Lipman Emanuel "Lip" Pike (May 25, 1845 – October 10, 1893) the "Iron Batter", was an American who was one of the stars of 19th-century baseball in the United States. His brother, Israel Pike, played briefly for the Hartford Dark Blues during the season. Pike was one of professional baseball's first great sluggers, leading early professional professional leagues in home runs four times. Pike possessed "great speed, a powerful, if erratic, throwing arm, and enormous power." Pike was also the first Jewish baseball star and manager in America. Early and personal life Pike was Jewish and was born in New York into a Jewish Dutch family, and grew up in Brooklyn. His father Emanuel was a haberdasher. His mother was Jane, his brothers were Boaz, Israel, and Jacob, and he had a sister Julia. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was very young. Baseball career Pike began in baseball when he was 13. Pike first rose to prominence playing for the Philadelphia Athletics (1860–1876), whom he joined in 1866. He brought an impressive blend of power and speed to the team, hitting many home runs as well as being one of the fastest players around. On one occasion he hit five home runs in one game. However, it was soon brought to light that he and two other Philadelphia players were being given $20 ($ in current dollar terms) a week to play. Since all baseball players were ostensibly amateurs (though many were, like Pike, accepting money under the table), a hearing was set up by the sport's governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players. In the end, no one showed up to the hearing, and the matter was dropped. By , the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first openly professional team, and Pike's hearing, farcical as it seems to have been, paved the way for Harry Wright's professionalization of baseball. The Athletics were very successful, but Pike was dropped from the team in 1867, because he was from New York, and thus a 'foreigner,' calling his loyalty into question. He moved on to the Irvington, New Jersey club and later in 1867 to the New York Mutuals, always a leading team, where he returned for 1868, having caught the eye of Boss Tweed. In 1869 he moved to the Brooklyn Atlantics, another perennial leader, where he hit .610. In , the Atlantics, with Pike manning second