Marty
Devine
 

MARK JAMES "MARTY" DEVINE was well known in Camden in the late 1910s and 1920s as a scholastic and semi-pro baseball player, pitching for Camden High School and any number of semi-pro teams in the tri-state area until an arm injury ended his career on the diamond.

Marty Devine was born in Pennsylvania on December 16, 1899 to Mark and Carrie Bauer Devine. The Devines were living on Jones Lane in Philadelphia when the 1900 Census was enumerated. A brother, James was born in 1902. Sadly, his father died on April 22, 1908 in a work-related mishap at the too-young age of 1928.

Carrie Devine and her sons first appear in Camden's City Directories in 1911, at 714 Ferry Avenue. They remained there for at least a year. When the 1917 Directory was compiled the family had moved to 540 Lester Terrace. A fine pitcher, Marty Devine attended Camden High School and was an immediate success on the baseball diamond, winning most of the games he started on an otherwise mediocre team. He soon was pitching for any number of semi-pro teams in Camden and the tri-state area.

Marty Devine apparently left Camden High briefly, as he was working at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyards near his home in September of 1918 when he registered for the draft. His work probably had more to do with being a member of the company baseball team than anything else. He returned to Camden High in time for the 1919 baseball season. Marty Devine pitched for New York Ship in 1919 and 1920, for the Gloucester baseball team in 1922, and for Lou Schaub's Camden club in 1923. These are just the teams this author is aware of as of this writing.

The Devines are listed in Camden City Directories from 1921 through 1923 at 2220 South 9th Street. Marty Devine married Frances Miles around 1924. By 1930 there were four children, Mark Jr. and Dolores. Two more sons, Paul and Thomas, came during the 1930s. The Devines had moved to 2266 South 7th Street when the 1924 Directory was compiled and were still at that address as late as 1980. Younger brother James Devine founded a coal and ice business in the 1920s, and Marty worked for him as a driver for many years. When he registered for the draft in April of 1942, Marty Devine was again living at 540 Lester Terrace.

A Camden resident to the end, Marty Devine passed away in January of 1986. His wife joined him on August 8, 2002.

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Camden Courier-Post * January 8, 1980


Philadelphia Inquirer * May 1, 1918
Frank Westney - Van Hart - Verdeur - Ivory
Harry Lutz - Stanley Twoes - Irving Stewart - Harris - Burge'n - Shaw - Martin Devine

Philadelphia Inquirer * March 23, 1919

Philadelphia Inquirer * June 4, 1922

Marty Devine - Larry Singer
woodbury daily times
june 8, 1922

vince tydeman
marty devine
Contract to Play for  the Camden Baseball Club - April 9, 1923
 lou schaub - marty devine - eugene hughes
World War I Draft Card

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Phil, that would be my Grandfather at 2220 S 9th St. His given name is Mark James Devine but they called him Marty Devine. I think 1923 is the year he tore ligaments in his pitching arm.  I saw an article where he pitched all or part of a double header and at that time they didn't have relief specialists like today. He was pitching  3 maybe  4 times a week. They wanted to operate on his arm but he feared losing his arm to infection and declined to have an operation which ended his pitching career at the age of 23 or 24. I remember hearing that his best record one year was 32 wins and 9 losses. I will try to get you more information as my Uncle has a scrapbook that was researched and compiled by one of his children.