Inductees Over a dozen years before the present National and American Leagues were formed, native Peorian George Pinkney was a fixture in major league baseball, playing in 1,163 games with four ball clubs in two leagues.
Born here in 1862, Pinkney first played for the famed Peoria Reds and then joined Cleveland of the National League in August of 1884 and became one of the top players of that era.
Pinkney, basically a third baseman who also played second and shortstop in addition to pitching in one game, then played with Brooklyn of the American Association, then a major league, in 1895-89. He remained with Brooklyn when it joined the National League in 1890-91 and was with St. Louis in 1892 before ending his career with Louisville of the National
League in 1893.
He had 4,610 at bats and 1,212 hits that included 170 doubles, 56 triples and 21 home runs. His lifetime batting average was .263 topped by a .309 mark for Brooklyn in 1890.
The first official World Series was played in 1903 but prior to that there were several playoff type series and Pinkney played in two of them in 1889 and 1890.
He is given credit for two early records, one going six-for-six at the plate and during one stretch playing every inning of 578 consecutive games, at the time considered the "iron man" record.
His career cut short by injuries, he returned to Peoria after the 1893 season and worked here until his death from acute bronchitis in November of 1926. He is buried in Springdale cemetery.