Steamer Flanagan
American baseball player (1881–1947)
James Paul Flanagan (April 20, 1881 – April 21, 1947) was an American Major League Baseball center fielder. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates just at the end of the 1905 season (September 25-October 7). The 24-year-old rookie, who stood 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) and weighed 185 lbs., was a native of Kingston, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Notre Dame.
Flanagan played well during his time with the Pirates. In seven games he hit .280 (7-for-25) with one double, one triple, three runs batted in, and seven runs scored. He also had three stolen bases. In the field he handled 19 chances flawlessly for a fielding percentage of 1.000.
Two of his famous teammates on the Pirates were future Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke.
Flanagan died at the age of 66 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Nickname
According to SABR research, his unusual nickname was due to his speed on the bases and his large size, comparing him to a steam locomotive.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Steamer Flanagan” is american baseball player (1881–1947). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Steamer, Flanagan and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7605459. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1881, 1947 and 1905.
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This entry incorporates text from “Steamer Flanagan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.