Theo Conover pitched in one game for the 1889 Cincinnati Reds.
Theodore Conover was born March 10, 1868, in Lexington,
Kentucky, to Charles and Mary Conover. In the 1870 census the family lives in
Lexington. Charles is 60 and keeps a wagon yard; Mary is 36. Oldest daughter
Rebecca, 19, lives there with her husband, William Arnold, no occupation
listed; then there’s Anna, 16; Minerva, 14; Mary, 12: Alonzo, 10; Nannie, 5;
William T., 4; Theodore, 2; and Lena, three months. Plus two boarders, both
young men in their 20s who work as rope spinners.
Charles passed away in 1872. In the 1880 census Mary and
several of her kids are living on West Main Street in Lexington; Mary is listed
as 44, just eight years older than ten years ago, and is a housekeeper;
Rebecca, 28, is without William, is back to her maiden name, and is listed as a
boarder; Mary is 22; Alonzo, 18, a laborer; Nancy (Nannie) is 16; Todd (William
Todd) 12; Theodore 10; and Lena 9.
The 1883 Louisville city directory shows Theo living there
with brother Alonzo and their mother, at 945 Milk Street. Theo and Alonzo are
both listed as ropemakers, for two different companies.
Theo started playing amateur baseball as a teenager. One
story said that in 1888 he pitched for the Paris (Kentucky) Blues, while this
story, from the May 28, 1889, Cincinnati Post, announcing his signing of
a major league contract with the American Association’s Reds, gave this
account:
Theodore Conover, the Reds’ new pitcher, is 20, and is a native of Lexington, Ky.
He began his baseball career as a pitcher three years ago with the Lexington Reds. About a year ago he signed with the Kentucky Centrals, of Covington, and for a year has been a terror to all the local amateur baseball clubs. He has averaged 15 strikeouts and the opposing clubs seldom hit him safely more than three or four times. With Conover in the box victory seemed so certain that other clubs became disgusted and refused to make dates with the “K.C.’s.” Conover, like every other young player, is inclined to be rattled in the presence of a big crowd, but it will no doubt pay the Cincinnati management to hold him on the reserve list.
From the Cincinnati report in the next day’s Sporting
Life:
Conover, who has been signed, used to play in the Blue Grass League. He is a young fellow with speed enough to make even that veteran Jim Keenan wince as he shot them right at him. When President Davidson was here a few weeks ago Conover was recommended to him, but he missed the chance. He has been pitching for the K.C.’s (Kentucky Centrals), and that club has been defeated very few times by any crack amateur team.
Three days before the date on that issue, Theo had made his
major league debut, in the second game of a home doubleheader against
Louisville. From the game report in the June 5 Sporting Life:
In the afternoon the Reds had a genuine walk-over. Ehret pitched for Louisville. The Reds sized him up for fourteen singles, three doubles and two home runs. Duryea held the visitors down to four hits in the first seven innings, when Conover, a local amateur, was substituted. His pitching was hit very hard.
The Reds were ahead 13-0 through seven, when Theo was
brought in, and they won 16-4. In two innings he allowed four runs, three
earned, on four hits and two walks, and was retroactively credited with a save.
His teammates in the game included Tony Mullane, Bid McPhee, Bug Holliday and
George Tebeau; the Louisville lineup included Pete Browning, Guy Hecker,
Chicken Wolf and Farmer Weaver. The game was not only his major league debut,
but his swan song. From the June 26 Connecticut Western News:
Theodore Conover, who has enjoyed the sensation of being on the bench and the Reds’ pay roll as a pitcher for the last month, was released by the Cincinnati Club. He had but one trial, and he was so nervous that Louisville rattled him in two innings.
Theo signed with Springfield (Ohio) of the Tri-State League.
Sporting Life, July 17, Cincinnati report:
Springfield has found Theo. Conover a prize, and let it be remembered that one year ago “Darby” O’Brien was a Tri-State Leaguer at Lima…Conover has not lost a game since Cincinnati released him. He is hitting just as well as he is pitching—an admirable trait in a twirler.
