As the league lore goes, “The first pitch of the Legacy Baseball League was hurled by Stephen Millington of the Philadelphia Brewers from the mound at Libby Hill, Virginia, to CF Cooper Fowler* of the Richmond Rifles, on the first day of Spring: March 21st, 1895.”
Fowler would go on to spark the movement for the Legacy Negro Baseball League and serve as the first Manager of the Richmond Black Rifles, leading them to an inaugural championship.
Millington, meanwhile, is one of the all-time LBL greats. Despite a bad injury, he is still rostered for Philly, 14 seasons in; one of the captains of a dying breed of inaugural ballplayers known as “The 95ers.”
As of July 6th, 1908, there are 32 ’95ers still active at the Major League level. This represents roughly 9% of the 372 players who began their Major League careers in the Spring of 1895. Many ’95ers, including popular names like Ulysses Barr and Barty Bohnsack have become coaches and managers. With an average age of 38, the list of active ’95ers will continue to diminish.
In addition to being the first player to throw a pitch in the LBL, Millington is also the youngest ’95er (beating runner-up RF Gary Johnson of the Packers by some 112 days). While Millington’s stuff is mostly gone and a 5-week injury may have solidified his last pitch as a Brewer, there are several “youngster” ’95ers we may see playing well into the ’10s. 36-year old Antonio Capaldi, longtime Captain of the New York Bakers, is hitting .290 with 20 walks. There are 13 qualified batters hitting over 100 OPS+. Millington and Matthew Holiday are the only two ’95er pitchers still starting games at the Major League Level–the two surefire future Hall-of-Famers are having particularly bland seasons. What a shame they likely cannot face off one last time.
The oldest active ’95er is 44-year old RP Seamus Maynard, a longtime Philadelphia reliever, demoted to AAA in 1906 and released in 1907. The oldest Major League ’95er is Zach Pizza of the Beavers, 41, posting a cool 128 OPS+ and 2.5 WAR this season. Pizza won the WL Golden Bat at LF last year. He’s never had a bad season.
Those ’95ers that remain represent the more resilient of their inaugural class. They have seen average ERAs drop from the 4.00s to the 2.00s, Batting Averages decline from .290s to .230s; the rise of high-Stuff pitching behind Robert Batkin and the onset of the Deadball Era. Leo McKenzie (37), another lifelong Brewer and generally regarded as the best LBL player of all time, hardly seemed to notice the rise of Deadball. He is still hitting 138 OPS+, but will likely experience his first-ever (healthy) year without claiming the EL OBP crown. SS Kensington Jones, who dazzled fans with his defensive prowess for over a decade, has been injured 21 times. Inversely, 3B Mike Thompson of Cleveland has never been injured in 1,061 games. RF Randy Sliger, hero of Pittsburgh, holds both the Game record at 1340 and the Hits record at 1626 (a full 106 ahead of McKenzie). Ricky “Lightning” McCoy of Detroit has been plunked 147 times–by far the most in the LBL, likely on account of his record 921 stolen bases–yet somehow Matt Holiday has only been hit twice. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s Joe Buchanan (recently demoted for the first time to AAA) is a veritable assassin with 248 HBPs on his opponents; precisely double the next-highest in retired Clipper Micah Weaver. Holiday, known for his high stamina, has by far the most innings pitched of any ’95er with 3987. His 4000th inning will likely draw an ovation, wherever it happens (maybe not Philly).
In our first two years as a league, the ’95er generation served as a wide basin for creativity and writing. Steve M.’s introductory Baker story details GM Julien Henri speaking to SP Swifty Michaels and a young Bakers club, of course, in a bakery. The first chapter of the Richmond Saga details the drama of Cooper Fowler’s hidden mixed background. The famous Boeslager Brothers of Philadelphia discuss their team over a game of skat. Boston wept at the loss of Kensington Jones in one of the most surprising trades in LBL history. Chris Rosco, Joel Taylor, and Mick Samuelson (3 of Brooklyn’s Sinister Seven) perpetuated the LBL’s first major scandal. To me, the stories and lore we share are far more binding and rewarding than the statistics. As Randy Sliger said in a hopeful look toward Pittsburgh’s future, “there’s glory to be had in this game.”
