Welcome to the SABR Triple Plays Database, a comprehensive list of all triple plays turned in the major leagues since 1876.

Click the link below to find a list of all known triple plays in major league history, sortable by date, team(s), runners on base, play sequence, fielders, pitchers, opposing batter, unassisted, end of game, and other categories.

• Click here to access the SABR Triple Plays Database

Triple Play trivia nuggets: Click here for some fun facts about triple plays courtesy of Chuck Rosciam, including the story of a triple play where the ball changed hands 10 times, the only player to be put out in a triple play twice in one season for two different teams, a reliever who threw only one pitch to get three outs, and the only teams to turn two triple plays in the same game. Entering the 2027 season, fielding teams have a .531 winning percentage (420-371-7) all-time when they turn a triple play. (Both the 1924 New York Lincoln Giants and 1990 Minnesota Twins, who turned two triple plays in the same game, lost.)

Most triple plays in a season: The all-time record for most triple plays in a season might never be broken. A total of 19(!) triple plays were turned in 1890, but there were three major leagues in action then: the National League, the American Association, and the upstart Players’ League. Since 1901, the season high among AL/NL teams is 11 — done three times, in 1924, 1929, and 1979. With the inclusion of Negro Leagues triple plays, the 1924 season saw a record 15 triple plays turned. The most triple plays turned by one team in a season is three. Here’s the list: 2021 New York Yankees, 2016 Chicago White Sox, 1979 Boston Red Sox, 1979 Oakland A’s, 1965 Chicago Cubs, 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, 1924 Boston Red Sox, 1917 Indianapolis ABCs, 1911 Detroit Tigers. In the 19th century, it was also done four times (1890 Rochester/AA, 1886 Brooklyn/AA, 1885 NY Giants/NL, 1882 Cincinnati/AA).

Negro Leagues triple plays: In 2025, SABR added 60 known triple plays turned by major Negro Leagues teams, thanks to help from the Seamheads Negro League Database. Click here to learn more.

History of the SABR Triple Plays Database: The triple play list was developed by Chuck Rosciam and Frank Hamilton as conceived by David Smith. Over the years, the list has been updated and corrected by many volunteer researchers since and digitized in its current format by members of the Baseball Records Committee, including Sean Lahman, Frank Hamilton, Chuck Rosciam, Frank Vaccaro, and Jacob Pomrenke. A list of known contributors is below.

Minor League Triple Plays: Click here to access a list of all known triple plays in minor league baseball, compiled by SABR member Chuck McGill.

Corrections or updates: SABR members are invited to help fill in any missing or incorrect data. Please contact Jacob Pomrenke with details.

Contributors: Conor Aggers, David Arcidiacono, Gary Ashwill, Priscilla Astifan, David Ball, Cliff Blau, Brady Capps, Wesley Carter, Sam Clements, John Delahanty, Peter Garver, Raymond Gonzalez, Steve Gietschier, Joe Haardt, Frank Hamilton, Frank Vaccaro, Kevin Harlow, Ed Hartig, Richard Hershberger, Kevin Johnson, Troy Kirk, Sean Lahman, John Lewis, Don Luce, Mike Lynch, Bob McConnell, Wayne McElreavy, Bill Nowlin, Jacob Pomrenke, Bob Richardson, Chuck Rosciam, John Schwartz, Ron Selter, James A. Smith, Stew Thornley, Richard Topp, Morgan Tremmel, Frank Vaccaro, Jim Weigand, and Robert Wickwire, among many others.

Photo caption: Bill Wambsganss of the Cleveland Indians turned an unassisted triple play during the 1920 World Series, the only major league player ever to do so. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

The record for most home runs in a single game is officially eight, held by Jay Clarke for Corsicana of the Texas League on June 15, 1902. (Clarke’s total is still disputed, reported by some newspapers as three homers at the time but with no surviving box score to help confirm or deny his feat.) Five home runs in a game has been achieved five times: Pete Schneider (1923), Lou Frierson (1934), Cecil Dunn (1936), Dick Lane (1948), and Parker DePasquale (2023). In the pre-professional league era, Lipman Pike hit five home runs in 1866 and Joe Start hit four home runs in 1869.

• Related link: Click here to read all SABR Games Project stories about 4-HR games

The 22 players to hit four home runs in a major league game are highlighted below. Negro Leagues great Josh Gibson, who hit four home runs for the Homestead Grays in 1938, is included on this list although no box score has been located yet.

June 8, 1889: Jack Crooks

• Western Association, at Saint Paul, MN
  Omaha Omahogs 19, Saint Paul Apostles 15
  John C. Crooks of the Omahogs went 5-5 with 4 home runs and a single. 

May 31, 1892: Dan Cronin

• New England League, at Salem, MA
  Pawtucket 17, Salem 9
  Pawtucket first baseman Daniel F. Cronin had 4 home runs.

MAY 30, 1894: BOBBY LOWE

• National League, at Congress Street Grounds, Boston, MA
  Boston Beaneaters 20, Cincinnati Reds 11
  Robert L. Lowe of the Beaneaters became the first player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit two home runs in the third inning, one in the fifth, and one in the sixth. After Lowe’s fourth home run, the crowd in Boston cheered him wildly and threw coins and cash at him, totaling $160. Lowe’s fifth hit, a single, gave him 17 total bases, a National League record that stood for 60 years. He finished 5-6 with 4 home runs and 4 runs scored.

July 30, 1894: Buck Freeman

• New England League, at Haverhill, MA
  Haverhill vs. Pawtucket Maroons
  Haverhill’s John Frank “Buck” Freeman went 5-5 with four homers (including 1 inside-the-park home run) and 13 RBIs. He had 2 homers in the next game, too.
  

May 12, 1895: Bill Bottenus

• Eastern League, at Buffalo Baseball Park, Buffalo, NY
  Buffalo Bisons 18, Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons 13
  Bisons leadoff hitter/left fielder William G. Bottenus went 5-for-5 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs, and 18 total bases. Click here to read more about this game.

May 28, 1895: Hercules Burnett

• Southern League, at Louisiana Street Park, Evansville, IN
  Evansville Black Birds 25, Memphis Giants 10
  Black Birds right fielder Hercules H. Burnett had 4 home runs.

June 11, 1895: Bill Kuehne

• Western League, at Hiawatha Park, Minneapolis, MN
  Minneapolis Millers 16, Indianapolis Indians 5
  Millers third baseman William J. Kuehne had 4 home runs.

July 23, 1895: Perry Werden

• Western League, at Hiawatha Park, Minneapolis, MN
  Minneapolis Millers 18, Detroit Tigers 5
  Millers first baseman Perry W. Werden had 4 home runs.

JULY 13, 1896: ED DELAHANTY

• National League, at West Side Grounds, Chicago, IL
  Chicago Colts 9, Philadelphia Phillies 8
  Phillies outfielder Edward J. Delahanty became the second player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the first inning, homers in the fourth and seventh, and another inside-the-park homer in the ninth. He finished 5-5 with 4 homers, 4 runs scored, and 9 RBIs. 

June 15, 1902: Jay Clarke

• Texas League, at Ennis, TX
  Corsicana Oil Cities 51, Texarkana Casketmakers 3
  Oil Cities catcher Jay J. Clarke went 8-8 with eight home runs, a single-game professional record. Game played away from Corsicana’s home park to avoid blue laws. Note: Clarke’s total is still disputed, reported by some newspapers as three homers and eight runs scored, but there is no surviving box score to help confirm or deny his feat. Click here to read Allen Tait’s analysis on Clarke’s controversial performance in the Journal of Canadian Baseball.

May 14, 1903: Henry Bateman

• Texas League, at Corsicana, TX
  Paris Parasites vs. Corsicana Oil Cities
  Henry Quait Bateman of Paris went 5-5 with 4 home runs and a triple.
  

September 9, 1913: Waldo Jackley

• Ohio State League, at Hamilton, OH
  Ironton Nailers 16, Hamilton Maroons 5
  Waldo T. Jackley of the Nailers had 4 home runs.

June 24, 1919: High Pockets Kelly

• International League, at Lauers Park, Reading, PA
  Rochester Hustlers 19, Reading Coal Barons 0
  Hustlers first baseman George “High Pockets” Kelly, a future Hall of Famer, went 5-6 with 4 home runs, a double and 9 RBIs.

August 31, 1920: Frank Askland

• South Dakota League, at Wessington Springs, SD
  Mitchell Kernels 16, Wessington Springs Saints 5
  Kernels catcher Frank Askland had 4 home runs.

May 11, 1923: Pete Schneider

• Pacific Coast League, at Bonneville Park, Salt Lake City, UT
  Vernon Tigers 35, Salt Lake City Bees 11
  Tiger right fielder Peter J. Schneider went 6-8 with 5 home runs — including two grand slams, and two home runs in the seventh inning alone — and 14 RBIs.

August 9, 1923: John Gillespie

• Eastern League, at Hampden Park, Springfield, MA
  Bridgeport Americans 10, Springfield Ponies 9, 10 innings
  Americans pitcher John P. Gillespie had 4 home runs, including the game-winner in the 10th inning.

July 19, 1924: Bud Davis

• Western Association, at Petrolia Park, Okmulgee, OK
  Okmulgee Drillers vs. Springfield Midgets
  Davis went 5-5 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs.
  

July 15, 1925: Earl Waltz

• Blue Ridge League, at Martinsburg, WV
  Waynesboro Villagers 16, Martinsburg Blue Sox 5
  Earl W. Waltz of the Villagers had 4 home runs.

May 17, 1926: Ben “Al” Mallonee

• Virginia League, at Portsmouth, VA
  Richmond Colts 17, Portsmouth Truckers 5
  Howard B. “Al” Mallonee of the Colts had 4 home runs. He had homered in his previous two games and homered in his next game, too.

July 14, 1926: Al Maderas

• Three-I League, at Eagles Park, Quincy, IL
  Quincy Red Birds 14, Springfield Senators 12
  Senators’ Alfredo J. Maderas had 4 home runs.

July 17, 1927: Clay Hopper

• Three-I League, at Eagles Park, Quincy, IL
  Danville Veterans 28-1, Quincy Red Birds 6-2, second game, 7 innings.
  In the first game, Robert “Clay” Hopper of the Veterans had 4 home runs.

June 11, 1928: Tommy Harris

• West Texas League, at Midland, TX
  Midland Colts 27, Hamlin Pied Pipers 9
  Colts left fielder Thomas F. Harris had 4 home runs. Click here to view an article and box score of this game.

May 13, 1930: Walter Holke

• New York-Pennsylvania League, at Buehler Park, Hazleton, PA
  Scranton Miners 9, Hazleton Mountaineers 8
  Mountaineers manager-first baseman Walter H. Holke had 4 home runs.

June 8, 1930: Ken Strong

• New York-Pennsylvania League, at Buehler Park, Hazleton, PA
  Hazleton Mountaineers 12, Wilkes-Barre 3
  Mountaineers left fielder Kenneth E. Strong had 4 home runs.

June 1, 1932: Buzz Arlett

• International League, at Lauers Park, Reading, PA
  Baltimore Orioles 14, Reading Keystones 13
  Orioles left fielder Russell L. “Buzz” Arlett had 4 home runs, including the first three while batting left-handed. It was the first of two 4-HR games for Arlett in 1932.

JUNE 3, 1932: LOU GEHRIG

• American League, at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, PA
  New York Yankees 20, Philadelphia A’s 13
  Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig became the third player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit 4 home runs in his first 4 at-bats, but his greatest day was overshadowed by the announcement of John McGraw’s retirement. In Gehrig’s sixth at-bat, Al Simmons robbed him of a potential home run with a leaping catch in deep center field.

July 4, 1932: Buzz Arlett

• International League, at Oriole Park, Baltimore, MD
  Baltimore Orioles 21, Reading Keystones 10
  Oriole left fielder Russell L. “Buzz” Arlett had 4 home runs, including a grand slam. His first and fourth HRs came right-handed. It was his second four-home run game in five weeks.

May 30, 1934: Lou Frierson

• West Dixie League, at League Park, Paris, TX
  Jacksonville Jax 17, Paris Pirates 12
  William L. “Lou” Frierson of the Pirates went 5-6 with 5 home runs and 8 RBIs. The home runs came in five consecutive at-bats.

June 14, 1935: Dale Alexander

• American Association, at Nicollet Park, Minneapolis, MN
  Kansas City Blues 15, Minneapolis Millers 2
  D. Dale Alexander of the Blues had 4 home runs in his first 4 at-bats — then hit into a double play his fifth time up.

April 29, 1936: Cecil Dunn

• Evangeline League, at Legion Field, Lake Charles, LA
  Alexandria Aces 28, Lake Charles Skippers 5
  Aces first baseman Cecil A. Dunn went 6-7 with 5 home runs, a single, and 12 RBIs.

June 15, 1936: Tip Tobin

• East Texas League, at Marshall, TX
  Marshall Orphans vs. Jacksonville Jax
  Orphans third baseman John Martin “Tip” Tobin went 4-5 with 4 homers and 8 RBIs. Click here to view an article and box score of this game.

JULY 10, 1936: CHUCK KLEIN

• National League, at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, PA
  Philadelphia Phillies 9, Pittsburgh Pirates 6, 10 innings
  Phillies right fielder Charles H. “Chuck” Klein became the fourth player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and solo homers in the fifth, seventh, and 10th innings. He finished 4-5 with 4 homers, 4 runs scored, and 6 RBIs.

August 24, 1936: Taylor Sanford

• Bi-State League, at Mayodan Park, Mayodan, NC
  Danville Leafs 13, Mayodan Orphans 3
  Taylor H. Sanford of the Leafs had 4 home runs.

May 6, 1938: Bob Seeds

• International League, at Offerman Stadium, Buffalo, NY
  Newark Bears 22, Buffalo Bisons 9
  Bears right fielder Robert I. Seeds hit 4 home runs — in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. In his next game, he hit 3 homers.

JULY 28, 1938: JOSH GIBSON

• Negro National League, at Mark Park, Zanesville, OH
  Homestead Grays 17, Memphis Red Sox 4
  Grays right fielder Josh Gibson became the fifth player in major-league history to hit four home runs, which he accomplished in a game against the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League. No box score for this game has been located yet.

August 13, 1938: Mel Wasley

• Northern League, at Athletic Park, Duluth, MN
  Duluth Dukes 17, Fargo-Moorhead Twins 5
  In the first game of a doubleheader, Dukes center fielder Melvin C. Wasley had 4 home runs.

July 4, 1940: Ab Wright

• American Association, at Nicollet Park, Minneapolis, MN
  Minneapolis Millers 17, Saint Paul Saints 5
  In the second game of a doubleheader, Millers right fielder Albert O. “Ab” Wright went 5-5 with 4 home runs, a triple, and 7 RBIs.

July 8, 1940: Babe Paul

• Western Association, at Athletic Park, Muskogee, OK
  Muskogee Reds 10, Joplin Miners 8
  Reds third baseman Erwin B. “Babe” Paul had 4 home runs.

September 3, 1945: Bill Hart

• American Association, at Lexington Park, Saint Paul, MN
  Saint Paul Saints 16, Minneapolis Millers 1
  In the first game of a doubleheader, Saints shortstop William W. Hart had 4 home runs.

May 3, 1946: Ken Rhyne

• Georgia-Florida League, at Moultrie, GA
  Moultrie Packers 12, Thomasville Tigers 2
  Packers first baseman Kenneth E. Rhyne had 4 home runs.

May 2, 1947: Ken Myers

• Sunset League, City Park, Las Vegas, NV
  Las Vegas Wranglers 30, Ontario Orioles 5
  Wranglers first baseman Kenneth E. Myers had 4 home runs, including two grand slams in a 16-run third inning, and solo homers in the sixth and seventh inning. Click here to read an article about this game, by SABR member Eric Vickrey.

May 9, 1947: Ross Morrow

• North Carolina State League, Mooresville Park, Mooresville, NC
  Mooresville Moors 18, Concord Weavers 17
  Ross M. Morrow of the Moors had 4 home runs.

June 1, 1947: Philip Alotta, Vince Pascale

• Sunset League, Moana Park, Reno, NV
  Reno Silver Sox 22, Ontario Orioles 19
  In the first game of a doubleheader, Silver Sox center fielder Philip Alotta went 5-6 with 4 homers and 9 RBIs while first baseman Vincent A. Pascale went 5-6 with 4 homers and 6 RBIs — the only known instance where two players each had 4 homers in a single game. Click here to read a Reno Evening Gazette article about this game.

September 5, 1947: Frank Carswell

• Big State League, at Paris, TX
  Paris Red Peppers 26, Austin Pioneers 22
  Frank W. Carswell of the Red Peppers had 4 home runs, including two in the second inning.

May 18, 1948: Floyd Yount

• Western Carolina League, at Newton, NC
  Newton-Conover Twins 12, Lincolnton Cardinals 8
  Twins manager F. Edwin Yount had 4 home runs.

June 30, 1948: Len Attyd

• West Texas-New Mexico League, Lobo Park, Lamesa, TX
  Albuquerque Dukes 31, Lamesa Lobos 10
  Dukes third baseman Leonard F. Attyd had 4 home runs.

July 3, 1948: Dick Lane

• Central League, Dwenger Park, Fort Wayne, IN
  Muskegon Clippers 28, Fort Wayne Generals 6
  Clippers leadoff hitter/center fielder Dick Lane went 6-for-7 with five homers, a single, and 10 RBIs. He hit two home runs in the fourth inning, when the Clippers scored eight runs. He also homered in the first, sixth, and seventh innings. Click here to view an Indianapolis Star article about Lane’s feat.

JULY 18, 1948: PAT SEEREY

• American League, Shibe Park, Philadelphia, PA
  Chicago White Sox 12, Philadelphia Athletics 11, 11 innings
  White Sox left fielder Pat Seerey became the sixth player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a solo homer in the fourth inning, a two-run homer in the fifth, a three-run homer in the sixth, and a go-ahead solo homer in the 11th inning. He finished 4-6 with 4 homers, 4 runs scored, and 7 RBIs.

August 28, 1948: Joe Fortin

• West Texas-New Mexico League, Lobo Park, Lamesa, TX
  Pampa Oilers 20, Lamesa Lobos 4
  Joseph L. Fortin of the Oilers had 4 home runs.

September 3, 1948: Leonard Cross

• Tri-State League, Duncan Park, Spartanburg, SC
  Spartanburg Peaches 30, Asheville Tourists 6
  Peaches third baseman Leonard E. Cross went 7-7 with 4 home runs (all in the first four innings), 3 singles and 12 RBIs.

July 27, 1949: Silvio DiMenna

• Virginia League, McKenzie Street Park, Petersburg, VA
  Petersburg Generals 17, Hopewell Blue Sox 3
  Generals first baseman Silvio DiMenna had 4 home runs.

August 15, 1949: Jack Littrell

• PONY League, Maple City Park, Hornell, NY
  Hornell Maple Leafs 16, Olean Oilers 7
  Jack N. Littrell of the Maple Leafs had 4 home runs.

August 29, 1949: Pud Miller

• West Texas-New Mexico League, at Lamesa, TX
  Lamesa Lobos 15, Borger Gassers 6
  D.C. “Pud” Miller of the Lobos had 4 home runs.

August 31, 1949: Jim Warner

• Western International League, at Wenatchee, WA
  Wenatchee Chiefs vs. Salem Senators
  Jim Warner of the Chiefs went 4-7 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs.
  

September 10, 1949: Dixie Upright

• Big State League, at Waco, TX
  Waco Pirates vs. Wichita Falls Spudders
  R.T. “Dixie” Upright went 5-5 with 4 home runs and 6 RBIs in a Big State League playoff game.
  

AUGUST 31, 1950: GIL HODGES

• National League, Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, NY
  Brooklyn Dodgers 19, Boston Braves 3
  Dodgers first baseman Gilbert R. Hodges became the seventh player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a two-run homer in the second inning, a three-run homer in the third, a two-run homer in the sixth, and a two-run homer in the eighth. He finished 5-6 with 4 homers, 5 runs scored, and 9 RBIs.

April 13, 1951: Miguel Gaspar

• Gulf Coast League, Washington Park, Laredo, TX
  Laredo Apaches 13, Texas City Texans 2
  Miguel “Pilo” Gaspar of the Apaches had 4 home runs.

