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Charles Leo "Gabby" Hartnett
Born:
December 20, 1900, Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Died: December 20, 1972, Park Ridge, Illinois
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for:
Chicago Cubs, New York Giants
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1955
195 votes of 251 ballots cast: 77.69%
Gabby Hartnett was not only a standout catcher, but a dangerous hitter.
As a Cubs backstop, he caught 100 or more games 12 times, led the
National League in putouts four times, and in assists and fielding
average six times. The winner of the 1935 National League MVP award
after hitting .344, Hartnett finished his career with a .297 batting
average. As a player-manager in 1938, his late afternoon, near-darkness
home run, known as the "Homer in the Gloamin'," helped the Cubs to their
fourth pennant during his tenure as a player.
Did you
know
... that Gabby Hartnett was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the same
home town of Hall of Fame second baseman Nap Lajoie?
|
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Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane
Born: April
6, 1903, Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Died: June 28, 1962, Lake Forest , Illinois
Batted: left
Threw: right
Played for: Philadelphia Athletics, Detroit Tigers
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1947
128 votes of 161 ballots cast: 79.50%
Mickey
Cochrane batted .320 during his 13-year career and excelled behind the
plate, but he also possessed that special trait — a fierce, competitive
spirit — which gave him exceptional leadership qualities. "Black Mike"
was the spark of the Athletics' championship teams of 1929, 1930 and
1931, hitting .331, .357 and .349, respectively. As player-manager for
the Detroit Tigers from 1934 to 1937, he directed them to a league
championship in 1934 and the World Series title in 1935. A beaning in
1937 ended his playing career.
Did
you know
... that Mickey Cochrane hit a home run in the last official at bat of
his major league career? |
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James Emory Foxx
Born:
October 22, 1907, Sudlersville, Maryland
Died: July 21, 1967, Miami, Florida
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs,
Philadelphia Phillies
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1951
179 votes of 226 ballots cast: 79.20%
A fearsome
power hitter whose strength earned him the moniker "The Beast," Jimmie
Foxx was the anchor of an intimidating Philadelphia Athletics lineup
that produced pennant winners from 1929 to 1931. The second batter in
history to top 500 home runs, Foxx belted 30 or more homers in a record
12 consecutive seasons and drove in more than 100 runs 13 consecutive
years, including a career-best 175 with Boston in 1938. He won
back-to-back MVP awards in 1932 and 1933, capturing the Triple Crown the
latter year.
Did you
know
... that Jimmie Foxx holds the record for most walks in a big league
game with six on June 16, 1938? |
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Henry Benjamin Greenberg
Born:
January 1, 1911, New York, New York
Died: September 4, 1986, Beverly Hills, California
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1956
164 votes of 193 ballots cast: 84.97%
Despite
losing four prime seasons to World War II and another to a fractured
wrist, Hank Greenberg still walloped 331 home runs, including 40 or more
on four occasions. His peak year was 1938 when the slugging right-hander
hit 58 homers after driving in 183 runs the year before. On the last day
of the 1945 season, the fearsome slugger's ninth inning grand slam won
the pennant for the Tigers. A two-time MVP, he closed out his career in
Pittsburgh, shooting at Forbes Field's ''Greenberg Gardens."
Did
you know
... that Hank Greenberg is one of just three players to earn MVP honors
at two different positions: first base (1935) and left field (1940)?
|
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Joe Leonard Morgan
Born:
September 19, 1943, at Bonham, Texas
Batted: left
Threw: right
Played for: Houston Colt .45s and Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco
Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Oakland Athletics
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1990
363 votes of 444 ballots cast: 81.76%
A fierce
competitor renowned for his baseball smarts, Joe Morgan could
single-handedly beat opposing teams with his multi-faceted skills. An
MVP Award Winner in 1975 and 1976, he was a terror on the basepaths,
topping the 40-steal plateau nine times during his career. His skilled
batting eye enabled him to lead the National League in on-base
percentage and walks four times each. Morgan also packed considerable
power into his compact frame, leading all Hall of Fame second basemen
with 266 home runs, hitting 268 overall.
