April 11, 1906: The 1st Major Athlete-Actress Marriage

April 11, 1906: Baseball star Mike Donlin marries actress Mabel Hite in New York City.

Marriages between professional athletes and female celebrities -- singers, actresses, models -- are commonplace in the 21st Century. There were several examples in the 20th Century as well.

But before Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, before David Beckham and Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams, before Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, before Bob Waterfield and Jane Russell, even before Jack Dempsey and Estelle Taylor, there was "Hitelin." That's what they would have been called with today's "supercouple" abbreviations.

Michael Joseph Donlin was born on May 30, 1878 in Peoria, Illinois, and grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. A left fielder, he debuted in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1899. In 1901, he jumped to the American League, with the Baltimore Orioles, where he became a teammate of 3rd baseman and manager John McGraw.

Known as "Turkey Mike" for the way he seemed to "strut" around the field, he was handsome, a sharp dresser, and a raging alcoholic. He frequently got into trouble: In 1902, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for assaulting 2 people in Baltimore while drunk, and was promptly released by the Orioles. After his released, he was signed by the National League's Cincinnati Reds. In 1903, he finished third in the league in hitting at .351.

In 1904, he had another drunken episode, in St. Louis. The Reds suspended him for 30 days, and then looked to trade him. McGraw, by then the manager of the New York Giants, took the bait, and, in the nation's biggest city, Donlin became one of its biggest baseball stars. He was popular with men and women alike. But there was steak to go with the sizzle: He batted .356 to help the Giants win the 1905 NL Pennant, and then the World Series.

Mabel Hite was born on May 30, 1883 -- making her exactly 5 years younger than her future husband -- in Ashland, Kentucky, where the Big Sandy River flows into the Ohio River, and the States of Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio come together. She grew up in Kansas City, and by 11 was appearing in local theater productions.

In 1904, 3 months before Donlin was traded to the Giants, Hite made her Broadway debut. She married him on April 11, 1906. Each of them had been married and divorced once before. For the first time, an athlete and a entertainer married each other, and fed off each other's star power to increase their own.

Just a month after the wedding, Donlin broke his ankle on a bad slide, and missed the next 3 months. He took advantage of his time off to travel with Hite as she traveled with her stage show, and they both lived high off the hog.

For the 1907 season, Donlin demanded his same 1906 salary, plus a $600 bonus for staying sober. Giants owner John T. Brush decided that Donlin was out of his mind, and refused. Donlin announced his retirement, and sat out the entire season. Meanwhile, Hite starred in the musical A Knight for a Day, and became a bigger star than ever.

Donlin and the Giants, who still owned his rights, came to an agreement for the 1908 season, and he hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to win on Opening Day. He showed no ill effects of his layoff, batting .334 and playing the best defense of his career, as the Giants nearly won the Pennant, losing in controversial fashion. Meanwhile, Hite starred in The Merry-Go-Round.

After that season, Donlin decided to try acting himself. He and Hite wrote a play titled Stealing Home. Her reviews were good; his, not so much. But the show was a smash. Claiming he made more money from his play, Donlin retired from baseball, vowing never to return. He was only 30 years old.

The Donlins traveled, performing the show, until ticket sales dropped off, and she had trouble getting new roles. So, in 1911, he returned to the diamond, playing 12 games for the Giants, before they traded him to the team that was about to be renamed the Boston Braves.

Just before the 1912 season, the Braves traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shortly thereafter, the play Mabel Hite and Her Clowns premiered. But she was not up to it, as she was suffering from cancer. She died on October 22, 1912, only 29 years old.

Donlin sat out the 1913 season, returned to the Giants, played 35 games in 1914, and retired for good. He developed a vaudeville act with major league pitcher Marty McHale for an act they titled, "Right Off the Bat." He married again in 1914, to comic actress Rita Ross.

He went to Hollywood, still in its silent film era, and appeared in several movies, including 2 with John Barrymore, who became a close friend; and The General, considered Buster Keaton's best film and one of the best films of the silent era.

In 1928, he appeared in Warming Up, a baseball-themed film that was the 1st talking picture at Paramount Pictures. A few professional players, major leaguers and Pacific Coast League players, appeared in it. The film is now considered to be lost.

Mike Donlin died on September 24, 1933, in Hollywood, of a heart attack, at the age of 55. The 1949 musical comedy Take Me Out to the Ball Game, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, is thought to be based on Donlin.

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April 11, 1906 was a Wednesday. There were no scores on this historic day: Baseball was in Spring Training, football was out of season, basketball barely existed, and the Stanley Cup had been decided the previous month, when the Ottawa Hockey Club, forerunners of the original Ottawa Senators, defeated the Montreal Wanderers.