April 4, 1953: Ted Beard

• Pacific Coast League, Lane Field, San Diego, CA
  Hollywood Stars 6, San Diego Padres 5
  Cramer T. “Ted” Beard of the Stars had 4 home runs. Beard later became one of the few players to hit a ball over Forbes Field’s 86-foot-tall right field roof.

April 20, 1953: Jerry Crosby

• Western League, Memorial Field, Colorado Springs, CO
  Colorado Springs Sky Sox 20, Pueblo Dodgers 16
  Jerry L. Crosby of the Sky Sox went 5-5 with 4 home runs — the first batting right-handed and the last three left-handed — and 7 RBIs.

August 3, 1953: Dolph Regelsky

• Cotton States League, Buckwalter Stadium, Meridian, MS
  Meridian Millers 21, Hot Springs Bathers 6
  Adolph J. Regelsky of the Millers went 5-5 with 4 home runs, a single, and 7 RBIs.

May 20, 1954: Jim Moore

• Evangeline League, Miller Field, Crowley, LA
  Crowley Millers vs. Lafayette Oilers
  Jim Moore went 5-5 with 4 home runs, a single, and 6 RBIs for Crowley.
  

JULY 31, 1954: JOE ADCOCK

• National League, Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, NY
  Milwaukee Braves 15, Brooklyn Dodgers 7
  Braves first baseman Joseph W. Adcock became the eighth player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a solo homer in the second inning, a three-run homer in the fifth, a two-run homer in the seventh, and a solo homer in the 9th. His 18 total bases also surpassed Bobby Lowe’s 60-year-old major-league record of 17, set in 1894. Adcock finished 5-5 with 4 homers, a double, 5 runs scored, and 7 RBIs.

August 6, 1954: Bill Miller

• Georgia State League, Pilot Field, Statesboro, GA
  Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals 12, Statesboro Pilots 8
  William Miller of the Cardinals had four home runs.

August 31, 1954: Joe Bauman

• Longhorn League, Fair Park Stadium, Roswell, NM
  Roswell Rockets 15, Sweetwater Spudders 4
  Rockets first baseman Joe Bauman went 5-6 with four home runs, a double and 9 RBIs. He went on to set a professional baseball record with 72 home runs in 1954, not broken until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001.

May 22, 1955: Edwin Little

• Big State League, Schepps Palms Baseball Park, Corpus Christi, TX
  Corpus Christi Clippers 32, Waco Pirates 7
  Keith E. Little of the Clippers went 4-7 with four home runs — in four consecutive at-bats — and 8 RBIs.

July 4, 1955: Paul Mohr

• West Texas-New Mexico League, at Amarillo, TX
  Amarillo Gold Sox vs. Clovis Pioneers
  In the second game of a doubleheader, Paul Mohr of Amarillo went 5-5 with 4 homers (including a grand slam) and 11 RBIs.
  

July 19, 1955: Jim Lemon

• Southern Association, Rickwood Field, Birmingham, AL
  League All-Stars 10, Birmingham Barons 5
  Chattanooga Lookouts right fielder James R. Lemon went 4-5 with 4 home runs and 7 RBIs in the league All-Star Game.

August 12, 1955: Sonny Tims

• West Texas-New Mexico League, Hubber Stadium, Lubbock, TX
  Lubbock Hubbers 17, Pampa Oilers 10
  Sonny F. Tims of the Oilers went 5-5 with 4 home runs and 7 RBIs.

August 21, 1955: Jodie Beeler

• West Texas-New Mexico League, Malin Park, Amarillo, TX
  Amarillo Gold Sox 13, Plainview Ponies 18
  In the second game of a doubleheader, Ponies manager/right fielder Joseph S. “Jodie” Beeler went 4-4 with 4 home runs and 6 RBIs. In the opener, he also hit two home runs.

January 8, 1956: Russ Rac

• Venezuela-Occidental League
  Cabimas 10, Pastora 8
  Russell Rac of Pastora hit 4 home runs.

July 14, 1956: Danny Ozark

• Big State League, Spudder Park, Wichita Falls, TX
  Wichita Falls Spudders 7, Beaumont Exporters 3
  Spudders player-manager Daniel L. Ozark went 4-4 with 4 home runs and 6 RBIs. Ozark never played in the major leagues, but managed the Philadelphia Phillies to three NL East division titles in the 1970s.

August 27, 1956: Curt Roberts

• International League, Jets Stadium, Columbus, OH
  Columbus Jets 10, Havana Sugar Kings 7
  In the first game of a doubleheader, Jets second baseman Curtis B. Roberts went 4-4 with 4 home runs and 6 RBIs in a 7-inning game. Two years earlier, Roberts had been the second Black player and first African-American to appear in a game for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

January 6, 1957: Barney Serrell

• Mexico-Pacific Coast League, at Cuidad Obregon, MX
  Cuidad Obregon 9, Los Mochis 8, 11 innings
  In the first game of a doubleheader, Barney Serrell of Los Mochis had four home runs. Serrell played four years with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League during the 1940s, then went on to a long career in Mexico.

June 13, 1957: Guillermo Nunez

• Central Mexican League, at Fresnillo, MX
  Fresnillo Rojos 23, Durango Alacranes 7
  Jose “Diablo” Nunez of the Rojos had 4 home runs.

JUNE 10, 1959: ROCKY COLAVITO

• American League, Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, MD
  Cleveland Indians 11, Baltimore Orioles 8
  Indians right fielder Rocco D. Colavito became the ninth player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He finished 4-4 with 4 home runs, a walk, 5 runs scored, and 6 RBIs.

June 13, 1959: Bobby Smith

• Midwest League, at John Petrakis Park, Dubuque, IA
  Clinton Pirates 20, Dubuque Packers 12
  Bobby Lee Smith of the Pirates went 4-5 with 4 home runs, 2 walks, and 10 RBIs. He hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, a two-run homer in the seventh inning, a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and another three-run homer in the ninth inning. Click here to view an article about this game.

APRIL 30, 1961: WILLIE MAYS

• National League, County Stadium, Milwaukee, WI
  San Francisco Giants 14, Milwaukee Braves 4
  Giants center fielder Willie Mays became the 10th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a game. He went 4-for-5 with 4 home runs and 8 RBIs; he missed a chance for a fifth homer when the top of the ninth inning ended with him on deck.

May 29, 1961: Al Nagel

• Texas League, Potter County Stadium, Amarillo, TX
  Ardmore Rosebuds 14, Amarillo Gold Sox 5
  Alfred J. Nagel of the Rosebuds had 4 home runs.

June 25, 1961: Don DiChiara

• New York-Pennsylvania League, Dwyer Stadium, Batavia, NY
  Jamestown Tigers 14, Batavia Pirates 9
  Pirates first baseman Donald A. DiChiara had 4 home runs.

October 8, 1961: Marcos Arriaga

• Mexico-Northern Autumn League, at Montemorelos, MX
  Saltillo 15, Montemorelos Eagles 3
  Marcos Arriaga of Saltillo had four home runs.

August 20, 1962: Charlie Dees

• Texas League, Dudley Field, El Paso, TX
  El Paso Sun Kings 11, Amarillo Gold Sox 3
  Charles H. Dees of the Sun Kings had 4 home runs.

May 3, 1964: Sadaharu Oh

• Japan-Central League, Korakuen Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
  Yomiuri Giants 9, Hanshin Tigers 0
  Giants first baseman Sadaharu Oh had 4 home runs and 6 RBIs. The legendary left-handed slugger finished the 1964 season with a then-record 55 home runs and he still holds Japan’s all-time career mark with 868 home runs.

July 1, 1969: George Kalafatis

• Southern League, Paterson Field, Montgomery, AL
  Montgomery Rebels 13, Birmingham A’s 0
  Rebels first baseman George O. Kalafatis had 4 home runs.

APRIL 17, 1976: MIKE SCHMIDT

• National League, Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
  Philadelphia Phillies 18, Chicago Cubs 16, 10 innings
  Phillies third baseman Michael J. Schmidt became the 11th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning, a solo shot in the seventh, a three-run homer in the eighth, and a two-run homer in the 10th inning. He finished 5-6 with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs.

June 9, 1977: Randy Bass

• Pacific Coast League, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
  Phoenix Giants 15, Tacoma Twins 14, 10 innings
  Twins first baseman Randy W. Bass had 4 home runs.

July 14, 1977: Gene Locklear

• International League, Franklin County Stadium, Columbus, OH
  Syracuse Chiefs 11, Columbus Clippers 1
  Chiefs designated hitter Gene Locklear went 4-for-5 with 6 RBIs. He hit a two-run homer in the second inning, a two-run homer in the third, a solo homer in the seventh, and a solo homer in the ninth. He narrowly missed a fifth home run with a flyout to the warning track in the fifth inning. Click here to view an article about this game.

June 24, 1978: Mike Bishop

• Midwest League, Athletic Park, Wausau, WI
  Quad Cities Angels 32, Wausau Mets 8
  Angels third baseman Michael D. Bishop had 4 home runs.

June 18, 1980: Tom Brunansky

• Texas League, Cubs Stadium, Midland, TX
  El Paso Diablos 19, Midland Cubs 9
  Thomas A. Brunansky of the Diablos had 4 home runs.

July 6, 1982: Dave Clements

• New York-Pennsylvania League, Ainsworth Field, Erie, PA
  Erie Cardinals 24, Batavia Trojans 6
  Cardinals shortstop/leadoff hitter David J. Clements had 4 home runs.

June 2, 1983: Franklin Stubbs

• Pacific Coast League, at Albuquerque, NM
  Albuquerque Dukes vs. Phoenix
  Franklin Stubbs went 4-5 with four homers (including two in the second inning) and 7 RBIs.
  

May 14, 1985: Derek Bryant

• Mexican League
  Derek R. Bryant of the Tampico Alijadores had 4 home runs.

JULY 6, 1986: BOB HORNER

• National League, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, GA
  Montreal Expos 11, Atlanta Braves 8
  Braves first baseman James R. “Bob” Horner became the 12th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit solo home runs in the second and fourth innings, a three-run shot in the fifth, and a solo homer in the ninth. He finished 4-for-5 with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs.

June 9, 1987: Wade Rowdon

• American Association, Sec Taylor Stadium, Des Moines, IA
  Iowa Cubs 18, Louisville Redbirds 12
  Cubs designated hitter Wade L. Rowdon had 4 home runs.

May 20, 1988: Pat Garman

• South Atlantic League, Sims Legion Field, Gastonia, NC
  Gastonia Rangers 17, Myrtle Beach Blue Jays 5
  Rangers third baseman J. Patrick Garman had 4 home runs.

May 25, 1988: Matt Williams

• Pacific Coast League, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
  Phoenix Firebirds 11, Albuquerque Dukes 8
  Matt Williams went 4-5 with 4 homers and 6 RBIs. He led off the fourth and fifth innings with solo home runs, hit a game-tying solo homer in the seventh, and his fourth homer came in his final at-bat in the eighth. Click here to view an article about this game. 

September 2, 1989: Hiromoto Okubo

• Japan-Eastern League
  Hiromoto Okubo of the Seibu Lions farm team had 4 home runs.

December 10, 1989: Leonel Moa

• Cuban League, Martires de Barbados, Granma, CU
  Camagüey vs. Granma
  Moa hit four home runs in a game during National Series #29. Moa slugged 272 homers over 15 National Series seasons in Cuba.
  

April 24, 1991: Roy Johnson

• Mexican League
  Campeche vs. Aguascalientes
  Johnson hit 4 home runs in a Mexican League game.
  

SEPTEMBER 7, 1993: MARK WHITEN

• National League, Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
  St. Louis Cardinals 15, Cincinnati Reds 2
  Cardinals center fielder Mark A. Whiten became the 13th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a grand slam in the first inning, three-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings, and a two-run homer in the ninth inning. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 12 RBIs, tying a major-league single-game record.

December 17, 1995: Alberto Diaz

• Cuban League, Mario Martínez Arará, Matanzas, CU
  Matanzas vs. Camagüey
  Diaz hit 4 home runs in a game during National Series #35. Right-handed hitting shortstop only hit 67 career home runs in 16 seasons in Cuba, all during the aluminum-bat era.  

June 20, 1996: Corey Parker

• Northeast League, John E. McCarthy Field, West Warwick, RI
  Bangor Blue Ox 16-5, Rhode Island Tiger Sharks 5-7
  In the first game, Blue Ox first baseman Corey Parker had 4 home runs.

June 21, 1996: Nigel Wilson

• Japan-Pacific League, Fujiidera Stadium, Osaka, Japan
  Nippon Ham Fighters 7, Kintetsu Buffaloes (Osaka) 5
  Nigel Wilson of the Fighters had 4 home runs.

April 8, 1997: Omar Linares

• Cuban League, Capitán San Luis, Pinar del Río, CU
  Pinar del Río vs. Villa Clara
  Linares, one of Cuba’s all-time home run leaders with 404 in his National Series career, hit 4 home runs in a game vs. Villa Clara during the short-season 30-game Revolutionary Cup II tournament in 1997.  

May 21, 1997: J.R. Phillips

• American Association, Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, NE
  New Orleans Zephyrs 10, Omaha Royals 6
  In the second game of a doubleheader, Zephyrs left fielder Charles G. “J.R.” Phillips had 4 home runs.

August 9, 1997: Bubba Trammell

• International League, Ned Skelton Stadium, Toledo, OH
  Toledo Mud Hens 11, Richmond Braves 10, 13 innings, 4:18
  Mud Hens left fielder Bubba Trammell had 4 home runs.

April 22, 1998: Eddie Williams

• Pacific Coast League, Foothills Stadium, Calgary, Alberta
  Las Vegas Stars 20, Calgary Cannons 15, 4:25
  Stars designated hitter/cleanup hitter Edward L. Williams had 4 home runs.

July 27, 1998: Tyrone Horne

• Texas League, Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, San Antonio, TX
  Arkansas Travelers 13, San Antonio Missions 4, 2:40
  Travelers left fielder Tyrone Horne became the first known professional player ever to hit for the “home run cycle” — a two-run home run in the first inning, a grand slam in the second, a solo homer in the fifth, and a three-run homer in the 6th. Horne’s feat was later duplicated by Chandler Raymond in 2022. 

September 13, 1999: Eric Battersby

• Midwest League, at Kane County, IL
  Burlington vs. Kane County
  Eric Battersby of Burlington went 4-4 with four homers, a walk and 6 RBIs in a league playoff game.

May 19, 2000: Miguel Ojeda

• Mexican League, at Mexico City, MX
  Mexico City Reds vs. Monclova Aceros
  Miguel Ojeda of the Reds went 4-4 with 4 homers and 8 RBIs for Mexico City.
  

June 21, 2000: Harry Berrios

• Northern League-Central Division, Alexian Field, Schaumburg, IL
  Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 24, Schaumburg Flyers 13
  Flyers right fielder Harold J. Berrios had 4 home runs.

August 8, 2000: Ryan Jones

• Northern League-Central Division, Sioux Falls Stadium, Sioux Falls, SD
  Winnipeg Goldeyes 19, Sioux Falls Canaries 1
  Goldeyes first baseman Ryan Jones had 4 home runs.

August 19, 2001: Lew Ford

• Eastern League, at Binghamton, NY
  New Britain vs. Binghamton
  Lew Ford of New Britain went 4-5 with 4 solo homers.
  

April 20, 2002: Tony Mongeluzzo

• South Atlantic League, at Asheville, NC
  Savannah Sand Gants vs. Asheville Tourists
  Anthony Mongeluzzo of Savannah had 4 solo home runs in 4 at-bats. He also homered in his final at-bat of the previous game (a solo homer in the 12th inning), giving him home runs in 5 consecutive at-bats overall.

MAY 2, 2002: MIKE CAMERON

• American League, U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago, IL
  Seattle Mariners 15, Chicago White Sox 4
  Mariners center fielder Michael T. Cameron became the 14th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit two solo homers in the first inning, along with solo shots in the third and fifth innings. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 4 RBIs. 

MAY 23, 2002: SHAWN GREEN

• National League, Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI
  Los Angeles Dodgers 16, Milwaukee Brewers 3
  Dodgers right fielder Shawn D. Green became the 15th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a three-run homer in the second inning and solo homers in the fourth, fifth, and ninth innings. He finished 6-6 with 4 HRs, a double, 6 runs scored and 7 RBIs. His 19 total bases broke Joe Adcock’s mark of 18 in 1954 for the most in a single major-league game.

July 14, 2002: Garrett Jones

• Midwest League, John O’Donnell Stadium, Davenport, IA
  Quad Cities River Bandits 16, Kane County Cougars 2
  River Bandits first baseman Garrett Jones had four home runs. He hit a three-run homer in the second inning, a solo homer in the fourth, a three-run homer in the fifth, and a solo homer in the eighth. He finished 4-for-5 with 4 home runs, 4 runs scored, and 8 RBIs.

June 28, 2003: Atsuya Furuta

• Japanese Central League, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Hiroshima, Japan
  Yakult Swallows 14, Hiroshima Toyo Carp 4
  Swallows catcher Atsuya Furuta had 4 home runs.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2003: CARLOS DELGADO

• American League, Skydome, Toronto, Ontario
  Toronto Blue Jays 10, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8
  Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado became the 16th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning and solo homers in the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings. He finished 4-4 with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs.

June 28, 2004: Brandon Cashman

• Northwest League, Everett Memorial Stadium, Everett, WA
  Spokane Indians 18, Everett AquaSox 9
  Indians center fielder Brandon Cashman became the first player in the Northwest League’s 50-year history to hit 4 home runs in a game. He hit a home run in the fifth inning, a grand slam in the sixth, and two-run homers in the eighth and ninth. He finished 4-6 with 4 homers and 9 RBIs.
  

June 28, 2005: Ricardo Saenz

• Mexican League
  Monclova Aceros 14, Aguascalientes Rieleros 1
  Saenz hit 4 home runs in a Mexican League game.
  

October 10, 2005: Brandon Wood

• Arizona Fall League, Surprise Stadium, Surprise, AZ
  Surprise Scorpions 20, Grand Canyon Rafters 1
  Scorpions shortstop Brandon Wood went 5-for-6 with 4 home runs, a double, and 6 RBIs.

May 13, 2006: Jorge Alberto Vazquez

• Mexican League
  Angelopolois Tigers 24, Tabasco Olmecas 3
  Vazquez hit 4 home runs in a Mexican League game.
  

June 18, 2006: Jesse Hoorelbeke

• Northern League, at Fargo, ND
  Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks 14, Edmonton Cracker Cats 3
  Hoorelbeke had 4 home runs and 8 RBIs for the Redhawks. His homers came in second, third, fourth and sixth innings.
  

July 28, 2006: Ryan Harvey

• Florida State League, Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Daytona Beach, FL
  Daytona Cubs 10, Clearwater Threshers 9
  Ryan Harvey of the Cubs had 4 home runs and 6 RBIs. He hit solo homers in the first, sixth and seventh innings, then a three-run game-ending homer in the 9th.
  

August 7, 2006: Alexis Gomez

• International League, Cooper Stadium, Columbus, OH
  Toledo Mud Hens 15, Columbus Clippers 8
  Mud Hens center fielder Alexis Gomez hit 4 home runs. He led off the game with a home run in the first inning, then hit homers in the fourth, seventh, and ninth innings. He finished 4-5 with 4 homers and 5 RBIs.  

May 19, 2007: Aaron Bates

• California League, Clear Channel Stadium, Lancaster, CA
  Lancaster JetHawks 14, Lake Elsinore Storm 12
  Aaron Bates of Lancaster became the first California League player to hit 4 home runs in a game. He finished 5-for-5 with 4 homers, a single, and 6 RBIs. The previous night, Lake Elsinore beat Lancaster 30-0.

June 23, 2007: Brad Correll

• California League, Clear Channel Stadium, Lancaster, CA
  Lancaster JetHawks vs. High Desert Mavericks
  Brad Correll of Lancaster went 4-5 with 4 homers and 8 RBIs. 

August 9, 2008: Micah Hoffpauir

• Pacific Coast League, at Round Rock, TX
  Iowa Cubs vs. Round Rock Express
  Micah Hoffpauir of Iowa went 4-5 with 4 solo homers.
  

