George W. Hall (1849 - 1923)

Born 22 Jun 1849 in Stepney, England

Died 11 Jun 1923 at age 73 in New York

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Biography

George W. Hall was among the first professional baseball players, from 1871 with the Washington Olympics to 1877 with the Louisville Grays. In one of the earliest baseball cards, he is shown top, middle of a card produced in 1871 for the Washington Olympics.

George was born in England in 1849, and shortly thereafter the family came to the United States. This is shown by the 1860 census of Brooklyn, NY. In that report parents George(1820 England) and Ida(1821 England) are shown, as well as young Marion Hall, who was born in New York in 1855.

Various census reports showed the Hall family lived in Brooklyn at least from 1855-1880. Also shown is that mother Ida is referred to as Mary, and that siblings of George W. Hall were 1844 Helen, 1846 Mary, 1847 Edwin, all born in England, and Marion(1855 NY).

George and brother Edwin were noted as engravers(1870) or steel engravers(1880).

GEORGE W. HALL's Findagrave page , wikipedia and baseball-reference.com give some detail about George's baseball career.

There is a New York death record showing his parents and the timeline of 1849-1923.

George joined the baseball tour of England that was the brainchild of Harry Wright. In 1874 Boston faced Philadelphia in exhibition games (picture depicting the event is attached).

George W. Hall was part of a huge scandal in 1877, where he took bribes from gamblers to throw games. Three other men were implicated: Jim Devlin, Al Nichols, and Bill Craver. George was banned from baseball.

Sources

• *Findagrave 19993
• New York death record 1923
• 1860 census Brooklyn, NY
• 1865 census Brooklyn
• 1870 census Brooklyn
• 1880 census Brooklyn
• Wikipedia page on George W. Hall
• baseball-reference.com