I found no pitching stats for the 1889 Tri-State League, but
in 27 games Theo hit .194 in 103 at-bats, with 11 sacrifice hits and seven
stolen bases. Sporting Life, October 16:
Theo. Conover, the ex-Red who made such a great record at Springfield, is pitching for the Ludlows over in Kentucky. Many great players have been associated with ball in that hamlet.
Soon after that it was reported that Theo would sign with
Baltimore, and soon after that it was reported that he had signed with
Louisville, both of the American Association, but neither happened. Sporting
Life Cincinnati report, January 8, 1890:
Theo. Conover is the mildest-mannered boy in the business hereabouts. If he had as much ambition as he has talent he’d do wonders. He is putting on the winter working for the Kentucky Central Railroad in Covington. Manager Powell recently asked for his terms. [Don’t know where Powell managed.]
The 1890 Covington city directory shows Theo as a base ball
player, boarding at 606 Washington Street.
Sporting Life, April 2: “The Cincinnati Club [moved
to the National League this season] is to give pitcher Theodore Conover another
trial.” Apparently SL changed the day of the week it was published just then,
as the next issue was dated April 5, and its Cincinnati report included:
George Nulton has signed to cover third base for the Texans and he started South night before last. Theo Conover left this evening—he having signed to pitch there. They wanted Theo to return to them up in the champion city, but he is young and wants to see the country. In Texas he can gaze upon cacti, green lizards and horned frogs.
Theo and Nulton had signed with the Austin Senators of the
Texas League. From the June 7 Sporting Life:
One of the greatest “phenoms” of the season is young Conover, pitcher of the Austin Club. He is a slender built youth and weighs about 135 pounds. He has good speed, curves and wonderful endurance. He has been doing all the work in the box for Austin, pitching about twelve straight games and winning a majority of them.
That last part seems to have been an exaggeration, but when
the team folded after its June 1 game Theo had pitched in 26 of its 42 games,
starting 22 and completing all of those. He had a 1.82 ERA but an 8-13 record,
allowing just 40 earned runs but 135 overall. He batted .165, with all of his
hits being singles. From the Cincinnati report in the June 14 Sporting Life:
Rumblings from Texas affect the local world of players, for there are several Cincinnati and Covington boys down in the Lone Star State. Theo Conover, “Rodie” Carey, Auberger and Ed Reeder, of the defunct Austins, have reached home…The death of the two Northern boys, Harry Elliff and Billy Mussey, had a tendency to scare the clan back, and it was that spectre of the dread fever which prevented Conover from accepting Galveston’s offer.
“That’s a great country down there and I rather enjoyed the experience,” said Conover to me, “but I wouldn’t be an umpire for all of Texas. Poor Hengle was badly treated and he was afraid to speak lest he lose his life. Galveston is playing splendid ball and the Sand Crabs had a pretty sure thing on the pennant.”
That same issue reported that Theo was negotiating with
Indianapolis of the Interstate League, but instead he signed with the Akrons of
the Tri-State League. He played there from June 18 through the end of the
season August 3; no pitching stats were published, but he played in 20 games
and had an .830 fielding percentage in 17 games on the mound.
Back in Kentucky, Theo got into at least one amateur game. Lexington
Leader, August 7:
DEFEATED THE DEPPENS.
The Lexington Boys Put Up a Good Enough Game of Ball to Defeat the Amateur Champions.
The Lexington club played a good enough game of ball with the Louisville Deppens, the champion amateurs of Kentucky, to win by a score of 14 to 13.
Theodore Conover returned home Tuesday and made his first appearance in the points after a considerable absence in the North. He was heartily welcomed by his old admirers, and when he hammered out a clean home run the first time at bat the enthusiasm of the spectators knew no bounds.