August 16, 2008: John Allen

• American Association, LaGrave Field, Fort Worth, TX
  Fort Worth Cats 14, El Paso Diablos 0
  John Allen of Fort Worth went 5-5 with 8 RBIs. He hit a two-run homer in the second inning, a solo homer in the fourth, and two home runs in the eighth, including a grand slam.

May 14, 2011: Michael Aubrey

• International League, Alliance Bank Stadium, Syracuse, NY
  Syracuse Chiefs 11, Durham Bulls 0
  Chiefs designated hitter R. Michael Aubrey had 4 home runs.

MAY 8, 2012: JOSH HAMILTON

• American League, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
  Texas Rangers 10, Baltimore Orioles 3
  Rangers center fielder Joshua H. Hamilton became the 17th player in major league history to hit 4 home runs in a single game. He hit two-run homers in the first, third, seventh, and eighth innings. He finished 5-5 with 4 HR, a double, and 8 RBIs.

June 10, 2013: Javier Baez

• Florida State League, Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Daytona Beach, FL
  Daytona Cubs 9, Fort Myers Miracle 6
  Cubs shortstop Javier Baez hit a two-run homer in the first inning, a solo homer in the third, a three-run homer in the fifth, and another solo shot in the 7th. He finished 4-4 with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs.
  

May 21, 2014: Jon Griffin

• Southern League, Smokies Park, Kodak, TN
  Mobile Bay Bears 17, Tennessee Smokies 7
  Bay Bears first baseman Jon Griffin hit two solo homers in the fifth and sixth innings, a three-run homer in the seventh, and a two-run homer in the 9th. He finished 5-6 with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs. The following day, Griffin homered in his first at-bat for five homers in five consecutive at-bats.

May 25, 2014: Mike Ford

• South Atlantic League, L.P. Frans Stadium, Hickory, NC
  Charleston RiverDogs 17, Hickory Crawdads 10
  RiverDogs DH Mike Ford hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and solo homers in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 5 RBIs.
  

September 4, 2014: Byung-ho Park

• Korea Baseball Organization, Mokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul, KOR
  Nexen Heroes 13, NC Dinos 5
  Heroes first baseman Byung-ho Park hit two-run homers in the first, seventh, and eighth innings, and a solo homer in the fourth inning. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs.

JUNE 6, 2017: SCOOTER GENNETT

• National League, Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH
  Cincinnati Reds 13, St. Louis Cardinals 1
  Reds left fielder Ryan J. “Scooter” Gennett became the 18th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a grand slam in the third inning, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, a solo homer in the sixth inning, and another two-run homer in the eighth inning. He finished 5-5 with 4 HRs and 10 RBIs.

June 16, 2017: Wilin Rosario

• Korea Baseball Organization, Suwon KT Wiz Park, Suwon, KOR
  Hanwha Eagles 15, KT Wiz 14
  Eagles first baseman Wilin Rosario hit four home runs. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs. Click here to watch highlights on YouTube.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017: J.D. MARTINEZ

• National League, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
  Arizona Diamondbacks 13, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
  Diamondbacks right fielder J.D. Martinez became the 19th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, solo shots in the seventh and eighth innings, and a two-run homer in the ninth inning. He finished 4-5 with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs.

October 21, 2017: Jae-il Oh

• Korea Baseball Organization, Masan Stadium, Changwon, KOR
  Doosan Bears 14, NC Dinos 5
  In Game Four of a KBO playoff series, Bears first baseman Jae-il Oh went 4-for-4 with 4 HRs, 4 runs scored, and 9 RBIs to advance to the Korean Series. It was the first 4-HR game in KBO postseason history.  

June 20, 2018: Brian Portelli

• Pecos League, Joe Bauman Park, Roswell, NM
  Roswell Invaders 24, White Sands Pupfish 0
  Invaders left fielder Brian Portelli hit a three-run homer in the first inning, a grand slam in the second, a three-run homer in the third, and a solo home run in the fourth inning. He finished 4-for-5 with 4 HRs, 4 runs scored, and 11 RBIs.
  

April 18, 2019: Will Benson

• Midwest League, Classic Park, Eastlake, OH
  Lake County Captains 12, South Bend Cubs 6
  Captains right fielder Will Benson hit four home runs in his first four at-bats. He hit a two-run homer in the first inning, a solo homer in the third, a grand slam in the fourth, and a solo homer in the 6th. He struck out in his final at-bat in the eighth inning. He finished 4-for-5 with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs.

May 20, 2019: Yasmany Tomás

• Pacific Coast League, Greater Nevada Field, Reno, NV
  Reno Aces 25, Tacoma Rainiers 8
  Aces designated hitter Yasmany Tomás became the second minor-league player of the season to hit four home runs in a game: a three-run homer in the first inning, a solo homer in the third, a two-run homer in the fifth inning, and a solo homer in the eighth inning. He finished 5-for-6 with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs. The Aces hit 10 home runs as a team in the game. Teammate Matt Szczur also hit for the cycle, the first documented instance of two minor-league players achieving these feats in the same game. (The Yankees’ Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri also did it in the major leagues in 1932.)
  

July 28, 2019: Jose Camacho

• Pecos League, Fort Marcy Park, Santa Fe, NM
  Santa Fe Fuego 20, White Sands Pupfish 6
  Fuego third baseman Jose Camacho hit four solo home runs in the first, second, fourth, and sixth innings. He finished 5-for-6 with 4 HRs, 5 runs scored, and 4 RBIs.
  

August 10, 2022: Chandler Redmond

• Texas League, Hodgetown Stadium, Amarillo, TX
  Springfield Cardinals 21, Amarillo Sod Poodles 4
  Cardinals first baseman Chandler Redmond became the second known minor-leaguer (and first since 1998) to hit for the “home run cycle” with a a two-run homer in the fifth inning, a grand slam in the sixth, a solo homer in the seventh, and a three-run homer in the 8th. He finished 5-for-6 with 4 HRs, 5 runs scored, and 11 RBIs.

July 29, 2023: Parker DePasquale

• Pecos League, Fort Marcy Park, Santa Fe, NM
  Santa Fe Fuego 34, Blackwell Flycatchers 5
  Fuego center fielder Parker DePasquale became the first professional player in 75 years to hit five home runs in a game. The Fuego scored 21 runs in the first inning as DePasquale hit three home runs: a solo homer to lead off the game, a two-run homer in his next at-bat, and a three-run homer in his third at-bat of the frame. He grounded out to lead off the second inning, then connected for his fourth home run to lead off the third inning. In the fifth inning, he hit a grand slam for his fifth home run of the night. He finished 5-for-7 with 5 HRs, 5 runs scored, and 11 RBIs.

June 25, 2024: Hogan Windish

• Texas League, Hammons Field, Springfield, MO
  Arkansas Travelers 9, Springfield Cardinals 4
  Travelers designated hitter Hogan Windish hit four home runs — a grand slam in the third inning, two-run homers in the fifth and seventh innings, and a solo homer in the ninth inning. He finished 4-for-4 with 4 HRs, 1 walk, 4 runs scored, and 9 RBIs. 

APRIL 26, 2025: EUGENIO SUÁREZ

• National League, Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
  Atlanta Braves 8, Arizona Diamondbacks 7
  Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez became the 20th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a solo home run in the second inning, a two-run homer in the fourth inning, a solo shot in the sixth inning, and a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning. He finished 4-4 with 4 HRs and 5 RBIs.

June 25, 2025: Connor Bagnieski

• Pioneer League, Lindquist Field, Ogden, UT
  Ogden Raptors 14, Northern Colorado Owlz 2
  Raptors designated hitter Connor Bagnieski hit four home runs — a three-run homer in the first inning, a two-run homer in the third, and solo homers in the fifth and eighth innings. He finished 4-for-6 with 4 HRs, 4 runs scored, and 7 RBIs. 

JULY 25, 2025: NICK KURTZ

• American League, Daikin Park, Houston, TX
  Athletics 15, Houston Astros 3
  Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz became the 21st player in major-league history — and the first rookie player — to hit four home runs in a single game and tied Shawn Green’s MLB record with 19 total bases. He hit a two-run home run in the second inning, solo homers in the sixth and eighth innings, and a three-run homer in the ninth inning. He also had a double and single to finish 6-6 with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs.

AUGUST 28, 2025: KYLE SCHWARBER

• National League, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
  Philadelphia Phillies 19, Atlanta Braves 4
  Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber became the 22nd player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a solo home run in the first inning, a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and three-run homers in the fifth and seventh innings. He finished 4-6 with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs.

January 10, 2026: Luisangel Acuña

• Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional, Estadio Nueva Esparta, Porlamar, VE
  Cardenales de Lara 21, Bravos de Margarita 9
  Cardenales center fielder Luisangel Acuña became the first Venezuelan League player to hit four home runs in a game — and the first in any winter-ball league since 1995. He hit a two-run homer in the second inning, solo homers in the sixth and seventh innings, and a two-run homer in the ninth inning. He finished 4-for-6 with 4 HRs and a walk, 6 runs scored, and 7 RBIs. 

June 16, 2026: Joshua Báez

• International League, AutoZone Park, Memphis, TN
  Memphis Redbirds 12, Nashville Sounds 5
  Redbirds rightfielder Joshua Báez hit four home runs — a three-run homer in the first inning, a two-run homer in the third inning, and solo homers in the fifth and eighth innings. He finished 4-for-5 with 4 HRs, 4 runs scored, and 7 RBIs. 

Last updated: June 16, 2026

This list is a collaborative effort spanning many years of invaluable research. SABR would like to thank the following people for their efforts in — as Yogi Berra would say — making this list necessary: Eduardo Almada, R.J. Anderson, Mark Armour, Gary Ashwill, Davis Barker, Carlos Bauer, John Benesch, Ed Brooks, Peter C. Bjarkman, Jeff Bozovsky, Bill Carle, Jack Carlson, Art Cantu, Dick Clark, Dean Coughenour, Bob Davids, Brian Davis, Bill Deane, Harold Dellinger, Phil S. Dixon, Jack Dougherty, Sam Dykstra, David Eck, Gary Fink, Willie George, Bob Gerard, Larry Gerlach, Ray Gonzalez, Luis Gozzo, Stan Grosshandler, Dave Gumley, Tom Heitz, Bob Hoie, Jim Holl, Joe Hoppel, Ralph Horton, Reed Howard, Tom Hufford, Jerry Jackson, Lloyd Johnson, Cliff Kachline, Dave Kemp, Tony Kissel, Herm Krabbenhoft, Dan Kurtz, Sarah Langs, Vern Luse, Jim Maywar, Kevin McCann, Bob McConnell, Gabriel Medina, Jake Mintz, Bob Mitchell, Rod Nelson, Ray Nemec, Marc Okkonen, Terry O’Neill, Joe Overfield, John Pardon, Frank Phelps, Bill Plott, Jacob Pomrenke, Jim Price, David Rader, Eves Raja, Manny Randhawa, Tim Rask, Bob Richardson, Owen Ricker, Pat Rock, Willie Runquist, Steve St. Martin, Kevin Saldana, Art Schott, John Schwartz, Jim Shearon, Jordan Shusterman, John Spalding, Bill Staples Jr., Tom Strother, Allen Tait, Cecilia Tan, Dick Thompson, Stew Thornley, Bob Tiemann, Chris Trudeau, Alain Usereau, Eric Vickrey, David Vincent, Bill Weiss, Frank Williams, Ralph Winnie, Gene Wood.

During the early days of professional baseball, baseball clubs represented their cities and only had to have their hometown displayed on their jerseys; they didn’t necessarily need nicknames or mascots. An early baseball contest might feature the “Bostons” taking on the “Washingtons.” Some teams, or the team’s owners, eventually devised their own mascots. Others took on nicknames bestowed upon them by their hometown “cranks.”

We can thank newspaper writers for many of the team names we now know by heart. Baseball journalists could get bored using the same titles day in and day out and wanted to make their game accounts a little more interesting. The names could come from any of several possible sources: team uniform colors, aspects or reputations of the team or its players, or maybe a writer just found a name that seemed to fit. “Colonels” seemed like a perfect fit as a name for the Louisville major league baseball team; it was a common title of respect in Kentucky, and it rolled off the tongue rather well. As one might expect, the Louisville Colonels received their name from a newspaper writer. What might not be expected, however, is that the name probably didn’t come from a Louisville-based writer, and it was hardly meant to honor the team.

The first major league team in Louisville was known as the Grays, and they were one of the original teams in the National League in 1876. That team was also involved in the first major controversy of the National League in 1877 when four of its players were declared guilty of conspiring to lose games on purpose for gambling purposes. The team disbanded before the 1878 season. The next Louisville team was called the Eclipse. They went by that name when they joined the American Association (AA) in 1882. Eclipse was a popular sports name in Louisville; it likely derived from a legendary 18th-century British racehorse. The name was also attached to the grounds where the baseball team played, Eclipse Park.

The major league team dropped the Eclipse title just before the start of the 1884 season, and a local team of Louisville reserve players picked up the name.1 For as long as the Louisville team was in the American Association, their official business name would be the Eclipse Base Ball Association, but they would no longer play as the Eclipse. The Louisville major league team decided to go by simply the “Louisvilles.” A typical box score in the mid-1880s might show the Louisvilles playing teams like the Browns (of St. Louis) or the Athletics (of Philadelphia).

Baseball beat writers in Louisville did not get very creative with their home team’s name, sticking with just the Louisvilles. But they did have some fun with names for other teams. Following trends used in other cities, Louisville writers sometimes referred to opposing teams with “colorful” descriptions. Baseball fans in 1880s Louisville might open their paper and read about how the Louisvilles did against the Beefers visiting from Baltimore (they were always “beefing” with umpires). The Boston Beaneaters might be coming to town the following week. And fans knew that when the team was playing the Babies, they were going up against Cleveland (the team was playing its initial season, but the label also likely alluded to allegations that President Grover Cleveland had a child out of wedlock; the name worked on multiple levels). Cincinnati was known as the hometown of the Reds in the 1880s. But for much of the 1800s, the city also had the fortune, or maybe misfortune, of being known as the pork-production capital of America, and possibly the entire world. Writers in the cities of the other major league teams were well aware of this.

Following a Reds victory over the Louisvilles on August 14, 1887, headlines in the next day’s Courier-Journal (the top newspaper in Louisville) declared “A Porcine [Pig-related] Victory” for the rivals,2 and noted that the “pig-stickers” must have been happy with Louisville leadoff batter Reddy Mack striking out three times. It wasn’t just the Courier-Journal that joined in the journalistic antics. The Louisville Commercial wrote about Louisville’s loss to the “shoats”3 [baby goats]. The Louisville Post kept things simple and called Louisville’s opponents “the ‘Pigs’”.4

It wasn’t necessarily the Louisville baseball writers who came up with the idea to use pork-related themes for the Cincinnati team. Writers from rival cities using pork terms when talking about Cincinnati was nothing new. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for writers in Cincinnati to refer to their own team, and even citizens of the city, as “Porkopolitans.” So why, after that August 14 game, did Cincinnati writers feel Louisville writers had taken things too far?

Only about 100 miles separate Louisville and Cincinnati, and the two cities’ ball clubs had an intense rivalry that went back several years. In the early days of baseball, team beat writers were typically fans of their home team, and they made no attempt to hide it. Baseball writers for the Cincinnati Enquirer got especially heated on April 30, 1887, when the train bringing the Reds to Louisville for that day’s game was delayed by a railroad accident. The Reds asked Louisville to let them make up the game at a later date, but the Louisvilles kept a forfeit victory. Headed into a mid-August series between the two teams, the Cincinnati delegation was still fuming over the free win. Before their August 14 game, writers for the Enquirer stated that “If the Louisvilles do win to-day’s game it will not be a railroad accident victory”.5 The Louisville Post griped back how “… the railroad-accident victory … is still ‘sticking in their craw.’”6 Louisville writers were likely also displeased over recent rumors that Cincinnati was among the cities supporting the idea of dropping Louisville from the AA for 1888.7

The Louisville papers may have been taking out their frustration on the Reds when they used the repeated pork epithets. On August 16, the Louisville Commercial, with a touch of civic pride, snuck in a crack about the day’s upcoming match between “The Kentucky Colonels and the Cincinnati Shoats.”8 The response from Cincinnati writers was swift. The August 17, 1887, Cincinnati Enquirer called out in the baseball recap that “The cultured and refined tastes of Louisville journalists has led them, in alluding to the Cincinnati Base-Ball Club, to designate them as ‘The Pigs.’ ”9

It would be difficult to prove that no one anywhere called the Louisville baseball team “Colonels” before August 16, 1887. What is evident from poring over the various newspapers, however, is that the name was certainly not commonly used. The Cincinnatis and Louisvilles played each other in August, as well as in April and June that summer, and the Cincinnati papers never referred to the Louisville players as “Colonels” during those series. In the August 17 Cincinnati Enquirer article, the title appeared over 40 times in reference to all of the Louisville players, several Cincinnati players, both of the teams’ managers, and even the umpire.

In Kentucky, the military rank of Colonel dates to colonial times. Following the Civil War, a Kentucky Colonel became an honorary title to recognize those who made significant contributions to the state (a designation that is still in place today). In time, it also became an unofficial title for a respectable gentleman of the commonwealth. But make no doubt, when the Cincinnati writers wrote about the Colonels of Louisville, it was clearly in a mocking tone to combat the name-calling that befell their players. The write-up also described how “… the aggregation from Louisville walked in as if the field was covered with velvet carpet.”10 The Louisville Commercial retorted back how “The Cincinnati Enquirer takes up the ‘Colonel’ part of the Louisville base-ball club, and fills its columns with a dull attempt at humor …”11 Name-calling and mild insults between Louisville and Cincinnati writers continued for the rest of the August series, and the spat carried into September and October. Funny enough, staffs of the primary newspapers for the two cities faced each other in a baseball game on September 6, when the Courier-Journal defeated the Enquirer, 18-8.12

Despite the mocking overtone that the Enquirer intended when they wrote about the “Titled Gentlemen” from Louisville, the name caught on with other newspapers. Following the Cincinnati-Louisville series in August, the Cincinnati correspondent for The Sporting Life also used the designation in sarcasm. But in doing so, he brought the “Louisville Colonels” to a national audience.13 Newspapers in Cleveland picked up the Colonel name and began using it in September.14 And before the start of the 1888 season, the name could be found in Wilkes-Barre15 and Kansas City.16

The hometown Courier-Journal started recognizing the team sporadically as the Colonels in April 1888. As the season progressed, the name became more commonly used. The name was never official, but by the 1890s the Louisville baseball team was, for all intents and purposes, the Colonels.

The Louisville Colonels were dropped from the National League when the league contracted after the 1899 season. When Louisville rejoined the professional baseball ranks as a minor-league team in 1901, it resumed using the Colonel moniker. The name was used by off-and-on Louisville teams from 1901 to 1972. The last Colonels baseball team left Louisville after 1972, but the name was carried on by the Kentucky Colonels of the fondly remembered American Basketball Association (ABA) until 1976.

The current Louisville Bats of the International League have been the AAA affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds since 2000. The Colonels are no more, and now Louisville sends its top players to Cincinnati. It sounds like the Porkopolitans got the last laugh.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and Newspapers.com.

American Association Constitutions (1882-1891), SABR 19th Century League and Team Resources collection.

Archives for the Louisville Post and Louisville Commercial accessed at the Louisville Public Library newspaper collection.

“Rethinking Porkpolis at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House,” https://www.ohiohumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/MA16-027_-Rethinking-Porkopolis-Summary.pdf, accessed September 14, 2025.

Kentucky Colonels organization history, https://www.kycolonels.org/history/, accessed September 12, 2025.

Von Borries, Philip. The Louisville Baseball Almanac (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2010).

Notes

1 “Sporting News,” Courier-Journal, March 30, 1884: 4.

2 “A Porcine Victory,” Courier-Journal, August 15, 1887: 2.

3 “Succumbed To the Shoats,” Louisville Commercial, August 15, 1884: 3.

4 “Very Bum Batting,” Louisville Post, August 15, 1885: 2.

5 “Base-Ball Notes,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 14, 1887: 10.

6 “Very Bum Batting.”

