John Dillon (also referred to as Jack in some newspaper articles from the 1870s) is chronologically the first person to appear with a St. Louis team in his one and only major league game (assuming you consider the National Association as a major league). The National Association was a loose collection of professional teams formed in 1871 to play championship games against each other in a structured manner. Clubs scheduled games on ther own, and they could play both within the league and outside of the league. John Dillon played with the St. Louis Red Stockings in 1875, the club's first season in the National Association and the league's final season. The National League was formed during the winter of 1875-1876 by the best clubs from the Association, who were looking for a more stuctured league.
The St. Louis Red Stockings were one of the top amateur clubs in St. Louis in the 1870s. In 1875, they turned professional and joined the National Association. John Dillon was considered the tenth member for the club.
Daily Missouri Republican, April 11, 1875
His brother Packy was the catcher as the season opened. The Reds lost their first game to the St. Louis Brown Stockings on May 4, 1875. They then travelled to Keokuk for two games. The Reds lost the first game in Keokuk by a score of 15-2. In the second game, Pack Dillon dislocated a finger in the eighth inning. William Redmon moved from shortstop to behind the plate, and John Dillon came into the game at shortstop. Per the Keokuk Daily Gate City on May 9, 1875, in the ninth "J. Dillon, who had taken his brother's place, went out on a foul bound to Quinn," who was catching for Keokuk. One inning, one at-bat, zeros the rest of the way. He doesn't even have his own line in the box score published with the article about the game.
The Red Stockings won the game 6-1. It was the first win in their professional existence, in their third game of the season. They would win three more, against fifteen losses, before dropping out of the league. The club continued as an amateur team in St. Louis during the remainder of 1875 and beyond.
John Dillon would play occassionally with the club during that summer, but none of those games were championship matches against other clubs in the Association. The game on May 8, 1875 was his one and only appearance as a professional in a major league game. The game on May 8 was also the third and final major league game for Packy Dillon, as the injury to his finger prevented him from playing for long enough for Silver Flint to become entrenched as the team's catcher.
John F. Dillon was born in 1850, presumably in St. Louis. (The middle initial comes from St. Louis city street guides in the 1860s and 1870s, where John Dillon can be traced living with his brother and/or mother in some years.) Jeffrey Kittel posted an oral history of the Dillon family on his blog in 2008, which identifes John and Packy as two sons of John and Alicia Dillon, Irish immigrants who moved to St. Louis at some point in the 1840s. A street guide for 1866 lists John F. Dillon as a student at St. Louis University, but there is no proof this is the same John F. Dillon. John Sr. died in 1870, while Alicia married Dr. Alex Mullen a few years later. She died in 1907. The 1875 street guides for St. Louis City has John living at 3028 Locust Street in 1875 with his mother and some brothers. This is the final year for which there are conclusive records for John Dillon, both playing baseball in St. Louis and living in St. Louis. There are records for John F Dillon in St. Louis after 1875, but none can be definitively shown to be the baseball player. The ultimate fate of John Dillon is not known, fitting for the first man to play but a single major league game with a St. Louis club.
John F. Dillon was born in 1850, presumably in St. Louis. (The middle initial comes from St. Louis city street guides in the 1860s and 1870s, where John Dillon can be traced living with his brother and/or mother in some years.) Jeffrey Kittel posted an oral history of the Dillon family on his blog in 2008, which identifes John and Packy as two sons of John and Alicia Dillon, Irish immigrants who moved to St. Louis at some point in the 1840s. A street guide for 1866 lists John F. Dillon as a student at St. Louis University, but there is no proof this is the same John F. Dillon. John Sr. died in 1870, while Alicia married Dr. Alex Mullen a few years later. She died in 1907. The 1875 street guides for St. Louis City has John living at 3028 Locust Street in 1875 with his mother and some brothers. This is the final year for which there are conclusive records for John Dillon, both playing baseball in St. Louis and living in St. Louis. There are records for John F Dillon in St. Louis after 1875, but none can be definitively shown to be the baseball player. The ultimate fate of John Dillon is not known, fitting for the first man to play but a single major league game with a St. Louis club.