North by Northwest: New York to Cooperstown

Hank Greenberg (1911-1986)

Apart from Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg hit more home runs from the right side of home plate in one season than any player in baseball history. In 1938 he belted 58 home runs, just two short of Babe Ruth’s record, and a total which tied Foxx’s output in 1932. Such awesome power was not surprising from this New York strongboy who went on to start for the Detroit Tigers.

Henry Benjamin Greenberg was born on New Year’s Day, 1911, in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. By the time Hank was seven years old, the Greenberg family was able to move to the Crotona Park section of the Bronx. There Hank lived in a fashionable, 16-room house not far from the site of Yankee Stadium.

Greenberg was a schoolboy star at James Monroe High School in the Bronx, playing for coach Irwin Dickstein. Basketball was his better sport because of this height (6-foot-3 1/2), however, baseball was his first love and he habitually worked long hours to overcome his somewhat awkward style on the field.

Paul Krichell of the Yankees was the first scout to take notice of Hank’s talents, and he offered him a $7500 bonus to sign with the local American League club. The Washington Senators bid /412,000, and the Detroit Tigers followed with an offer of $9000. None of the bids particularly impressed David Greenberg, who wanted his son to attend college.

In the spring of 1930, Hank, overwhelmed by his desire to play ball, left NYU and was assigned to Hartford of the Eastern League where he batted .214 in 17 games. The Tigers then dropped him to Raleigh of the Piedmont League, and Hank responded with a .314 average, 19 home runs, and 93 runs batted in 122 games. At the end of the season the Tigers called Hank up, and he grounded out as a pinch-hitter in his only appearance.

Farmed to Evansville of the Three-I League in 1931, Hank hit .318 with 15 homers. With Beaumont of the Texas League in 1932, Hank batted .290 and led the league with 123 runs scored and 39 homers. He also drove in 131 runs.

In 1933 Detroit manager Bucky Harris installed Hank as the club’s regular first baseman. Although the Tigers finished fifth that season, Hank batted .301 and tied teammate Charlie Gehringer for the club lead with 12 home runs. It was the first of eight consecutive seasons in which Greenberg hit .300 or better, but Hank became far better known for his power-hitting achievements.

Mickey Cochrane became the Tiger manager in 1934, and he led the team to its first pennant since 1909. Hank’s contribution was a .339 average, 26 home runs, and 139 runs batted in, the latter being the third highest total in the league. Although he batted .321 with seven RBIs in the 1934 World Series, Hank also struck out nine times. Dizzy and Paul Dean captured that Series for the Cardinals.

In his third year in the majors, 1935, Hank won the American league’s Most Valuable Player award. He batted .328 with 36 homers and 170 runs batted in as the Tigers again won the pennant. Hank tied Jimmie Foxx for the league lead in home runs, and his RBI total was 51 higher than runner-up Lou Gehrig of New York. These were the first of four home run and RBI titles which Hank would win. Although Detroit captured the World Series, Greenberg set the ignominious record of committing three errors at first base. He was batting only .167 when forced out of action after the second game with a broken wrist.

In 1938 Hank exploded for 58 home runs, equaling the record for righthanded batters set earlier by Foxx. Ruth’s record of 60 was only 11 years old at that point, and Hank’s home run chase did not cause the sensation that Roger Maris’s did in 1961. Hank had belted 58 homers with five games remaining, but in the crucial final weekend against Cleveland, he was stopped in his bid for the record.

Greenberg moved to the outfield when it became necessary to make room for Rudy York at first base. York was slower and less graceful than Greenberg, and it was impossible to place him anywhere else. Hank hit .340 season with 41 homers and 150 RBIs, earning him his second MVP award. He helped the Tigers win another pennant, however Cincinnati got the best of the Tigers in the 1940 World Series.

Hank’s average slipped to .277 in 1946, and the Tigers began to feel the 35-year-old slugger might be slowing down despite the home run and RBI crowns. Nevertheless, Hank was totally surprised when heard on his car radio, on January 18, 1947, that he had been sold to Pittsburgh after the entire American League had waived on him.

Greenberg roomed with young Ralph Kiner at Pittsburgh that year, and although the club finished last, the two sluggers, one fading and the other coming on, gave the fans plenty to cheer about. Left field in Forbes Field was shortened and nicknamed “Greenberg Gardens,” and Hank bowed out with 25 homers and a .249 average. His advice helped Kiner to a 51-homer season.

Retiring as a player after the 1947 season, Hank joined an old admirer, Bill Veeck, at Cleveland the following season as a vice-president and farm director. The Indians captured the 1948 pennant, and two years later, after Veeck left the Indians, Greenberg became the club’s general manager when the Indians won the 1954 pennant with a league record of 111 victories.