7 “Louisville And the League,” Courier-Journal, August 15, 1887: 2.

8 “Dust From the Diamond,” Louisville Commercial, August 16, 1887: 3.

9 “A Colonel’s Battle,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 17, 1887: 2.

10 A Colonel’s Battle.

11 ”Ball Notes,” Louisville Commercial, August 18, 1887: 3.

12 “The Enquirers Knocked Out,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 7, 1887: 2.

13 “From Cincinnati,” Sporting Life, August 31, 1887: 3.

14 “Base Ball Notes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 29, 1887: 5.

15 “The Season on the Diamond,” Sunday Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), January 29, 1888: 14.

16 “Clay County Matinees,” Kansas City Journal, March 19, 1888: 2.

One of the unsolved puzzles of the Black Sox Scandal is the inclusion of substitute infielder Fred McMullin in the plot to throw the 1919 World Series. Given that there was little prospect that McMullin, a bench warmer who had seen only as-needed playing time during the regular season, would have a chance to influence the outcome of the Series, the rationale for including him in the fix conspiracy is not an obvious one.

This essay explores explanations offered by various Black Sox commentators before offering a simple, if unverifiable, thesis of its own: Fred McMullin was included in the fix because he was a clubhouse ally of fix ringleader Chick Gandil as well as a good friend of co-conspirator Swede Risberg. Preceding analysis of the issue is exposition intended to place this deduction in context.

Background

As the playing of the 1919 World Series approached, Fred McMullin was a soon-to-be-28-year-old utility infielder wrapping up his fourth season with the American League champion Chicago White Sox. Born in Kansas but raised in California, McMullin was a 1910 graduate of Los Angeles High School1 and of the city’s amateur and semipro baseball circuits.2

He entered the professional ranks in late 1910, making a one-game appearance for the Sacramento Sacts of the Class AA Pacific Coast League. After a summer back in the LA area playing semipro ball, McMullin spent the 1912 through 1914 seasons in the Class B Northwestern League, flunking a one-game major league audition with the Detroit Tigers in August 1914.3

In 1915, McMullin returned to the Pacific Coast League where adversaries of his Los Angeles Angels club included future White Sox teammates Swede Risberg (Vernon Tigers) and Lefty Williams (Salt Lake City Bees). Although the two soon became competitors for a starting berth with the Sox, McMullin and Risberg also became good friends. The two even shared an October 13 birthday, although McMullin was three years older than Risberg.

In 1916, McMullin and Williams became members of the juggernaut that club boss Charles Comiskey was assembling in Chicago, joining a White Sox team that already featured future Hall of Famers Eddie Collins, Red Faber, and Ray Schalk; established stars Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Cicotte; and rising talents Buck Weaver and Happy Felsch. Deployed around the infield, McMullin batted a respectable .257 in 68 appearances and solidified his place on the roster.

The next spring, Risberg joined the White Sox, beating out McMullin for the everyday shortstop post. Fred, however, provided useful service as a fill-in for Risberg and third baseman Weaver during the regular season for a Chicago club that finished 100-54-2 and won its first AL pennant in 11 years. When Risberg’s injury necessitated moving Weaver over to shortstop for the 1917 World Series, McMullin became the starting third baseman against the NL champion New York Giants.

Playing every game in the World Series, McMullin batted a meager .125 (3-for-24) but supplied flawless defense in 16 chances as Chicago prevailed in six games and assumed the mantel of world champions.

Despite their success on the field, the White Sox were not a happy bunch, the clubhouse riven by factions. McMullin aligned himself with the clique headed by veteran first baseman Chick Gandil, a hardscrabble crew that also included his pal Risberg, staff ace Eddie Cicotte, Buck Weaver, and Happy Felsch — united by disdain of college-educated, socially superior, and highly-paid team captain Eddie Collins. Most of them disliked White Sox owner Comiskey, as well.

America’s entry into World War I wreaked havoc on the White Sox’ 1918 campaign. Pitcher Jim Scott had enlisted earlier and in mid-season Eddie Collins and Red Faber left the club to join the military, actions heartily endorsed by patriotic employer Comiskey. Meanwhile, Joe Jackson, Happy Felsch, and Lefty Williams avoided service by taking defense industry jobs, moves that drew harsh public rebukes from Comiskey.

McMullin and Risberg presumably remained in the club boss’s good graces, as both entered the military in early August. Thereafter, the club floundered to a sixth-place finish in the final AL standings and manager Pants Rowland got the axe. Kid Gleason became Chicago’s new field leader.

The 1919 Season

With the club’s military veteran and slacker contingents reunited for the 1919 season, the White Sox returned to prominence on the diamond and malcontent in the clubhouse. Having batted a solid .277 in 70 games the previous year, McMullin was a spring contract holdout but eventually signed for $2,750. He then lost the annual competition with Risberg for the shortstop job and assumed the familiar role of utility player.

As before, McMullin proved a handy backup, providing competent defense when called upon to play second or third base. He also did good work with the stick, batting a career-high .294 in 60 appearances for the pennant-bound White Sox. Yet for reasons unclear, McMullin’s name disappeared from box scores between a pinch-hitting appearance on August 25 and taking over for Collins at second base on September 24 — a 23-game stretch during which Fred saw no game action.

For at least some of this period, McMullin was away from the club, scouting the Cincinnati Reds, the likely opponent in the upcoming World Series. On September 18, White Sox beat reporter Irving Sanborn reported, “Fred McMullin returned from a brief visit to Cincinnati, during which he watched the Reds play Boston and New York. He was closeted with Manager Gleason for a couple of hours,” presumably discussing the strategies required to defeat the Reds.4 By this time, however, and unbeknownst to Gleason, the plot to throw the World Series was already afoot.

More than a century after the fact, the precise origins of 1919 World Series corruption remain indistinct. The writer’s suspicion that the fix was the brainchild of Chick Gandil and/or Boston bookmaker Sport Sullivan is sketched out in an essay published in the June 2025 newsletter.5 Some evidence suggests that throwing the Series was being ruminated as early as mid-August.6 As the plotting became more concrete, Cicotte, scheduled to make multiple starts in the elongated best-of-nine Series, was recruited for the fix by Gandil and Sullivan.

In The Betrayal, author Charles Fountain asserts it is “quite certain that Swede Risberg and Fred McMullin, Gandil’s running mates, were involved from the beginning.”7 That may be slightly overstated but it seems plain that Risberg and McMullin enlisted in the fix early. Both men were in attendance at the initial mid-September players-only fix meeting conducted at the Ansonia Hotel in New York City. Eddie Cicotte later alleged, implausibly, that he was a reluctant conspirator hectored by McMullin to commit to throwing the Series during that conclave.8

By all accounts, McMullin was not present when Gandil, Cicotte, Williams, Weaver, and Felsch met with Sullivan and “Brown,” likely agents of underworld financier and fix banker Arnold Rothstein, at the Warner Hotel in Chicago to cement arrangements shortly before the White Sox left town for the Series opener. But McMullin was among the Black Sox who entertained a second and distinct fix proposition from Sleepy Bill Burns and Abe Attell at the Sinton Hotel in Cincinnati on the day before Game One.9

In light of these activities, author Don Zminda places McMullin in the top level of the corruption echelon, “actively engaged in planning and carrying out the [Series] fix” with Gandil, Cicotte, and Risberg.10

The 1919 World Series

Although a late surge of money on the Reds made Cincinnati a slight betting favorite, baseball cognoscenti as well as most of the sporting press predicted a White Sox victory in the World Series. But a fourth-inning meltdown by Cicotte left the Sox in a deep hole in Game One. With Chicago hopelessly trailing 8-1 to begin the eighth inning, McMullin pinch hit for reliever Roy Wilkinson and stroked a single to center. Three straight outs followed, leaving Fred stranded on first. Final score: Cincinnati 9, Chicago 1.

McMullin was afforded a real chance to affect the game’s outcome the following afternoon. With Chicago behind 4-2 with two out in the ninth and Ray Schalk on base, Fred pinch hit for starting pitcher Lefty Williams. Given the opportunity to keep Sox victory hopes alive, McMullin doused them with a meek groundout to second.

After the Game Two loss, McMullin was among the corrupted players awaiting an expected $40,000 payout at the Sinton Hotel. Instead, Bill Burns delivered them just $10,000, counted out in a hotel room bathroom by Risberg and McMullin. This brought Black Sox collusion with the Burns-Attell cartel to an abrupt end.11 Although it turned out that the competition had six more games to run, McMullin saw no further action on the field, remaining glued to the bench as the Reds secured World Series laurels with a one-sided victory in Game Eight.

Developments in 1920

Although there was some sportswriter grumbling about the bona fides of the Reds triumph, most of the baseball world accepted the unexpected World Series outcome with good grace. Comiskey, however, was unsettled by insinuations about his club’s performance and quietly engaged a private detective agency, Hunter’s Secret Service, to investigate.

Contacted by J.R. Hunter at home in Los Angeles, McMullin professed his innocence and agreed to assist the inquiry, vowing to “do anything to develop the true facts, as baseball would be a dead issue if anything [like a World Series fix] could be put over.”12 Although aware of rumors and innuendo, McMullin claimed he had no personal knowledge of a fix and later proved unable to elicit anything about it from his friend Chick Gandil, or so McMullin said.13 Sometime thereafter, Comiskey concluded that fix rumors could not be substantiated and offered his suspected players new contracts, lest they become free agents.14 Like several other Black Sox, McMullin received a handsome boost for 1920, one that raised his salary to $3,600.15

With the privations of World War I now receding and baseball resurgent, the 1920 season was eagerly awaited. It did not disappoint, with fans enthralled by a season-long three-way battle for the American League crown involving Chicago, Cleveland, and New York, and by the prodigious home run hitting of Babe Ruth. The Yankees slugger hit 54 round-trippers to shatter his own major league record of 29, set one year earlier, and instituted a revolution in the way the game was played. Meanwhile, various major league clubs, including the Chicago White Sox, set new ballpark attendance records in 1920.

McMullin’s performance did little to justify his increased salary. Again relegated to backup infield duty, Fred supplied his customarily reliable defense (only three errors in 90 chances, mostly at third base) but was ineffectual with the bat, posting a career-worst .197 batting average in 46 games. Meanwhile, his Black Sox compatriots were busy covertly tossing selected contests. Illuminating dissection of the Sox’ 1920 game-throwing is provided in incisive articles by Bruce Allardice16 and a comprehensive book by Don Zminda.17 McMullin, however, lacked the playing opportunities necessary to contribute much to the on-field skullduggery.

Allardice does not mention McMullin in his analyses of the Sox’ 1920 game performance. And Zminda does not cite suspicious play by Fred in his examination of the club’s season. But other Black Sox commentators assign an off-field game-fixing role to McMullin, naming him Gandil’s successor as conduit between the corrupted players and gambling interests.18

The accusation has a certain logic, as McMullin was the best-educated Black Sox and likely the smartest, as well. More important, McMullin had already demonstrated his comfort with wrongdoing, having exhibited no reluctance about joining the plot to rig the 1919 Series outcome. And he was likely trusted by his game-fixing teammates. The overriding problem with naming McMullin overseer of 1920 game-fixing is the absence of concrete evidence supporting the charge. Simply put, there is no proof of McMullin’s involvement, only suspicion of it.

Unhappily for McMullin, an allegation that contained far more substance emerged as the 1920 season was drawing to an end — the blockbuster public charge that McMullin and seven other White Sox players had conspired to deliberately lose the World Series for the benefit of in-the-know gamblers.

Exposure of the World Series Fix and Criminal Prosecution

The events which led to the probe of the 1919 World Series by a Cook County (Chicago) grand jury are amply recounted elsewhere. As for McMullin, despite having barely participated in the Series, his name was quickly linked to the burgeoning scandal.

On September 24, 1920, it was publicly revealed that Charles Comiskey was so suspicious of his team’s play in the previous year’s fall classic that he had withheld the losers’ share checks from certain players, including McMullin.19 The next day, the Chicago Tribune identified McMullin by name as one of eight Sox players targeted by the grand jury for indictment as a fix participant.20 A follow-up Page One Tribune exposé, complete with photo of Fred McMullin, then accused him of delivering a “mystery package” presumed to include a fix payoff to the residence of Buck Weaver.21

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, disaffected fix insider Billy Maharg was giving an interview that blew the cover off the rigging of the World Series. According to Maharg, eight White Sox players had agreed to dump the Series in return for a $100,000 payoff from gamblers.22 Shortly thereafter, Eddie Cicotte, Joe Jackson, and Lefty Williams testified to the grand jury that they had agreed to join the plot and received payment for that agreement. Cicotte, Jackson, and Williams each identified Fred McMullin as a fellow fix conspirator. As a result, McMullin was among those criminally charged in conspiracy/fraud-based indictments publicly announced by grand jury foreman Henry Brigham on the afternoon of September 28.23

In response to the charges, McMullin declared his innocence, joining codefendants Buck Weaver and Swede Risberg at a joint press conference wherein the trio announced their intention to fight the charges.24 McMullin maintained a stance of innocence throughout the ensuing legal proceedings and, at least publicly, for the remainder of his life.

McMullin was re-charged in the superseding Black Sox indictments returned by a new grand jury in March 1921,25 but remained at liberty on bail back home in Los Angeles throughout the pretrial period. Strapped for train fare, he did not arrive in Chicago until after the jury selection process had already begun. As a result, the charges against McMullin were severed from the trial of his codefendants. He would be tried at some later date. A secondary defendant to begin with and now absent from the courtroom, McMullin was a wispy presence during the ensuing proceedings, his name only mentioned in passing during the testimony of star prosecution witness Bill Burns.26 Otherwise, McMullin was a nonentity during the trial.

Fred was not a beneficiary of the not-guilty verdicts returned by the jury. Rather, the charges against McMullin and several fugitive gambler defendants were administratively dismissed by the State’s Attorney following the acquittal of the other Black Sox.27 Notwithstanding their courthouse exoneration, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis acted swiftly and severely, permanently banishing the eight acquitted players, including Fred McMullin, from professional baseball.28

Banishment Aftermath

Although McMullin was not one of the Black Sox airing post-banishment grievances (or saying much at all about the scandal, actually),29 he quietly maintained his innocence. Decades after McMullin’s death, a ballplaying acquaintance related that “Fred was awfully quiet, and when I’d ask him about the White Sox thing, he would sort of shake his head and say he didn’t do a thing.”30 According to author Warren Brown, McMullin threatened “to punch anybody in the nose who dared to suggest he was in on any [fix-related] wrongdoing.”31

But otherwise, McMullin was silent about the Series fix. In the mid-1980s, it was reported that McMullin had penned a letter — to be opened only after the last Black Sox had died — in which he allegedly acknowledged reluctant participation in the 1919 Series fix, “throwing in the towel when it became apparent that everybody and his brother was going” to join the fix conspiracy.32 Swede Risberg, the last surviving Black Sox, died in October 1975 but the destruction of this fix missive by McMullin’s wife reduces the evidence of its existence to hearsay supplied by an ex-daughter-in-law.

Previously Proffered Reasons for the Inclusion of McMullin in the Series Fix

Like much else in Black Sox mythology, the long-accepted explanation for the unlikely inclusion of a substitute player like McMullin in the World Series fix can be attributed to Eliot Asinof. In 1963, Eight Men Out readers were informed that Chick Gandil approached Swede Risberg about joining the plot to throw the upcoming World Series. “They discussed it briefly in the locker room, not knowing that another player was lying on a bench behind a set of lockers,” wrote Asinof. “Utility infielder Fred McMullin, a friend of Risberg’s, overheard and wanted in. There was no way to exclude him.”33

But while Asinof popularized the perception, he is not the progenitor of the “overheard conversation” explanation for McMullin’s admission into the fix conspiracy. The story predates 8MO, but its genesis is unclear.

As previously noted, McMullin was barely mentioned during the Black Sox criminal proceedings of 1921. Three years later, he was again a near-cipher when the trial of Joe Jackson’s breach of contract action against the White Sox was conducted in Milwaukee; in a 652-page civil trial record, McMullin’s name appears a mere three times.34 By that time, the public had largely moved on, and the few newspaper and magazine articles that touched on the scandal in the ensuing three decades paid scant attention to McMullin.

The first discovered newsprint account revealing purported insight into McMullin’s admission into the fix appeared in a wire service article by Joe Reichler published in early 1947. Reichler’s article observed that “there has always been some mystery why Fred McMullin, a utility player was taken in. McMullin was not originally in on the ‘deal’ but he said he overheard a conversation among some of the plotters and declared himself in.”35 This tale, however, could not have come from McMullin, as there is utterly no evidence that he ever said any such thing. The source of Reichler’s account is untraceable. Nevertheless, if it had not previously, the notion that an overheard conversation had provided McMullin entry into the fix conspiracy now had a foothold in the Black Sox saga.

Variations of the wire service yarn were published after McMullin’s passing in November 1952. A Montana sportswriter alleged that McMullin “overheard other players talking of the sellout to the gamblers, [and] announced that he was ‘in’ or he would talk out loud, and they told him what the deal was, [and] split with him.”36

Further imaginative detail appeared in McMullin’s obituary in The Sporting News: “McMullin, according to the story told, was soaking an injured ankle when he overheard two of his players discussing the details of how they were going to clean up on the Series. He is said to have demanded to be let in on it, otherwise he threatened to ‘kick over the bucket.’ They explained the arrangements.”37 Conspicuous by its absence from the TSN narrative is anything resembling a source for “the story told.” The obvious question: Told by whom?

When Eliot Asinof turned his attention to the Black Sox Scandal — originally intended as the subject for a television screenplay — in the early 1960s, exhaustive research was not on his agenda. It seems highly improbable that Asinof was acquainted with the then difficult-to-access news articles identified above. Yet somewhere along the line, he evidently absorbed the gist of these reports, and then embellished their scenario — placing the reputed incident in the team locker room, concealing McMullin behind a set of lockers, and identifying Gandil and Risberg as the overheard fix conspirators.

As Eight Men Out provides no sources, where Asinof got these new details is unknown. But they surely did not come from the only persons in a first-hand position to reveal them. Gandil and Risberg both refused to speak to Asinof, while McMullin was dead by then. Rather, the conclusion reached here is that the locker room anecdote is no more than another example of the artistic license that pervades Eight Men Out.38 Indeed, to paraphrase Charles Fountain, it is this gift for narrative invention that makes Eliot Asinof such an engaging storyteller but unreliable historian.

For more than 40 years after its publication, Asinof’s Eight Men Out was viewed as gospel rather than historical fiction. And along with most everything else on its pages, the book’s “overheard conversation” vignette was uncritically accepted as bona fide. For example, a 1988 essay arguing that McMullin’s role in the fix had been underestimated reiterated the Asinof telling. Regarding McMullin, “his inclusion in the conspiracy was pure happenstance — an overheard locker room conversation between Gandil and Risberg was his ticket to perfidy,” declared Mike Kopf.39

More than anyone else, SABR Black Sox Scandal committee founder Gene Carney stimulated the recent resurrection of scholarly interest in the story, challenging long-received truths of the 1919 saga. Yet even Carney acquiesced in the Asinof narrative, writing that “apparently Fred McMullin, who was close to Gandil and Risberg, eavesdropped his way into the fix, overhearing its mention in the locker room and insisting on a cut.”40 And today, Baseball-Reference’s wiki-style encyclopedia likewise presents the Asinof account as factual: “McMullin was in on the fix because he overheard a pre-Series conversation between Gandil and Risberg and demanded to be let in.”41

An Alternate Hypothesis

Like much else in Eight Men Out, the “overheard conversation” scenario is dubious. Yet it could have happened, despite the absence of historical evidence. That said, it does not ring true to this writer. Unhappily, definitive settlement of the question why Fred McMullin was admitted into the World Series fix conspiracy is not possible, shrouded by the passage of time and the long-ago death of those in the know.

