Mike king kelly autobiography meaning

Mike “King” Kelly was professional baseball’s first matinee idol: the first ballplayer to “author” an autobiography, the first to have a hit song written about him, and the first to have a successful acting career outside the game.

A handsome man with a full mustache and a head of red hair, Kelly through his fame helped change professional baseball from a pleasant diversion into America’s most popular sport. At his peak Kelly earned the highest salary in the game.

King kelly autograph

He spent every cent he made, and died almost penniless less than a year after he played his last professional game.

Michael Joseph Kelly was born on New Year’s Eve, , in Troy, New York, to Irish immigrants Mike and Catherine Kelly.

Mike and Catherine had left Ireland during the s to escape the potato famine. After landing in New York City, they moved miles up the Hudson to Troy, at that time a bustling commercial town at the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal.

The United States in had 31 states and approxim