Jay Andrews
Washington's First Professional Baseball Player
It was a scintillating combination. Washington's love of sports combined with one of their golden boys from one of their most influential families....
John Asa "Jay" Andrews was born in Washington in 1873 to John Asa and Mary Burton Andrews. His mother died when Jay was five, one day after giving birth to his brother Edward.
In 1885 when Jay was twelve, he played baseball on one of Washington's teams, the Washington Union, and he wowed the crowds (and the other teams) with his abilities as catcher.
Even though Andrews was stellar on the field, he followed in the family footsteps and went off to Rush Medical School in Chicago to become a doctor. He completed his studies, but he never practiced as the draw of the sport of baseball was too great.
In 1894, Jay began his professional baseball career with Rock Island, taking them to the championship in his rookie season. What would follow would be a 21-year career in the minor leagues where Andrews would collect over 1,200 hits. His final season was in 1915 at Waterloo at age 41.
In 1898, he was drafted out of the minor leagues by the Chicago Cubs, but he did not make the team.
In 1902, Andrews' career transitioned from "player" to "player-manager," and he would do this for the rest of his playing career. His final managerial job was in 1921 with the Huron Packers. Over his twenty-seven year career in professional baseball, Andrews played with eighteen different minor league teams and managed twelve.
Jay "Doc" Andrews passed away in 1925 at the age of 52 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Washingtonian Knoble Roehm made the trip up to the great north to get the body and return it to Washington for burial in Glendale Cemetery.
Tributes appeared in the newspaper around the country for Andrews.