Joe Gunson

{{Short description|American baseball player (1863–1942)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Joe Gunson |position=Catcher |image=Joe Gunson.jpg |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1863|3|23|mf=y}} |birth_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1942|11|15|1863|3|23}} |death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=June 14 |debutyear={{Baseball year|1884}} |debutteam=Washington Nationals |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 18 |finalyear={{Baseball year|1893}} |finalteam=Cleveland Spiders |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.211 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=0 |stat3label=Runs scored |stat3value=96 |teams= *Washington Nationals (1884) *Kansas City Cowboys (1889) *Baltimore Orioles (1892) *St. Louis Browns (1893) *Cleveland Spiders (1893) }} '''Joseph Brook Gunson''' (March 23, 1863 – November 15, 1942) was an American Major League Baseball catcher between {{Baseball year|1884}} and {{Baseball year|1893}}.

==Biography== Born in Philadelphia, Gunson played for the Cleveland Spiders, Washington Nationals, Kansas City Cowboys, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Browns from 1884 to 1893. He is sometimes credited with creating the first catcher's mitt when he was trying to play through an 1888 finger injury. Though Gunson was young and did not need the money, Jim Manning was going to help him patent it once Manning returned from a summer baseball tour. Gunson said that he told some other players about the glove and that many other players began using such a mitt before Manning came home.<ref name="Shamokin">{{cite news|title=First catcher's mit (sic) moulded 49 years ago|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/66285929/|work=Shamokin News-Dispatch|date=July 15, 1937|language=en}}</ref>

Gunson died at his Philadelphia home in 1942.<ref name="Mitt">{{cite news|title=Death claims mitt inventor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/12417676/|work=The Record-Argus|date=November 16, 1942}}</ref>

==References== <references />

==External links== {{Baseballstats|br=g/gunsojo01|brm=gunson001joe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunson, Joe}} Category:1863 births Category:1942 deaths Category:Major League Baseball catchers Category:Cleveland Spiders players Category:Kansas City Cowboys (AA) players Category:Washington Nationals (UA) players Category:Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Category:St. Louis Browns (AA) players Category:19th-century baseball players Category:19th-century American sportsmen Category:Meriden Maroons players Category:Rochester Maroons players Category:Atlanta Atlantas players Category:Hartford Dark Blues (minor league) players Category:Topeka Golden Giants players Category:Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Category:Erie Blackbirds players Category:Springfield Maroons players Category:Springfield Ponies players Category:Scranton Miners players Category:Scranton Red Sox players Category:Rochester Patriots players Category:Ottawa Wanderers players Category:Newark Colts players Category:Philadelphia Athletics (minor league) players Category:Harrisburg Ponies players Category:Baseball players from Philadelphia