Did
you know
... that Joe Morgan's familiar habit of flapping his arm while at bat
was a timing mechanism that was suggested to him by teammate and future
Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox? |
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Jack Roosevelt Robinson
Born:
January 31, 1919, Cairo, Georgia
Died: October 24, 1972, Stamford, Connecticut
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Brooklyn Dodgers
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1962
124 votes of 160 ballots cast: 77.50%
Jackie
Robinson burst onto the scene in 1947, breaking Baseball's color barrier
and bringing the Negro leagues' electrifying style of play to the
majors. He quickly became Baseball's top drawing card and a symbol of
hope to millions of Americans. With Robinson as the catalyst, the
Dodgers won six pennants in his 10 seasons. He dominated games on the
basepaths, stealing home 19 times while riling opposing pitchers with
his daring baserunning style. Robinson was named National League MVP in
1949, leading the loop in hitting (.342) and steals (37), while knocking
in 124 runs.
Did you
know
... that in 1941, Jackie Robinson became the first athlete in the
history of UCLA to letter in four sports (baseball, football, basketball
and track) in the same year? |
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Harmon Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936, Payette, Idaho
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Washington Senators,
Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA:
1984
335 votes of 403 ballots cast:
83.13%
Although quiet and soft-spoken,
Harmon Killebrew epitomized raw
power. His 573 career roundtrippers
rank fifth on the all-time list and
second only to Babe Ruth among
American League sluggers. Over his
22-year career with the Senators,
Twins, and Royals, he tied or led
the league in home runs six times,
belted 40 or more on eight occasions
and knocked in 100 or more runs nine
times. "Killer" won the American
League MVP Award in 1969, when he
led the league in home runs, RBI,
walks and on-base percentage.
Did you know
... that on June 3, 1967, Harmon
Killebrew blasted the longest home
run ever hit at the Twins' old park,
Metropolitan Stadium - a shot that
landed in the second deck of the
bleachers? |
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Edwin Lee Mathews
Born:
October 13, 1931, Texarkana, Texas
Died: February 18, 2001, La Jolla, California
Batted: left
Threw: right
Played for: Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Houston
Astros, Detroit Tigers
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1978
301 votes of 379 ballots cast: 79.42%
A feared
left-handed slugger, Eddie Mathews became the seventh player in major
league history to hit 500 home runs, finishing his career with 512. He
walloped more than 30 roundtrippers nine years in a row. In 1953, his 47
homers for the Milwaukee Braves led the National League and established
a single-season record for third basemen (since broken by Mike Schmidt).
In an intriguing footnote to his career, Mathews was the first athlete
featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Did you
know
... that Eddie Mathews was the only man to play for the Boston Braves,
Milwaukee Braves, and Atlanta Braves? |
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Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli
Born: June 27, 1943, Brooklyn, New York
Bats: right
Throws: right
Played for: Boston Red Sox
For a decade, Petrocelli was a home-run threat with the Red Sox
infield. He was with Boston for their 1967 and 1975 pennants, maturing
from a volatile young player to become a steadying influence on his
teammates. In Game Six of the 1967 World Series, Petrocelli, Carl
Yastrzemski, and Reggie Smith set a WS record by hitting three HR in an
inning (the fourth). It was Petrocelli's second shot to clear Fenway's
Green Monster that game. His rare combination of power and infield glove
work was displayed best in 1969, when he set an AL record for most home
runs by a shortstop, with 40, and tied a then-record for fewest errors
by a shortstop, with 14.
Petrocelli was moved to third base in 1971 after Boston acquired Luis
Aparicio, and led the league in fielding his first year at his new
position. But elbow problems in 1974, and a leg injury and beaning in
1975, cost him playing time. He hit just seven HR in '75, but batted
.308 in the WS. Inner-ear problems helped to end his career. |
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Travis Calvin Jackson
Born:
November 2, 1903, Waldo, Arkansas
Died: July 27, 1987, Waldo, Arkansas
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: New York Giants
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1982
Travis
Jackson was the hustling captain and clutch-hitting shortstop on John
McGraw's Giants of the mid-1920s. His outstanding arm, exceptional range
and quick release earned him great respect in the field. He was
nicknamed "Stonewall" for the wall of defense he supplied at shortstop.
He also hit 135 home runs and compiled six .300-plus seasons at the
plate. Rogers Hornsby praised Jackson by saying, "In all the years I
watched him, playing with him and against him, I never saw him make a
mistake."
