page_title: Jake Beckley
section_title: Major league career
hierarchical_section_title: Jake Beckley / Major league career
caption_attribution_description: 1896 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball teamTop row, L-R: Jake Stenzel (CF), Pink Hawley (P), Lou Bierbauer (2B), Patsy Donovan (RF), (George?) Balliett, Bill Merritt (C/utility), Frank Killen (P), Bones Ely (SS)Middle row, L-R: Mike Smith, Jim Hughey (P), Connie Mack (Mgr./C/1B), Jake Beckley (1B), Denny Lyons (3B)Bottom row, L-R: Charlie Hastings (P), Jot Goar (P), Joe Sugden (C), Brownie Foreman (P)
context_page_description: Jacob Peter Beckley, nicknamed Eagle Eye, was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Pittsburgh Burghers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals from 1888 to 1907.
  Beckley had a batting average of over .300 in 13 seasons. His 244 triples are fourth all time and his 23,767 putouts are a major league record. A career .308 hitter he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 via the Veterans Committee.
context_section_description: After playing one and a half seasons for the Alleghenys, Beckley and eight of his teammates jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers, a team in the newly-formed Players' League (PL). Manager Ned Hanlon crossed over, as well. Beckley stated he was willing to go to the PL because "I'm only in this game for the money anyway." The league lasted only one season, and Beckley spent the next five and a half seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
  On July 25, 1896, Beckley was traded to the New York Giants for Harry Davis and $1,000. Beckley was released by the Giants the following season on May 22, and signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds five days later. In his first season with the Reds, Beckley was unsuccessful in getting rookie Honus Wagner out with the hidden ball trick, a tactic he had been known to use against the opposition. But later when Wagner's Louisville Colonels came to play at Cincinnati, Beckley was successful in getting Wagner out, employing a strategy that involved the use of two baseballs. Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Beckley belted three home runs in the same game on September 26, 1897, a feat not again matched until 1922 by Ken Williams. He played with Cincinnati for seven seasons and was later purchased by the Cardinals on February 11, 1904.
  Beckley retired after the 1907 season with 2,930 career hits, second only to Cap Anson. He continues to rank fourth all-time among major leaguers in triples with 244. As of the 2014 season, Beckley holds the all-time best batting average among Pirates first basemen (.300). Beckley holds the MLB record for career putouts, with 23,743, and ranks second all-time in games played at first base, with 2,376.
caption: Jake Beckley in 1896 (middle, second from right) with the Pittsburgh Pirates
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