Conover’s pitching was the feature of the game, and he struck out about one-half of the Deppens.
From the Cincinnati report, dated August 19, in the August
23 issue of Sporting Life:
Another raid on Tennessee has been planned and to-night Manager Harry Baumgartner gathered around him a dozen idle players and moved, via the Queen and Crescent, to Louisville. “Bummy’s Professionals” will be pitted against the flower of Tennessee’s mountains in four games. In his team were Charley Bell, late of Kansas City; Jake Stenzel, Theo Conover, Rod Bittman, Al Hungler, George Proesser, Sam Black, Jack Shoupe, Ed Cline, Lucky and Higgins. They represent the “exes” of the National, Texas, Tri-State, Interstate and North Pacific Leagues. Verily the woods are full of unemployed talent in this year of “the elevation of the game.”
Cincinnati report, December 13 Sporting Life:
Aleck Voss, Theodore Conover and Jones form a trio of tossers who are wintering over in Covington without the aid of any advance. They are all open for offers. Conover made quite a hit at Knoxville late in the season. [I don’t know when he might have been in Knoxville.]
On March 18, 1891, it was announced that Theo had signed
with Portland of the Pacific Northwestern League. The next day’s Oregonian
reported that: “He is said to be a pitcher who plays with his head as much as
his hands, and if he is put in the box for the Portlands he will not let the
home team lose for the want of good pitching.” However, a few days later it was
reported that he had signed with the Spokane Bunch Grassers of the same league,
and that was true. On April 8 the Spokane Chronicle reported that he had
arrived in town the night before, and added:
Theodore Conover said: “I first played with the K.C. nine when I was employed in the Kentucky Carshop at Covington, Ky., but my first professional season was year before last when I pitched for the Cincinnatis. Last season, I played in Austin, Texas. That local league breaking up, I went to Akron, where I finished the season.”
In the May 2 Sporting Life their Spokane
correspondent stated: “If Klopf keeps up his good work we will be the strongest
team in the League in the box with Klopf, Lawson and Conover to draw from.”
From the same writer, May 30:
Klopf and Conover each pitched two games and both did great work. In those two we have without doubt the best in and out men in the League in the box.
Portland Oregonian, June 21: “The very fact that
Manager Barnes’ star box rustler, Mr. Theodore Conover, was batted out of the
box yesterday is sufficient to demonstrate that the Portlands had a walkover.”
Also on June 21, Theo umpired the next game in the Spokane at Portland series;
Spokane won 6-5, and Sporting Life reported: “Conover, of the Spokane
team, umpired, and failed to give satisfaction to the local patrons.”
In the August 8 Sporting Life, in the Spokane report,
dated July 29: “George Nulton has been laid up with erysipelas for a week and
Conover is suffering with an attack of typhoid fever; luckily it is only a
slight one, and he will be all right again soon.”
By the time that issue appeared, though, Theo had been
released by Spokane and signed by Tacoma, also of the PNL. He made his debut at
home on the 8th, beating Seattle, 6-3. He pitched for Tacoma through
September 21; on the 26th he was back pitching for Spokane, where he
stayed through the end of the season on October 4. Between the two teams he
appeared in 43 games, 34 as a pitcher and 12 as an outfielder. He hit .199 in
131 at-bats, and had a 14-15 record and 2.37 ERA in 240 innings, starting 26
games and completing 19 of them. He spent the winter in Cincinnati and on the
Spokane reserve list.
Lexington Leader, February 2, 1892: “Mrs. Mary
Conover, who resides on West Short street, and mother of Mr. Theodore Conover,
the base ball player, is very ill and there is no hope for her recovery.” Fake
news! She lived another six years.
Theo started the 1892 season without a team. He was
mentioned in the June 25 Sporting Life as having been made an offer by a
team in Quincy, Illinois, but he ended up with Nicholasville, Kentucky, in a
short-lived, marginally professional league called the Blue Grass League. Sporting
Life, July 23:
BLUE GRASS LEAGUE.