Did
you know
... that while playing in the minors, Travis Jackson was nearly killed
after he collided head-on with an outfielder while chasing a short fly
ball? |
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George Herman "Babe" Ruth
Born:
February 6, 1895, Baltimore, Maryland
Died: August 16, 1948, New York, New York
Bats: left
Throws: left
Played for: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1936
215 votes of 226 ballots cast: 95.13%
George
Herman "Babe" Ruth was an American original, Baseball's first great
slugger and the most celebrated athlete of his time. The southpaw hurler
debuted with the Red Sox, winning 89 games in six years while setting
the World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings. "The Sultan
of Swat" converted to the outfield fulltime after his contract was sold
to the Yankees in 1920 and led New York to seven American League
pennants and four World Series titles. He finished with 714 home runs,
leading the league 12 times, including a remarkable 60 round trippers in
1927.
Did you
know
... that Babe Ruth earned his nickname during spring training of 1914
when teammates on the minor league Baltimore Orioles began referring to
him as owner Jack Dunn’s new "babe?" |
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Roger Eugene Maris
Born: September 10, 1934, Hibbing, Minnesota
Died: December 14, 1985, Houston, Texas
Batted: left
Threw: right
Played for: Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics, New York Yankees,
St Louis Cardinals
When Maris hit his record 61st home run of the 1961 season, he became
the owner of the most glamorous of all baseball standards, a mark he has
held for nearly as long as his predecessor Babe Ruth did before Maris
broke it. A great outfielder with a fine arm, an adept baserunner, and a
team player willing to move baserunners and slide hard to break up
double plays, Maris was a winner in two cities, appearing in more World
Series than any other player in the 1960s and establishing himself as
one of the dominant players of the first half of the decade.
In 1953 Maris signed with the Indians out of high school for a $5,000
bonus after turning down an athletic scholarship from the University of
Oklahoma. He hit .325 at Fargo-Moorhead. Fargo today houses a Roger
Maris museum. At Keokuk in 1954 manager Jo Jo White taught him to pull,
and Maris hit 32 home runs. Using a 35-inch, 33-ounce bat, he broke into
the major leagues with the Indians by going 3-for-5 on Opening Day 1957
against the White Sox, and the next day he hit his first big league home
run, a grand slam game winner, in the top of the 11th inning. His 14
rookie homers were followed by 28 in his second season, which he started
with Cleveland and finished with Kansas City. The Athletics acquired him
along with Preston Ward and Dick Tomanek for Vic Power and Woody Held.
Seeking to restructure their team after finishing third in 1959, the
Yankees, who had traded frequently with the Athletics in the late 1950s,
obtained Maris from Kansas City with Kent Hadley and Joe DeMaestri for
Don Larsen, Hank Bauer, Marv Throneberry, and Norm Siebern. In his first
game as a Yankee, he hit two home runs, a double and a single, and he
wound up with 39 home runs for the year, one behind Mantle's
league-leading 40. He topped the league with a .581 slugging percentage
and beat out Mantle for MVP honors by three points in the weighted
voting. Although New York lost the 1960 World Series on Bill Mazeroski's
home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game,
prompting the firing of manager Stengel, a new Yankee dynasty marked by
five consecutive AL crowns had begun.
Under new manager Ralph Houk in 1961, the Yankees fielded a set
lineup, usually batting Maris third and Mantle fourth. The two preyed on
American League pitchers, including the weak-armed staffs of Los Angeles
and Washington, the league's two expansion franchises. Neck-and-neck
with Mantle through September until Mantle was felled by an injury, the
nation watched as Maris hit his 59th homer in the 155th game of the
year, his 60th in game 159, and his 61st in the final and 163rd game of
the season at Yankee Stadium off Tracy Stallard of the Red Sox in a 1-0
Yankee victory. The home run ball was caught by a 21-year-old truck
driver, Sal Durante, who sold it to Sam Gordon, a Sacramento restaurant
owner. Gordon displayed it for a while, then gave it to Maris.
