His family immigrated to Montreal when he was an infant, later moving to Toronto when he was three; he attended Toronto's De La Salle College and St. Michael's College School. He was working at a barrelmaker in Toronto in 1902 when he suffered the burns which led to a three-month hospitalization. In 1903 he began playing baseball in Manitoba, and in 1904 he joined the Boone, Iowa team of the Iowa State League; he married Boone resident Lillian Stark in 1905. In August 1904 he was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he went on to play seven games for the team that season. He later played for Detroit for 18 games during the 1907 season, and started the fifth and final game of the 1907 World Series against the Cubs, but was hitless in three at bats as the Tigers lost 2-0; both Cub runs f