Ezra Sutton

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Ezra Ballou Sutton (September 17, 1850 - June 20, 1907) was an American third baseman in the National Association and Major League Baseball from 1871-1888. Sutton collected 1,574 hits during this time period; he had a lifetime batting average of .294. Like many players in an era when walks were more rare, Sutton did not walk a lot, only drawing 169 walks in over 5,500 plate appearances. By almost all measures, Sutton had his 2 best seasons in 1883 and 1884 - he collected 203 runs and 296 hits during those 2 seasons.

He played for the Cleveland Forest Citys and the Philadelphia Athletics, but his main team was the Boston Red Caps (later named the Boston Beaneaters). After the National League's formation in 1876, he was one of the first several players to collect 1000 hits in the major leagues.

Many consider "Uncle Ezra" the finest all-around third baseman of the 19th century and up to the emergence of Frank Baker in 1909. A couple of factors may not lead one to that conclusion at first glance: 1) the shorter schedules, which hurt his counting stats for any particular season and for his career, 2) Major League Baseball doesn't recognize the National Association as a major league, and doesn't include its statistics in its records, even though the NA had the best players for that time, and 3) the position of third base was more like how second base is viewed today, so his batting statistics need to be viewed in that light.