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28-481: Mendoza was a lightly used shortstop from Chihuahua, Mexico , who played for three franchises during a nine-season Major League career. While his fielding was highly regarded, his hitting was not. His batting average was between .180 and .199 in five seasons out of nine. When he had trouble staying above .200 in 1979, teammates began to chide him. "... Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte used it to make fun of me," Mendoza said in 2010. "Then they were giving George Brett

56-509: A founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players , the amateur sport's first governing body, in 1857 . (There were no professional clubs at the time.) In 1859 , with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of baseball. Atlantic held the championship through the 1861 season, albeit in controversial fashion. In a third and deciding game with Excelsior of Brooklyn , Excelsior

84-471: A fourth outfielder than an infielder, was also then called "short fielder" (a term still used in soft-pitch softball for the 10th player). With the advent of higher-quality baseballs, Adams moved to the infield, since the distance the balls could travel increased. However, Dickey Pearce , primarily of the Brooklyn Atlantics , is credited as the first to have played the shortstop position as it

112-476: A good hitter. Some of the weakest hitters in Major League Baseball have played the position, including Mario Mendoza , for whom George Brett popularized the eponymous Mendoza Line to describe a batting average below .200. Since the 1960s, however, such mediocre hitting has become rarer as teams increasingly demand players with ability to both field and hit. In practice, a marginal fielder as

140-465: A hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, 'Hey, man, you're going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you're not careful.' And then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman from ESPN , and eventually it spread and became a part of the game." Berman deflects credit back to Brett in popularizing the term. "Mario Mendoza — it's all George Brett," Berman said. "We used it all

168-624: A piece to see Atlantic win 8–7 in extra innings in one of the most significant games in baseball history. Atlantic surrendered the title later in the year, though, to Mutual . After the 1865 season, the Atlantics became the first baseball team to visit the White House. Arthur Gorman , one of the founders of the Washington Nationals Base Ball Club and an acquaintance of President Andrew Johnson, organized

196-511: A shortstop who hits well can be moved to almost any other position, especially second base or third base, whether early in their careers (examples: George Brett and Mike Schmidt were both tried early in their careers as shortstops) or later due to diminished fielding range , slower reflexes, weaker throwing arms, increased risk of injury, or co-existence with another dominant shortstop, as with Ernie Banks , Cal Ripken Jr. , Alex Rodríguez , Michael Young , or Miguel Tejada . The year in which

224-434: A strong throwing arm, because he has a relatively long throw to first base, and often has less time in which to make a throw, given that the ground balls he fields have often traveled relatively far. A shortstop must also be extremely agile, because balls hit to or near the shortstop position are usually hit harder than to other infield positions. Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when

252-570: A team. As a result, their best players, including George Zettlein , Bob Ferguson , Joe Start and Lip Pike , jumped to other clubs. When Atlantic did join the professional circuit in 1872 , it was unable to reestablish itself as a leading club, suffering losing records in each of its four seasons in the league. Atlantic was not invited to join the National League when that circuit was formed in 1876 , but continued to play an independent schedule until at least 1882 . A remnant Atlantic

280-648: A tournament featuring his team, the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and the Atlantics. Philadelphia refused to play in the final game as they would not receive any of the gate revenue and left. Having known President Johnson since his days as a page in the United States Senate , Gorman offered to take the visiting team to the White House to meet the President. Brooklyn accepted and visited on August 30, 1865. A daguerreotype of

308-533: Is needed to throw out a batter-runner before they reach the safety of first base. Doc Adams of the Knickerbockers created the concept of the shortstop position, according to baseball historian John Thorn and Baseball Hall of Fame researcher Freddy Berowski. In the first five years the Knickerbockers played, the team fielded anywhere from eight to eleven players. The only infielders were

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336-546: Is played now. Adams had a long playing career with the Knickerbockers: he remained a player with the team until 1860. Unlike the pitcher and catcher , who must start every play in a designated area (the pitcher must be on the pitcher's mound , with one foot in contact with the pitcher's rubber , and the catcher must be behind home plate in the catcher's box ) the shortstop and the other fielders can vary their positioning in response to what they anticipate will be

364-528: The Mexican League . He ironically achieved a more than respectable .291 lifetime batting average in the Mexican League. The term is also used outside of baseball to convey a similar connotation of unacceptably subpar performance: Shortstop Shortstop , abbreviated SS , is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base , which is considered to be among

392-426: The most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the position was assigned to defensive specialists who were typically poor at batting and were often placed at the bottom of the batting order . Today, shortstops are often able to hit well and many are placed at the top of the lineup. In the numbering system used by scorers to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6. More hit balls go to