A successful League in Kentucky—The Record, Etc.
DANVILLE, Ky., July 19.—Editor SPORTING LIFE:--There has been a hot fight for the championship in the Blue Grass League, of Kentucky, between Danville and Nicholasville. The latter club is now in the ascendancy by only one game, and, as all the clubs are putting up a star game, there is no telling how the two leaders will stand at the end of a week.
The League was organized on June 1 with Danville, Shelbyville, Nicholasville, Stanford and Harrodsburg, but before the opening game, on the 7th of the month, Shelbyville dropped out, and it was decided to play the season of twenty-four games with a four-club league. The teams are all close together, and on the guarantee of $20 the visiting club always makes more than expenses.
The standing of the teams at this time is as follows:
Nicholasville 9-2
Danville 7-3
Stanford 2-7
Harrodsburg 1-8
[Which totals 19 wins and 20 losses.]
The by-laws of the League only admit of employment of two hired men. Danville was represented by their battery, Ralph Elting, of Huntington, W. Va., and Paul Jones, of Covington, Ky. Conover, of last year’s Spokane Falls team, pitches for Nicholasville, and Pat Reaman is doing the receiving…
But three weeks later the league was no more. Sporting
Life, August 13:
GONE UP.
The Blue Grass League, of Kentucky, Disbanded.
DANVILLE, Ky., Aug. 10.—Editor, SPORTING LIFE:--The last ten days has seen the sun set on the little League that was formed of the four leading towns of the blue grass section of the grand old commonwealth. The League has gone and busted. In the first place, Stanford was handicapped by a too heavy salary list and was forced to the wall by the demand of the players for their money. The club had been losing right along, and the backers thereof were nothing loth to let go the hot end of it. The Nicholasville Club, who were in the lead for the pennant by one game, also dropped out, and Danville and Harrodsburg were forced to quit…
The Danville team left Sunday for a trip through West Virginia, playing three games at Charleston and at Ironton, O. The team is made up of Jones, catcher,…of the Danvilles; Vetter, short stop, of the Harrodsburgs; Rieman, Conover, Goss and Duncan, of the Nicholasvilles, and one or two other players. The boys expect to return with three of the games to their credit.
From an August 20 report from Danville in the September 3 Sporting
Life:
The Danville team returned yesterday from a trip through West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. While absent the club played seven games, and although they won but two of them they have no cause for complaints…
The Danville professionals leave for their homes today. Jones and Conover going to Newport…
In 1893 Theo caught on with an independent team in
Lexington. Sporting Life, August 26:
THE BLUE GRASS REGION.
Base Ball Booming Down in the Old Bourbon Country.
LEXINGTON, Ky., Aug. 12.—Editor SPORTING LIFE:--Base ball in the blue grass region is enjoying quite a healthy boom at the present. Lexington, Frankfort, Danville and other points have teams and the rivalry between them is very keen. The idea of a Blue Grass League was suggested, but it was not organized…As the clubs are now constituted the highest salaries are about $75.00. In two of the best teams the writer knows the above to be a fact. Three games are played in each of the towns a week, and so far I have not heard of any big losses. Strong, semi-professional clubs in Louisville and Cincinnati have found the Kentucky clubs “good money” this year.
The local club has played about twenty-seven games this season, and have lost about seven or eight. The Frankfort Club has defeated them the greatest number of games. The club has several well-known players on the pay-roll now. Joe Sommer, of Barnie’s old Orioles, etc., is captain and plays at short. Joe is putting up a rustling game. Jack Keenan, who pitched awhile for Ted Sullivan’s Nashvilles, and Theo. Conover, who has played in the Texas and other minor leagues, attend the pitching for the club. Both have been doing gilt-edged work…
Theo made his way back to organized baseball in 1894, being
picked up by Atlanta of the Southern Association. Lexington Leader,
February 26:
Paul Jones, the base ball player, who was run over by a fire engine in Danville on Saturday and badly hurt, notice of which appeared in Sunday’s LEADER, is a Lexington boy and is engaged to catch Theodore Conover’s balls with the Atlanta, Ga., team this coming season.
