According to the official averages reported in the November 28, 1912, issue of The Sporting News, Heinie Zimmerman won the 1912 National League batting championship with a .372 average and the home run title with 14.1 Five weeks later, The Sporting News reported that—according to the research of baseball writer Ernie Lanigan—Zimmerman also had the most RBIs (98).2,3 Having topped the league in all three categories, Zimmerman won the Triple Crown.4,5

Table 1: Triple Crown Winners: Batting, according to MLB.com (accessed January 12, 2015)

Notes: (1) According to the Elias Sports Bureau—the official statistician of Major League Baseball—Ty Cobb’s Batting Average was .376 in 1909 and Lou Gehrig had 166 Runs Batted In in 1934. (2) According to several sources, Ty Cobb had 107 Runs Batted In in 1909.

Table 3: Unofficial 1912 NL RBI Leaders, according to the present research

Table 4: NL Batting Leaders for 1912, as presented on Retrosheet (accessed January 12, 2015)

HERM KRABBENHOFT, a SABR member since 1981, is a retired research chemist. His baseball research has focused on ultimate grand slam home runs, leadoff batters, triple plays, the uniform numbers of Detroit Tigers, and consecutive games streaks for scoring runs and batting in runs—which requires having accurate game-by-game runs and RBI statistics—which requires correcting the runs and RBI errors in baseball’s official records. He proudly dedicates this article to Seymour Siwoff, the editor since 1953 of “The Little Red Book of Baseball” and since 1972 its renamed successor “The (Elias) Book of Baseball Records.” Thanks, Seymour!

Acknowledgments

With tremendous gratitude I gratefully thank the following people for the fantastic help and cooperation they have provided to me in this research endeavor: Steve Boren, Keith Carlson, Dave Newman, Pete Palmer, Gary Stone, Dixie Tourangeau, and Dave Smith and Tom Ruane and their fellow Retrosheet volunteers.

Notes

1. “National League Batting Averages For 1912 Season,” The Sporting News, November 28, 1912, 2.

2. “Hitting in a Pinch,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1913, 5.

3. Fred Lieb, “Ernie Lanigan, Patron Saint of SABR,” The Baseball Research Journal, Volume 2 (1973), 29. See also: Fred Lieb, “Ernie Lanigan,” SABR BioProject, sabr.org website. Lieb wrote, “[Lanigan’s] big gift to the field of baseball statistics is the important Runs Batted In (RBI) column of today.”

4. It is pointed out that the term “Triple Crown” had not yet been used in baseball when Zimmerman achieved the feat. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the first use of the term “Triple Crown” in baseball was on page five of the July 9, 1936, issue of The Sporting News: “Gehrig insists that he will win the Triple Crown again…—batting, homers, and runs driven in.” See: Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Third Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York (2009), 891.

5. “Runs Batted In” was not an officially-recorded statistic when Zimmerman accomplished his Triple Crown achievement. RBIs became an official stat in 1920. From 1907 through 1919, RBIs were tracked unofficially by Ernie Lanigan, his RBI numbers having been reported annually in various publications, such as The Sporting News, Baseball Magazine, and Sporting Life.

6. Hy Turkin and S.C. Thompson, The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball, A.S. Barnes and Company, New York (1951). While no specific list of Triple Crown winners is given, the “League Leaders” section shows that for 1912 Heinie Zimmerman led the National League in batting (.372), home runs (14), and runs batted in (106). Each of Zimmerman’s league-leading Triple Crown numbers was repeated in each subsequent edition through the final edition in 1979. The “106” RBIs shown for Zimmerman does not agree with the “98” RBIs first reported in The Sporting News (note 2) and subsequently given in notes 7 and 8. I should add that I have not been able to find out the original source of the “106” RBIs; I have also not seen the “106” RBIs mentioned anywhere besides The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball.

