"In the 1883 season by common consent Jack Glasscock, then a member of the Cleveland Club of the National League, was considered the greatest short-fielder.
Glasscock was a member of Cleveland's famous stone wall infield, which included Bill Phillips at first base, Fred Dunlap at second, Jerry Denny at third and Glasscock at short-field.
These four were all great players, but in fielding none of them had the edge on Glasscock. He was such a great player that when the Union Association was organized in 1884 and its manager went hunting for phenomenal players, men who would draw the crowds, Glasscock was among the many selected.
He was one of the trio of Cleveland players, Briody and McCormick being the others, who left the Cleveland team in the midst of the 1884 season to join forces with the Cincinnati Club of the Union Association. At this time Glasscock's playing was simply wonderful and his accession by the managers of the Union Association gave that organization a mighty boost.
When the Union Association was disbanded in 1884 Glasscock joined his old partners, Dunlap and Denny, on the St. Louis National League Club, which held forth at the old Union Grounds at Jefferson and Cass avenues for a single season. The St. Louis infield that year included Alex McKinnon, first base; Fred Dunlap, second base; Jerry Denny, third base; and Jack Glasscock, short-field.
St. Louisians were very proud of this organization and expected great things of it. But the team was not successful, either from a playing or financial standpoint and before the season was half over its owners were plunged into bankruptcy. But Glasscock's great playing was often talked of afterwards.
After leaving St. Louis, Glasscock went to Indianapolis, where he led the League short-stops in 1889 and then went to Pittsburgh, where in 1894, he again bobbed up as the leading man in his position.
Glasscock is now a carpenter working at his trade in Wheeling, W. Va. He was one of the greatest players from a fielding standpoint the game has ever known."
-From The National Game
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