Tim Keefe ✝

Keefe's career spanned much of baseball's formative stages. His first season was the last in which pitchers threw from 45 feet, so for most of his career he pitched from 50 feet. His final season was the first season in which pitchers hurled from the modern distance of 60 feet, 6 inches.\n", ' Keefe was born on January 1, 1857 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father Patrick was an Irish immigrant. When Tim Keefe was a child, Patrick served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Patrick was a prisoner of war for several years. All four of Patrick\'s brothers were killed in the war; Tim had been named after two of them. Tim\'s brother became a major and fought in the Spanish–American War.\n', ' After the war, Patrick had high expectations for his son, and the two frequently fought over Tim\'s pursuit of baseball. With the help of local former pitcher Tommy Bond, Keefe persisted and became known as a standout local pitcher by 1876. Keefe\'s early professional career included minor league stints in Lewiston, Clinton, New Bedford, Utica, and Albany.\n', '