7. Leonard Gettelson, One For The Book, The Sporting News (Charles C. Spink & Son), St. Louis (1956), 78. The title of the book was changed to Baseball Record Book in 1972, to Official Baseball Record Book in 1973, and to The Complete Baseball Record Book in 1990. Zimmerman is included in the list of Triple Crown winners in each edition through 2004; Zimmerman was not included in the list of Triple Crown winners in the final four editions, 2005–08.

8. Seymour Siwoff, The Little Red Book of Major League Baseball, Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau, Inc., New York (1957), 19. The title of the book was changed to The Book of Baseball Records in 1972, in which the list of Triple Crown winners was discontinued and in which only official RBI stats (i.e., those from 1920 forward) were included.

9. The list of “Triple Crown Winners: Batting” given on MLB.com can be accessed as follows: (a) in the “Search” field, type “Triple Crown Winners” and click enter; (b) click on the second link—“Rare Feats | MLB.com: History…Triple Crown Winners: Batting.”

10. Seymour Siwoff, The Elias Book of Baseball Records, Elias Sports Bureau, New York (2014), 378, 379, 382, 383, 394, 395.

11. David S. Neft (Director of Research, Information Concepts Incorporated), Lee Allen (Historian, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum), and Robert Markel (Executive Editor, Macmillan Company), The Baseball Encyclopedia, Macmillan, New York (1969).

12. John Thorn, Phil Birnbaum, Bill Deane, Total Baseball, Sport Media Publishing, New York, Eighth Edition (2004).

13. Gary Gillette, Pete Palmer, The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Sterling Publishing, New York, Fifth Edition (2008).

14. Baseball-Reference.com—accessed on January 12, 2015.

15. Neft, The Baseball Encyclopedia.

16. Herm Krabbenhoft, “RBI records 1891–1919,” email to Pete Palmer (March 18, 2014 at 1:48 pm) in which I wrote, “Subsequent to Big-Mac, you used Neft’s RBI numbers—exclusively (i.e., none of Lanigan’s RBI numbers)—in your baseball statistics data base. Subsequently, your baseball statistics data base has been used in your BB Encyclopedias (Total Baseball with John Thorn and The ESPN BB Encyclopedia with Gary Gillette) as well as some/all Internet sites presenting RBI stats—e.g., Baseball-Reference. So, all of the 1891–1919 RBI numbers out there now are from your baseball statistics database and ultimately from Neft’s RBI numbers in the first Big-Mac.” On March 18, 2014 at 5:42 pm, Palmer replied to me via email, “I have no argument with anything you said.” In a subsequent email to me (January 9, 2015) Palmer wrote that MLB.com obtained his data base of baseball statistics “probably in 2001 or so” and that “MLB has not done much with the data besides adding in current years.” Along that line, in an email (July 16, 2012) to me from John Thorn (the Official Historian of Major League Baseball) about Hank Greenberg’s 1935 RBI stats, John wrote: “Herm I have no sway with the mlb.com data. It is Pete Palmer’s old Total Baseball database, with some tinkering by unknown hands.”