Over the last fourteen seasons, names like McKenzie, Holiday, Millington, McCoy, Sliger, Winters and Jones have become so commonplace, it’s strange to imagine an LBL without them. They represent the maverick, sloppy, experimental age of the LBL before we had any idea what we were doing. As I’ve mentioned in podcasts, I recall laughing some 3 years ago when I clicked “fill teams with fictional players” and sorted by stars to view a nearly-perfect Leo McKenzie. While I think we may see the last ’95er hold out until as late as 1918, it’s clear to me that my beloved first generation’s era is coming to a close.
Newer players in the LBL, with the exception of a few generated feeders and FAs, have the benefit of development in an ever-broadening feeder league that now includes both a High School and College level. Our current model facilitates a slow, gradual shift in True-Rating baselines over time; the ’95ers were all generated with the same baselines at once. This makes the ’95ers particularly special, because such hegemony will never exist again in the LBL. If feeder rookies represent the slow trickle of historical shifts over time, the generation of ’95 was a Great Flood. They are a class of 372 ballplayers simultaneously thrown to the mercy of the engine, and those dwindling 32 who still remain in Major League service represent the stubborn remnant of a dying breed.
The closing contemplation of my time spent in the history of the ’95ers is naturally “Who are the next McKenzies, Holidays, and McCoys?” (and more importantly, how can I get them on my team?) Only time can tell–one bad injury current frontrunners down in their height. In the twilight era of the ’95ers, we look to the Batkins, Fowlers, and Taylors of a newer, more refined generation of feeder-built and GM-stewarded ballplayers. As the old breed passes the torch, that first pitch from Millington to Fowler will remain close in my memory, and the fading ’95er generation will remain a class in the forefront of my LBL affection.
LBL ’95ers
| Johnny | Adams | 1895 | |
| Brett | Barnes | 1895 | |
| Tom | Barrett | 1895 | |
| Daniel | Burns | 1895 | |
| Russ | Butler | 1895 | |
| Bryan | Carson | 1895 | |
| Adam | Carter | 1895 | |
| Cory | Church | 1895 | |
| Andy | Comfort | 1895 | |
| James | Craighill | 1895 | |
| Jarrod | Davis | 1895 | |
| Danny | DiGiovine | 1895 | |
| Peter | Dischner | 1895 | |
| Mike | Downer | 1895 | |
| Art | Fowler | 1895 | |
| Jake | Fredriksen | 1895 | |
| Eli | Girdler | 1895 | |
| Lyle | Hanson | 1895 | |
| Jake | Harrington | 1895 | |
| Brian | Hensley | 1895 | |
| Bryan | Jennings | 1895 | |
| Will | Johnson | 1895 | |
| Phil | Jones | 1895 | |
| Ryan | Keeton | 1895 | |
| Jeremy | LaPierre | 1895 | |
| Josh | LaSalle | 1895 | |
| Adam | Martin | 1895 | |
| Jason | Miller | 1895 | |
| Pete | Miller | 1895 | |
| Preston | Moffitt | 1895 | |
| Josh | Naylor | 1895 | |
| Mike | Olander | 1895 | |
| Steve | Patzner | 1895 | |
| Gene | Picariello | 1895 | |
| Tony | Power | 1895 | |
| Josh | Price | 1895 | |
| Ben | Thompson | 1895 | |
| Chris | Thompson | 1895 | |
| Gary | Wagemann | 1895 | |
| Andy | Watkins | 1895 | |
| David | West | 1895 | |