Theo signed an Atlanta contract in early April, during
spring training. From the April 20 Lexington Leader:
Theo Conover is rapidly getting into form, and the Atlanta people like him. Though he was lined all over the lot by the Charlestons, he went in a day or two afterward and held the Macon team down to one solitary base hit. It is the best pitching yet done in the Southern Association.
Atlanta Journal, April 26:
While Pitcher Theodore Conover, of the Atlantas, was mowing down New Orleans Tuesday [24th], his sister died in Lexington. From some cause the news failed to reach him until last evening, after the young lady was buried. He is badly broken up over the sad event.
This was sister Minerva. Sporting Life, May 12:
As for pitchers, Teddy [Sullivan] is now well supplied. Conover doing the best work to date, closely followed by Chard and Keenan. Conover is the speediest twirler in these regions, and if some of the Rules Committee of the National were ever fortunate enough to see him slap ‘em over the plate they would mentally cuss themselves for not putting the pitcher nearer the centre of the diamond…
Theo was described as “under the weather” in the May 26 SL,
and the June 9 issue reported “Conover is suffering from heart trouble and
cannot do himself justice in the box. This will necessitate the signing of a
new twirler…” He came back soon after that, as described in the Atlanta report,
filed June 18 and appearing in the June 23 SL:
After Graves’ Giants had whipped our boys two straight, Manager Sullivan kept awake nights thinking out some scheme, to turn the tide and drown out these land-lubbers before they left town. At last a happy thought struck him clean across the tip of his top-knot and but one word, CONOVER escaped his lips as he slumbered sweetly and smiled contentedly while dreaming of triumphs new and fast approaching. So when the Atlanta public greedily devoured the columns of the Constitution the next morning, their eyes were greeted with the startling intelligence that Pitcher Conover, who had so long been out of the game, owing to sickness in his immediate neighborhood, would officiate in the box in the afternoon’s game, and would do his level best to make some of those haughty Memphians bow before him. Well, they bowed, and did it with grace and frequency. Not only did they do that, but they even tied themselves into several bewildering knots in their anxiety to show Conover how much they thought of him, and how they hated to see those pretty balls he was sending in so sweetly pass them by without their share of recognition. Batter after batter wrenched his spinal column in a furious but futile endeavor to annihilate that ball, but the only thing they did annihilate was space. That’s why there was such a wind storm here the next day—and that’s why Teddy smiled so blandly for 24 consecutive hours. It was one of those refreshing contests which acts upon the tortured feelings of the jaded fans who have rooted the very hair from their heads without avail, trying to pull out a victory for their champions. Conover simply outwitted the sluggers from Graves’ yard and had them hypnotized. They were the pigmies and he the giant.
The same issue included this news item: “First baseman Ryan
and pitcher Conover, of the Atlanta team, had a fight with the result that Ryan
got a knife wound in the wrist, which will prevent him from playing ball for
the balance of the season.”
The July 7 SL reported on a Southern Association league
meeting which resulted in the Mobile team moving to Atlanta and the previous
Atlanta team disbanding; Theo went home to Kentucky. He wound up with a team in
Paris, where he got involved in his second knife incident of the summer. The
Paris Bourbon News reported on it on August 21:
While Johnnie Hileman and Theodore Conover, two popular members of the local team, were engaged in a friendly wrestle for the possession of a knife, Sunday, Conover was accidentally cut on the left wrist. Three stitches were taken in the cut.
The next day the Paris Kentuckian-Citizen gave its
version:
Theodore Conover was accidentally cut across the back of his left hand Sunday afternoon by Johnnie Heilman. The accident happened in the office of Hotel Windsor. They had both started to get a drink of water, and when Conover reached up for the cup he struck his hand against a knife in Heilman’s hand, cutting the skin for about an inch and a half. Conover will not be able to play for at least ten days.
