Career Statistics Acting career On October 26, 1908, Donlin made his stage debut in Stealing Home, a one-act play written by Donlin and Hite. Although the reviews for Donlin were mixed, critics raved over his wife's performance and the show became a smash hit. Claiming he made more money from his play, Donlin left baseball and vowed never to return to baseball but after 3 successful years, the play's popularity diminished and with Hite not able to land any successful roles, Donlin did return to baseball. Starting in 1914, Donlin teamed up with Marty McHale, for an act they titled, "Right Off the Bat". Donlin later made the career change once again from baseball to acting, gradually switching from stage to screen. He had more success on the baseball field than in the entertainment industry, although he did appear in a number of movies in small roles, including the silent classic The General (1926), and in Paramount's first sound feature Warming Up (1928). He was also retained as an advisor on a number of baseball movies. One of Donlin's great friends and drinking buddies was renowned actor John Barrymore. Donlin appeared in at least two of the actor's silent pictures, Raffles the Amateur Cracksman (1917) and The Sea Beast (1926). Personal life Born in Peoria, Illinois, Donlin's family soon moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he lost both his father, railroad conductor John Donlin, and mother, Maggie, in a train accident when he was a young boy. He was forced to hustle to survive from a young age, worked as a machinist in his youth and was resultantly sickly child. At 15 years old he found work selling candy on California-bound train. Once in California, he put down roots. Donlin was a flamboyant playboy, a sharp dresser and a notorious drinker. With his dashing looks and one who was not opposed to finding trouble, he was equally popular with women and men and was one of the most popular players in baseball for a short time at the peak of his career. As a young minor leaguer in California, Donlin asked a San Francisco Examiner employee to run a photograph of him in the paper, saying "I know I'll get a break. I know I'm going to be great." A month after Admiral George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila Bay, University of Oregon baseball coach Tom Kelly recalled Donlin