Joseph McElroy “Mac” Mann

Joseph McElroy "Mac" Mann (July 13, 1856 – November 17, 1919) was an American collegiate baseball player for Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey then known as the College of New Jersey. He is widely credited as the first college baseball player to master throwing a curveball and the first to throw a no-hitter.

Early life Mann was born in New York City on July 13, 1856 to the Rev. Joseph Rich Mann and the former Ellen Thomson.

Baseball Curveball John Thorn, The official baseball historian for Major League Baseball, credits Mann as being the first college baseball player to master throwing a curveball. He turned to M.W. Jacobus, ’77, who was playing shortstop and said: “Here goes for three strikes.” Sure enough the batter struck out. Then Mann said, “Those balls curved.” Mann practiced throwing the curveball the entire winter of 1875 in the Princeton gymnasium. He pitched the outshoot curve most effectively, but could also pitch the in-shoot curve and the drop curve as well. “Mac” Mann did not invent the curving of a ball as curveballs had previously been thrown for seemingly as long as baseball has been a sport. However, Mann demonstrate the effectiveness of the curveball and revolutionized the manner of delivery of the pitch. Alumni from each school presented evidence. Three letters to the editor appeared in The New York Times on June 10, 1900, crediting Mann as the first to regularly throw the pitch in college baseball.

No-hitter

On May 29, 1875, in a game against Yale at Hamilton Park in New Haven, Connecticut, Mann used the curveball to throw nine innings without allowing a single hit to stymie Yale, 3–0, in what is believed to be the first recorded no-hitter, either amateur or professional. Two Princeton errors kept Mann from earning the game's first perfect game. By the time Mann graduated in 1876 he had pretty much blown out his arm.

Shot-put In 1876, Mann graduated from Princeton. He set the shot-put world-record, at the time, 9.44 meters (31 feet).

In 1883, he married Fannie Benedict Carter. They have two sons who are Princeton University graduates and entered the legal profession. approximately two years after the death of his wife.