Paris played their last game on September 12, and Theo went
home to Lexington. In early 1895 there was speculation that he would be playing
in Virginia with Roanoke or Richmond, but he went with the Canton (Ohio)
Deubers in the Interstate League. Canton Repository, April 14:
LOCAL BASE BALL
Manager Goble Signing Players for the Canton Team—Two Good Ones Accepted Saturday.
Manager Al Goble has lines out after two well-known ex-Tri-State club players, with good prospects of getting them. Theo. Conover, a pitcher, who last season shut out the New Orleans team of hard hitters without a hit in one game and only two hits in the second, sent his terms Saturday to Manager Goble. Conover, in the days of the old Tri-State league, played with the Springfield team, and is well known in Canton. He played last season with Atlanta, Ga. He is a great pitcher, hard hitter and excellent fielder.
Before heading to spring training with Canton, Theo worked
out with the University of Kentucky team, which I think is what this item from
the April 20 Cincinnati Post is alluding to:
Theo Conover is now posing as a student at the Kentucky University at Lexington. He is taking a course in curves and inshoots and shot a few into the vitals of the University of Cincinnati boys. The ratio of woe from the crimson and black warriors under Captain Richards was 10 to 4.
A May 26 article in the Canton Repository on the
players on the team had this to say about Theo:
Theo. Conover, is an experienced pitcher, having played with Springfield old [sic] Tri-state league team, and since then has played with Spokane in Pacific league, Green Bay, Wis.[?], Macon, Ga.[?] and Atlanta, Ga. He is pitching his old time game and will prove a winning pitcher. Conover is twenty-seven years old, height five feet ten inches and weighs 145 pounds.
On June 7 it was reported that the Canton team had
disbanded, and Theo was picked up by the Columbus Statesmen of the same league.
The league folded completely in mid-July, and Theo caught on with Wheeling, one
of two Interstate League teams that were absorbed by the Iron and Oil League. Before
the various Statesmen left town they played a game against the National
League’s Brooklyn Grooms, winning 15-11 as Theo started on the mound and later
moved to right field.
Wheeling Register, July 20:
This morning a force of men armed with hatchets will start to work on the outfield, and the weeds will be conspicuous by their absence this afternoon. There will be no more stretching of scratch singles into home runs. Theodore Conover, the Kentucky phenom, who defeated Brooklyn at Columbus this week, will twirl the ball for the home club.
Theo pitched that afternoon and lost, 2-1, though the next
day’s Register had this to say about him: “Theodore Conover, a product
of the State of blooded horses, beautiful women, and good whisky, put the
sphere over the plate like rifle balls, and twisted it about the necks of the
batters.”
On August 13 the Register published a strange
account of the previous day’s strange-sounding game:
THE TWINS DEFEATED
In a Close and Interesting Game Yesterday Afternoon.
Captain “Jack” Glasscock appeared yesterday afternoon in the role of a conjurer. He brought to the ball park a little cabinet of tricks with which to deceive the Unheavenly Twins. They were distributed to the players before the game, and they succeeded in mystifying the visitors. Broncho Jack was conspicuous by his absence. He stopped off at Steubenville to spend the day with his best girl. Myers filled his position at second very well, so far as playing is concerned, but he fell short on mouth. The Twins found a very life-like portrait of the prince of kickers in front of their bench. It was drawn with whitewash, and represented the Liverpool lad astride a Texas mustang. It was so true to nature that at several stages of the game the spectators almost expected the capacious vocal organ to open in protest against some of the decisions of Umpire Kelly.
