Sport: Baseball
Born: February 3, 1845
Died: March 18, 1878
Town: Newark, New Jersey
Henry Searles Burroughs was born February 3, 1845 in Newark, NJ. He was the fifth of six children born to Joseph, a hatmaker, and Hannah Burroughs, who moved to New Jersey from New York around 1840. As a teenager during the 1850s, Henry was swept up in Newark’s baseball craze and, by his 20s, he was recognized as an exceptional all-around player. He was quick, sure-handed and hit with power. He played the infield for the Eureka Club in Newark in 1862 and 1864 as a teenager and also pitched at a time when the position was evolving from simply delivering the ball to the batter to executing a little gamesmanship. In an 1864 contest, Henry settled under a pop fly near the pitching line with men on first and second. At the last instant, he let it drop and then began a double play, erasing the two lead runners.
Prior to 1871, before the formation of the National Association, top teams compensated their best players, sometimes openly and sometimes under the table. It was not unusual for a team to ensure the loyalty of a player by securing employment for him. Henry found a job as a “professor” at a gymnasium in Detroit as a 20-year-old while acting as captain of the amateur Detroit Baseball Club in 1865—likely making him Michigan’s first paid baseball player. In 1866, Henry earned attention as a pitcher for his ability to prevent base stealing. It was difficult to distinguish between the start of his move home or to first base.
“Burroughs springs from most perfect repose to lightning-like pitching, which makes the bases look sharp,” one Chicago sportswriter observed. Soon other midwestern pitchers copied his pickoff move. He also worked with catcher Frank Phelps and first baseman John Clark to nail runners who strayed too far off first after he delivered the ball home.
Henry returned to Newark after the Civil War and suited up for the city’s Eureka club in 1868, then returned to Detroit for the 1869 season. In 1870, Henry was employed as a government clerk while playing for the Olympic Club of Washington, DC. He had some experience working in the Newark tax office, but he appears to have headed south primarily to play ball.
In 1871, the Olympics joined the nascent National Association. They scooped up several players who had been part of the famous 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, including several ballplaying acquaintances of Henry’s from Newark—Andy Leonard, Charlie Sweasy and Everett Mills. The team was owned and managed by Nick Young, who had been a player on the club in 1870. Henry appeared in about half the team’s games and drove in 14 runs with 15 hits in 63 at bats. The following year, Henry played in two games before settling into the government auditor job that had drawn him to DC.
Henry returned to Newark in 1876 and married Leila van Husen, and may have gone back to work in the hat business. He contracted tuberculosis and passed away two years later at the age of 33. Leila never remarried and died in 1939.