During his years with the Orioles, Hanlon was also credited with inventing and perfecting the "inside baseball" strategy, including the "hit and run" play and the Baltimore chop.

[7] By 1880, the family had moved a few miles south to New London, where Hanlon's father, three brothers (James, Bryon and Terrance) and a step-sister (Clara Blake) were all working in a cotton mill.

[6] On June 12, 1880, he made the final out of the first perfect game in major league history, a 1–0 victory by Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs.

In his eight seasons with the Wolverines, Hanlon compiled a .261 batting average, which was boosted to a .318 on-base percentage by 271 bases on balls and six times hit by pitch.

"[3] In October 1885, The Sporting Life wrote that it was a "striking illustration of Ned Hanlon's daring and speed that for two years Buck Ewing has never once succeeded in throwing him out at second on a steal.

"[3] Hanlon became captain of the Wolverines in 1885,[6] and during the 1886 and 1887 seasons, led teams that rank among the greatest in Detroit baseball history.

[17] During the winter of 1888–89, Hanlon traveled to Hawaii, Australia, Ceylon, Arabia, Egypt, Europe, and the British Isles as part of Albert Spalding's "Around the World Baseball Tour".

[1][19] As a player, Hanlon compiled a .239 batting average (.326 on-base percentage), scored 81 runs, and stole 53 bases during the 1889 season.

In Hanlon's first full season as a manager, his team compiled a 60–68 record and finished in sixth place in the Players' League.

One account published in late 1890 stated: "I want to say, gentlemen, that you can talk of the loyalty of a Ward, a Ewing, a Keefe and so on, but give me Ned Hanlon above everybody else.

[6] Prior the 1891 season, Hanlon was involved in an incident that led to the Pittsburgh team acquiring the name "Pirates."

After the collapse of the Players' League, Hanlon traveled to Pennsylvania's Presque Isle Peninsula in the dead of winter to sign second baseman, Louis Bierbauer.

Alfred Spink, the founder of The Sporting News, wrote about the incident in 1910 for a journal called The Pirates Reader.

According to Spink, Hanlon crossed the ice on the harbor during a snow storm, finally reached Bierbauer's home and got him to sign a contract with the Alleghenys.

[26][27] Hanlon fared only somewhat better than Van Haltren and Waltz, as the team went 43–85 for the remainder of the season and finished 12th (last place) in the National League.

By 1894, only three players from the 1892 opening lineup (John McGraw, Wilbert Robinson and pitcher Sadie McMahon) remained on the roster.

The Sporting News later wrote that he had "an almost uncanny ability to judge players, a faculty of imparting to them his remarkable store of knowledge, a genius for inspiring his men to rise to the heights and a personality that enabled him to gain and hold the confidence of all with whom he came into contact.

"[3] By 1894, the Orioles had a lineup with future Hall of Famers at six positions: Robinson at catcher, Brouthers at first, Jennings at shortstop, McGraw at third base, and Keeler and Kelley in the outfield.

New York manager John Montgomery Ward objected to the tactic, claiming that Hanlon "wasn't playing baseball, but a new game.

[3] Hanlon's Orioles were also known for their opportunistic play, Willie Keeler famously declaring, "Hit 'em where they ain't.

Joe McGinnity, later inducted into the Hall of Fame, was acquired from the Orioles in March 1900 and led the pitching staff with a 28–8 record.

[50] Hanlon owned the Eastern League Orioles through the 1908 season, but sold the team and ballpark on November 16, 1909, for $70,000 – a profit of more than $60,000 on his 1903 investment of $8,000.

At trial, the defendants were found jointly liable, and damages of $80,000 assessed, which was tripled to $240,000 ($3.65 million in modern dollars[67]), under the provisions of the Clayton Antitrust Act.

The judgment was reversed on appeal, ultimately resulting in a United States Supreme Court decision, Federal Baseball Club v. National League, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., holding that baseball was not interstate commerce and was therefore not subject to regulation, including antitrust regulation, by the federal government.

The case, decided in 1922, is the basis upon which baseball, unlike any other professional sport, still claims an exemption from federal antitrust laws.

Some opined that the credit for the five pennants rested entirely with his Hall of Fame players—John McGraw, Joe Kelley, Hughie Jennings and Willie Keeler.

[1][70] One prominent critic was Sam Crawford who was interviewed in the 1960s—long after Hanlon and most of his colleagues had been deceased – for Lawrence Ritter's book, The Glory of Their Times.

Heck, they all knew baseball inside out... [T]hose old Baltimore Orioles didn't pay any more attention to Ned Hanlon, their manager, than they did to the batboy...

When things would get a little tough in a game, Hanlon would sit there on the bench and wring his hands and start telling some of the old-timers what to do.

[2][76] In 1918, Hanlon's son, Joseph, was killed while serving as a lieutenant in the United States Army during action on the Western Front in France during World War I.