Brian McNutt

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Pitcher 	Pitcher
Born: 	November 3, 1855
Died: 	April 18, 1932 (77)
Bats/Throws 	Right/Right
NABA Debut 	NABA Debut
April 4, 1884 for the Albany Senators 	April 4, 1884 for the Albany Senators
Last NABA Appearance 	Last NABA Appearance
September 30, 1892 for the Brooklyn Saints	September 30, 1892 for the Brooklyn Saints
NABA Statistics 	NABA Statistics
Win-loss record 	263-235
Earned run average 	2.59
Strikeouts 	2117
Teams 	Teams
*Albany Senators (1884-1891)
*Brooklyn Saints (1892)	
*Albany Senators (1884-1891)
*Brooklyn Saints (1892)
Career highlights and Awards 	Career highlights and Awards
* 2x American Grand Finals Champion (1885, 1886)
* Triple Crown 1885
* 6x Strikeout Leader (1884,1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889)
* 3x ERA leader (1884, 1885, 1886)
* 2x Pitcher of the Year Award winner (1885, 1886)	
* 2x American Grand Finals Champion (1885, 1886)
* Triple Crown 1885
* 6x Strikeout Leader (1884,1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889)
* 3x ERA leader (1884, 1885, 1886)
* 2x Pitcher of the Year Award winner (1885, 1886)
Brian Arthur McNutt III (November 3, 1855 – April 18, 1932) was an American North American Baseball Association pitcher who spent 8 years of his 9 year career with the Albany Senators. McNutt is considered baseball's first star pitcher, a second overall pick in the 1884 NABA Inaugural Draft. In the inaugural year of the league, McNutt would go on to throw 412 strikeouts, a number still unreached by no one to this day but himself, when he threw 423 in 1886. As of 2017, he holds the top three records for strikeouts in a season. By the end of his career with the Senators, he was said to receive standing ovations before each first inning, and was often called 'Gentleman Bri" due to his admiration for the fans. Despite McNutt's skill and popularity, he was not admitted into the NABA Baseball Hall of Fame for more than a century after his retirement, due-in-part to his nine years of service being one year shy of the decade necessary to be eligible. However, due to his momentous career achievements, he was formally inducted into the Hall in November of 2005. He died in 1932, in this son's home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
== Early Life ==
Brian McNutt was the youngest of seven children, born in Columbus, Missouri to miner and businessman Sylvester McNutt. He became a miner himself, under his father's business, at age 12, being taken out of school in the sixth grade. It is said that during breaks in the job, he and his fellow workers would throw around coal pieces and hit them with a stick. McNutt, often the "designated thrower," polished his pitching style with these games. At age 19, he earned enough money working in his father's mine to formally move to the nearby Kansas City, where we met his first wife, Eileen McNutt. It was here that he found work as a desk clerk, but he kept playing baseball with some local groups, when the sport was still ambiguous in rules and play. 
Despite the city's lack of a team, tryouts were held across the country for the new North American Baseball Association, headquartered in Albany, New York. McNutt proved himself to be a shining star amongst earlier ballplayers, and was quickly accepted into the draft. On February 15, 1884, he was drafted in the Inaugural Draft, a ceremony held in the open air in Albany City Square, by the city's team itself, the Albany Senators.