17. Herm Krabbenhoft, “RBIs before 1920,” retrolist@yahoo.com, post submitted March 29, 2014 at 12:57PM, with courtesy copies to John Thorn and David S. Neft. Here is one of the key items I expressed: “David S. Neft was the third person to compile RBI stats for the seasons before 1920. According to the presentation given in The Numbers Game by Alan Schwarz, Neft recruited people (many of them being college students) to go through game accounts in microfilmed newspapers and generate DBD RBI numbers for those players who played from 1891 through 1919. The result of Neft’s research project was the first edition of Big-Mac—which utilized Tattersall’s RBI numbers for the 1876–1890 seasons, Neft’s RBI numbers for the 1891–1919 seasons, and the official DBD RBI numbers for the 1920–68 seasons. Neft’s RBI numbers for the 1891–1919 seasons—as well as Tattersall’s RBI numbers for the 1876–90 seasons—were subsequently incorporated by Pete Palmer into his data base of baseball statistics. Palmer’s data base of baseball statistics—including Neft’s RBI numbers for the 1891–1919 seasons and Tattersall’s RBI numbers for the 1876-1890 seasons—has been utilized extensively in both printed encyclopedias (e.g., Total Baseball and The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia) and on Internet websites (e.g., Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com). It is important to point out that Neft’s RBI numbers for the players from the 1891–1904 seasons are supported by DBD records (‘ICI sheets’) which are available on microfilm at the Baseball Hall of Fame Library. Regrettably, Neft’s DBD RBI records for the players from the 1905–1919 seasons are no longer available.” On March 29, 2014 at 1:09PM, Thorn responded via an email to me, “Fine summation, Herm. I have no quibbles with any of it.” On March 29, 2014 at 4:37PM, Neft replied via an email to me, “Thanks for sending this to me. As far as I know this is an accurate statement of the history of this research.”

18. “Hitting in a Pinch,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1913, 5.

19. Neft, The Baseball Encyclopedia.

20. In a telephone conversation with Mr. Neft on June 25, 1913, I asked him about there not being any game-by-game RBI data for the 1905–1919 seasons. Mr. Neft told me that the intention was to donate the original 1905–1919 files to the Baseball Hall of Fame, as had been done with the 1891–1904 files. In the meantime, however, the 1905–1919 files were stored in a warehouse, which had a fire and apparently all of the 1905–1919 files were destroyed. I also asked Mr. Neft if there were any back-up files or printouts for the 1905–1919 files. He said that he was not aware of any. I then asked, “So, does that mean there are no data available to support your RBI numbers for the 1905–1919 seasons?” Mr. Neft answered, “That appears to be so.”

21. Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Records for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 1—The Players on the 1906 Detroit Tigers,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 1 (February 2014), 1.

22. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Records for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 2—The Players on the 1906 Detroit Tigers,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 3 (June 2014), 4.

23. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Numbers for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 3—The Players on the 1919 Detroit Tigers,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 4 (September 2014), 11.

24. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Records for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 4—The Players on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates,” The Inside Game, Volume XV, Number 1 (February 2015), 5.

25. Herm Krabbenhoft, “The Definitive Resolution of the 1912 NL Triple Crown Discrepancy,” Research Presentation given at the annual Society for American Baseball Research Convention, Houston, TX, August 2, 2014.

26. Krabbenhoft, The Inside Game, Volume XV, Number 1. The Appendices to this article (available as a “Supplement” on SABR.org in the Deadball Era Committee Newsletters) provide (a) complete details for each run scored by each team: the identity of the player who scored the run, the run-scoring event, and the identity of the player who completed his plate appearance during the run-scoring event; (b) a game-by-game log of each run scored and each run batted in by each player on each team; (c) the text descriptions from multiple independent newspaper accounts for each run-scoring event in which a fielding error was involved for each of the top-six RBI accumulators.

27. For the text descriptions given in the various newspaper accounts for each of the 756 runs scored by the Chicago Cubs in 1912, see: Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate Runs-Scored Statistics for the Players on the 1912 Chicago Cubs,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 6 (December 2014), 1.

28. Krabbenhoft, The Inside Game, Volume XV, Number 1. Krabbenhoft, The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 6.

29. Krabbenhoft, The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 1–4, Volume XV, Number 1. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Consecutive Games RUN Batted In (CGRUNBI) Streaks for Players on the Detroit Tigers—1914–1919,” Research Presentation given at the annual Retrosheet Meeting, Houston, TX, July 31, 2014.

30. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Numbers for the Players on the 1895 Philadelphia Phillies,” Research Presentation given at the annual SABR Baseball Records Committee Meeting, Houston, TX, August 2, 2014.