In 1956 hank Greenberg was elected to the Hall of Fame. Three years later he rejoined Veeck, this time with the Chicago White Sox, and served as vice-president from 1959 through 1963, after which he left baseball to devote more time to his Wall Street interests and the tennis courts.

George Wright (1847-1937)

George Wright starred for baseballs first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who went undefeated during the 1869 season. He was the first baseball pioneer elected to the Flail of Fame.

George Wright was born at 110th Street and 3rd Ave. in the Harlem section of New York City on January 28, 1847. In 1836, his parents had to come to America from Sheffield, England, bringing along George’s older brother, Harry. A third brother, Sam, was born in 1848.

All three boys played cricket in addition to experimenting with baseball in its earliest form. Sam was perhaps the best of the boys at cricket; in baseball, he played only 45 games at shortstop in a brief major league career.

Harry was more of an organizer, and he eventually founded the first professional team. But George, 12 years younger than Harry, always seemed to steal the spotlight.

George’s first experience in organized baseball came in 1864 when he played for the Gothams of New York. The team followed Alexander Cartwright’s basic rules and did quite well.

In 1865 George played for the Philadelphia Olympics, but he was back with the Gothams in 1866. During this period George played every position, as there were only 9 or 10 men on a full roster.

Brother Harry formed the Red Stockings in 1869 and induced his younger sibling to join. George at once became the highest player on the team. The Red Stocking easily defeated every opponent they faced that year, compiling a 57-0 record. George’s batting average was computed at .629 over that 57 game stretch.

George proved to be an outstanding shortstop. Like everyone else, he played without a glove and delighted the fans by snaring hard-hit line drives. His strong arm enabled him to play a deep shortstop, and he became the first player to cover second base when the second baseman was other occupied on a play.

He also invented the trap play for setting up double plays. Later the infield fly rule was passed to prevent this maneuver. The Red Stockings broke up after the 1870 season, and the Wright brothers went to Boston to form a new entry in the National Association, the first major league. Harry was the manager, and George the shortstop and most popular player on the team. Young fans would say, “I’d rather be Wright than President,” and good crowds turned out to watch the games.

Boston won the National Association championship from 1872-1875. By the final year of the league, the team had compiled a 71-8 record. George, hitting against underhand pitching with no curveballs, batted .409, .336, .378, .345, and .337 during the five years of National Association play.

In 1876 the National League was formed, replacing the National Association Chicago, managed by Spalding, had the best team, but Harry Wright moved his Boston club into the new league. With 29-year-old George as the shortstop, Boston managed to finish in fourth place behind Chicago, St. Louis, and Hartford.

George was the first batter in National League history, for he led off the April 22 game at Philadelphia and grounded to the shortstop.

When George left baseball, he devoted his time to running his sporting goods business and playing golf. He played the first match in New England, which may also have been the first in America.

He lived to be 90 years old. Long a consultant on the game, he served on the Centennial Committee that helped lay plans for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

In 1937 George Wright was elected to the Hall of Fame beating his brother Harry by 16 years. George died in Boston on August 31, 1937.

Willie Keeler (1872-1923)

In an era of rough and tumble baseball players a small, gentlemanly Irishman named Willie Keeler made his mark as one of the finest hitters in the game.

William Henry Keeler was born on March 13, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York, before it became a borough of New York City. His father was the oldest horse-car trolley driver on the DeKalb avenue line.

Willie stood only 5-foot-4 1/2 and weighed 140 pounds, but he developed his great athletic ability playing on the sandlots in Flatbush, and Flushing.

Keeler was a member of a semipro team known as the Acmes when received his chance to break into professional ball. In upstate New York, the Eastern League had a team in Binghamton. When the club’s third baseman, John Rainey, broke a leg, a replacement was urgently needed. Binghamton scouts liked what they saw and signed Keeler to contract.

Willie eventually was installed at third base and began to shine there. He played 93 games for Binghamton, enough to qualify for the Eastern Leagues baiting title, which he won with a .373 average. He collected 153 hits, but his 48 errors indicated that perhaps the infield was not his station. The New York Giants purchased Keeler’s contract in 1892 and after 13 error ridden games, he was sold to Brooklyn in 1893, where he played until his 1894 trade to the Baltimore Orioles. Keeler went with Dan Brouthers to the Orioles in exchange for Billy Shindle and George Treadway. Both Keeler and Brouthers wound up in the Hall of Fame.

Willie became an instant hit in Baltimore. Joining Ned Hanlon’s fine club, he teamed with Hughey Jennings, John McGraw, Joe Kelley, Wilbert Robinson, and Dan Brouthers to establish one of the finest teams in baseball history. They all made it to the Hall of Fame, and for consecutive seasons the Orioles participated in the Temple Cup “World Series”. Baltimore won the 1896 and 1897 series against Cleveland and Boston.