Captain Glasscock needed all his powers of prestidigitation in the ninth inning. He had placed in Kane’s hand a rubber band labeled “Optical Illusion.” “Tolly” was instructed to touch the ball with it every time he delivered it. It worked all right for awhile, but it became detached, and “Tolly’s” arm lost its cunning. It was at this stage that Glasscock called that king of twisters, Theodore Conover, into the box. “That ole gem’men” had been dreaming of a blue grass belle who had failed to write as usual, and he was a trifle nervous. The Twins needed two to tie and three to win. “Sweet Violets” stepped up and Theodore smote him on the leg. “Hopper” Gallagher, who is not related to “Let ‘er Go,” gave the sphere a weak little punch, and the Violets withered and died at second. Pritchard got a life on Ball’s bad throw, and “Hopper” went around to third. Two strikes were called on “Dummy” and he made a face at Conover, whereupon Theodore became wrothy and smote him with the ball. Shaw bumped the sphere gently. It was gathered up in right garden, after Gallagher had crossed the plate. One to tie, now, and the rooters did everything but breathe. Briggs came up with an air of confidence and popped up a nice little sky-scraper. The gentleman with the Hibernian name started to sprint for it, and it dropped into his mitten over by the bleacher fence.
Glasscock’s box of tricks did very effective work, turning probable defeat into victory. There was one little ash stick which was designed especially for bunts, and it was used with good results. Ball and Kerr each wore spectacles which came from the little cabinet. Ball got three free passes to the initial bag, and the Canuck reached the same bag an equal number of times on nice clean singles. In the fourth inning, with Shaw on first, Briggs drove the sphere on a line right into Ball’s hands. Ball juggled it, and then dropped it purposely in order to execute a double play. It was a neat piece of head work, and he was warmly applauded.
Hawley pitched with an “I-want-my-salary-or-my-release” air. ‘Twas an off day for the Hawleys. His illustrious namesake struck a Waterloo at Cincinnati. But the Twin City Hawley is not so much pumpkins at best. He would be more of a success as a contortionist. That twist of the leg is intended to strike terror to the batter, but Notorious Pastorious can give Hawley cards and spades and a shot gun, and beat him out at that game. Violet and Myers are substitute kickers on the Uhrichsville team, but they need practice. Broncho will probably be in the game today, as the following message from Steubenville would seem to indicate:
“She said ‘yes’ to-night. Will be down in the morning. BRONCHO.”
Pittsburgh Post, August 23:
…When Theodore Conover went to the bat in the third inning yesterday he was presented with a handsome gold watch by a number of his Wheeling friends. Conover has won eight of the ten games which he has pitched in the Iron and Oil league for Wheeling, and has further endeared himself to the local “fans” by declining an offer from Evansville at twice the salary he is now receiving.
Theo returned to Lexington after the season. I have no stats
for him from either of his 1895 leagues, except that a November 28 item in the Maysville
Bulletin credited him with 14 complete games and 11 wins with Wheeling.
In February 1896 Theo signed with the Dallas Navigators of the Texas Association. He had an 11-12 record there in 23 games, and hit .198, but left the team in July.
Lexington Leader, July 12:
Theo Conover returned from Dallas, Texas, Saturday and was at once signed by Manager Brown. “Huck” is in fine form and left Dallas because of the continuous changes in the management of the team. He pitched some great ball for Dallas.
Sporting Life had this to say on July 18: “At Dallas on the 8th Conover and Bastian became mutinous and deserted the team.”
The Lexington team seems to have been an independent town
team, probably amateur or semi-pro. Lexington Herald, September 11:
The strong team from Versailles will be here today to tackle the locals. “Huck” Conover will be in the box and as this is the last game for this week a good crowd should be present and show that Lexington appreciates the good work its ball team is doing.
For 1897 Theo signed with the Nashville Centennials of the
Central League, but it was another gig that didn’t last long. From the June 11 Lexington
Leader:
CONOVER RETURNS HOME.