31. Herm Krabbenhoft, email to Pete Palmer, November 2, 2014.

32. Pete Palmer, email to Herm Krabbenhoft, November 8, 2014.

33. Retrosheet’s semi-annual release on December 14, 2014, includes the runs-batted-in information from Pete Palmer’s updated data base of baseball statistics—which are in 100% agreement with my RBI numbers for all of the players on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates.

34. Baseball-Reference.com, accessed on February 22, 2015.

35. The final draft of this manuscript was provided to Cory Schwartz (Vice President of MLB.com with the responsibility for the statistics presented on MLB.com).

36. As these conclusions are incorporated across baseball, biographical articles on Heinie Zimmerman will need to be updated as well. For example, the SABR BioProject entry on Zimmerman read as of February 22, 2015, “It was believed at the time that Zimmerman also paced the circuit with 103 RBIs, which would have made him the National League’s first Triple Crown winner since…1894. Research conducted a half-century later, however, determined that his actual RBI total was only 99, ranking third behind Honus Wagner (102) and Bill Sweeney (100).”

Who won the first Triple Crown in the National League in the twentieth century?

Was it Heinie Zimmerman, a Deadball Era infielder who had only one superstar campaign during his career?

Or was it Rogers Hornsby, a Hall of Famer during the live-ball era with ten superstar seasons to his credit?

For many years, according to several prestigious sources, Zimmerman was shown as having achieved the Triple Crown in 1912 while playing with the Chicago Cubs — ten years before Hornsby earned the honor in 1922 while with the St. Louis Cardinals. However, since 1969, other prominent sources have shown that Zimmerman did not win the Triple Crown in 1912, thereby making Hornsby the answer to the opening question. What happened?

Introduction

According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary[fn]Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 3rd ed., 2009), 891.[/fn], the first use of the term “Triple Crown” in baseball was on page 5 of the July 9, 1936, issue of The Sporting News: “Gehrig insists that he will win the Triple Crown again, as in 1934 — batting, homers, and runs driven in.”

At that time, because Runs Batted In had not become an officially-recorded statistic until 1920, there had been only four players who had won an official Triple Crown. Since then, six more players have earned the Triple Crown. Table 1 presents the complete list of the twelve official Triple Crowns (achieved by ten players) according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statisticians of Major League Baseball.[fn]Seymour Siwoff, The Elias Book of Baseball Records (New York: Elias Sports Bureau, 2014), 378, 379, 382, 383, 394, 395. Note: The RBI number (166) given for Gehrig’s Triple Crown in 1934 is different from the RBI number (165) given in the originally-generated official day-by-day records. This is a consequence of my research, which has been approved by the Elias Sports Bureau — see: Herm Krabbenhoft, “Lou Gehrig’s RBI Record: 1923-1939,” The Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 41 (Fall 2012), 10.[/fn]

Table 1: Official Triple Crown Winners (1920-2014), according to the Elias Sports Bureau

However, prior to Runs Batted In becoming an official stat in 1920, baseball researcher-writer Ernie Lanigan had tracked RBIs unofficially each year from 1907 through 1919, his RBI numbers having been reported annually in various publications, such as The Sporting News, Baseball Magazine, Sporting Life, The (New York) Press, The Chicago Tribune, and others. Combining Lanigan’s unofficial RBI numbers with the official numbers for batting average and home runs results in two more players being credited with unofficial Triple Crowns. See Table 2.[fn]The entries for Batting Average and Home Runs are from Reference 2. Note: The originally-generated official day-by-day sheets have .377 for Cobb’s batting average.[/fn] [fn]The entries for Runs Batted In are from J.G. Taylor Spink, Daguerreotypes of Great Stars of Baseball (St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1958), 25, 235.[/fn] [fn]“Hitting in a Pinch,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1913, 5.[/fn]

Table 2: Unofficial Triple Crown Winners (1907-1919), according to Ernie Lanigan’s RBI Stats