Keeler used one of the lightest bats ever employed in baseball. It measured only 30 inches in length and weighed a mere 29 ounces. He handed it with great dexterity and became one of the outstanding bunters in the game. Before the rule was instituted that a batter was declared out if he bunted foul after two strikes, Willie would foul off dozens of pitches with bunts until he got just what he wanted. Willie hit only 32 home runs in his career.

He mastered the “Baltimore chop,” pounding high bouncers over infielders’ heads as they charged potential bunts. He and McGraw, alternating between the first and second spots in the batting order were the first to perfect the hit-and-run play. Willie always seemed able to aim the ball at vacated holes in the infield. And should the hit-and-run fail, it was good bet that Keeler would steal second. He swiped 519 bases in his career, with a high of 73 in 1896. A sportswriter, reportedly Abe Yager of the Brooklyn Eagle, once asked Willie his hitting secret. “Keep your eye clear and hit ’em where they ain’t,” he replied, and the expression “hit `em where they ain’t took its place among baseball’s famous quotes.

1897 was Keeler’s finest year. He hit safely in his first 44 games of the Orioles’ schedule, from April 22 to June 18. It was the majors longest consecutive-games hitting streak until Joe DiMaggio broke the mark with his 56-game streak in 1941. By the end of the year, Willie had collected 243 hits, a record that stood until 1920 (broken by George Sisler), and had batted .432, the second highest average in baseball history (Hugh Duffy hit .438 in 1894). Keeler not only won the batting title, but he repeated a year later with a .379 average on 214 hits, which included 202 singles, an all-time major league record. Keeler joined the New York Highlanders, formerly the Baltimore franchise in 1903 and became baseball’s first $10,000 player. After Napoleon Lajoie, Keeler was the biggest name in the American League. Since the Highlanders later became the Yankees, Keeler was the first in a long line of Yankee greats.

Calling it a career in 1911, Willie finished with one of the highest career batting averages (.345) in baseball history. Just as Babe Ruth was known as the best home run hitter during baseball’s home run era, Keeler was proclaimed the best at hitting singles during the so-called dead-ball era. Keeler made 376 Pulaski Street in Brooklyn his lifelong address, and he died at his home on New Year’s Day, 1923. He was elected to the Flail of Fame in 1939.

Mickey Welch (1869-1941)

“Smiling Mickey” Welch was one of the great pitchers of the nineteenth century, pouring 308 victories into only 13 National League seasons.

Michael Francis Welch was born on July 4, 1859, in Brooklyn, New York, seventeen years before the birth of the National League. Baseball was virtually unknown as a professional sport in America during Mickey’s childhood, but it was growing in popularity as a street game. Mickey played the sport on the streets of Brooklyn until 1877 when he traveled up the Hudson River to Poughkeepsie to join a professional team known as the Volunteers. His salary was $45 per month.

Welch played for Auburn and Holyoke of the National Association in 1878 and 1879. The following year Mickey joined the Troy Haymakers of the National League to begin his major league career. In 1881 the Troy team finished fifth in the National League with a 39-45 record. Mickey’s contribution to the total was a 21-18 mark, with Tim Keefe winning the 18 other games and losing 27. Welch trimmed his innings pitched total that season to 362, but he did complete all of his 40 starts, giving him 104 consecutive complete games. The streak ended at 105 following his first appearance in 1882.

The 1882 season was a disappointment for the Haymakers, finishing in seventh place. Then, in 1883, John B. Day, owner of the original New York Mets of the American Association, purchased the Troy club and moved the franchise, with most of the players, into New York to share the Polo Grounds with the Mets. This was the original Polo Grounds, located at Fifth Avenue and 110th Street at the northern boundary of Central Park. Welch received the honor of pitching the first game in the Polo Grounds for the New York team. (They were called the Maroons in those days. Two years later, manager Jim Mutrie proclaimed, “My big fellows, my giants!” after a victory, and the name stuck.)

As the 1884 season approached, Mickey decided he was being overworked. The string of 105 complete games had taken their toll, and earned him the reputation of a rubber-armed pitcher with no limit. Welch demanded that a clause be written into his contract prohibiting the manager from pitching him more than every other day. The clause remained in his contract until his retirement. In the mid-1880’s, Welch was nicknamed “Smiling Mickey” as a result of a crooked smile characterized in Puck and the New York Journal by cartoonist R.V. Munkitrict. The nickname suited his easygoing nature, one which never became upset if a teammate committed an error.

When asked the secret of his pitching success, Mickey attributed it to drinking beer. He prepared a little poem for sportswriters covering the Giants that read:

Pure elixir of malt and hops
Beats all the drugs and the drops

Following his retirement from baseball, Mickey, his wife and daughter moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1912 he returned to New York and was hired by the Giants as a watcher at the bleacher entrance of the Polo Grounds, where he was popular with the older fans. Welch had been all forgotten, until the Veterans committee voted him into the Hall of Fame with the other 300-game winners in 1973.