| Bryant | Willey | 1895 | |
| Sean | Yeager | 1895 | |
| Josh | Bates | 1896 | |
| Victor | Blake | 1896 | |
| David | Brown | 1896 | |
| Mike | Brown | 1896 | |
| Curtis | Crawley | 1896 | |
| Dylan | Darcey | 1896 | |
| Winston | Hughes | 1896 | |
| Jeremy | Iverson | 1896 | |
| Eric | Kelleher | 1896 | |
| Ben | Oswald | 1896 | |
| Matt | Phalen | 1896 | |
| Dave | Renner | 1896 | |
| Ronnie | Robinson | 1896 | |
| Hans | Rollinger | 1896 | |
| Jonathan | Woodle | 1896 | |
| Nick | Wyllie | 1896 | |
| Aaron | Arnold | 1897 | |
| Jon | Bowen | 1897 | |
| Dan | Cameron | 1897 | |
| Dick | Coffey | 1897 | |
| James | Deemer | 1897 | |
| Matt | Farley | 1897 | |
| Mike | Fritz | 1897 | |
| Rick | Godwin | 1897 | |
| Tyler | Harper | 1897 | |
| Mike | Hughes | 1897 | |
| George | Kreinbrink | 1897 | |
| Nick | LaCoste | 1897 | |
| John | Massey | 1897 | |
| Colin | Merritt | 1897 | |
| Ezra | Milburn | 1897 | |
| Eric | Nelson | 1897 | |
| Myron | Pardoe | 1897 | |
| Jesse | Roylance | 1897 | |
| Dan | Stone | 1897 | |
| Luke | Sturgill | 1897 | |
| Aaron | Wells | 1897 | |
| Mike | Wimer | 1897 | |
| Nathan | Woody | 1897 | |
| Cameron | Bigler | 1898 | |
| Andy | Cohen | 1898 | |
| Tom | Collins | 1898 | |
| Evan | Cox | 1898 | |
| Bill | Cromer | 1898 | |
| Bobby | Darby | 1898 | |
| Adam | Dietrich | 1898 | |
| Jody | Gartner | 1898 | |
| Danny | Geiger | 1898 | |
| Austin | Gencarelli | 1898 | |
| Taylor | Hale | 1898 | |
| Lars | Hoenfels | 1898 | |
| Lance | Hoffman | 1898 | |
| Mike | Hoover | 1898 | |
| Brent | Lazzaro | 1898 | |
| Dave | Lewis | 1898 | |
| Dan | Little | 1898 | |
| Joseph | Macgruder | 1898 | |
| Nick | Pagni | 1898 | |
| Bill | Peterson | 1898 | |
| Quincy | Ray | 1898 | |
| David | Reid | 1898 | |
| Steve | Roof | 1898 | |
| Andy | Stephens | 1898 | |
| Dennis | Taylor | 1898 | |
| Jonathan | Whittington | 1898 | |
| Nate | Wilson | 1898 | |
| Phillip | Baird | 1898 | |
| Jason | Allen | 1899 | |
| Joe | Ashford | 1899 | |
| Dennis | Boyle | 1899 | |
| Rod | Braden | 1899 | |
| Nick | Brockway | 1899 | |
| Tim | Butler | 1899 | |
| Ernie | Conner | 1899 | |
| David | Ervin | 1899 | |
| Cooper | Fowler* | 1899 | |
| Phil | Hanks | 1899 | |
| Cody | Harman | 1899 | |
| Dean | Henson | 1899 | |
| Chris | Howe | 1899 | |
| Terry | Johnson | 1899 | |
| Adam | Lucarelli | 1899 | |
| Kyle | Massey | 1899 | |
| Bill | Masternak | 1899 | |
| Brady | Matteson | 1899 | |
| Steven | Mittendorf | 1899 | |
| Adam | Moss | 1899 | |
| Dan | Nicholson | 1899 | |
| Mitch | O’Leary | 1899 | |
| Matt | Policastro | 1899 | |
| Jay | Richer | 1899 | |
| Fatty | Roth | 1899 | |
| Travis | Sapp | 1899 | |
| Jerry | Shirey | 1899 | |
| Bartholemew | Steele | 1899 | |
| Pat | Stephens | 1899 | |
| Zach | Stranathan | 1899 | |
| Tom | Sullivan | 1899 | |
| Stephen | Takac | 1899 | |
| Steve | Thomas | 1899 | |
| Josh | Weber | 1899 | |
| Justin | Wyatt | 1899 | |
| Jonathan | Anthony | 1900 | |
| Travis | Burns | 1900 | |
| Jaime | Burton | 1900 | |
| Jon | Byrom | 1900 | |
| James | Cary | 1900 | |
| Zach | Fried | 1900 | |
| Zack | Garrett | 1900 | |
| Riley | Garvin | 1900 | |
| Bob | Hatfield | 1900 | |
| Fred | Henderson | 1900 | |
