Holliday was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, and became the first player in major league history to make his debut in the post-season when he was called up, at the age of 18, by the
Chicago White Stockings when they needed another
outfielder for Game 4 of the
1885 World Series. He played in one game, and had no hits in four
at bats. Holliday made his regular-season major league debut in 1889 for the Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association. In his first season with the Red Stockings, he led the league in home runs with 19, while finishing in the top ten in many offensive categories. He was fifth in
batting average with .321, fifth in
runs batted in (RBIs) with 104, third in
hits with 181, and ninth in
doubles with 28. But after that, his season's power numbers dropped significantly, as he hit only four home runs, tallied 75 RBIs, and had a .270 batting average. He bounced back the following season, when he hit nine home runs, which was fourth in the league, batted .319 to finish second in the league, and totalled 84 RBIs, which was ninth. He followed the campaign with an even better season, when he played in 153 games, batted 602 times, scored 114
runs, and
tripled 16 times, all career highs. He also claimed his second home run title that season, with 13, and finished in the top ten with 176 hits as well. Both and saw Holliday continue his batting production; although his home runs dipped to five in 1893, he still batted .310, totaled 84 RBIs, and scored 108 runs. But statistically, 1894 was his greatest season, when his .372 batting average was his career-high, as well as his 119 runs scored, 190 hits, 119 RBIs, .420
on-base percentage and .523
slugging percentage. During the first six years of his career, he slugged 63 home runs, which was second to only
Roger Connor during the same span; but in he had an
appendectomy, and was never the same player after that. In his last four seasons he was never more than a part-time player. In 930 games over 10 seasons, Holliday posted a .312
batting average (1141-for-3658) with 735
runs, 162
doubles, 72
triples, 65
home runs, 621
RBI, 252
stolen bases, 360
bases on balls, .377
on-base percentage and .449
slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .934
fielding percentage primarily as an outfielder. ==Post-career==