James D. McElroy (November 5, 1862 – February 24, 1889) was an American professional baseball player who played one season at the major league level.

[3] Before the 1884 season, Harry Wright took over as the Phillies manager, and liked McElroy's talent.

[3] He threw extremely hard, but was very wild.

In his 14 starts, there were seven different catchers who caught him, four of whom claimed that McElroy was the first pitcher they had ever caught at the major league level.

[3] McElroy became a drug addict and died in Needles, California[1] after a man injected him with opium which proved to be too much for his system to handle.