants in 1914. (DQV)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» April 26, 1901: The visiting Boston Americans play their first game, losing to Baltimore, 10-6. Iron Joe McGinnity strikes out nine in the win, and Mike Donlin cracks two triples off losing pitcher Win Kellum.

» August 21, 1901: In Baltimore, Orioles pitcher Joe McGinnity is tossed for spitting in the face of umpire Tom Connolly. When Detroit's Kid Elberfeld intervenes, he is decked by Baltimore's Mike Donlin. Bill Keister also gets involved, as do some fans, and the police, who arrest the players and a fan. Judge Harry Goldman, a part-owner of the O's, releases the players and fines the fan a $100.

» March 12, 1902: Cincinnati OF "Turkey Mike" Donlin is arrested for assaulting actress Minnie Fields and her escort. Donlin will plead guilty and serve a 6-month sentence.

» July 16, 1902: Giants owner Andrew Freedman announces he has purchased controlling interest in the Baltimore club and releases Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, and Jack Cronin to sign with New York. Mike Donlin, Joe Kelley and Cy Seymour go to the Reds, where Kelley will take over as manager.

» October 4, 1902: When Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss demands a game be played despite a rain-soaked Exposition Park field, Cincinnati plays most of its team out of their normal positions. First sacker Jake Beckley starts on the mound for the only time in his career, pitching four innings and giving up eight runs, four earned. Cy Seymour followed, and Turkey Mike Donlin finished up. Reds rookie pitcher Rube Vickers tries his hand at catching, and sets a modern major-league record with six passed balls to help Pittsburgh win 11-2 [It is also a record for both teams in a game. Vickers makes no effort to retrieve wide pitches, and it's a surprise he only had six passed balls.] But Dreyfuss refunds the fans' money and the Reds return their share of the gate to keep the irate fans (not for nothing were they called 'cranks') from wrecking the stadium.

» September 22, 1903: In Cincinnati, Reds OF Mike Donlin hits four consecutive triples in a doubleheader split with the Phillies. Donlin's 1st triple comes in his last at bat in the opener, a 12-7 loss, and three more triples in the nitecap 8-1 win. Donlin is 6-for-7 on the afternoon.

» August 7, 1904: The Giants swap outfielders sending rookie OF Moose McCormick (.266) west to the Reds who in turn send him to Pittsburgh for Harry Sebring (269). The Reds ship Mike Donlin (.356) to the Giants. Turkey Mike, sitting out a month's suspension for drunken behavior in Chicago, will enjoy the New York life style and being reunited with John McGraw, for whom he starred at Baltimore, in 1901. He'll help the Giants win two straight pennants.

» July 19, 1905: The Pirates pull to within five games of New York by overcoming a 5-2 deficit and beating the Giants, 8-5. Bill Klem provokes a barrage of garbage from the New York fans by tossing Dan McGann and Mike Donlin out of the game for abusive behavior.

» February 8, 1906: Several Giant players assault passengers aboard a train from New York City to Troy where the players are to receive an award. Ringleader Mike Donlin is charges with assaulting a conductor and pulling a pistol on a porter. The New York Times reports that the players were drunk and started throwing baseballs.

» May 15, 1906: Hooks Wiltse of the Giants becomes the first pitcher of the modern era to fan four batters in a single inning, fanning the side after the first Cincinnati batter, Jim Delahanty, in the 5th inning reaches base on Roger Bresnahan's 3rd-strike error. Wiltse also fanned the side in the 4th inning to total seven batters punched out in just two innings, the first and only time this happens. Hooks K's 12 Reds overall enroute to a victory, 4-1. However, the Giants suffer a major loss when Turkey Mike Donlin, after getting three hits, breaks his leg sliding into 2B.

» September 17, 1906: The Giants roll over the Phillies' Walter Moser, 13-2 to make Christy Mathewson's 20th victory an easy one. Matty leaves after seven innings with a 10-2 lead. Mike Donlin makes his first appearance for the Giants since breaking his leg in May, striking out in his only at-bat.