Offered here is an alternative hypothesis, a best guess based on the present record of the Black Sox Scandal: Fred McMullin’s inclusion in the fix was nothing more than a byproduct of his membership in the Chick Gandil clique, as well as his friendship with fix strongman Swede Risberg.42

In his self-serving and often dishonest 1956 account of the scandal, Gandil placed McMullin among the teammates recruited for the fix by Cicotte and himself, and in no way differentiated McMullin from the other Black Sox.43 “Cicotte and I … tried to figure out which players might be interested [in joining the fix] … [and] finally decided on Jackson, Weaver, Risberg, Felsch, McMullin and Williams,” Gandil related.44

Enlightening here, by the way, is the plotter mindset. Neither Gandil nor Cicotte were master criminals, well versed in how to avoid detection. If they were, the World Series conspiracy would have been confined to themselves and indispensable helpmates like pitcher Lefty Williams and perhaps star batter Joe Jackson. The others were unneeded, and their inclusion in the fix only increased the risk of its exposure.

But there is little reason to believe that Gandil gave this much thought. To the contrary, he did not expect to get caught and was disposed to share the expected fix windfall with select friends. Revelatory on this point is an illuminating January 1927 Collyer’s Eye article recently brought to light by Bruce Allardice.45 The article describes how Gandil informed former teammate Joe Gedeon of the fix beforehand so Gedeon could bet the World Series accordingly. Gedeon ended up winning about $900 on his Series wagers.46

If Gandil’s largesse extended to the likes of Joe Gedeon of the St. Louis Browns, he was not likely to ignore White Sox clubhouse allies like Fred McMullin (or Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Happy Felsch.) Coconspirators Jackson and Williams may have been outsiders, but the other Black Sox were all members of a longstanding clique headed by Gandil and men of similar disposition toward team captain Collins and club boss Comiskey.

With Gandil anticipating a fix payoff approaching six figures, if not more, there would be enough money to include such compadres in the corruption gravy. On top of that, McMullin’s close friendship with Risberg also militated bringing him into the fix fold.

In the final analysis, there is no need, beyond a literary one, to have Fred McMullin’s inclusion in the World Series fix occasioned by locker room eavesdropping. A more plausible explanation is available: McMullin was admitted into the fix conspiracy because he was a teammate, friend, and clubhouse ally of its ringleader.

Acknowledgments

The writer is indebted to committee colleagues Bruce Allardice, Jacob Pomrenke, Leman Saunders, Richard Smiley, and Don Zminda for supplying direction to sources and insight during the research of this essay.

Notes

1 McMullin’s name appears among the Los Angeles High School graduates published in “Over 400 Boys and Girls Will Graduate from Los Angeles and Polytechnic High Schools,” Los Angeles Evening Record, June 8, 1910.

2 For a more thorough look at McMullin’s early baseball career, consult his SABR BioProject profile by Jacob Pomrenke.

3 McMullin struck out in his lone plate appearance and mishandled a fielding chance as a late-inning substitute for Tigers shortstop Donie Bush in a 9-2 loss to Boston.

4 I.E. Sanborn, “Notes,” Chicago Tribune, September 18, 1919: 23. Thanks to Don Zminda for directing the writer to this article.

5 See Bill Lamb, “The Financing of the Fix: An Educated Hypothesis,” SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter, Vol. 17, No. 1 (June 2025), 11.

6 See e.g., the grand jury testimony of former Chicago Cubs club owner Charles Weeghman as reported in “Weeghman Received Warning,” Boston Globe, September 26, 1920: 15; “Charges Series ‘Fixing’ Began in August,” New York Times, September 26, 1920: 23; and elsewhere.

7 Charles Fountain, The Betrayal: The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 78.

8 Per the grand jury testimony of Eddie Cicotte on September 28, 1920. Aside from Joe Jackson, Cicotte is the least trustworthy Black Sox when it comes to speaking about his fix involvement. And this is one of Cicotte’s most transparently false statements, the notion that he needed browbeating to enter a conspiracy that Cicotte himself was pivotal to generating being risible.

9 Per the criminal trial testimony of Bill Burns as reported in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and newspapers nationwide, July 20, 1921.

10 Don Zminda, Double Plays and Double Crosses: The Black Sox and Baseball in 1920 (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

11 Recounted in the criminal trial testimony of Bill Burns and subsequently reiterated in the civil deposition that Burns gave for the breach of contract lawsuit instituted by Joe Jackson against the White Sox.

12 Gene Carney, “Comiskey’s Detectives,” SABR Baseball Research Journal (Fall 2009), quoting from correspondence by J.R. Hunter to White Sox corporation counsel Alfred S. Austrian, now reposed in the Black Sox Scandal collection at the Chicago History Museum.

13 Carney, “Comiskey’s Detectives.”

14 Under league rules, any player not offered a contract for the coming season by the end of February became a free agent.

15 The exception here was Chick Gandil, tendered the same $4,000 that he had played for in 1919. Gandil, whose secret fix take may have exceeded $40,000, rejected his 1920 contract offer, was thereafter suspended by Comiskey, and never played another major league game.

16 See Bruce Allardice, “New Evidence White Sox Threw More Games in 1920,” SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 1 (June 2019), 5-6; and “‘Playing Rotten, It Ain’t That Hard to Do’: How the Black Sox Threw the 1920 Pennant,” SABR Baseball Research Journal (Spring 2016).

17 Zminda, Double Plays and Double Crosses.

18 See e.g., Rick Huhn, Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008), 151-152; Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (New York: Henry Holt, 1963), 145. The Baseball-Reference article on the Black Sox Scandal similarly accuses McMullin of being “the chief liaison between the players and gamblers in 1920 when other games were suspected of being thrown.”

19 As reported by James L. Kilgallen, “Ban Johnson Admits Hearing That Gamblers Have Grip on Sox Players,” Atlanta Constitution, September 24, 1920: 10; “Will the Sox Dare Win?” Kansas City Times, September 24, 1920: 1; and elsewhere.

20 See “Inside Story of Plot to Buy World Series,” Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1920: 1.

21 “First Evidence of Money Paid to Sox Bared,” Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1920: 1.

22 See James C. Isaminger, “Gamblers Promised White Sox $100,000 To Lose,” Philadelphia North American, September 28, 1920: 1. Within 24 hours, Maharg’s allegations were republished in newspapers coast-to-coast.

23 As reported in the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Evening Post, and in newspapers nationwide, September 28, 1920. The original Black Sox indictments were not formally returned in court for another month.

24 Chicago Herald-Examiner, October 2, 1920.

25 The original indictments were administratively dismissed for strategic reasons by the Cook County State’s Attorneys Office. The superseding indictments re-charged the eight White Sox players and five gamblers previously indicted and added five new gambler defendants.

26 McMullin was likely mentioned in Billy Maharg’s testimony about the pre-Game One meeting at the Sinton Hotel, as well. But with the criminal trial transcript unavailable, that is only educated surmise. McMullin’s name, and that of the other non-confessing defendants, was deleted from the Cicotte/Jackson/Williams grand jury testimony when it was introduced in evidence during the Black Sox criminal trial.

27 The dismissals were reported in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere, August 4, 1921.

28 Landis’s edict was promulgated within hours of the jury’s verdict and made front-page headlines across the nation. See e.g., “Landis Bans ‘Black Sox’ from Game,” Bridgeport (Connecticut) Times, August 3, 1921: 1; “Landis Banishes Black Sox from Organized Ball,” Kansas City (Kansas) Kansan, August 3, 1921: 2; “Black Sox Are Banned,” Long Beach (California) Daily Telegram, August 3, 1921: 1.

29 See Jacob Pomrenke, “After the Fall: The Post-Black Sox Scandal Interviews,” SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter, Vol. 8, No. 1 (June 2016), 6-10, a comprehensive bibliography of statements relating to the World Series fix made by the banished players. There are no such statements attributed to Fred McMullin.

30 Shav Glick, “He’s a Rose by Another Name,” Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2004: 38.

31 Warren Brown, The Chicago White Sox (New York: Putnam, 1952), 99.

32 See David Zaslawsky, “Memories of Black Sox Scandal Recalled at World Series Time,” Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, October 18, 1986. See also, Rick Davis, “Memories of 1919,” Palm Springs Desert Sun, August 26, 2001. The writer is indebted to committee colleague Leman Saunders for providing him with these intriguing news articles.

33 Asinof, Eight Men Out, 17. A quarter-century later, the screenplay authored by Asinof and director John Sayles for the film version of 8MO relocated the incident to a nightspot men’s room.

34 McMullin is mentioned twice in the deposition of Bill Burns, and once in Billy Maharg’s deposition. See Joe Jackson, Plaintiff vs. Chicago American League Baseball Club, Defendant, Jacob Pomrenke and David J. Fletcher, eds. (Chicago: Eckhartz Press, 2023): Burns, 276 and 278; Maharg, 296.

35 Joe Reichler, “Only $47,000 Changed Hands in ‘Black Sox’ Scandal of 1919,” Newark Star-Ledger, February 20, 1947: 38. Thanks to Bruce Allardice for directing the writer to this article.

36 Roy T. Rocene’s “Sport Jabs,” Missoula (Montana) Daily Missoulian, December 4, 1952: 9. Another thanks to Bruce Allardice for alerting me to this obscure column.

37 “Fred McMullin Dies at 61; Former Chisox Infielder,” The Sporting News, December 3, 1952: 38.

38 An accounting of the numerous examples of Asinof invention in the book and film versions of Eight Men Out is appended to the Eight Myths Out project, accessible at SABR.org/eight-myths-out.

39 Mike Kopf, “Fred McMullin: An Underrated Crook?” Baseball Analyst, October 1988, 11.

40 Gene Carney, Burying the Black Sox: How Baseball’s Cover-Up of the 1919 World Series Fix Almost Succeeded (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2006), 217.

41 Baseball-Reference Bullpen, “Black Sox Scandal: Banned Players,” accessed December 1, 2025.

42 Kopf’s essay argues that McMullin earned his way into the Series fix by tendering bogus scouting reports on the Cincinnati Reds. The obvious weakness in this argument is it gets things backwards. McMullin had no reason to mislead Manager Gleason and the Clean Sox about the Reds unless he was already in on the fix.

43 Arnold (Chick) Gandil as told to Mel Durslag, “This Is My Story of the Black Sox Series,” Sports Illustrated, September 17, 1956.

44 Gandil, Sports Illustrated.

45 Initially published under Frank O. Klein’s byline as “Judge Landis Busy as Ever Chasing the Baseball Spotlight,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Star, January 14, 1927: 18, and re-published the following day as “New Evidence Exposes Landis Baseball Farce,” Collyer’s Eye, January 15, 1927: 1. For analysis and commentary, see Bruce Allardice, “Gedeon Claim May Shed New Light on Scandal,” SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee Newsletter, Vol. 16, No. 2 (December 2024), 11-12.

46 Klein, “Judge Landis Busy as Ever.”

A 1919 Chicago White Sox team photo includes three young boys without baseball uniforms: two batboys at the far left and a clubhouse boy called “Sharkey” sitting on the ground with Eddie Collins’s hands on his shoulders. The two batboys, Clyde Winn and Billy Downes, went on to live distinguished lives in Chicago. (1920 Reach Baseball Guide)

Of the five known team photos taken of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, only one features non-uniformed personnel. White Sox players and manager Kid Gleason are shown wearing their white home uniforms in front of a grandstand full of people. Two unidentified young boys in short-sleeved shirts and White Sox caps are flanking them to the left. Another man, identified as “Sharkey, clubhouse boy,” is sitting on the ground in front of Eddie Collins, who places his hands on the young man’s shoulders.1

This team picture was the same one used for the 1919 World Series program — with the two kids at the far left cropped out — and in the 1920 Reach Baseball Guide. In neither publication are the two boys identified and the mysterious “clubhouse boy” is always just identified as “Sharkey.”

In a two-part series, I will identify these long-forgotten members of the 1919 White Sox for the first time in over 100 years and shed new light on their life stories. This article will focus on the two young boys in short-sleeved shirts.

Eddie Bennett’s Origin Story

First, a word on Eddie Bennett. In the mid-1920s, Eddie Bennett rose to fame as a “mascot” and good-luck charm for the New York Yankees championship teams with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Bennett reportedly got his start in baseball back in 1919 after he was discovered by White Sox outfielder Happy Felsch on a trip to New York. No definite photo of Bennett with the White Sox has turned up, leading some writers to question if he ever was with the team in 1919.2

To date, the earliest mention of Bennett’s association with the 1919 White Sox comes from articles published about Bennett late in the 1920 season when he was a mascot with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Bennett also appeared in a widely circulated Dodgers team photo that was published in many American newspapers in late September, just weeks before Brooklyn’s first World Series appearance.

A September 29, 1920 article in an Indiana newspaper describes the teenage Eddie Bennett as “a little orphan” who was friends with the son of Dodgers outfielder Hi Myers. Bennett reportedly told “big tales about how he made the White Sox a winner in 1919.”3 The article ended with the claim that Bennett “brought the White Sox over in 1919 and the Dodgers this season. Shucks! Why, Eddie’s worth more than Babe Ruth to any man’s ball club any way you figure.”4

A Brooklyn Times Union article on October 5 described the two Dodgers mascots as follows:

“The Dodgers’ two mascots were Richard Claude, 15, a local product, and Eddie Bennett, 16, a White Sox cast-off, who came to Brooklyn this year by the waiver route. … Bennett, who mascoted the White Sox into a pennant last year, is a protégé of Hi Myers.”5

Brooklyn Eagle sportswriter James J. Murphy added a little more detail to Bennett’s White Sox tenure in his World Series column that appeared on October 9. Murphy reported that Bennett served as the White Sox mascot “last season” and “he received a slice of the World Series spoils from the Sox players and returned to New York.”6

Writing about Bennett a few years later, syndicated columnist Westbrook Pegler claimed:

“In 1919 without previous experience, he adopted the White Sox when they were in depth of an August slump, traveled the league over with them, and became the star bat boy of the world series which was lost only because the Sox were determined not to win.

“The next spring, he refused to report to the White Sox. He had no squawk to make concerning the wages for they had given him $18 a week and a $200 pool at the end of the series, but he was convinced that the Sox hadn’t shown him the proper support in the world series, which he was sure he deserved to win.”7

In a 1928 interview with Lank Leonard of the Brooklyn Citizen, Bennett gave his own version of the White Sox story. After being fired from his job as a runner for a Wall Street brokerage firm, Bennett decided to cheer himself up by taking in a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds between the Yankees and the White Sox. The details Bennett provided line up with the White Sox-Yankees doubleheader on July 30, 1919.

After the Yankees won the first game, Bennett went to get a drink of water under the bleachers — “the luckiest drink of water I ever took!” At this moment, White Sox center fielder Happy Felsch was on his way to the clubhouse and spotted Bennett. Felsch walked over to Bennett and asked, “Say, kid are you lucky?” Bennett smartly replied, “Well, of course” despite being fired from his job just a few hours earlier.

According to Bennett, Felsch took him to the dressing room and then on the field as a “jinx chaser.” The White Sox went on to win the second game. The Sox insisted Bennett return for the game the next day, which they won. That win sealed his fate, as he told Leonard. After that win, “then they were convinced I was a lucky charm and insisted I go with them on the road. It seemed too good to be true, but they really meant it, and I remained with the club right through the world series with Cincinnati.”8

Given these sources, it appears Bennett did serve as a mascot or batboy for the 1919 White Sox, at least for one series in New York and it is reasonable to assume probably for the conclusion of the road trip in early August through Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Whether Bennett remained with the team as a good-luck charm for the rest of the season and for the World Series is unclear.

As I will show below, the White Sox already employed two mascot/batboys for their home games in 1919. So it seems unlikely they would employ a third, especially one who lived so far away in New York. However, ball players can be a superstitious lot, so the idea can’t be dismissed entirely.9

Tracking Down the 1919 Batboys

So who were the two White Sox batboys in 1919?

Reporting on and interviewing team mascots prior to a World Series was a typical newspaper feature during the early twentieth century. However, there seems to be little mention in the press of the White Sox’s two mascots in the leadup to the 1919 World Series.

In an October 4 article in the Cincinnati Post, an article describes the pregame festivities before Game Four: “Bud Bancroft, mascot of the Reds, was the first representative of either team to appear on the field in uniform this afternoon. The two White Sox mascots followed him shortly after.”10

Yet another article, circulated in various newspapers across the country, mentions the two White Sox bat boys meeting with the Reds’ mascot prior to Game Four:

“That pride usually goeth before a fall was demonstrated when two White Sox bat boys visited the Reds’ mascot. They were received with warmth. These same two White Sox boys visited the same Red mascot yesterday and at that time met with a superior manner, the visiting youngster having nothing to do with them.”11

It is also worth pointing out the two articles mention two mascots, not three. One of these bat boys was finally named in a United Press article that ran in the Cincinnati Post on October 6, lamenting Eddie Cicotte’s loss in Game Four:

“ ‘Hard luck’ said young Clyde Winn, White Sox bat boy, mourning over Eddie Cicotte’s second lambasting by the Reds. ‘And I know what I’m talking about, because in my job a fellow’s got to know the game. I been bat boy for the Sox all season and I’ve seen ’em play many a worse game and win it.’ ”12

The 13-year-old Winn is further quoted as saying:

“Cicotte shoulda win that game, but everybody has bad luck now and then, and it was just his turn. He was cussin’ to beat the band when he came back to the dugout after the fifth inning. The Reds got the breaks, thassal; they coulda won this game with a pair of dice, thassal. Thassal.”13

In addition to these articles, newsreel footage of the 1919 World Series clearly shows at least one mascot, possibly two, sitting around with the White Sox players before their first home game of the series, Game Three.14

A little more digging was needed to help identify the second batboy. A 1920 department store advertisement article helped clear up this mystery.

Billy Downes and Clyde Winn were pictured in the Chicago Daily News on July 15, 1920, before their public appearance at Marshall Field and Company store. (Public Domain)

In July 1920, the Marshall Field and Company department store hosted a meet-and-greet with the two White Sox mascots on their “juvenile floor.” The full-page ad featured a grainy photo of the two boys, Clyde Winn and Billy Downes, in uniform and a brief interview about a mascot’s gameday duties and their favorite players were:

“A Mascot gets the foul balls and gives them back to the umpire. When the players run out of balls, he goes up into the office after new ones. He gets the bats, keeps the catcher’s stuff out of the way, and helps the players warm up when they come on the field early to practice.”15

Winn named Buck Weaver and Eddie Collins as his favorites, while Downes (“who used to be Bat Boy to the Visiting Teams”) picked Ty Cobb and George Sisler.16

A 1975 obituary for William Downes Jr. confirmed that he “was a batboy for the Chicago White Sox for several years, including 1919—the year of the infamous Black Sox scandal in which some players sold out the team in the World Series.”17

After identifying the two batboys by name, I was able to contact family members for Winn and Downes, and confirm they both worked for the White Sox in 1919. Clyde Winn’s grandson, Mike Adams, even had a clear photograph that appears to be from the same photoshoot for the 1920 department store ad. The photo leaves no doubt that these are the two boys present in the official White Sox team photograph that appeared in the 1919 World Series program (cropped) and 1920 Reach Guide, as well as in film footage and newspaper reports from the Series.18

Clyde Winn and Billy Downes

With the real 1919 White Sox mascots identified, we can now fill in the gaps and learn more about their lives.

Clyde Edward Winn was born on July 4, 1906, in Chicago. On the 1920 US Census, Clyde’s family lived on Normal Avenue, just a couple blocks away from Comiskey Park. The son of a police officer, Clyde would also go on to serve the city of Chicago as a police officer and detective. He worked at the police department from 1932 until his retirement in 1969.

The life of a policeman and detective in Chicago yielded some interesting encounters. In 1955, Winn was shot in the right thumb during an armed robbery of a South Side tavern.19 Detective Winn along with three other officers, all in plainclothes, were eating when five gunmen entered to rob the place. Winn heard one of the men shout “Stickup!” Winn drew his gun but he was shot in the thumb first. He heard one shout, “They’re policemen, kill them!”20

Instead, the gunmen forced everyone to lay on the floor while they took $400 from the register and the officers’ guns and badges. A bartender handed guns to an officer and a customer, and they fired a barrage of bullets at the thieves, disabling their car and wounding one. The gunmen were forced to abandon their getaway car and flee on foot, enabling some of them to be arrested.21

According to grandson Mike Adams, Clyde Winn took issue with the fact that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended the eight White Sox players after they were acquitted at trial. Winn said Babe Ruth was one of his favorite players and that Ruth would often send the batboys, including Winn, out to get him food or drinks during ballgames.

