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James Toy
from The Beaver Countian
Milestones Vol 23 No 3 Fall 1998

James Toy of Beaver Falls was the first major league baseball player.

With an American Indian background, Toy played in the then major leagues with Cleveland of the American Association in 1887 and later with Brooklyn in the same league in 1890. He played every position except pitcher.

Born in Beaver Falls, PA on February 20, 1858, his father was a Sioux Indian who married Caroline Caler, a white woman.

While catching for Brooklyn in his final season, he suffered a groin injury when the ball hit the plate and bounced up. He was bothered by the injury until the day he died, March 12,1919. He was a stove molder for the Howard Stove and Olive Stove Companies in Beaver Falls. He is buried in the Beaver Cemetery, Beaver, PA.