| Tommy | Hershey | 1900 | |
| Bill | Hoffpauir | 1900 | |
| Jared | Jacobs | 1900 | |
| Rube | Johnson | 1900 | |
| Greg | Jones | 1900 | |
| Jeremy | Jones | 1900 | |
| Gene | Kurek | 1900 | |
| Alexander | Moog | 1900 | |
| Kevin | Murray | 1900 | |
| Bill | Peters | 1900 | |
| Ajax | Reed | 1900 | |
| Finn | Reilly | 1900 | |
| Jeremy | Russell | 1900 | |
| Steven | Schmitz | 1900 | |
| Josh | Schumann | 1900 | |
| Sam | Shepperson | 1900 | |
| Kenny | Tedrick | 1900 | |
| Brian | Vogel | 1900 | |
| Jon | Wichrowski | 1900 | |
| Bobby | Winberg | 1900 | |
| Josh | Wood | 1900 | |
| Douglas | Babcock | 1901 | |
| Erik | Bailey | 1901 | |
| Bill | Barnhill | 1901 | |
| Jarod | Bawden | 1901 | |
| Cory | Beelman | 1901 | |
| Joe | Berni | 1901 | |
| Marshall | Brown | 1901 | |
| Rich | Casso | 1901 | |
| Robbie | Chambers | 1901 | |
| Everett | Chrisp | 1901 | |
| Matt | Costa | 1901 | |
| Frank | Cox | 1901 | |
| Dan | Creighton | 1901 | |
| Thomas | Dickey | 1901 | |
| Jim | Dreher | 1901 | |
| Scott | Ewing | 1901 | |
| Jeff | Forsyth | 1901 | |
| Mike | Griffith | 1901 | |
| Kensington | Grummer | 1901 | |
| Matt | Hall | 1901 | |
| Tim | Harmon | 1901 | |
| Minkus | Himes | 1901 | |
| Jonathan | Irving | 1901 | |
| John | Kelley | 1901 | |
| Jon | Koch | 1901 | |
| Taylor | Landi | 1901 | |
| Scott | Lehman | 1901 | |
| Josh | Lipski | 1901 | |
| George | Lurie | 1901 | |
| Mike | Mandeville | 1901 | |
| Bobby | McClure | 1901 | |
| Steve | Moss | 1901 | |
| Jason | Nygard | 1901 | |
| George | Orman | 1901 | |
| Jeremy | Parker | 1901 | |
| Jake | Shannon | 1901 | |
| Ryan | Sloop | 1901 | |
| Harry | Thompson | 1901 | |
| George | Tonelli | 1901 | |
| Bert | Van | 1901 | |
| Adam | Walters | 1901 | |
| Nick | Welch | 1901 | |
| Matt | Wells | 1901 | |
| Brad | Worster | 1901 | |
| Telosh | Young | 1901 | |
| Jeremy | Adams | 1902 | |
| Samuel | Altman | 1902 | |
| Ron | Ashley | 1902 | |
| Ulysses | Barr | 1902 | |
| Brett | Bergmann | 1902 | |
| Chris | Bolton | 1902 | |
| Boileryard | Brady | 1902 | |
| Adam | Compton | 1902 | |
| Carl | Ferrante | 1902 | |
| Pete | Ferrara | 1902 | |
| Chris | Gargano | 1902 | |
| Kevin | George | 1902 | |
| Jon | Green | 1902 | |
| Josh | Grigg | 1902 | |
| Sean | Harris | 1902 | |
| Jason | Hauser | 1902 | |
| Matt | Henry | 1902 | |
| Eli | Hess | 1902 | |
| David | Irby | 1902 | |
| Wally | Keenan | 1902 | |
| Adam | Larson | 1902 | |
| Scott | Lazor | 1902 | |
| Kyle | Lorch | 1902 | |
| Jake | McCauley | 1902 | |
| Tim | Miller | 1902 | |
| Brian | Newton | 1902 | |
| Noah | Petree | 1902 | |
| Mickey | Phillips | 1902 | |
| Danny | Pitcock | 1902 | |
| Justin | Quenneville | 1902 | |
| Vince | Robison | 1902 | |
| Chris | Ross | 1902 | |
| Eric | Schreiber | 1902 | |
| Mike | Shadoan | 1902 | |
| Pete | Stephens | 1902 | |
| Jeremy | Warne | 1902 | |
| Mike | Waters | 1902 | |
| Artemis | Wool | 1902 | |
| Dana | Ziegler | 1902 | |
| Justin | Alcorn | 1903 | |
| Billy | Emig | 1903 | |
| Wade | French | 1903 | |
| Gregory | Guercio | 1903 | |
| Jonathan | Heil | 1903 | |
| Phil | Ledford | 1903 | |
| Kevin | Long | 1903 | |
| Chris | Malone | 1903 | |
| Swifty | Michaels | 1903 | |
