Dasher Troy

John Joseph "Dasher" Troy (May 8, 1856 – March 30, 1938) was an American professional baseball player from 1877 to 1888.

[1] After retiring from baseball, Troy operated the beer concession at the Polo Grounds in the 1890s and later opened a café in his old home neighborhood at Tenth Avenue and 39th Street in Manhattan.

[2] Troy began his professional baseball career in 1877 with the New York Alaskas team in the League Alliance.

Troy agreed voluntarily to abstain from drinking as a condition for playing on the manager's team, but was unhappy with the restriction.

Troy hit the ball off the center field fence for an inside-the-park home run to win the game.

"[4] Sullivan further recalled that no player impressed him more than Troy for the "natural way he picked up ground balls", as "a man of principle", and for his "originality, good humor and clean language in the style of coaching.

From approximately 1889 to 1900, and with the exception of the 1894 season when he lost his license after an attack on a grandstand gatekeeper,[5] Troy operated the beer concession, sometimes referenced as a saloon or bar,[6][7][8] at the Polo Grounds in New York.

[13] Ten years later, Troy was still living in Manhattan, was employed as a bartender and shared the household with wife Mary, daughters, Margaret and Anne, and son, John J.

[12] Troy died in 1938 after a long illness at age 81 at his home in the South Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, New York.

Troy (front row, right) with the 1883 New York Gothams