Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Mike Mussina loved going the distance.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about baseball’s first superstar.

The late 1800s was a time period that laid the foundation for professional baseball as we know it.

There were a lot of pioneers that played during that era, but none that transcended the game quite like Michael Joseph Kelly.

Mike “King” Kelly, grew up in Patterson, NJ and was orphaned at a young age.

As a kid, he found a job at a coal factory, and when the work day was done, he played as much baseball as possible with his friends.

Patterson was home to several pro clubs and when he was 15, Kelly started playing organized baseball.

By the age of 20, he was in the big leagues with the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Pretty quickly, he became one of the best players in the Major Leagues and and became known for his baseball IQ.

In 1880 he joined the Chicago White Stockings - owned by the legendary Albert Spalding (yes, that Spalding) and ran by Cap Anson.

While he was in Chi Town, he made a bunch of huge contributions:

• Invented the hook slide, which in his era was called the Chicago slide.

• Mastered the hit-n-run, and other “small ball” tactics.

• Won a ton of championships and hit .316 with a .367 OBP

But he was also known for his “trick plays” which is really just a fancy way of saying cheating.

Basically half the rules in the baseball rulebook were rewritten to keep Kelly from taking advantage of loopholes.

For example, sometimes when the umpire wasn’t looking, Kelly would cut through the infield 20-30 feet inside the base path to get an extra base.

In the outfield he reportedly kept an extra ball in his pocket to use when a ball was hit over the fence to make it appear he had caught the ball.

Kelly made a great deal of money for his time, but spent every penny enjoying himself and indulging in life’s luxuries - mostly booze.

Like many ballplayers of that era, the man could drink like a fish.

By ‘86, Kelly was the star of the league.

That year, fans started calling him “King Kelly” or “The Only Kelly” which, at the time, basically meant he was the f**king man.

Kelly led the league in batting with a .388 average, and also led in runs scored (155), doubles (32), triples (11), and stolen bases (53).

Unfortunately, Kelly wasn’t the only one with a drinking problem, and it had gotten so bad amongst Spaldings’ players that he started trying extreme methods to get them to stop.

At one point, Spalding witheld $250 from their pay, which they could earn back by staying sober.

But Kelly was making over $2K per year at this point, plus income he got from other business ventures - so he kept hitting the bottle.

After losing the US Championship to the St Louis Browns in ‘86, Anson and Spalding cleaned house and sold Kelly’s contract to the Boston Beaneaters for $10,000; a massive amount of money at the time.

Boston paid Kelly a $5,000 salary - $2,000 for playing ball (the max a player could earn at the time) and $3,000 for the use of his likeness in advertising.

The big acquisition only made Kelly more famous.

Young Boston fans began following him around town, asking him to sign his name on a piece of paper.

Kelly may not have been the first ballplayer fans ever asked for an autograph, but as the most famous of the time, he can certainly be given credit for making the practice popular.

He was also a business man.

The King boosted his earnings through endorsements, dabbling in various products like the "Slide, Kelly, Slide" model sled and even his own brand of shoe polish.

In ’89, a song called "Slide, Kelly Slide," penned by John Kelly (nope, not related), for the vaudeville sensation Maggie Cline, took off like a rocket, selling millions of copies of sheet music.

A few years later when early recording techniques allowed for songs to be reproduced, “Slide, Kelly Slide” would become America’s first hit record.

He starred in a play and published his own autobiography called “Play Ball: Stories From the Ball Field.”

Success was coming from all directions, life was good.

In ‘88 Kelly was supposed to go on Spalding’s World Tour of Base Ball, but backed out at the last second.

Which is unfortunate, because it looked like a pretty awesome time.

By the mid 1890s, Kelly was getting old and his skills were fading, but he’d spent all of his money.

He was planning on pursuing a career in theatre, but it never happened.

While traveling by boat from New York to Boston in ‘94, King Kelly got pneumonia and passed away shortly after.

It was front-page news in every National League city and 7,000 people attended his funeral.

In 1945 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

SWEET SIGNATURES

Most of us will never forget the feeling of getting our first autograph.

Over the years, I’ve been blessed enough to meet a few of my favorite big leaguers in person and not to brag, but I’ve built up a nice little memorabilia collection.

But there’s a lot of signatures still on my bucket list.

Luckily, I don’t have to run into Mariano Rivera on the street to get his signature because I have Steiner Sports.

These guys know a thing or two about autographs - they’re one of the biggest sports memorabilia companies in the world.

All of their products come with a certificate of authenticity, and they offer a 100% money-back guarantee on all purchases.

And they legitimately have everything.

They’ve even got a baseball signed by Pete Rose that says “I’m sorry I bet on Baseball.”

For the next 48 hours or so, they’re running discounts of up to 30% off, so head over there and pick up a little something to add to the collection.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Ole Granny was a three-time all-star and a key piece of the "Whiz Kids" who helped the Phillies win it all in 1950.

He started playing for the Phils when he was 17, and ultimately spent 16 seasons with the club.

Towards the end of his career, Hamner tried to reinvent himself as a pitcher, but it was short-lived.

Through 13.1 innings, he took two losses and recorded a 5.40 ERA.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The 38 Studios Fiasco: How Curt Schilling lost his fortune

• The Promo from Hell: 10 cent beer night

• The Moon Shot: One night, two miracles