Controversy surrounded the feat. There were those who claimed that
Maris's achievement was tainted, because Maris, who played in 161 of the
Yankees' 163 games that season, had more games to break the total of 60
that Ruth had accumulated in 1927 playing in 151 of the team's 155
games. (Each team played one tie game.) Commissioner Ford Frick ordered
an asterisk attached to the record. With time, however, his ruling has
been dwarfed by the feat itself and survives only as a piece of trivia
surrounding the lore of Maris's chase of the record. Maris's great
season included AL-leading totals of 142 RBI and 132 runs scored, and it
led the Yankees to a World Series victory over Cincinnati. In addition
to winning his second consecutive MVP award, Maris was awarded the
Hickock Belt as best professional athlete of the year, and was named
Catholic Athlete of the Year. He won numerous other plaques, as well as
a Gold Glove.
The quest for the home run record weighed heavily on Maris, and the
hair of his famed crew cut began to fall out from tension in the stretch
run of the chase. The pressure he felt was exacerbated by his accurate
assessment that he was never as popular with fans as he thought he
should have been. A private man who seldom showed emotion, he irritated
many reporters with his angry stubbornness and his fierce, combative
integrity. "I'm impatient," he said of himself. "When I think something
isn't right, I want it to be made right then and there. I don't believe
in holding things in. When I'm impatient or dissatisfied I say
something." Much of his impatience was aimed at himself. "You can always
do better than you're doing," he said. "You have to try all the time."
Shortly before his death from lymph-gland cancer in 1985, he said, "I
always come across as being bitter. I'm not bitter. People were very
reluctant to give me any credit. I thought hitting 60 home runs was
something. But everyone shied off. Why, I don't know. Maybe I wasn't the
chosen one, but I was the one who got the record."
The four intentional walks Maris drew in a 12-inning game in 1962
were indicative of the respect accorded him around the league following
his 1961 season. Maris had his last great season as a Yankee in 1962. He
had more than 30 homers and more than 100 RBI for the third year in a
row, and the Yankees defeated San Francisco in the World Series. A hand
injury plagued him in 1963 and robbed him of his power, and he never
fully regained his home run form, despite making a partial comeback in
1964. Batting in a game in June 1965, he took a swing and felt something
pop in his right hand. He was sidelined the rest of the year, but did
not submit to surgery until the season was over. His 1965 injuries were
a portent of the future for an aging Yankee team, which slid to a
last-place finish in 1966. Maris played in only 95 games, pinch hitting
in 20 more, and hit 13 homers.
In December 1966 Maris was traded to the Cardinals for Charley Smith,
a much-traveled third baseman with a .240 career average. St. Louis
moved Mike Shannon from the outfield to third base and played Maris in
right field. The change was the only alteration of the lineup the
Cardinals fielded in 1966 when they finished in sixth place, 12 games
behind the Dodgers, but it was a significant one, as they won
consecutive National League championships in 1967 and 1968 with Maris.
He batted .385 for their 1967 World Championship team. |
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Theodore Samuel Williams
Born:
August 30, 1918, San Diego, California
Died: July 5, 2002, Inverness, Florida
Batted:
left
Threw: right
Played for: Boston Red Sox
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1966
282 votes of 302 ballots cast: 93.38%
The Red
Sox' Ted Williams was one of baseball's greatest hitters. Combining keen
vision with quick wrists and a scientific approach to hitting, he set
numerous batting records despite missing nearly five full seasons due to
military service and two major injuries. His accomplishments include a
.406 season in 1941, two Triple Crowns, two MVPs, six American League
batting championships, 521 home runs, a lifetime average of .344, 17
All-Star Game selections, and universal reverence.
Did
you know
... that Ted Williams won the Triple Crown in 1942 and 1947, yet was not
voted MVP in either of those standout years? |
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Ralph McPherran Kiner
Born:
October 27, 1922, Santa Rita, New Mexico
Bats: right
Throws: right
Played for: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1975
273 votes of 362 ballots cast: 75.41%
In a
relatively brief 10-year career, which was shortened by a back ailment,
Ralph Kiner hit 369 home runs, winning or sharing the National League
home run title in each of his first seven seasons in Pittsburgh. He
topped 50 twice, with 51 in 1947 and 54 in 1949. His ratio of 7.1 home
runs per 100 at-bats trails only Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire among
retired players. Kiner averaged better than 100 RBI a season as he led
the National League in slugging percentage three times.