| Jim | Nemmers | 1903 | |
| Chris | Rosco | 1903 | |
| Mick | Samuelson | 1903 | |
| John | Sayers | 1903 | |
| Scott | Sheene | 1903 | |
| Joel | Taylor | 1903 | |
| Bobby | Timler | 1903 | |
| Byron | Wood | 1903 | |
| Barty | Bohnsack | 1904 | |
| Devin | Camps | 1904 | |
| Trevor | Childs | 1904 | |
| Jared | Eisch | 1904 | |
| Gene | Ford | 1904 | |
| John | Frizzell | 1904 | |
| Aaron | Fusca | 1904 | |
| Ben | Giesbrecht | 1904 | |
| John | Griffith | 1904 | |
| Connor | Harris | 1904 | |
| Dan | Martin | 1904 | |
| Mike | Melin | 1904 | |
| Rich | Mitchell | 1904 | |
| Richard | Nelson | 1904 | |
| John | Paulsen | 1904 | |
| Bobby | Sherin | 1904 | |
| Jesse | Smith | 1904 | |
| Jesse | Stirling | 1904 | |
| Emmett | Tompkins | 1904 | |
| Mike | Wile | 1904 | |
| Jack | Beat | 1905 | |
| Joseph | Benson | 1905 | |
| Dusty | Chatterton | 1905 | |
| Mat | Dace | 1905 | |
| Brian | Dorsett | 1905 | |
| Garrett | Dutler | 1905 | |
| Jeremiah | Fuller | 1905 | |
| Mike | Furrow | 1905 | |
| Donald | Henwood | 1905 | |
| David | Latch | 1905 | |
| Mike | Lerner | 1905 | |
| Seamus | Maynard | 1905 | |
| Larry | McMurphy | 1905 | |
| Dan | Milligan | 1905 | |
| George | Peters | 1905 | |
| Mike | Sherrod | 1905 | |
| Jesse | Bolding | 1906 | |
| Joe | Cherry | 1906 | |
| Tom | Clement | 1906 | |
| Greg | Gaskell | 1906 | |
| Bobby | Hewitt | 1906 | |
| Josh | Holmes | 1906 | |
| Vic | Killgo | 1906 | |
| Keith | Krikorian | 1906 | |
| Creighton | Lucas | 1906 | |
| Ed | McKee | 1906 | |
| Dave | Peckham | 1906 | |
| John | Sandy | 1906 | |
| Ryan | Sullivan | 1906 | |
| Benjamin | Washington | 1906 | |
| Micah | Weaver | 1906 | |
| Nick | Williams | 1906 | |
| Eric | Carter | 1907 | |
| Sam | Chambers | 1907 | |
| Danny | Edgerton | 1907 | |
| Ryan | Evans | 1907 | |
| Rusty | Hall | 1907 | |
| Nate | Larrabee | 1907 | |
| Doug | Lyon | 1907 | |
| Doug | McDuffie | 1907 | |
| Moriarty | Stapleton | 1907 | |
| Jim | Sutton | 1907 | |
| Nicky | Williams | 1907 | |
| Anderson | Bosshart | Still Active | |
| Albernathy | Breeden | Still Active | |
| Joe | Buchanan | Still Active | |
| Geoffrey | Burrows | Still Active | |
| Antonio | Capaldi | Still Active | |
| Billy | Coats | Still Active | |
| Demetrius | Dwyer | Still Active | |
| Mike | Fickett | Still Active | |
| Matthew | Holiday | Still Active | |
| Billy | Hopkins | Still Active | |
| Johnny | Hyde | Still Active | |
| Matthew | Jakubowski | Still Active | |
| Gary | Johnson | Still Active | |
| Kensington | Jones | Still Active | |
| Jacob | Kalberer | Still Active | |
| Frank | Lansing | Still Active | |
| Joel | Leonard | Still Active | |
| Ricky | McCoy | Still Active | |
| Leo | McKenzie | Still Active | |
| Stephen | Millington | Still Active | |
| Zach | Pizza | Still Active | |
| Rocky | Poss | Still Active | |
| Adam | Rodenbaugh | Still Active | |
| Tommy | Saline | Still Active | |
| Robbie | Salmon | Still Active | |
| Jason | Severson | Still Active | |
| Dom | Shearer | Still Active | |
| Randy | Sliger | Still Active | |
| Jamie | Tew | Still Active | |
| Nicky | Thompson | Still Active | |
| Frank | Williams | Still Active | |
| Phil | Winters | Still Active |