Charlie Atherton

Charles Morgan Herbert Atherton (November 19, 1874 – December 17, 1935) [1] was a Major League Baseball third baseman. Nicknamed "Prexy", he batted and threw right-handed, was 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall and weighed 160 pounds. He was an accomplished musician and writer, as well as an athlete.

Charlie Atherton
Position:End
Personal information
Born:November 19, 1874
New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Died:December 17, 1935(1935-12-17) (aged 61)
Vienna, Austria
Career information
College:Penn State
Career history
As player:
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
  • Coaching Record: 8-2-1
  • Invented Place kick for American Football
Charlie Atherton
Third baseman
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 30, 1899, for the Washington Senators
Last MLB appearance
August 22, 1899, for the Washington Senators
MLB statistics
Batting average.248
Home runs0
RBI23
Teams

Early life

He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of George W. Atherton [2] and Frances “Fannie” Wright Darusmont Washburn, of Plympton, Massachusetts. His father, a Civil War veteran, at the time was a professor of political science at Rutgers University. In 1882, at the age of 9 he moved to Philadelphia when his father took over as president of Pennsylvania State University.

Education

Atherton loved baseball as well as football. He was Penn State's first sports star as a member of the school's baseball and football teams. He is also credited with inventing the place kick.[3]

Sports career

He was an early professional football player and coach for the Greensburg Athletic Association. [4] He also played professional football in 1896 for the Pittsburgh Athletic Club.

He made his Major League debut on May 30, 1899 at the age of 24. He hit .248 in 242 at bats in 1899, which would end up being his only Major League season. [5]

He also hit 5 doubles, 6 triples and had 23 RBI. Defensively, Atherton committed 26 errors,[6] which was fourth worst on the now defunct Washington Senators team of the National League. He played his final game on August 22, 1899.[7][8]

Travels

He travelled to a Russia as part of the YMCA. He was based in Petrograd, hosted by the Czech Legion, who were aligned to the Russian Imperial Army. He witnessed the Russian Revolution, World War I.

He had become acquainted with Vincent Pisek of Malesov, an American Czech pastor who invited him to become the musical director of the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City. Atherton learned the Czech language and became a student of Czech and Slovak Folk Songs. He travelled to Vladivostok in 1919 to encourage the evacuation of the Czech Legion, who were stranded in Siberia in the aftermath of the First World War. Upon his return he published a book titled “Favorite songs of the Czech Slovak Army in Russia”. [9] His late elder brother, Frank Peabody Atherton (1868-1911) had been a musical composer.

Atherton continued to live in New York City during the 1920s undertaking a role as a social worker for Czechs and Bohemians through his church. He continued to travel back and forth the Atlantic, between New York and Bremen, between 1928 on SS America and 1934 on SS Europa. He was very familiar with Central Europe and his books were published in Czech. It was a time of political turmoil and he witnessed the Nazis rise to power first hand. He documented each event in highly descriptive letters to his sister, Harriet, who he called Hattie.[10]

Death

He died on December 17, 1935, at the age of 60 of tuberculosis. He was buried at Vienna Central Cemetery, in Austria on December 21, 1935.[11]

Legacy

Pennsylvania State University library holds an oral history interview with his sister Helen Atherton Govier from January 25, 1974. [12]

Ancestry

He is a direct descendant of James Atherton,[13][14] one of the First Settlers of New England; who arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1630s.

Bibliography
  • Kuntz, M.A. (2005). Charlie Atherton : son of Penn State. LCCN 2005909776.

References
  1. "Atherton One Name Study: Entry for C M H Atherton".
  2. "Atherton One Name Study - Entry for George Washington Atherton".
  3. Smith, Ronald A. "Wounded Lions: Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, and the Crises in Penn State ..."
  4. Van Atta, Robert (1983). "The History of Pro Football At Greensburg, Pennsylvania (1894-1900)" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association (Annual): 1–14.
  5. Lee, Bill. "The Baseball Necrology: The Post Baseball Lives and Deaths of More Than 7 ..." p. 14.
  6. "D.C. Baseball history".
  7. David Nemec (ed.). "Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 2: The Hall of Famers and ..."
  8. "baseball almanac".
  9. Atherton, Charles Morgan Herbert; Písek, Vincent (1921). "Favorite songs of the Čecho-Slovak army in Russia".
  10. Kunitz, Mary Ai-Li, ed. (1999). "The letters of Charles Morgan Herbert Atherton".
  11. U.S., Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974
  12. "Oral history interview with his sister Helen Atherton Govier".
  13. "James Atherton entry on the Atherton ONS".
  14. "James Atherton of Dorchester settled in Lancaster Massachusetts in 1654".
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