This Week in Oregon Sports History: 7/11/1892

For this week's Oregon sports history lesson, we have to go back to the go-go 19th century. The year was 1892. Ellis Island had recently begun accommodating immigrants to the New World, a young gym teacher by the name of Dr. James Naismith first published the rules to his new game, "Basket-Ball," Lizzie Borden was about to take a hatchet to her father and stepmother, and Grover Cleveland was well on his way to to being elected president for a second, non-consecutive term.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), Walter Edward "Jiggs" Parrott, a young upstart infielder from Portland, gained the distinction of becoming the first Oregonian called up to the Big Leagues. On July 11, 1892, Jiggs debuted for the Chicago Cubs. He would go on to play four years for the long-suffering franchise (which back then was just a franchise), hitting for a career-high .294 in 1894. Jiggs unfortunately passed away from tuberculosis at the young age of 26.