Adams also shared a story about Clyde’s mother, who was at their house doing chores one day when she heard a loud cheer from Comiskey Park down the street. When Clyde came home, she asked what the roar was about. Clyde told her that the team let him take batting practice, he hit a home run, and all the White Sox players burst out in a loud ovation cheering his home run.22 Clyde Winn passed away in September 1976 at the age of 70.23

A photo promoting the Chicago White Sox batboys’ scheduled meet-and-greet at Marshall Field’s in July 1920 shows Billy Downes and Clyde Winn in uniform next to “Pat Moran’s Baseball Board Game,” which was on sale at the store in downtown Chicago. (Courtesy of Mike Adams)

William Edward “Billy” Downes Jr. was born on October 22, 1904, in Chicago. In 1920, the Downes family was living at 3245 S. Wells St., directly across the street from Comiskey Park. Downes served as a mascot and batboy for the White Sox for four seasons, usually in the visiting team’s clubhouse and dugout.24 Downes was always active in sports, first as a star player for his high school basketball and baseball teams, and then as a referee.

In 1941, Downes began working for the National Football League as a professional football referee. He spent more than 25 years as an NFL official — blowing a whistle for many noteworthy games including the New York Giants’ 1956 championship clincher at Yankee Stadium25 — before moving into a supervisory role. At the time of his death in 1975, Downes was said to have refereed more NFL championship and all-star games than any other referee.26

One interesting anecdote from Downes’s time as a referee involved a near-death experience. In 1952, Downes was calling games for a traveling basketball team called the Abe Saperstein Globe Trotter-College All-Stars.27 The team had an engagement in South America and Downes was asked to join as a referee. He declined due to family obligations. The Pan-American flight he would have taken crashed into the Brazilian jungle, killing everyone on board, including his replacement official.28

In his life outside of sports, William Downes worked his way up through civil service in Chicago. In 1956, he was appointed as the director of O’Hare and Midway airports. A few years later, he was named the city’s commissioner of aviation, a post he held until his death in 1975.29 Upon hearing the news, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley said, “Our city has lost a devoted public official and I have lost a very dear friend.”30 In 1978, the Airports Council International of North America created the William E. Downes Jr. Memorial Award, a prestigious award given annually for important accomplishments that had a significant and positive impact on airports or aviation in airport management in the United States and Canada.31

Both of the men who served as White Sox batboys in 1919 went on to lead interesting lives in Chicago. Mayor Daley attended both of their funerals — Downes because of his decades of service as a high-ranking city official and prominent NFL referee, and Winn for his long career as a police officer and detective whose duties sometimes included driving the mayor around Chicago.

In part two of this series, I will explore more about “Sharkey,” the mysterious clubhouse boy also pictured with the 1919 White Sox.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank members of the Downes and Winn families who helped by giving information on their baseball relatives. Special thanks to Mike Adams, grandson of Clyde Winn, who sent a 1920 photograph of Clyde and Billy in White Sox uniforms.

Notes

1 Reach Official American League Guide, 1920: 42.

2 Peter Morris, “Eddie Bennett.” Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox. (Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, 2015): 265-68.

3 Dean Snyder, “Mascot Second Team To Flag,” Logansport (Indiana) Pharos Tribune, September 29, 1920.

4 Snyder.

5 Brooklyn Times Union, October 5, 1920.

6 James J. Murphy, “Robins Get Line on Indians’ Field at Practice Session,” Brooklyn Eagle, October 9, 1920.

7 Westbrook Pegler, “The Sporting Goods,” Chicago Tribune, January 10, 1926.

8 Lank Leonard, “Loss of Wall Street Job Made Eddie Bennett Baseball Mascot,” Brooklyn Citizen, December 1, 1928.

9 Peter Morris, in his SABR biography of Eddie Bennett, echoes the skepticism that Bennett served as the White Sox mascot for the remainder of the 1919 season. He cites authors Jack Kavanagh and Norman Macht who suggested that “Bennett probably remained with the club for only a couple of 1919 regular-season games.”

10 Tom Swope, “Fun Is Promised On Field,” Cincinnati Post, October 4, 1919: 1. Bud Bancroft was the son of veteran Reds business manager Frank Bancroft.

11 “World’s Series Sidelights,” Baltimore Sun, October 5, 1919.

12 “Reds In Luck, Thassal, Says Sox Bat Boy,” Cincinnati Post, October 6, 1919.

13 “Reds In Luck, Thassal, Says Sox Bat Boy.”

14 “British Canadian Pathe News, 81A: 1919 World Series excerpt,” Library and Archives Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mPHqbJXDQI; “The Faith of Fifty Million People: Inning Three,” Baseball. Ken Burns (PBS, 1994). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iaGyUba6DY. The Smithsonian Institute colorized parts of the 1919 World Series film footage and used it in 2018 Season 2, Episode 3 of their television series America In Color: Organized Crime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ5HoZK6ogc.

15 “Boy Mascots of White Sox To Be On Fourth Floor, Friday, July 16,” Chicago Daily News, July 15, 1920: 16.

16 Kitty Spry, “Just What Exactly Does a Mascot Do?” Chicago Daily News, July 15, 1920: 16.

17 “William Downes dies; aviation chief, referee,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1975.

18 Mike Adams interview with author, January 3, 2023. In a photograph provided by Adams, the boys are posed with Pat Moran’s baseball board game, which also appeared in the July 1920 ad for their appearance at the Marshall Field and Company department store.

19 “Seize 3 Bandits Who Disarmed Cops In Tavern,” Chicago Tribune, November 24, 1955.

20 “Gunmen and Police Battle In Chicago,” Rock Island (Illinois) Argus, November 23, 1955.

21 “Gunmen and Police Battle In Chicago.”

22 Mike Adams interview, January 3, 2023.

23 “Winn, Clyde E.” Chicago Tribune, September 28, 1976. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

24 “William Downes dies; aviation chief, referee”; “Boy Mascots of White Sox To Be On Fourth Floor, Friday, July 16.”

25 Hal Higdon, “‘The Referee: ‘If it were not for the rules, they’d break bones on every play,” Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, August 27, 1967: 155.

26 “William Downes dies; aviation chief, referee.”

27 While Saperstein was also the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, this was not the same team.

28 Arch Ward, “In the Wake of the News,” Chicago Tribune, July 29, 1952.

29 “William Downes dies; aviation chief, referee.”

30 “William Downes dies; aviation chief, referee.”

31 https://aci-na.secure-platform.com/a/page/awards/downes-award.

SABR member Bill Hickman, the longtime chair of our Pictorial History Committee, has made available his research into “near major leaguers” — the aspiring professional players who were invited to spring training, who appeared in spring training games, or who were called up during the regular season but never appeared in an MLB game.

These lists are now available for all baseball researchers to view at the Google Docs spreadsheet below:

• Click here to view the Near Major Leaguers lists

The spreadsheet is divided into three tabs; click on a tab at the bottom of the screen to view them:

1. Rostered But DNP: Also known as “phantom major leaguers,” these are players who were called up during the regular season, but didn’t get into a major-league game. SABR member Keith Olbermann likes to describe this group as “The Bill Sharman Society,” in honor of the future Boston Celtics star and Basketball Hall of Famer who was called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951. This list covers more than 1,200 players dating back to 1884. Sources include: SABR Baseball Records Committee, Baseball-Reference.com.
2. Spring Rosters: Players who were on major-league rosters around the time of spring training, but never got into a regular season major-league game. Most of them were in spring training exhibition games. This list covers more than 3,300 players since 1925. Sources include: The Sporting News, Baseball Digest, annual yearbooks/guides.
3. Non-Roster Invitees: Players who were invited to major-league spring training camps, but were not on the rosters, i.e. they were known as non-roster invitees, but they also never got into regular season major-league games. This list covers more than 2,400 players between 1950 and 1999, including “replacement players” in 1995. Sources include: The Sporting News, newspaper archives.

Please contact Bill Hickman if you have any questions or corrections.

Photo credits: Bob Lemke, Trading Card Database

Robinson Canó’s single with the Diablos Rojos in the Mexican League playoffs on September 13, 2025, made him one of 23 players known to have recorded 4,000 career hits at all professional levels. (Courtesy of Prensa Diablos / Enrique Gutiérrez)

On Saturday, September 13, 2025, Robinson Canó stepped into the batter’s box at Estadio Panamericano de Béisbol in Sapopan, home of the Charros de Jalisco of the Mexican League. Canó, now 42 years old and more than three years removed from his last game in Major League Baseball, was batting third as the designated hitter for the visiting Diablos Rojos del México. It was Game Three of the Serie del Rey, the fourth and final round of the Mexican League playoffs. Canó’s Red Devils held a 2–0 advantage in the series and a 5–2 lead in the game.

Charros starting pitcher Luis Iván Rodríguez was facing his last hitter of the night. Before Canó batted, Red Devils center fielder Allen Córdoba homered to stretch the early lead to three runs. Canó was patient, working the count full and fouling off the sixth offering. Canó then ripped the seventh pitch into right-center field for a single and jogged down to first base. It was the 4,000th hit of his professional career.

Fewer than two dozen players are confirmed to have reached 4,000 professional hits—when counting stats from the regular season and postseason of competitive professional leagues (major, minor, or independent) around the world, along with international tournaments (borrowing the concept of “club and country” from international football).

As Scott Simkus wrote in 2013 when he published the first list of players with 4,000 professional hits at SABR.org, “A player who reaches 4,000 hits in any professional baseball environment — in any country, in any era — exists in rarified air.” At that time, there were only nine known members.

In early 2025, Simkus published an updated roster that expanded membership to 18. By this time, Simkus was working with myself and Von Spalding, a researcher who scoured the Latin American leagues to confirm several more players with 4,000 career hits. I delivered an oral presentation at SABR’s 53rd annual convention titled “Julio, Ichiro, Miñoso, and… Carrillo? Professional Baseball’s 4,000 Hit Club.” Leading up to the convention, we confirmed three more players, bringing the membership to 21.

We also shared that Robinson Canó was not only working his way toward the milestone, but was thriving south of the border. Canó won the Mexican League’s Most Valuable Player award in 2024 after hitting .431/.475/.639 with 14 home runs and 77 RBIs in 78 games. In 2025, he slashed .372/.426/.573 as his Diablos Rojos attempted to repeat as champions. They swept the Leones de Yucatán and Pericos de Puebla in the first two rounds of the Mexican League playoffs before battling with the Pirates de Campeche for six games in the Zone Championship Series. That set up a Serie del Rey appearance against the Charros.

Canó’s single made him the 22nd confirmed member of the 4,000 Professional Hit Club. The Diablos Rojos celebrated the milestone on the field, collecting the ball while Canó saluted the crowd. He became the first player to celebrate the milestone in real time.

4,000 imparables. 4,000 momentos que quedarán en la historia.
Robinson Canó lo ha vuelto a hacer: llega a los 4,000 hits de por vida, y el número 4,000 lo conecta jugando su segunda Serie del Rey con los Diablos Rojos del México.

Un legado que trasciende fronteras, un hito… pic.twitter.com/vorFFtBG60

— DiablosRojosMX (@DiablosRojosMX) September 14, 2025

Pete Rose and Ty Cobb’s 4,000th professional hits came earlier and without the fanfare of their 4,000th major league hits. Even Ichiro Suzuki’s 4,000th professional hit, when minor and winter league hits are included, came in early 2012, more than a year before his milestone of 4,000 hits across MLB and NPB combined was widely acknowledged.

After Canó’s milestone hit, his Red Devils won 7–2. The next evening, they completed their sweep against the Charros with a 7–3 win to repeat as Mexican League champions. Canó picked up another hit in Game Four, bringing his total to 4,001. The breakdown:

This definition of “professional hits” does not include games in a non-competitive or instructional setting, such as Spring Training (where Canó compiled another 286 hits) or instructional leagues. It also doesn’t include exhibition games such as All-Star Games. Canó collected two hits in MLB All-Star Games, at least one in Mexican League All-Star Games, and two more in the Dubai Baseball United All-Star Challenge. There may be others, but our efforts were focused elsewhere.

*****

Just days after Canó reached his milestone surrounded by applause and admiration, another player surpassed 4,000 professional hits quietly in a spreadsheet—55 years after his final game.

In early July, fellow SABR member Thomas Van Hyning asked me if Vinicio “Chico” García, who collected seven major league hits for the 1954 Baltimore Orioles, had a shot at 4,000 hits. At first I was skeptical, but once I combined García’s major league, minor league, Mexican League, Mexican Pacific (Winter) League, and some Veracruz Winter League stats from Van Hyning, he crossed the 3,500 hit line. Von Spalding then exhausted his resources to find several more hits in winter leagues. Suddenly, we were only 63 hits away.

While García only played in 39 MLB games, that is just a sliver of an extensive career that spanned several decades and countries. García is a Hall of Famer in his native Mexico, inducted in 1981. In the Mexican League, he collected 1,601 hits and a .323 batting average (winning the batting title in 1963 at age 38). He collected another 1,535 hits in the minor leagues (hitting .291 overall and winning another batting title in the 1949 Arizona-Texas League), plus 115 hits in Cuba. After his playing career he managed in Mexico from 1965 through 1986.

The frustrating part is we knew García had cleared the milestone. We just couldn’t confirm it. We knew of three competitions for which we were missing hit data:

• 1945 for Mineros Grises de Parral of the Mexican National League (a minor league). An article by Jesús Alberto Rubio noted that García “had batted .260, eleven doubles, seven triples, and 49 RBIs.”
• 1945-46 for Venados de Mazatlán of the Mexican Pacific League (a winter league). A league encyclopedia noted that García led the league in at-bats with 232, but no other stats were listed.
• 1946 for Industriales de Monterrey in the Interamerican Series.

I reached out to teams and leagues to see if additional data was available. Unfortunately most emails bounced back and others went unanswered. I received a response from Jesús Alberto Rubio, but unfortunately he had no additional data for 1945. 

After Canó reached 4,000, I turned my attention back to García and reached out to Guillermo Gastélum Duarte, the author of the Mexican Pacific League encyclopedia noted above. Duarte came through in a big way. He shared that García collected 56 hits in 1945-46 for Mazatlán for a .241 average. I was hoping for more hits from that season, but alas García was only 20 years old. That still left us seven hits shy.

However, Duarte also noted García played three more seasons in the Mexican Pacific League that we were not aware of: 1947-48 with Los Mochis (28 hits), 1948-49 with Guaymas (42 hits), and 1949-50 back with Los Mochis (36 hits). Not only did this bring us past 4,000 hits, but García currently sits at 4,099, passing eight players in the process. Despite the fact we’re still missing data on his career—and there may be more we don’t even know about—García is now the 23rd player confirmed to reach 4,000 professional hits.

Vinicio “Chico” García, who played professionally from 1944 to 1970, including with the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, was inducted into the Salón de la Fama, the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1981. (Trading Card Database)

The 4,000 Professional Hit Club continues to evolve. Tris Speaker (3,987), José Cruz (3,938), Rickey Henderson (3,914), and Sam Crawford (3,910) are all within 100 hits, but we feel confident we have exhausted all opportunities for more. That said, there are still gaps in data coverage that remain a challenge. For example, if we had complete data from the playoffs in Mexico, we could possibly add Luis Polonia, Juan Navarrete, and Alonso Téllez to the list. We’re actually certain that Polonia is in the club, but confirmation eludes us. He has 3,999 hits as of this writing, but Spalding found mention of a playoff hit in Mexico (but no box score). Jose Altuve is the only known active player with 3,000 or more professional hits (though Freddie Freeman is just about there), but still has a long way to go.

The latest data for the 4,000 Professional Hit Club is available in a public Google Spreadsheet. There are tabs for grand totals, totals by competition type, individual seasons, and even a dashboard of players with 3,500+ hits who are on our radar. Coverage the project has received can be found on my personal website. If you are aware of any data we are missing, we would graciously welcome it.

ADAM DAROWSKI is the Executive Director of Design for Sports Reference, makers of Baseball Reference, Immaculate Grid, Stathead, and more. He is the creator of the Hall of Stats and is co-chair of SABR’s Overlooked Nineteenth Century Base Ball Legends committee. Contact him with any updates to the 4,000 hit club list.

Robinson Canó of the Diablos Rojos swings for his 4,000th career professional hit on September 13, 2025, during the final round of the Serie del Rey, the Mexican League playoffs, at Estadio Panamericano de Béisbol in Sapopan, Mexico. (Courtesy of Prensa Diablos / Enrique Gutiérrez)

Players With 4,000 Career Professional Hits

Author’s Note: All hit totals are the best available information as of September 25, 2025. Click here for a breakdown of hit totals by season, league, and level. We count hits collected in any competitive domestic leagues, playoffs, and international tournaments. We do not include hits compiled in an instructional or non-competitive setting (such as Spring training or instructional leagues) or exhibition games (such as All-Star games and barnstorming contests). The research team includes Adam Darowski, Von Spalding, and Scott Simkus. 

In 2006, SABR founding members Tom Hufford, Cliff Kachline, and John Pardon gathered in Cooperstown to celebrate the organization’s 35th anniversary. The plaque honors SABR’s first organizational meeting at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown on August 10, 1971.

The SABR story has been told before, but often not in great detail. A history of SABR was published in 2000 by Turner Publishing, but while the book did contain a somewhat abbreviated discussion of the history of the organization, it consisted mostly of self-submitted biographies of members. The late SABR member Dick Thompson compiled a more comprehensive history in the early 2000s, and I updated that manuscript about 20 years ago. That history can now be found on the SABR website, and it is basically an overview with names, dates, facts, and figures, but few behind-the-scenes stories. 

So, what I will do here is to use the first part of the SABR history that I updated about 20 years ago, and add some commentary, recollections, and impressions of that inaugural SABR meeting back in 1971.      

Some of what you will read will be copies of the letters Bob Davids wrote detailing his interest in forming the Society and what he was thinking, with my commentary added. — TH

Baseball is in the fiber of America. As long as there have been baseball fans there have been baseball fanatics, those of us who search for a deeper understanding of the game. On August 10, 1971, 16 such fanatics met at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York, to form the Society for American Baseball Research.

The baseball establishment ignored the Society when it was formed 54 years ago. Today, as membership tops 7,400, the profession of baseball and the various media that report the game are well aware of the collective knowledge and expertise of our group.

Mr. Bob Davids

The logical place to begin a history of the organization is with its founder, L. Robert “Bob” Davids. Bob’s dedication and contributions to both the Society and baseball have been evident for all to see.

In 1985, Bill James wrote that Davids “has done more for baseball research than anyone else living.” In 1994, the National Baseball Library and Archive at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown named a study room in his honor.

Bob was born in Kanawha, Iowa, on March 19, 1926. Following military service in World War II, Bob enrolled at the University of Missouri where he received a degree in journalism in 1949 and a master’s degree in history in 1951. After moving to Washington, DC, he began a 30-year career with the United States Government, working at the Pentagon and the Atomic Energy Commission. He received a Ph.D. in international relations from Georgetown University in 1961.

Bob had been a freelance contributor to The Sporting News since 1951. His first article, on Ralph Kiner, earned him $7.50.

My baseball history, before SABR

I was a baseball fan and like many boys my age I collected baseball cards. I started collecting in earnest in 1961, when I was 11, and a couple of friends and I each tried to put together a complete set of Topps cards that year. None of us were successful, since the seventh and last series of the set never made the candy shelves in our small town, Pulaski, Virginia. 

I knew very little about baseball history as a teenager.  Every few weeks, on Saturdays, my father would take me to downtown Pulaski to the Elks Club barber shop to get a haircut. There would always seem to be the same old gentleman sitting in the corner making conversation and talking baseball.

One time, my father said the gentleman was Doc Ayers. “He pitched for the Washington Senators forty or fifty years ago,” my father said. “A spitball pitcher. Walter Johnson would pitch one day, and Doc would go out the next.” I knew the Washington Senators name from my baseball cards, but I knew none of the guys they talked about at the barber shop. 

My father knew Doc and introduced me to him one day as I showed more interest and paid more attention. So, Doc Ayers was the first Major Leaguer I ever met.

I became aware of The Sporting News when I saw it on the magazine rack at our local Walgreens about 1963. I started buying it and I read it from cover to cover. I became fascinated by a semi-regular column that Lee Allen would write. 

