John Knight (baseball player)
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John Wesley Knight [Schoolboy] (October 6, 1885 - December 19, 1965) was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a shortstop for five different teams between the 1905 and 1913 seasons. Listed at 6' 2.5", 180 lb., Knight batted and threw right-handed. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was signed out of the University of Pennsylvania.
Knight was nineteen when he entered the majors in 1905 with the Philadelphia Athletics, playing for them two and a half years before joining the Boston Americans (1907), New York Highlanders (1909-11), Washington Senators (1912) and New York Yankees (1913). Knight was in the Athletics 1905 Opening Day as a replacement for incumbent shortstop Monte Cross, out until mid-season with a broken hand. He responded hitting .400 in June, but faded after that and finished the season at .203.
In the 1907 midseason Knight was sent to Boston in exchange for Jimmy Collins. He spent 1908 with Triple-A Baltimore Orioles and returned to the majors with New York a year later. His most productive season came in 1910, when he posted a career-high .312 (5th in American League) and led his team in seven offensive categories. In 1911 he was considered in the MVP vote after hitting .268 with 32 extrabases and 62 runs batted in. Another deal in 1912 sent him to the Senators, who released him to Double-A Jersey City Giants, but he returned to New York in 1913 to finish his major league career.
In an eight-year career, Knight was a .239 hitter (636-for-2664) with 14 home runs and 270 RBI in 767 games, including 301 runs, 96 doubles, 24 triples and 86 stolen bases. He made 755 infield appearances at shortstop (316), third base (211), first base (124) and second base (104) and one at right field, for a collective .933 fielding percentage.
After that, his frequent travels took Knight to the Minneapolis Millers (American Association); Seattle Rainiers and Oakland Oaks (Pacific Coast League), Denver Bears (Western League) and Sacramento Solons (PCL), before returning to Denver as player-manager in 1928 for his last baseball season. He was just briefly at the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1912.
Knight died in Walnut Creek, California at age 80.