Theo Conover, the well known ball player, returned home today from Nashville. Conover was pitching for the Nashville team in the Central League, when the manager, Billy Work, skipped out and left the team high and dry. Conover was offered a berth at Decatur, Ill., but decided to come home. He says he got a very rough deal.
On July 31 the Russellville (Kentucky) Ledger
reported that Theo had signed with the Russellville team, seemingly another
independent team, but I found no more about him that season.
Lexington Herald, December 29:
CHARLESTON WANTS CONOVER
Theodore Conover, the local base ball pitcher, has received inquiries from the manager of the Charleston, S.C. base ball team, asking his terms for the coming season. The Charleston team will be a member of the new Southern League, to include Atlanta, Chattanooga, Birmingham and other cities. Conover’s many friends hope to see him land a good job for the coming season and play the game of his life.
However, the only indication I found that Theo played
baseball in 1898 was a July 6 item in the Herald saying that: “’Huck’
Conover, the old Lexington stand-by, will probably be secured to pitch.” This
was from an article on an attempt to re-establish a Blue Grass League.
Theo appeared in the Lexington city directory in 1898,
listed as a boarder at 18 Woodard Avenue. Brother Alonzo is shown as a rope
maker at 239 South Broadway, and brother Todd a carriage painter at 13
Montmullin.
The June 9, 1899, Herald named Theo as one of the new
members added at a meeting of the Goebel Club, an organization of supporters of
William Goebel for Kentucky governor. Goebel would be elected under shady
circumstances, assassinated, sworn in on his deathbed, then serving for four
days.
The August 31, 1901, Sporting Life listed Theo as one
of 13 players the Cincinnati Reds had released that season, which I cannot
explain. The other players named all actually played for the Reds in 1901. Herald,
October 6:
BALL GAME TODAY
There will be a game of base ball at the Belt Line park this afternoon. The contesting nines will be the Lexington Reserves, managed by Robert Hughes, and the Lexington Browns, managed by Dan Moynahan. The latter team has played fourteen games this season, all being victories. The Reserves will have Theo Conover, a New England League man [?], in the box and Jeff Brown, formerly of the Texas League. Ladies will be admitted free.
Same paper, October 13:
GAME OF BASE BALL TODAY.
The last of the season will be played this afternoon between the Lexingtons and Manhattans at Belt Line Park. The game will be a hotly contested one, as both sides will do their utmost to win this, the last game. The Lexingtons have two old base ball players—Conover and Brown—both of whom have played in the National League, and they feel sure of winning, while the Manhattans have such good amateurs as Galvin, Allen, Llyod, Darnaby and Hilman. The game will be called promptly at 2:30 p.m.
In the 1906 Lexington city directory Theo is living at 632
Patterson with Alonzo, both of them listed as laborers. In the 1909 directory
he is a clerk living at 411 Hayman Avenue.
The 1910 census was taken in Lexington on April 21. Theo, a
laborer of odd jobs, Alonzo, also a laborer of odd jobs, and Todd, a house
painter, all live with their sister Mary “Mollie” Geers, whose husband Franklin
had died in 1907, at 451 Chair Avenue. Three months later, on July 27, Theo
passed away. From the July 29 Paris Bourbon News:
Old Paris Ball Player Dead.
T.C. [actually NMI] Conover, aged 43 [42] years, died Wednesday afternoon at his home in Lexington after a brief illness and was buried in that city yesterday. “Huck” Conover, as he was familiarly known was at one time one of the best pitchers in Central Kentucky. He stood at the head of the pitchers during the time of the old Blue Grass League was in existence [sic] from the years of 1892 to 1896 and for four years was the mainstay of the Lexington club. In the year of 1888 Conover pitched for the independent club in Paris and in the year of 1894 when Paris was a member of the old Blue Grass League he was a member of the pitching staff, and is well remembered by the older followers of the game.
Theo’s death certificate gave the cause of death as heart
troubles, with alcoholism as a contributory cause. He never married.
https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/C/Pconot101.htm
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/conovte01.shtml