Josh Reilly: Salem’s pioneer Major League Player

KEIZER – Minor League Baseball was truly the wild west in the 1890s, a sport that was already a full generation into keeping Major League statistics. It was also sprouting, moving and changing Minor League teams as fast the latest gold rush rumors.

Somewhere between fact and legend is where our story begins: Josh Reilly: Salem’s pioneer Major League player.

William Henry “Josh” Reilly played professional baseball for 16 years including for the 1893 Independence-Salem team of the Oregon State League. Reilly would make it all the way to The Show with the Chicago Colts in 1896 and then continue playing in various western-state professional leagues through his 40th birthday in 1908. Playing professional baseball at 40 is impressive enough; at the time, the average male lifespan was about 47 years old.

Reilly is also regarded as one of the very first, if not the very first, Minor League player from Salem ever to make it to The Show.

Reilly’s story and statistics are almost as interesting for the gaps as what is officially known. Most recorded stats only confirm all the teams throughout Reilly’s 16-year professional playing career. The best-kept stats, by no surprise, are during his one Major League season, where Reilly played in nine games for Chicago, had nine hits and a double in 43 plate appearances, batting .214 with a .471 on-base + slugging percentage.

Chicago was a strong team in 1896. The Colts went 71-57-4 (yes, the National League had ties back then) which was fifth place since the National League was one ‘super division’ back in the day. For context, had the 1896 National League had the same divisional and playoff format as the 2019 National League, Reilly and the Chicago Colts would have played the Boston Beaneaters (in Boston) in the National League Wild Card Game with the right to take on the-then National League best: Baltimore Orioles.

Bill James, eat your heart out.

More:Which is the best Volcanoes championship team ever?

Reilly played on the same Chicago field with two future National Baseball Hall of Fame players:

• Cap Anson (four-time National League batting champion, 3,437 career hits; 2,075 career RBI; 1,999 career runs and 97 career home runs - which was no small feat back in the day. Anson was both the manager and the 44-year-old first baseman.
• Clark Griffith, posted a 237-146 record with a 3.31 ERA in 3,285.2 innings pitched.

For Josh Reilly, this was quite an impressive jump in only three years, as the middle infielder for the 1893 Independence-Salem squad of the Oregon State League, which in some baseball-is-family sense was the great-great-grandparent of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. One difference is where Salem and Keizer are adjacent cities, Independence and Salem are 12 miles apart, which with travel options back in the day, was a long commute.

The deeper story of the 1893 Independence-Salem team, as well as the entire Oregon State League, is partially lost to history and partially lives through local legend that has been passed down in this area for five or six generations.

What we do know:

• The 1893 Oregon State League had four teams: Independence-Salem, Albany, Oregon City and Portland.
• Reilly’s Independence-Salem teammates included: Kurtz Billings, Albert Collet, Jack Cook, P. Grant, “Holman”, “Johnson”, A. Kolman, C. Kolman, “Levis”, J. McCarthy, Eugene McGreevy, “Minto”, “Muellens”, George Sharp, Joseph Shea, Fred Strand, “Sullivan”, “Tarplay” and T. Thompson.

For those inclined --  maybe local historians, aspiring journalists or writers, and/or those passionate about the game, there are 1893 on-line versions of Salem’s old daily newspaper, The Capital Journal, which are scanned and shared with the University of Oregon’s “Historical Oregon Newspapers”.

More:Volcanoes are just a part of baseball history in Salem-Keizer

Maybe someday, someone reading this article will write the definitive story of Josh Reilly and the 1893 Independence-Oregon team. Maybe they won the pennant. Maybe a local Little League player is a great-great-grandchild from someone on the 1893 team.

If nothing else, we’d like to think in some Field of Dreams cosmic baseball sense, maybe Josh Reilly, 126 years after playing here in town, can enjoy a final curtain call from the readers of the Salem Statesman Journal. 

Justin Lacche is President (Emeritus) of the Volcanoes. A professional cricket player, Lacche has 3,000+ career runs in 15 seasons, winning two cricket championships.

Remaining 2019 Salem-Keizer Volcanoes home games:

• Sunday, August 18: Volcanoes host Everett @ Volcanoes Stadium: Fans 60-years-old and above receive free admission at any PT Northwest location. Children run the bases. Post-game Host Family Appreciation Night. 
• Monday, August 19: Volcanoes host Everett @ Volcanoes Stadium: Kids Night & Latino Night #2 - CASA Fundraiser Night. Children 12 & under receive a free admission voucher at any Salem-Keizer area McDonald's. 
• Tuesday, August 20: Volcanoes host Boise @ Volcanoes Stadium: Military Tuesday sponsored by Grifols. All current and former military personnel admitted free.
• Wednesday, August 21: Volcanoes host Boise @ Volcanoes Stadium: Salem Free Clinic Fundraiser Night & $1 Hot Dogs from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, August 22: Volcanoes host Boise @ Volcanoes Stadium: Salem Free Clinic Fundraiser Night #2 & $1 beer from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
• Sunday, September 1: Volcanoes host Eugene @ Volcanoes Stadium: Fans 60-years-old and above receive free admission at any PT Northwest location. Children run the bases. North Willamette Habitat Fundraiser Night. 
• Monday, September 2: Volcanoes host Eugene @ Volcanoes Stadium: Children 12 & under receive a free admission voucher at any Salem-Keizer area McDonald's. 
• Thursday, September 5: Volcanoes Game 2 of the 2019 NWL South Division Series. 
• Friday, September 6: Volcanoes Game 3 of the 2019 NWL South Division Series *if necessary