Born in Massena, New York, McPhee broke into professional baseball in 1877 as a catcher with the Davenport Brown Stockings of the Northwestern League. He played for Davenport for three seasons, shifting to second base during the 1879 season. After not playing baseball in 1880, he joined an independent team in Akron, Ohio in 1881. Before the 1882 season, he signed a contract to play for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, a team in the newly formed American Association.\n', '

Making his major league debut on May 2, 1882, the 22-year-old McPhee had a batting average of just .228, but he led the league in several fielding categories, including putouts and fielding percentage. With McPhee in the lineup for 78 out of their 80 games, the Red Stockings won the inaugural AA championship. McPhee was the only starting second baseman Cincinnati had for the first 18 seasons of its existence, accompanying the team to the National League in 1890, when they became the Cincinnati Reds. In last two seasons of his career, he was the oldest player in the major leagues.\n', '

Over 18 years, McPhee batted .271, hit 53 home runs, hit 188 triples, scored 1678 runs, had 1067 runs batted in, and stole 568 bases. He had ten 100-plus seasons in runs scored and regularly led the league in many defensive categories despite playing without a glove for the first 14 years of his career. Without the benefit of the padding provided by fielding gloves, McPhee toughened his hands by soaking them in salt water.\n', '

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