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Moonlight Graham

One game played as a defensive replacement is all Archibald "Moonlight" Graham ever got out of his major league ballplaying career. Yet, because of his fictionalized role in a popular baseball novel, his name is remembered today. Graham was a small, light-hitting outfielder who got a quick look from Giants' manager John McGraw in the Summer of 1905. He played in the field but never batted, and after a few years in the minors, he turned his attention to medical school. After graduating from the University of Maryland, he served more than four decades in Chisholm, Minnesota, as the community physician. "Doc" Graham became a legend in the region, and died at the age of 88, in 1965. Author W.P. Kinsella noticed his one-game entry in the Baseball Encyclopedia, and used him as a character in Shoeless Joe, a novel about a mystical farm in Iowa that attracts the ghost of Joe Jackson. In the subsequent 1989 film Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, Graham's character was played by Burt Lancaster (doctor) and Frank Whaley (ballplayer). The wildly popular film immortalized Graham, and today a rock band and clothing line bear his name.

Played For
New York Giants (1905)

Born
Archibald Wright Graham was born on November 9, 1876, in Fayetteville, NC.

Died
August 25, 1965, Chisholm, MN

Batted:  Left
Threw:  Right

Primary Position:  OF

Primary Team:  NY1

Major League Debut
June 29, 1905

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1905
Ty Cobb
Hal Chase
Mickey Doolan
Otto Knabe
Al Bridwell
Rube Oldring
Eddie Cicotte
Ed Reulbach
George Gibson

Nicknames
Doc was bestowed on Graham many years after his baseball career.

Family Tree
"Doc" Graham's brother, Frank Porter Graham, served as president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1930-1949, before leaving to become a U. S. Senator.

Learn More about Moonlight Graham
Search Amazon.com for Books about Moonlight Graham ⇒
Search for Moonlight Graham at Google ⇒
View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒

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