major league player to hit for the cycle. In a game against the Cincinnati Red Stockings on June 14, 1876, Hall had five hits. Contemporary newspaper accounts agree that four of the hits were a home run, a single, and two triples; there is disagreement as to if the remaining hit was a double (which would complete the cycle) or another triple. The first undisputed major league cycle is attributed to Curry Foley of the Buffalo Bisons of the National League in 1882. Gambling scandal and banishment On October 26, 1877, Louisville club vice president Charles Chase confronted Hall and fellow Gray Jim Devlin with charges that they threw some road games in August and September. Both admitted only to throwing non-league games, one of which was an exhibition game in Lowell, Massachusetts, on August 30, and another in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 3. The admissions also implicated teammates Al Nichols and Bill Craver. Newspapers nicknamed Hall "Gentleman George". Hall claimed that he and Devlin helped in losses to the Cincinnati Reds on September 6 and to the minor league Indianapolis Blues on September 24‚ but he argued that since the Reds were about to be suspended and the games nullified‚ it amounted to an exhibition game. As a result of the scandal, all four players were banned for life from Major League Baseball. Hall died in Ridgewood, New York, at the age of 74. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. See also List of people banned from Major League Baseball List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle References Further reading External links , or Retrosheet 1849 births 1923 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from the United Kingdom Major League Baseball players from England English baseball players National League home run champions Brooklyn Enterprise players Brooklyn Excelsiors players Brooklyn Stars players Brooklyn Atlantics (NABBP) players Washington Olympics players Baltimore Canaries players Boston Red Stockings players Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players Philadelphia Athletics (NL) players Louisville Grays players Sportspeople involved in betting scandals Sportspeople banned for life Sportspeople from London People from Stepney Burials at the Cemetery of the Evergreens 19th-century baseball players English emigrants to the United States