Did
you know
... that Ralph Kiner was married to tennis star Nancy Chaffee, the first
unseeded woman ever to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open? |
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Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson
Born: April
26, 1900, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
Died: November 23, 1948, Baltimore, Maryland
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers,
Philadelphia Phillies
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1979
Hack
Wilson's career was relatively short, much like his stature, but he
packed a wallop in his prime. A winner of four home run titles while
with the Cubs, his 1930 season still inspires awe — 191 RBI (the
all-time major league record), 56 home runs (a National League record
for 68 years) and a .356 batting average. He compiled a .307 career mark
over 12 major league seasons, but built his reputation as a power hitter
with 244 home runs and 1,063 RBI.
Did you
know
... that "Hack" Wilson is reputed to have received his nickname because
of his resemblance to internationally famous Russian weightlifter and
pro wrestler George Hackenschmidt? |
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Leon Allen "Goose" Goslin
Born:
October 16, 1900, Salem, New Jersey
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, New Jersey
Batted: left
Threw: right
Played for: Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1968
With his
burly body and strong arms, Leon "Goose" Goslin swung the bat with
Ruthian effort and forged a reputation as a powerful clutch hitter. He
spearheaded his teams to five American League pennants in a 12-year span
— three with the Senators and two with the Tigers. He drove in 100 or
more runs on 11 occasions and hit .300 or better 11 times, including a
league-leading .379 in 1928. He compiled a .316 lifetime average and
recorded 2,735 hits, adding 37 more in World Series play.
Did
you know
... that Goose Goslin is the only man to have played in each of the 19
World Series games featuring the Washington Senators? |
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Mordecai Peter Centennial "3 Finger" Brown
Born:
October 19, 1876, Nyesville, Indiana
Died: February 14, 1948, Terre Haute, Indiana
Batted: both
Threw: right
Played for: St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn
Tip-Tops, St. Louis Terriers, Chicago Whales
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1949
Mordecai
Brown rivaled Christy Mathewson as the National League's top pitcher of
the early 1900s, defeating the legend nine straight times at one point.
A member of the Cubs' pennant-winning teams of 1906 to 1908 and 1910,
the right-hander posted six consecutive seasons of 20 wins or more. As a
youth, he lost part of his index finger in a farm-machinery accident,
thus the nickname "Three Finger." Brown not only overcame this handicap,
but used it to increase the movement of his pitches.
Did you
know
... that on September 4, 1916, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Christy
Mathewson faced each other in what turned out to be the final game of
both their Hall of Fame careers?
Hall of
Fame Teammates:
Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Joe Tinker. |
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Harold Newhouser
Born: May
20, 1921, Detroit, Michigan
Died: November 10, 1998, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Batted: left
Threw: left
Played for: Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1992
"Prince
Hal" Newhouser is the only pitcher in major league history to win
back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards (1944-1945), and with his
blazing and moving fastball he became a strikeout king. Over 17
campaigns, 15 with Detroit, he won 207 games. From 1944 to 1946, he
recorded consecutive seasons of 29-9, 25-9 and 26-9, with ERAs of 2.22,
1.81 and 1.94, respectively. Newhouser hurled the pennant clincher for
the Tigers in 1945 and followed with two World Series victories over the
Chicago Cubs.
Did you know ... that Hal Newhouser was the winning pitcher in
the first night game at Briggs Stadium (later known as Tiger Stadium),
as Detroit became the last American League team to install lights? |
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John Dwight Chesbro
Born: June 5, 1874, North Adams, Massachusetts
Died: November 6, 1931, Conway, Massachusetts
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Highlanders
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1946
"Happy Jack" Chesbro was an early spitball ace whose 1904
performance with the New York Highlanders still rates among the
game's most remarkable seasons. He started 51 games, completed
48 and was the victor in 41 while hurling 455 innings. From 1901
to 1906, he won 154 games — an average of 25 per season. Hurling
for pennant winners in Pittsburgh and New York, Chesbro was a
league leader in winning percentage three times; twice in wins,
appearances and games started; and once each in complete games,
innings and shutouts.
