Ruth, Dean, Stengel Most Colorful

There are many definitions of “colorful,” but members of the Society for American Baseball Research came to the conclusion that the three most colorful baseball performers of the last 100 years were Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, and Casey Stengel Although more than 100 other players, managers, coaches, and umpires received votes, these three finished well ahead of challengers like Ty Cobb, Rube Waddell, Rabbit Maranville, Willie Mays, and Jimmy Piersall.

The Society, made up of more than 300 baseball historians, statisticians, and dedicated fans, was asked during 1975 to vote on the 10 most colorful performers. Some 75 sample names from Richie Allen to Hack Wilson were supplied to stimulate some head-scratching, and the members were encouraged to use their own interpretation of colorful within the general contest of “generating crowed reaction.”

In other words, the performer could be a character like Stengel, a clown like Nick Altrock, a showboat like Bobo Newsom, cocky like King Kelly, controversial like Leo Durocher, flamboyant like Ruth, aggressive like Pete Rose, or exciting like Jackie Robinson. There is no denying that each type has contributed in some special way to a century of fan interest in baseball.

There were 97 ballots returned and 112 different names were listed. Even Bill Veeck, a colorful but ineligible non-performer received one vote. But even with this broad interpretation, a consensus was achieved which seemed to place greater emphasis on dynamic performance rather than on the other aspects of “colorful.”

Ruth led with 594 points (based on 10 for first, 9 for second, etc.), Dean was next with 459, and Stengel followed with 438. Then there was a substantial drop-off to 281 for Cobb, 263 for Mays, and then in gradually descending order, Jackie Robinson, Leo Durocher, Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, and Pepper Martin. All of the top ten are considered Hall of Fame caliber except Martin, the “Wild Hoss of the Osage.” This does not imply, however, that color is equated with performance, as Henry Aaron received only one tenth-place vote.

The active performer receiving the most votes was Pete Rose, the hustling thirdsacker of the Reds, who finished in 22nd spot. Billy Martin, the new Yankee manager, finished 28th. Yogi Berra, the deposed skipper of the Mets, was in the No. 20 spot.

Baseball coaches were best represented by the Washington Senators’ clown combination of Al Schacht and Nick Altrock, who ranked 23rd and 24th. Umpires, usually the model of decorum on the field, did not get much play from the voters. Of the seven receiving votes, Emmett Ashford, the first Negro arbiter in the majors, who was short in stature but long on flamboyant gestures, received 19 points to 17 for Bill Klem. William “Lord” Byron, the long-forgotten singing umpire, got only two points.

The top 50 vote-getters in the balloting for most colorful baseball performer are listed below:

 

Rank	Performer	Points	Rank	Performer	Points
1	Babe Ruth	594	26	Charlie Grimm	41
2	Dizzy Dean	459	27	Germany Schaefer	39
3	Casey Stengel	438	28	Billy Martin	30½
4	Ty Cobb	281	29	Sandy Koufax	29
5	Willie Mays	263	30	Bo Belinsky	27
6	Jackie Robinson	243	31	Denny McLain	25½
7	Leo Durocher	212	32	Richie Allen	25
8	Ted Williams	191	33	Minnie Minoso	24
9	Satchel Paige	184½	34	Cap Anson	23½
10	PepperMartin	168	35	HughJennings	20
11	Jimmy Piersall	149	36	Emmett Ashford	19
12	Lefty Gomez	139	37	French Bordagaray	19
13	RubeWaddell	132	38	RobertoClemente	17
14	John McGraw	127	39	Jimmy Dykes	17
15	Bobo Newsom	96	40	Bill Klem	17
16	Rabbit Maranville	86	41	Ducky Medwick	17
17	King Kelly	82	42	Lou Novikoff	15
18	Mickey Mantle	81	43	Art Shires	15
19	Frankie Frisch	79	44	Pete Gray	14
20	Yogi Berra	76	45	Hal Chase	13
21	Babe Herman	75	46	Pete Reiser	13
22	Pete Rose	69	47	Honus Wagner	13
23	Al Schacht	68	48	Eddie Stanky	12½
24	Nick Altrock	60	49	Lou Gehrig	12
25	Hack Wilson	49½	50	Ken Harrelson	12