Lee was the Official Historian at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and his column appropriately enough was called “Cooperstown Corner.” His articles ran the gamut of every possible baseball topic, but the ones I liked best were the ones that he would write as spring training was ending. He would write about the old, long-forgotten ballplayers that he would stop and visit during his drives back to Cooperstown. I remember one of Lee’s articles about finding an old catcher from the 1920s-30s period, Roy Spencer. Lee had been looking for Spencer for a number of years and finally found him, down on his luck, living on a houseboat at a dock in Florida. 

His story was interesting, and I thought it sounded like Mr. Spencer could use some help. So I wrote him a letter, asked for his autograph and enclosed a few dollars. I addressed it simply as “Mr. Roy Spencer – Houseboat – Port Charlotte, FL.” A letter addressed like that now probably wouldn’t be delivered – but it was then, and I still have Mr. Spencer’s reply.

Lee Allen’s focus was to complete biographical information of every Major League player, and that seemed like a worthwhile endeavor to me, too.

The Good Book(s)

It was while I was in high school that I discovered a copy of The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball by Hy Turkin and S.C. Thompson, at the local library. The book had been published in the 1950s and really had only minimal statistics and scant biographical data on the players, but it did have listings of every player to have played in the Major Leagues.

I spent countless hours going through that book and making a list of every player who had a birth or death place in Virginia, then adding West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Washington, DC. 

I was struck by how many players were simply listed with a birth state, but no town and no birth date, or who were listed just by their last name. These were players who had made the Major Leagues, after all, and like Lee Allen, I was puzzled that complete information wasn’t available for each and every one. 

Two significant events happened in baseball in 1969. One was that the New York Mets won the World Series, and the other was the publication of The Baseball Encyclopedia by The Macmillan Company. This massive volume was the first baseball encyclopedia to have been produced using a computer, and it included complete playing records for every Major League player. 

It also included greatly expanded player biographical data: dates and places of birth and death, complete names, heights, weights, bats/throws.  This was the data had been compiled over the years by Lee Allen. The publication provided the most complete record to date of the then almost 10,000 former Major League players.

A quick review of the book, though, showed that there were several thousand players whose complete names had never been recorded, whose deaths had been overlooked by local newspapers or never reported to the baseball community, or for whom other information was lacking. There was still a lot of work to be done.

BioProjects

The Macmillan encyclopedia did give me information to update my “players by states” lists, and I began trying to fill in some of the missing information for Virginia-born players. Some players were relatively easy to track down, but others would take many years to find.

Armed with the out-of-town telephone directory collection and newspaper microfilm resources at the Virginia Tech library, it wasn’t long, though, before I had located dozens of living former big-leaguers, and the relatives of numerous others, who were only too happy to fill in missing data.

Not knowing exactly what to do with the new player biographical data that I was uncovering, I contacted Clifford Kachline, who had taken over the job of Historian at the Baseball Hall of Fame, after Lee Allen’s death.

Cliff had just completed a 30-year stint on the staff of The Sporting News and was delighted to receive the new data I had found. Cliff sent me a supply of the biographical questionnaires that the Hall of Fame used, and I then used those when contacting players or relatives for information.

He also put me in touch with several other researchers across the country, who shared my same interest in baseball history, more specifically the biographical information on the players. Most notably among these researchers were Joe Simenic from Cleveland, Bill Haber from Brooklyn, and Bill Gustafson from San Jose.

We corresponded with each other, in effect we had our own little research club, and traded information back and forth about what we were each doing.  No internet in those days and very few phone calls. Just lots and lots of letter writing. And when we would crack a case and find a particular player, we would then send that data to Cliff Kachline in Cooperstown.

Letter #1

As far as SABR was concerned, the organization began to take shape with Bob Davids’ March 19, 1971, letter (and I just noticed that it was dated on his birthday – Bob liked to do things like that!) It read, in part, as follows:

• This letter is being addressed to about 25-30 persons interested in baseball history and statistical research (I use the term “statistorians”). You are an addressee because I have seen your name in The Sporting News in past years appended to an interesting historical or statistical article, or your name has been passed on to me by Ray Nemec, Bob McConnell, Leonard Gettleson, or Cliff Kachline.
• There may be many more than 25 or 30 baseball statistorians around the country. We don’t really know, but I thought some effort should be made to organize this “motley crew” into a more formal group. For that reason we plan to hold an organizational meeting at Cooperstown, New York on August 10-11, 1971. Cliff Kachline, Hall of Fame Historian, has kindly invited us to meet in the museum library. The Hall of Fame baseball game and induction ceremonies will be held on Monday, August 9.
• Why don’t we meet then on August 7-8? Impossible, says Cliff. The place is busier than Washington on Inauguration Day. You could come on August 9, take in the induction festivities and get a motel room for the night, but not before, and then be available for meetings the next day.
• What would be accomplished at the Cooperstown meeting? From general to specific, your attendance would provide an opportunity (1) to see Cooperstown and the always changing Hall of Fame Museum; (2) to meet and exchange firsthand views with other statistorians; (3) to review specific areas of baseball interest to avoid duplication of effort; (4) to establish an informal group primarily for exchange of information; or (5) to establish a formal organization with officers, dues, a charter, annual meetings, etc.; (6) to consider the establishment of a publication in which our research efforts could be presented; and (7) to take up additional matters which you may suggest in response to
  this letter.
• What do you do now? You should send me a note saying something along the lines of (1) Your idea of a get-together of the baseball statistorians sounds great, I would like to attend; (2) I am interested in your efforts to organize this group, I would like to be included but cannot get away for a meeting at Cooperstown this summer; or (3) your plans for an organization are completely impossible; take me off your mailing list, quick.
• I would also hope that you would include in your response the name of additional baseball “nuts” who might qualify or be interested. The next step would then be for me to send to those of you who could make this meeting this summer the information of hotels and motels which you would need for the night(s) of August 9 and 10; August 10 only; or August 10 and 11, depending on your travel plans.

I was excited to receive this letter. I didn’t know anything about Bob Davids except for his by-line on baseball historical articles in The Sporting News from time to time. I had corresponded quite a bit with Cliff Kachline, but I wasn’t familiar with any of the other people mentioned in the letter. I assumed that Cliff  had given Bob my name, but I asked myself what I could possibly add to a group such as the one being proposed?

I was intrigued, though. I was a big baseball fan, but I had never been to Cooperstown, and the meeting would be held two days after that year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Of the eight players being inducted that year, Satchel Paige would be the big attraction. Perhaps I would have a chance to meet him – but if not, there should be plenty of other former stars around, certainly I should be able to talk to someone or get an autograph or two. I had no idea how that meeting would change my life. 

Letter #2

Bob mailed a second letter on April 16. The important excerpts are as follows:

• Although I still haven’t heard from several addressees, I thought I should not wait any longer to get out report No. 2 to those who did respond. Let me say first that my initial mailing of 32 letters brought back 20 replies and three envelopes with “address unknown” stamped on them. Of those 20, there were 17 who expressed interest in the idea of an organization and a desire to be part of it; three expressed mild indifference. Eleven said they plan to go to Cooperstown. Several of you suggested additional researchers and I sent off 10 more letters.
• Most of you responding stated your interest in an organization publication where in you could present some of your research results. This sounds feasible. Several mentioned interest in firsthand exchange to find out what others are doing. I was surprised at the range of specific interests: baseball photos, baseball parks, birthplaces, home runs, etc. Some of you said you had specific ideas of what should be taken up at the proposed meeting. Now is the time to come forward with these ideas so I can prepare a draft agenda.
• Be completely candid in your suggestions, for nothing is frozen in place at this point except the date, August 10.

Still questioning whether or not I should go to Cooperstown, I finally decided that even though I might not have anything to add to the group, the thought of visiting the Hall of Fame was an opportunity that might not come again. I decided to phone Bob Davids and talk with him about the proposed trip, and right away Bob said, “If you can get to Washington, you can ride up with my family and me.” 

So, when August rolled around, I caught a bus from Pulaski to Washington and set upon my Cooperstown adventure.

I don’t remember the exact date of my arrival in Washington, just that I walked several blocks from the downtown bus station to the old Ambassador Hotel at the corner of 14th and K Streets, where I spent the night. Or maybe it was two nights. 

It also just so happened that the Washington Senators were playing at home that week and Bob picked me up to go to the game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. It was the first and only game I ever saw at RFK, and I remember nothing about it. By looking at Baseball-Reference, I see that the Cleveland Indians played four games at Washington on Thursday, August 5, through Sunday, August 8. I know it wasn’t August 8 because we were in Cooperstown that day, and we probably drove on Saturday, so we either saw the Nats’  7-1 loss on Thursday or their 7-3 win on Friday.

Either way, we didn’t know it at the time, but the Senators would only call RFK home for less than two more months, before moving to Texas for the 1972 season. And some day I’ll learn the exact date of the game we saw, because I’ve never thrown away a ticket stub – I just don’t know where they all are at the moment!

The morning we were to head north, Bob came by the Ambassador Hotel and we drove back to his home in northwest Washington. There we picked up Bob’s wife, Yvonne, and daughter, Roberta, to begin the 375 mile trip to Cooperstown. We traveled north through Pennsylvania and spent the night at a motel somewhere near the Pennsylvania/New York border.

Arriving in Cooperstown

We arrived in Cooperstown in plenty of time to park and to go stand in front of the National Baseball Library, a building connected to the rear of the Hall of Fame, where the induction ceremonies were held. I remember it was a hot August day, so we hunted for a space in the shade. The crowd for the induction ceremonies would be a fraction of what it is in today, but part of the reason may have been that 1971 was an unusual induction year. No players were elected by the Baseball Writers of America group, one player – Satchel Paige – was elected by the newly formed Negro Leagues Committee, and seven players or executives were elected by the Veterans Committee. None were well known – Jake Beckley had died in 1918, and Joe Kelley in 1943, Dave Bancroft and George Weiss were ill and could not attend. Only Veterans Electees Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, and Rube Marquard were alive and able to attend, and their Major League careers had ended in 1937, 1925, and 1925 respectively. Not exactly household names. Satchel Paige was easily the draw for this year’s ceremonies.

In those days an exhibition game would be played on the same day after the induction, pitting an American League team against a representative from the National League. Our SABR organizational meeting wasn’t scheduled until Tuesday morning, but several of the attendees were already in town, and Cliff Kachline graciously obtained tickets for us to attend the game. This year, the Cleveland Indians bested the Chicago Cubs by a score of 13-5 at Doubleday Field.  

After the game, players from both teams mixed and mingled with the fans in the parking lot, before they boarded their buses for the trip to the airport. That’s where I met Ernie Banks and got his autograph.

Participants at SABR’s organizational meeting on August 10, 1971, at the National Baseball Library in Cooperstown, New York. Back row, from left: Neil Campbell (visitor), Bill Haber, Keith Sutton, Dan Dischley, Dan Ginsburg, Tom Hufford, Ray Nemec; front row: Cliff Kachline, Ray Gonzalez, Bill Gustafson, Joe Simenic, Paul Frisz, Tom Shea, Bob McConnell, John Pardon, Bob Davids. (Pat McDonough is the only founding member not pictured above.)

The Big Meeting

After the induction ceremonies were completed, the Hall of Fame game was over, and the Village of Cooperstown got back to normal, a meeting was held at the National Baseball Library, a part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The date was Tuesday, August 10, 1971, and of the several dozen people who had received invitations to attend from Bob Davids, 17 attended. No, that is not a misprint. The group is called the Cooperstown 16 now, but 17 actually attended. Neil Campbell happened to be in the library that day, attended the meeting, but ended up never joining the group. 

I was one of those persons who attended, and who spent the day talking about our interests in researching and preserving baseball history. The group came from as far away as San Jose, ranged in age from 15 to 75, and represented diverse baseball interests such as biographical research, statistical analysis, home runs, minor league history, 19th century baseball, research on triple plays, book collecting, etc., etc.  One photo was taken of the group during the meeting. Visitor Neil Campbell is in the photo, but member Pat McDonough isn’t. Pat must have taken the photo!

The first part of the meeting consisted of each of us introducing ourselves to each other. It struck me as odd that of all the attendees there, few had ever met any of the others.  Many had corresponded with each other over the years, but everything seemed to have been done by mail, with very few phone calls ever involved. 

I also noticed how young I was compared to most everyone else. But I wasn’t the youngest in attendance. That honor went to Dan Ginsburg, 15, from Pittsburgh. His dad brought him and everyone thought the elder Ginsburg was there for the meeting, but no, Mr. Ginsburg dropped off Dan and left to go see the sights of Cooperstown. It turned out that Dan, at his tender age, had done significant research on the Pittsburgh teams of the 1890s. He later wrote a book entitled The Fix Is In: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game Fixing Scandals (1995).

Unfortunately, in addition to being the youngest SABR founding member he was also the youngest to die, at the age of 53, a week after attending the 2009 SABR convention in Washington, DC.

At age 21, I was the second youngest in attendance that day, followed by Dan Dischley at 27, Bill Haber at 29, and John Pardon at 33. All the rest seemed to be much older, but I reckoned that they had to be, since they already knew absolutely everything there was to know about baseball. But now as I look back, I see that our oldest founder was 67 and I’m now 75 — and I am amazed at how much I don’t know about baseball!

Once the business meeting actually started it moved along very quickly, a credit to the work Bob Davids had done in making out an agenda, and building on responses to the invitations he had previously mailed out.

There was general consensus among those gathered that it would be beneficial to organize a formal group. Bob Davids asked Cliff Kachline, who had regular contact with many researchers and writers across the country, how many people he thought might ultimately be interested in such a group, and after giving it some thought Cliff responded that there might be a total of  “about 50.” 

After much discussion, the group defined the following five objectives:

1. To foster the study of baseball as a significant American social and athletic institution.
2. To establish an accurate account of baseball through the years.
3. To facilitate the dissemination of baseball research information.
4. To stimulate the best interests of baseball as our national pastime.
5. To cooperate in safeguarding the proprietary interests of individual research efforts of members of the Society.

The group also established four active committees. They were Biographical Research, Publications, Minor Leagues, and Negro Leagues. The possibility of having a Baseball Records Committee was also discussed, and was added later.  

After our lunch, we resumed our discussions and agreed to have annual dues of $10, and made plans to establish a constitution, an annual meeting, and the publication of a newsletter.

What’s in a name?

All of the above was decided upon rather quickly, but agreeing on a name for the group was another matter. It took the rest of the afternoon.  Discussion of a name for the organization centered around geographic coverage, a possible acronym, and a means of covering both the historical and statistical aspects of the group without having a long title. It was generally agreed that the word “research” accomplished the latter. In regard to geographic scope, it was stated that “American” was broader than “National,” because that would include North, Central and South America. “Society” was preferred over “Association.” Several proposals regarding a name designation with a baseball acronym were tried, but nothing seemed to work.  “Research on Baseball Institute” (RBI) was awkward, and “Baseball Research Association” (BRA) wouldn’t work either.

Finally, Bill Gustafson’s suggestion of “Society for American Baseball Research” and SABR were decided on.

At the end of the meeting, Bob Davids was elected President, John Pardon Vice-President, and Bob McConnell Secretary-Treasurer.

Growth spurt

Shortly after the Cooperstown meeting, The Sporting News ran a small article about the formation of SABR, and it became apparent very quickly that there were more than “about 50” researchers interested in such an organization. 

Within a year, membership had reached 100, topped the 300 level in 1975, and hit the 1,000 mark in 1979. Today, SABR is a not-for-profit organization with just over 7,400 members, and SABR has established itself as the oldest and most respected sports research group in the world. 

As for me, after that August 10 organizational meeting, Bob, Yvonne, and Roberta Davids returned to Washington, DC, and I stayed behind in Cooperstown for a few days. After all, I hadn’t yet been to the Hall of Fame museum and wanted to spend at least a day exploring the vast resources in the HOF Library, and to have dinner with Cliff and Evelyn Kachline. 

I got to do all that, and Cliff pointed me to the local bus system which made a trip every other day to New York City. I enjoyed the ride, walked around NYC for a few hours, then boarded the Greyhound that headed back to Virginia. 

I took with me priceless memories that I hope I never forget, and precious friendships within the SABR organization that have lasted over 50 years. I’ve been truly blessed! 

The growing need for an organization

At the ceremony to honor the 20th anniversary of the Society on August 10, 1991, Bob Davids outlined the factors and steps that led him to consider starting an organization like SABR:

1. The death of J.G. Taylor Spink in 1962 and the subsequent transition of The Sporting News to an all-sports publication which sharply reduced the baseball publishing efforts of several future SABR members.
2. Bob’s January 8, 1966 letter to Barnes Publishing Company proposing a baseball book with chapters to be written by Lee Allen, John Tattersall, Keith Sutton, Ray Nemec, Leonard Gettleson, and Bob himself, which Barnes quickly declined.
3. Bob’s parallel decisions in January 1971 to publish the Baseball Briefs newsletter and to send letters to Bob McConnell, Ray Nemec, Cliff Kachline, and others proposing the formation of a “Statistorian” type group and asking names and addresses of other interested researchers. Almost all responded favorably and provided other names.
4. Cliff Kachline’ s agreement to provide a meeting site at Cooperstown the day after Hall of Fame inductions on August 10, 1971.
5. Multiple responses from Baseball Briefs subscribers and new contacts providing a growing mailing list of some 40 persons who were sent invitational/instructional letters on March 19, April 16, and June 28, the final letter containing the meeting agenda.

Reporting on the death of a Black Sox outlaw

In late 1969, I had located former major league first-baseman Arnold “Chick” Gandil, living in California. Gandil was generally regarded as the ring-leader of the eight members of the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox,” who conspired to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. He and the other seven were eventually banned from baseball for life.  I didn’t bring that up when I contacted Gandil. 

Instead, I mentioned that I lived in Pulaski, Virginia, the same town as Gandil’s 1913-15 Washington Senators teammate Doc Ayers, and that I enjoyed meeting Ayers on numerous afternoons at the Elks Club barber shop, where he would tell stories about his baseball career.

Gandil, who had become a plumber after his baseball days, responded to me, and the two of us exchanged letters for about a year. 

In early 1971, I received a letter from Mrs. Gandil, telling me that Chick had passed away the previous December. I forwarded that info along to Hall of Fame historian Cliff Kachline, who mentioned it to a friend at The Sporting News. Gandil’s death hadn’t been reported in the press and The Sporting News ran an article, “Death of Black Sox’ Gandil Goes Unnoticed.” 

A few weeks later, TSN sent me a check for $5. No explanation, just a check in an otherwise empty envelope. Cliff said that someone must have been appreciative of my info regarding the Gandils, and that was their thanks. In hindsight, I wish I had never cashed that Sporting News check. It’s the only money I’ve ever received as a result from over 50 years of baseball research!  

Several years later I learned that Mrs. Gandil had died within a week or two of contacting me with news of her husband’s passing. I completed my odyssey with Mr. and Mrs. Gandil in 2006, when my wife, Nan, and I were in California and visited their burial site in St. Helena, in the California wine country.

The $500 Wagner card

In Cooperstown, we had accomplished so much so quickly at the first SABR meeting on the morning of August 10th, 1971, we decided we had time to take a lunch break. I think we all walked over to the Short Stop Restaurant on Main Street.

Bill Haber, who worked for the Topps baseball card company, brought along his briefcase for safe-keeping. When he opened it, I had mixed feelings about what I saw. Bill and I were both baseball card collectors with one big difference – he had a job, and I didn’t.  We both were interested in older cards, such as the ones he had in his briefcase, cards from the 1910 era. 

I first became interested in these cards when I made an acquaintance with Wirt Gammon, longtime sports editor of the Chattanooga Times. Wirt was born in 1905 and collected the cigarette cards as a boy. He was getting older (in his 60s!) and had decided to sell much of his collection. I was trying to buy cards from the set, now known as the T206 set, which included cards of about 525 major and minor league players.  Wirt would send me cards on approval, priced at 35 cents each. I told him how many cards to send, and when they came I could take out the ones I needed, and return the rest. All cards were the same price, whether it was Ty Cobb or Nap Rucker, all except for Honus Wagner. 