Did you know
... that on April 20, 1903, Jack Chesbro pitched the very first game
in the history of the New York Yankees, then known as the
Highlanders?
|
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Edward Stewart Plank
Born:
August 31, 1875, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Died: February 24, 1926, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Batted: left
Threw: left
Played for: Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Terriers, St. Louis Browns
Elected to Hall of Fame by Committee on Baseball Veterans: 1946
Eddie
Plank's 326 victories rank 11th all-time, and he posted more shutouts
and completed more games than any other left-hander. Among southpaws,
his win total ranks third all-time behind Warren Spahn and Steve
Carlton. A finesse pitcher with a good sidearm sweeping curveball, Plank
never played baseball before prep school and joined the Athletics after
graduating from Gettysburg College in 1901. He pitched in the majors for
17 seasons, winning 20 games eight times and helping the A's to six
pennants in the new American League.
Did you
know
... that Eddie Plank, a native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, worked
off-seasons at Gettysburg National Military Park as a battlefield tour
guide? |
Top |
Walter William Pierce
Born: April 2,
1927, Detroit, Michigan
Batted: left
Threw: left
Played for: Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants
This prep sensation from Detroit was acquired by the White Sox from
the Tigers before the 1949 season in a lopsided deal for journeyman
catcher Aaron Robinson and $10,000. In the 13 years he wore a Sox
uniform, Pierce was a pitching anchor. He threw four one-hitters, and in
1953 he had seven shutouts, pitching 51 consecutive innings without
yielding an earned run. His 186 strikeouts that year led the league. But
his Sox teammates had trouble scoring runs. Following one particularly
dry stretch, after the Sox put across a run, Nellie Fox turned to Pierce
and said: "Here's your run. Now go out there and hold it." And most of
the time he did. Trouble was, AL managers saved their best for Pierce.
In head-to-head competition against Whitey Ford, Pierce won eight and
lost six lifetime; against Bob Lemon, he won seven of nine decisions.
In 1955 Pierce's 1.97 ERA led the league, and in 1957 only Pierce and
Jim Bunning won 20 games in the AL. Pierce tied for the league lead in
complete games each year from 1956 through 1958. A seven-time All-Star,
Pierce missed a chance at immortality in a June 27, 1958 game against
Washington. He had allowed no baserunners through 8-2/3 innings when
backup catcher Ed Fitz Gerald pinch hit. He whacked a Pierce curveball
that landed fair down the right-field line, depriving Pierce of a
perfect game.
Pierce concluded his career with the Giants, and it was with San
Francisco's 1962 NL pennant winners that he earned his WS decisions,
including a three-hit 2-0 victory in Game Six. |
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Ferguson Arthur Jenkins
Born:
December 13, 1943, Chatham, Ontario, Canada
Batted: right
Threw: right
Played for: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Boston
Red Sox
Elected to Hall of Fame by BBWAA: 1991
334 votes of 443 ballots cast: 75.40%
Canada's
first Hall of Fame member, Fergie Jenkins used pinpoint control and
effectively changed speeds to win 284 games. Cast in the same mold as
finesse artists like Catfish Hunter and Robin Roberts, Jenkins forged an
impressive 3.34 ERA despite playing 12 of his 19 seasons in hitters'
ballparks — Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. A diligent workhorse, Jenkins
used an easy, uncomplicated motion to reach the 20-win mark seven times
and capture the National League Cy Young Award in 1971.
Did
you know
... that control artist Fergie Jenkins is the only member of the
3,000-strikeout club to have surrendered fewer than 1,000 walks? |
Top |
Samuel Edward Thomas McDowell
Born: September
21, 1942, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Bats: left
Throws: left
Played for: Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees,
Pittsburgh Pirates
McDowell seemed capable of becoming the greatest strikeout pitcher
the game had ever known, but by 1976 he was out of baseball, a victim of
alcoholism.
A lanky 6'5" lefthander with a ferocious fastball, a good changeup,
and just enough wildness to keep hitters nervous, McDowell was
overwhelming from 1965 to 1970, winning five strikeout titles and twice
fanning over 300 batters by the age of 28 (only Sandy Koufax, Nolan
Ryan, Walter Johnson, and J.R. Richard have struck out 300 batters as
many times). McDowell started one game for the Indians as a 19-year-old
in 1961, and found little success in Cleveland in 1962-63, walking
almost seven batters per nine innings. By 1964 he was beginning to
harness his tremendous talent, and in 1965 he dominated AL hitters.
