O’Rourke batted .300 or better in 13 of his 22 years in the National Association, National League, and Players’ League, and was a member of seven championship clubs – five of them in Boston during the 1870s. He was the first man to gain a hit in National League history (April 22, 1876). From 1881 to 1884 he was player-manager for Buffalo (NL). He managed in the minors, served as president of the Connecticut League and Eastern Association, and returned to the Giants to catch one game on September 22, 1904, at age 52 the oldest man to complete a major league game. Because of his verbosity, players and umpires called him “Orator Jim.” One obituary eulogized, “Words of great length and thunderous sound simply flowed out of his mouth.” His son, Queenie O’Rourke, was a utility man for the Highlanders (Yankees) in 1908.