I was aware that the Wagner card from this set was notoriously rare.  When I passed the 400-card mark and “only” needed a bit over 100 cards to complete my set (which I knew I would never do), Wirt asked me if I would be interested in purchasing one of his Honus Wagner cards. Interested, yes, but financially speaking, not possible.

Wirt gave me a price, which was more than the total of all the other cards I had bought from him. As I was a college student with at least two more years to go, I politely declined.

So there in Cooperstown, inside the Short Stop, Bill opened his briefcase and did a show-and-tell of his T206 card set.

“I finished this set,” Bill said, “just got the last card that I needed.”  When we asked him what that card was, he said “Honus Wagner, it’s a very rare card. I got it from Wirt Gammon in Chattanooga. Had to pay $500 for it!” Well, if I couldn’t have it, I was glad Bill got it.  But I knew he had a full-time job, and I didn’t, so I understood.

I got to see that Wagner card one more time. In December 1977 I had to be in New York City on business for a few days.  I arranged to visit Bill at his home in Brooklyn one night, and he said “I’m glad you came by, I could use your help.” 

I asked what he needed, and he said “I’m working on the 1978 Topps baseball set, and I’m way behind. I still have to do the narrative on the backs of about half the cards. Let me give you a player’s name, you tell me something you know about him, and then we’ll figure out a little blurb to write about him.” So, we worked into the night, wrote the backs to about 250 cards, and I got to see and hold that Wagner card again.

After Bill died, his collection was sold at auction, and I’ve followed that Wagner card through several other auctions. It was sold by a recent owner, who lives in Peachtree City,  a couple of years ago for well over $1 million — “to put his kids through college.” 

Today I can go into a baseball card shop and pick out the 1978 cards I did the backs for! I still need the Wagner card and three others to complete my T206 set — but I don’t plan to do it.

On the ball at the Otesaga

An autograph collecting friend of mine from Philadelphia who routinely attended the induction ceremonies in Cooperstown had told me that the Hall of Famers usually stayed at the Otesaga Hotel, only several blocks from the Hall, and often these men spent their free time in the hotel lobby after the ceremony. He told me that there might be a chance to meet some of the players by going to the hotel, which would be open to the public. 

So in preparing to go to Cooperstown in 1971, I purchased one Major League baseball at a sporting goods store in Virginia and took it along with me. At the Otesaga, I found there were hardly any “outside visitors” there – and by the time the weekend was over, I had the chance to meet and talk with Hall of Famers Frankie Frisch, Lefty Grove, Pie Traynor, Charlie Gehringer, Dizzy Dean, Bill Dickey, Ted Lyons, Joe Cronin, Zach Wheat, Bob Feller, Edd Roush, Sam Rice, Luke Appling, Burleigh Grimes, Casey Stengel, Red Ruffing, Joe Medwick, Stan Coveleski, Waite Hoyt, Stan Musial, Lou Boudreau, Earle Combs, Ford Frick, Jesse Haines, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper and Rube Marquard.

Marquard, who had pitched in the majors from 1908 until 1925 and was 85 years old in 1971, had a large scrapbook of his career with him. He spent about two hours going through the book with me and recalling his career. Rube and I then exchanged holiday cards until his death in 1980. I cannot imagine something like that happening today!

My one disappointment was that I got to meet almost every baseball notable there in 1971 EXCEPT for Satchel Paige. Cliff Kachline told me later that Satchel wanted to bring so many people with him that there weren’t enough rooms at the Otesaga, so Satchel reserved an entire hotel in a nearby town.

The experience at Cooperstown went beyond my wildest expectations. I had a chance to meet several dozen Hall of Fame players and had my one baseball signed until there was no room for another single signature. 

Tom Hufford was honored on the field by the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on August 19, 2022, during SABR’s 50th annual convention.

This is the online appendix to Herm Krabbenhoft’s article “James Bentley vs. William Henry, John Joseph, and Edward James: An Irresistible Force vs. Three Immovable Objects,” which was published in the Spring 2025 edition of the Nineteenth Century Committee newsletter.

Click on a link below to scroll down to that appendix:

• Appendix A: Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1896-1900)
• Appendix B: Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1896-1900)  
• Appendix C: Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour vs. Willie Keeler (1896-1900)
• Appendix D: Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour vs. John McGraw (1896-1900)
• Appendix E: Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour vs. Ed Delahanty (1896-1900)

Explanatory Information for Appendix A Tables

For the (Game) “Date” column, an entry bracketed with asterisks indicates that there is a discrepancy between the stats from my research and the ICI stats for either Innings Pitched, Hits, and/or Walks. The pertinent information for the discrepancies is provided in Appendix B.

For the “OPP” column, an asterisk indicates the game was played at the opponent’s ballpark.

For the “IP (S/R)” column, IP gives the innings pitched by Seymour; S indicates that Seymour was the starting pitcher; R indicates that Seymour was a relief pitcher; an asterisk indicates that Seymour pitched a complete game.

The ICI pitching sheets for Seymour do not provide stats for AB, TB, and HBP. The AB and TB stats can be calculated from the ICI batting sheets for the players who participated in the games.

Explanatory Information for Appendix B Tables

For the “Discrepancy” columns, the “MR” column gives the stats ascertained in My Research based on the relevant newspaper game accounts (text descriptions and box scores); the “ICI” column gives the stats shown on the ICI sheets; the PBP column gives the stats according to the Play-By-Play information deduced by either Cliff Blau and/or Dick Cramer. The PBP information is unpublished was graciously provided to me by Cliff and Dick.

For the “Player (Seymour IP)” column, the player entered is the player for whom there is a discrepancy between my stats and the ICI stats; when “(Seymour IP)” is entered, it indicates that there is a discrepancy between my IP information and the ICI IP information. The details for the IP discrepancy are described in the specific NOTE after Table B-5.

For the “Details” column, the player’s performance in each of the plate appearances he had against Seymour is given; the inning is given in parentheses. Here are the relevant codes: S, single; D, double; T, triple; W, walk; HP, hit by pitch; SOE, safe on error; O, out.

The detailed description of my determination of the stats for one game with a discrepancy (9-23-1896, New York at Washington) is also provided.

APPENDIX A — Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1896-1900)

Table A-1a. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1896) 

Table A-2a. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1897 — through June 18)

Table A-2b. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1897 — June 22 – Sept. 22) 

Table A-2c. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1897 — Sept. 24 – 30)

Table A-3a. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1898 — through July 04)

Table A-3b. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1898 — July 08 – Oct. 12) 

Table A-4a. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1899 — through Sept. 19)

Table A-4b. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1899 — Sept. 23 – Oct. 13)

Table A-5. Game-By-Game Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour (1900)

Click here to scroll back to the top.

Appendix B — Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1896-1900)

Table B-1. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1896) 

Table B-2a. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1897, through August 17)

Table B-2b. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1897, August 20 through September 29)

Table B-3a. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1898, through June 11)

Table B-3b. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1898, June 22 through September 29). 

Table B-4. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1899)

Table B-5. Discrepancies Between the Pitching Stats from My Research and ICI Pitching Stats for Cy Seymour’s Games (1900)

NOTES for Tables B-1 through B-5 

[1] 5-06-1897: The ICI sheets show 7.2 IP for Seymour. According to the text descriptions given in the relevant newspaper articles, Seymour actually had 7.0 IP. Here is the pertinent information:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle — “[Manager] Joyce also presented a youngster in the person of Cy Seymour after the third.”

Brooklyn Standard Union — “Cy Seymour took Clarke’s place in the box in the fourth inning and held the visitors down to two runs [scored in the ninth inning].”

Brooklyn Times Union — “The Giants’ southpaw [Seymour] took Clarke’s place on the slab in the fourth inning.”

New York Times — “Cy Seymour took Clarke’s place in the box in the fourth inning and held the visitors down to two runs [scored in the ninth inning].”

New York World — “By this time [i.e., at the conclusion of the third inning] Manager Joyce was satisfied that Clarke was not in invincible form, and the crowd cheered madly when the little boyish figure of Cy Seymour meandered towards the pitcher’s box at the opening of the fourth inning.”

New York Evening Post — “Clarke pitched his first game for the New Yorks this season, and after having been batted all over the field in the first three innings, was excused, and Seymour took his place.”

[2] 5-26-1898: The ICI sheets show 4.0 IP for Seymour. According to the text descriptions given in the relevant newspaper articles, Seymour actually had 3.0 IP. Here’s the pertinent information:

New York Evening Journal — “Fourth Inning [TOP] — Grady marched to first on a quad of misfits. Seymour was sent to the bench in disgrace, and Warner batted in his place. Warner forced Grady, and was himself doubled, Steinfeldt, McPhee, and Beckley participating in the play. … [BOTTOM] — Gettig replaced Seymour [in the pitcher’s box], and Grady gave way to Warner behind the bat, and Grady took charge of first mound.”

New York Sun — “In the fourth, the New Yorks presented a changed front. Gettig went into the box, Joyce covered second, and Warner donned the mask and wind pad, and Grady went to first.”

New York Times — Sub-Headline — “Getting Pitched Six Innings” [It is pointed out that Gettig actually pitched only 5 innings since Cincinnati did not bat in the bottom of the 9th inning because they were ahead.] — “Seymour was found for eleven hits and eleven runs in three innings today. Gettig relieved him and did much better.”

New York Tribune — “Seymour was not himself, and was batted for eleven hits and as many runs in the first three innings. He was ordered out of the box by Manager Joyce, and Gettig was sent in to pitch, Warner coming in to catch, Joyce going to second base, and Grady to first base.”

Cincinnati Enquirer — “In three innings they [the Cincinnatis] made 11 hits and 11 runs off Seymour, but were only able to get one run and three hits in the succeeding five innings of Cy’s successor.”

[3] 6-22-1898: The ICI sheets show 8.0 IP for Seymour as the starting pitcher throwing a complete game. According to the text descriptions given in the relevant newspaper articles, Seymour actually had 7.2 IP as a relief pitcher. Here’s the pertinent information:

New York Evening Journal — “First Inning [TOP] — Donovan landed on the sphere with a mighty swing, lamming it to [the] right patch for three-quarters of the circuit. [Starting pitcher] Gettig had difficulty locating the platter and O’Brien walked down the aisle. … [With one out, umpire] Cushman ordered [Manager, first baseman] Joyce from the game for questioning his decision on Gray. Gettig was shifted to the initial cushion and Seymour went out to pitch. Tannehill placed the pellet in Hartman’s glove and Bowerman perished.”

New York Sun — “Seymour, who took Gettig’s place in the first inning after the benching of Joyce, which necessitated a change in the team, was a mystery to the Pirates, [and] prevented them from scoring until the eighth.”

New York Times — Sub-Headline — “Gettig Was An Easy Mark” — Sub Sub-Headline — “He Was Relieved by Seymour Too Late to Save the Game” — “Manager Anson sent Gettig against the Pittsburgs, but Gettig had to be relieved by Seymour in the first inning.”

New York Tribune — “Gettig lasted one-half [should be one third] of an inning and was replaced by Seymour after Pittsburg had won the game.”

Pittsburg Press — “… Joyce, Anson, and others abused [umpire] Cushman, with the result that Joyce was put out of the game, Gettig going to first and Seymour to the rubber.”

Pittsburg Post — “The spectators began to yell for [manager] Anson [to put himself in the game at first base following the ejection of first baseman Joyce], but that famous individual made a lightening change by sending Gettig to first and placing Seymour on the rubber.”

[4] 9-24-1900: The ICI sheets show 1.0 IP for Seymour as a relief pitcher. According to the text descriptions given in the relevant newspaper articles, Seymour actually had 0.1 IP as a relief pitcher. Here’s the pertinent information:

New York Evening World — “Second Inning [TOP] — Murphy struck out. Grady walked. Seymour was a surprise when he came to the bat in place of Carrick [the starting pitcher]. He hit the first ball pitched for a single, and Van Haltren placed a beauty to centre, scoring Grady. … [BOTTOM] — [With Seymour now pitching] Tenney fouled out to Grady, and Collins walked. He went to third on a passed ball. Freeman hit safely, scoring Collins. Taylor took the slab and Seymour the bench. Lowe walked and Connor and Pittinger struck out.”

Boston Globe — “One inning was enough for Carrick, and Seymour took his place and couldn’t pitch strongly enough to break the frost on a wedding cake. Manager Davis yanked Cy out and turned Taylor loose, who finished the game.”

Boston Herald — “Carrick was taken out in the second and replaced by Seymour. The latter was scarcely in the box before he gave a base on balls and made a wild pitch. That was enough for his sponsors and … Taylor was put in.”

Boston Daily Advertiser — “Seymour found it so hard to get the ball anywhere near the plate that he retired before a single inning had been pitched.”

[5] 9-26-1900: The ICI sheets show 8.0 IP for Seymour as the starting pitcher throwing a complete game. According to the text descriptions given in the relevant newspaper articles, Seymour actually had 7.2 IP as the starting pitcher; he did not have a complete game. Here’s the pertinent information:

New York Evening World — “Eighth Inning [BOTTOM] — Freeman hit to Murphy, who fumbled. Lowe forced Freeman at second. Clarke batted for Connor. Clarke hit to Davis, who tried in vain to catch Lowe at third. Lowe scored and Clarke was forced out at second on Dinneen’s hit to [? — incomplete prepositional phrase]. Hamilton and Long walked. Barry singled, scoring Dinneen and Hamilton. Carrick [should be Mercer] was then put in the box and caught Barry napping at first.”

New York Sun — The text account provides no details about the eighth inning. NOTE — The New York Sun box score shows only Seymour as a pitcher for New York.

New York Times — “Thinking the game was clinched, Capt. Davis substituted Mathewson for Seymour in the fifth inning. His wildness, combined with Boston’s batting, drove him from the box in the eighth inning. Mercer replaced him when it was too late to save the game. NOTE — The New York Times box score shows Seymour, Mathewson, and Mercer as having participated in the game as pitchers. Only one other box score shows Mathewson as a participant in the game (New York Tribune; see below). The Batter-By-Batter Play-By-Play given in the New York Evening World has no mention of Mathewson having played in the game in the fifth inning or any other inning. On the contrary, it is stated that in the top of the fifth inning, “Seymour flied to Tenney [for the third out].” And, in the top of the eighth inning, it is stated that, “Seymour was retired, Tenney to Dinneen [for the second out].”

New York Tribune — “Seymour was retired in the fifth inning and Mathewson took his place. The latter was wild. Mercer relieved Mathewson in the eighth, but the change came too late to do any good.” The New York Tribune box score shows Seymour, Mathewson, and Mercer as having participated in the game as pitchers. Only one other box score shows Mathewson as a participant in the game (New York Times; see above).

Boston Globe — “Bases on balls to Hamilton and Long and Barry’s single to center put the Bostons in the lead, as Dinneen and Hamilton scored. Seymour was then replaced by Mercer and on the first ball pitched Barry tried to steal second and was put out by Davis and Doyle.” NOTE — The Boston Globe box score shows only Seymour as the pitcher; Mercer is not shown as playing in the game; likewise for Garrick.

Boston Herald — “It was not until the Bostons drew two bases on balls and made runs in the eighth inning, enough to put them in the lead, that Manager Davis took Seymour out of the box and substituted Mercer.” NOTE — The Boston Herald box score shows both Seymour and Mercer as pitchers.

Boston Journal — “Bases on balls to Hamilton and Long and a short hit to centre by Barry brought in two more runs. Mercer then went in to pitch, but before he had a chance to do anything Barry was caught between first and second, trying to give Long a chance to score.” NOTE — The Boston Journal box score shows only Seymour as the pitcher; Mercer is not shown as playing in the game; likewise for Garrick.

Example of the Resolution of Discrepancies Between the Stats from My Research and the ICI Stats

The statistical information given in this article was derived by my examination of the game accounts (i.e., text descriptions and box scores) provided in various relevant newspapers (see list below), the ICI statistical information, and the deduced PBP accounts generated by Dick Cramer and/or Cliff Blau.

The ICI (Information Concepts Incorporated) Stats are those which were generated in the creation of The Baseball Encyclopedia (Macmillan, 1969) and subsequently incorporated by Pete Palmer in his data base of baseball statistics, which is utilized on the Baseball Reference, Retrosheet, and MLB websites.

Relevant Newspapers used in this work — those available on newspapers-dot-com and genealogybank-dot-com:

New York — Times, Tribune, Sun, American, Journal, Herald, Post.

Baltimore — Sun

Boston — Globe, Herald, Daily Advertiser, Journal

Brooklyn — Daily Eagle, Times Union, Citizen, Daily Times, Standard Union

Chicago — Tribune, Interocean, Chronicle, Chronicle

Cincinnati — Enquirer, Post

Cleveland — Plain Dealer, Leader

Louisville — Courier-Journal

Philadelphia — Inquirer, Times

Pittsburgh — Post, Press, Post-Gazette

St. Louis — Globe-Democrat, Post-Dispatch

Washington — Post, Times, Evening Star, Times-Herald

9-23-1896 Game [New York at Washington] — The ICI stats give a total of 32 at bats and a total of 3 walks for the 11 players who participated for Washington in the game. According to the box scores provided in the Washington Times and the New York Tribune, the total number of at bats is 31. According to the box score provided in the Washington Post, the total number of at bats is 32. Similarly, the box scores in the Washington Times and the New York Tribune show that Seymour issued 4 walks, while the Washington Post box score shows Seymour with 3 bases on balls issued. The differences are attributable to Cartwright — the Washington Times and New York Tribune box scores show Cartwright with 1 at bat; the Washington Post box score shows Cartwright with 2 at bats. The ICI sheets show Cartwright with 2 at bats and 2 walks. According to my interpretation of the available information, Cartwright had 1 official at bat and 3 walks in his 4 plate appearances.

The discrepancy is likely due to the base on balls Cartwright received in the 4th inning. According to the text description given in the Washington Post, he was picked off first base, effectively rendering his walk a putout. Here’s the text description of the 4th inning given in the Washington Post — “O’Brien and Brown were victims of left-handed deception. They fanned out. Cartwright walked and was caught in a trance off Beckley’s base.” The 3 walks issued to Washington’s batters were, according to the ICI stats, received by Cartwright (2) and Lush. According to my interpretation of the information, Cartwright received 3 walks — in the second inning, in the fifth inning, and in the 8th inning; see below for complete details.

The box scores in the Washington and New York newspapers do not identify the players who received walks; they merely state the number of walks issued by each pitcher. Thus, for example, the Washington Times and New York Tribune box scores have “First base on balls — off Seymour, 4.” However, in contrast, the Washington Post box score has “First base on balls — off Seymour, 3.”

Significantly, the Boston Globe box score identifies the players who received walks: “First base on balls, by Seymour, Cartwright 3, Lush.”

The following Tables (BEX-1 through BEX-7) collect the relevant statistical information (AB, H, TB, W, HBP, SH, and FBOE — First Base On Errors) for each Washington player who participated in this game.

Explanatory Information for the Tables BEX-1 through BEX-7:

The codes for the newspapers are: (a) Washington — Post (WP), Evening Star (WES), Times (WT); (b) New York — Times (NYT), Sun (NYS), Journal (NYJ), Tribune (NYB), World (NYW); Boston — Globe (BG).

The ICI column gives the ICI stats.

The PBP column gives the stats provided in the deduced PBP generated by Dick Cramer.

A zero (0) entry is indicated by a dash (—). Thus, for example, King had zero (0) at bats in the game; this is indicated by a dash (—). Analogously, the box score in the Washington Evening Star did not include at bats; thus the entire column is blank. King was not included in the BG box score; his AB cell is left blank.

A blank cell or column indicates that the player was not included in the box score or the category was not included in the box score. Thus, for example, King was not included in the box scores in the Washington Evening Star, the New York World, and the Boston Globe.

The players who received bases on balls were identified in only the Boston Globe box score.

The only box scores that provided AB information are the WP, WT, NYB, and BG.

Table BEX-1 — AB for Each Washington Player in September 23, 1896 Game

Table BEX-2 — H for Each Washington Player in September 23, 1896 Game

Table BEX-3 — TB for Each Washington Player in September 23, 1896 Game

Table BEX-4 — W for Each Washington Player in September 23, 1896 Game

Table BEX-5 — HBP for Each Washington Player in September 23, 1896 Game