McDowell led the AL with a 2.18 ERA, despite walking a league-high 132
batters, and allowed only 178 hits in 273 innings while striking out
325, at the time the fourth-best total in modern ML history. He struck
out 15 Tigers in 10 innings June 5, and his 10.71 strikeouts per nine
innings set a ML record broken by Dwight Gooden in 1984.
Sudden Sam continued to terrorize AL hitters in 1966, leading the
league in strikeouts and shutouts and pitching back-to-back one-hitters.
After losing the strikeout title to Jim Lonborg in 1967, he regained it
in 1968, with 283, and recorded a 1.81 ERA (second-best in the AL). He
also walked a league-high 110. He struck out 279 in 1969, and in 1970
McDowell was TSN Pitcher of the Year with 20 wins and 304
strikeouts. He fanned 16 Angels on May 1, 1968, and 15 batters three
more times.
His biggest problem was not batters. "I was the biggest, most
hopeless, and most violent drunk in baseball," McDowell would admit
later. He won only 13 games in 1971, walking a career-high 153, as his
drinking began to affect his on-field performance. He was traded to the
Giants for 1972, winning 10 games for the last time. He finished in the
Pirates' bullpen in 1975.
McDowell struck out 2,453 batters in his career. His total of 74
games with 10 or more strikeouts is fourth behind Ryan, Koufax, and
Steve Carlton, and his career average of 8.86 strikeouts per nine
innings trails only Ryan and Koufax. He led the league in walks five
times and wild pitches three times, but averaged only seven hits allowed
per nine innings for his career. McDowell has been employed by the Texas
Rangers as a counselor to drug- and alcohol-addicted players. |
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William Robert Singer
Born: April 24,
1944, Los Angeles, California
Bats: right
Throws: right
Played for: Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels
Singer's injury-plagued career
included two standout seasons of 20-12 (1969) and 20-14 (1973). Teamed
with Nolan Ryan on the 1973 Angels' staff, the two combined for more
strikeouts than any other duo ever. Ryan's record 383 and Singer's 241
(third in the AL) added up to 624, 32 more than the next-highest total
for teammates. The other highlight of Singer's career came when he threw
a no-hitter against the Phillies on July 20, 1970. |
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Herbert Jude Score
Born: June 7,
1933, Rosedale, New York
Bats: left
Throws: left
Played for: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox
With a catapulting delivery that left him in an awkward fielding
position, Score simply overpowered American League hitters for the first
two years of his career. In that short time, he joined Whitey Ford and
Billy Pierce as the league's dominant lefthanded pitchers. One can only
speculate about the kind of career he might have put together had his
fortunes not been irreversibly altered on May 7, 1957.
As AL champions in 1954, the Indians used a starting rotation
comprised exclusively of righthanders, three of whom, Bob Feller, Bob
Lemon, and Early Wynn, would become Hall of Famers. Because the three
were also in their mid-thirties, Score's debut in 1955 was propitiously
timed. He was the first and best of a young crop of Cleveland pitchers
that included Gary Bell, Mudcat Grant, and Jim Perry, and he was
expected to lead the new staff in replacing the old.
Score astonished. He won 16 games, fanned a league-leading,
rookie-record 245 batters, and was named AL Rookie of the Year. His 1956
seaon was more than an encore. He upped his strikeouts to 263 while
taming some of the wildness he had shown in his rookie season. He posted
20 wins, pitched a league-leading five shutouts, and held opposition
batters to a minuscule .186 average. Teammate Hal Newhouser, who was at
the end of a career that saw him lead the AL in victories four times and
in ERA and strikeouts twice, said he would trade his past for Score's
future in a minute.
On May 7, 1957 at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Gil McDougald hit a
line drive that struck Score in the eye and ended his season. Questions
were raised in the aftermath of the bloody scene as to whether Score
would ever see properly again. He made a partial comeback in 1958, and
pitched a full season in 1959. Perhaps it was the layoff or fear or loss
of vision; whatever the reason, he was no longer unhittable, despite
retaining a fine ratio of strikeouts to innings pitched.
As the Indians' young staff of the late 1950s came into its own,
Score became expendable. He was traded to the White Sox for Barry Latman
after the 1959 season. He pitched for Chicago in 1960 and for fragments
of 1961 and 1962 before retiring. In 1988, Score celebrated his 25th
anniversary as a play-by-play announcer for the Indians. |
