Kelly, Michael Joseph "King" (1857-1894)

Return to Barrier Breakers

The son of Irish immigrants, Kelly was one of baseball’s first superstars. He was a hard-playing, hard-living, man-about-town. Twice he was batting champion and could play any position. It was his clever and sometimes flamboyant playing style that endeared him to the fans. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945.

Photo: Baseball History.com

Kelly on the Web:

King Kelly
A fascinating and colorful biography.

Baseball Cards Images
1888 baseball card.

King Kelly Statistics — Baseball-Reference
A year-by-year (1878-1893) history of Kelly’s batting, fielding and pitching statistics.

Book about Kelly:

Appel, Martin. Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike ‘King’ Kelly, Baseball’s First Superstar. Blue Ridge Simmit, PA: Scarecrow Press, 1999.