420-570: The Atlantics presenting an official team jersey to the President bearing the number “65” is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown , New York . Atlantic had been among the first clubs to declare themselves professional when allowed to do so in 1869 . However, when the major professional clubs formed the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in 1871 , Atlantic declined to field

448-401: The actions of the batter and runner(s) once the play begins. The shortstop ordinarily is positioned near second base on the third-base side. Because right-handed hitters tend to hit the ball more toward third base, a shortstop will generally move closer to third base if the batter is batting right-handed, and more toward first base if the batter is batting left-handed. A shortstop typically has

476-415: The ball is hit to the second baseman or first baseman. They also cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base , but only when a left-handed hitter is batting because the infield will respond to a left-handed batter by shifting toward first base, resulting in the shortstop being the infielder who is closest to second base. Shortstops also must cover third at various times, including the rotation play;

504-489: The championship over the undefeated Cincinnati club under the "challenge" format of the National Association of Base Ball Players , which resembled modern boxing championship rules rather than a league or tournament format. This outcome undoubtedly contributed to the tremendous anticipation when Cincinnati came to Brooklyn with an 89-game winning streak to meet the Atlantics on June 14, 1870 at Atlantic's home Capitoline Grounds . An estimated crowd of 15,000 paid 50 cents

532-431: The cutoff man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left and center field that are destined for second base. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home; however, this is usually the job of the third baseman. The emphasis on defense makes the position unusually difficult to fill. Historically, a strong shortstop did not have to be

560-443: The latter occurs when there are runners on first and second and a sacrifice bunt is attempted toward third base, requiring the third baseman to move in away from third base in order to field it. Shortstops generally are given precedence on catching pop-ups in the infield as well, so they end up calling off other players many times, although on deep pop-ups they generally fall back when called off by an outfielder . They often become

588-417: The pennant in 1866 with a season record of twenty wins, no defeats, and a single tie as the only blemish on its record. Atlantic went undefeated in 1865 with an 18–0 record, sweeping series against chief rivals Mutual of New York and Athletic of Philadelphia . Great players of this era included Joe Start , Dickey Pearce , Charlie Smith , Fred Crane , and Tom Pratt . Atlantic's 36-game winning streak

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616-536: The player was inducted is given in brackets after his name. Source: (does not list teams) Source: baseballreference.com Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty . The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President Andrew Johnson . Established on August 14, 1855 , Atlantic became

644-412: The players covering each of the bases; if there were more than eight players, extra outfielders were sometimes used. The outfielders had difficulty throwing baseballs into the infield because of the balls' light weight. Adams's shortstop position, which he started playing at some time from 1849 to 1850, was used to field throws from the outfielders and throw to the three infielders. The position, more of

672-402: The shortstop than to any other position, as there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly. Like a second baseman , a shortstop must be agile, for example when performing a 4-6-3 double play . Also, like a third baseman , the shortstop fields balls hit to the left side of the infield , where a strong arm

700-408: The time in those 1980s SportsCenters . It was just a humorous way to describe how someone was hitting." Mendoza ended up finishing 1979 below his own "line", at .198. His hitting improved modestly in 1980 and 1981, enough that even with another sub-.200 in his final season of 1982 he raised his career batting average to .215. Mendoza returned to his native land in 1983 and played seven seasons in

728-560: Was finally broken in June, 1866 by Irvington, NJ. Atlantic retained the pennant that year by splitting a two-game series with Athletic of Philadelphia and declining to schedule a series with Union of Morrisania . Atlantic did surrender the title to Union in 1867 . When Atlantic defeated Eckford to regain the pennant in 1869 , Atlantic had already lost to the Cincinnati Red Stockings . This allowed Atlantic to claim

756-653: Was invited to join the upstart American Association in 1882 but failed to satisfy the requirements for doing so. For many years afterwards, the term Atlantic batting referred to a big inning, especially late in the game. Source for season records: Wright (2000) has published records for dozens of NABBP teams each season, relying on a mix of game and season records in contemporary newspapers and guides. Dozens of leading clubs by number of matches are included, as are many others. The records do not consistently cover either all games played or all championship matches between NABBP members. The 1865 Atlantics are said to have been on

784-472: Was leading 8–6 and had men on base, but was forced to withdraw by a rowdy crowd of Atlantic partisans and gamblers. The game was declared a draw, and the championship retained by Atlantic. Atlantic held the championship again through the 1861 season, which was shortened due to the American Civil War , before finally surrendering it to archrival Eckford of Brooklyn in 1862. Atlantic recaptured

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