» April 19, 1908: The National Commission reinstates Jake Stahl and Mike Donlin after fining them $100 each for playing with teams outside organized ball in 1907.

» April 22, 1908: In the Giants home opener, 25,000 fans watch Brooklyn take a 2-1 lead into the 9th inning against Christy Mathewson. With Fred Tenney on 1B, Mike Donlin, a hold out all of last year, then homers to give the Giants a 3-2 win.

» July 11, 1908: Vic Willis gives the Pirates their 2nd win in a row over the Giants, winning, 6–2. Mike Donlin's triple is the only New York hit.

» July 21, 1908: According to a Chicago newspaper contest, the Giants' Mike Donlin, the National League's leading hitter, is baseball's most popular player. Turkey Mike tops Honus Wagner by a wide margin and will be awarded a trophy cup. Donlin was involved in a car accident on the 18th when the car he was riding in on Michigan Avenue, collided with another vehicle driven by Chicago Mayor Busse.

» July 25, 1908: Before an overflow crowd of 30,000 in New York, the Pirates Lefty Leifield tops the Giants and Christy Mathewson, 7–2. The loss drops New York to 3rd place. Two errors by Larry Doyle—he'll add another—in the 7th open the gates for five Pirate runs. Pittsburgh is lead by Honus Wagner who goes 5-for-5 to take over the batting lead from a hitless Mike Donlin. After each hit, Wagner holds up a finger to show the number of safeties to the RF Donlin.

» August 24, 1908: The Giants gain the NL lead by winning two at Pittsburgh, after first refusing to play a doubleheader. John McGraw protests that only one game was scheduled and he was not given 24 hours notice about the 2nd match. But after polling the players, he relents. Hooks Wiltse then tops Vic Willis, 4-1 and Christy Mathewson beats Lefty Leifield, 5-1. Willis tires in the 8th, giving up a 2-run triple to Roger Bresnahan, followed by a Mike Donlin homer. In the nitecap, Donlin and Larry Doyle each drive home a pair. The doubleheader is watched in New York on electric diamonds known as "Compton's Baseball Bulletin" at Madison Square Garden and the Gotham Theatre. Bulletins will display all remaining games.

» September 18, 1908: The largest crowd in the history of the NL-35,000-cheer as the Giants shove the Pirates to five games off the pace by sweeping a doubleheader. Christy Mathewson shuts out the Bucs in the first game, 7-0, for his 11th shutout and his 33rd win. Then the Giants collect 18 hits to take the nitecap, 12-7, as Hooks Wiltse and Joe McGinnity combine for the win. The other hitting occurred in the first game when Mike Donlin tired of a heckler and punched him in the eye. Police quickly moved in.

» June 7, 1911: After two years on the vaudeville circuit with his wife Mabel Hite, and occasional sojourns to jail for drunkenness and assault, "Turkey Mike" Donlin is reinstated by the National Commission. He rejoins the Giants, but John McGraw's willingness to put up with him ceases after 12 games, and the .333 lifetime hitter is traded to the last-place NL Boston Rustlers.

» August 1, 1911: The Giants sell Turkey Mike Donlin to the Braves. Boston will swap him in February.

» February 12, 1912: The Braves send vet Mike Donlin to the Pirates for OF Vin Campbell. After one season with the Bucs, Donlin will be waived to the Phils but refuses to report and elects to retire.

» May 26, 1914: At Chicago, the Giants come from behind to defeat the Cubs, 10–7. New York is lead by a crew of pinchhitters: Jim Thorpe with a 2-run double, Red Murray with a sac fly, and in the 8th inning, Mike Donlin belts a 3-run homer.

» June 22, 1918: It's a hot day in New York, and umpires George Hildebrand and Billy Evans don't show up, so Giants coach Mike Donlin and Browns trainer Bits Bierhalter take their places. The game takes 15 innings to reach an inconclusive 4-4 tie.