The unofficial Triple Crowns earned by Ty Cobb in 1909 and by Heinie Zimmerman in 1912 became accepted across the baseball horizon and were included in lists of Triple Crown winners in several highly-regarded baseball publications, including (a) Turkin and Thompson’s classic — The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball[fn]Hy Turkin and S.C. Thompson, The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball (New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1951). Note (1): While no specific list of Triple Crown winners is given, the “League Leaders” section shows that (a) in 1909 Ty Cobb led the American League in batting (.377), home runs (9), and runs batted in (115) and (b) in 1912 Heinie Zimmerman led the National League in batting (.372), home runs (14) and runs batted in (106). Note (2): The “106” RBIs shown for Zimmerman does not agree with the 98 RBIs first reported in The Sporting News (Reference 5) and subsequently given in References 7 and 8.[/fn]; (b) the go-to baseball record book put out by The Sporting News — One For The Book[fn]Leonard Gettelson, One For The Book (St. Louis: Charles C. Spink & Son, 1956), 78. Note (1): The title of the book was changed to Baseball Record Book in 1972, to Official Baseball Record Book in 1973, and to The Complete Baseball Record Book in 1990. Note (2): Zimmerman is included in the list of Triple Crown winners in each edition through 2006; Zimmerman was not included in the list of Triple Crown winners in the final two editions, 2007 and 2008.[/fn]; and (c) the esteemed baseball record book published by Elias — The Little Red Book of Major League Baseball.[fn]Seymour Siwoff, The Little Red Book of Major League Baseball (New York: Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau, Inc.,1957), 19. Note: The title of the book was changed to The Book of Baseball Records in 1972, in which the list of Triple Crown winners was discontinued and in which only official RBI stats (i.e., those from 1920 forward) were included.[/fn]

Then, in the mid-1960s, David S. Neft recruited and directed a team of baseball researchers who determined the unofficial RBI numbers for all players from the 1891-1919 period. (John C. Tattersall had previously determined the unofficial RBI stats for almost all players from the 1876-1890 period.) Neft’s RBI numbers and Tattersall’s RBI stats first appeared in print in The Baseball Encyclopedia (frequently referred to as “Big-Mac”) published in 1969 by Macmillan.[fn]David S. Neft (Director of Research, Information Concepts Incorporated), Lee Allen (Historian, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum), and Robert Markel (Executive Editor, Macmillan Company), The Baseball Encyclopedia, (New York: Macmillan, 1969). Note: Reference 2 has .422 for Lajoie’s batting average and .376 for Cobb’s batting average.[/fn]

Big-Mac identified three more unofficial Triple Crowns — and expelled Zimmerman from the group of Triple Crown winners. See Table 3.[fn]Subsequently, another nineteenth century triple crown was discovered. For the 1885-1887 and 1890 American Association seasons, no RBI stats were provided in Big-Mac (Reference 9). According to the information given in the fifth edition (1997) of Total Baseball (edited by John Thorn, Pete Palmer, Michael Gershwin, and David Pietrusza), in 1887 Tip O’Neill of the St. Louis Browns (American Association) led the league in batting average (.485) home runs (14), and runs batted in (123). In a Palmer-to-Krabbenhoft email (August 5, 2014) Palmer wrote: “I did the research for AA rbi in 1885-1887 and 90. I started with the ICI sheets which had partial data and then got contributions from various SABR members from newspaper accounts for the games that were missing. Bob Bailey in Louisville and Ralph Horton in StL were major contributors, also Lyle Spatz, Tom Chase, John O’Malley, and Bill Deane. About 80% of the 1887 data was on the ICI sheets and 16% was obtained from the newspaper research. The remaining missing games had estimated rbi based on the batting stats in the game, 1.7 per homer, .7 per triple, .5 per double and .25 per single (more or less) as I remember it.”[/fn]

Table 3: Unofficial Triple Crown Winners (1876-1919), according to David Neft’s Big-Mac RBI Stats

So, what caused Zimmerman’s Triple Crown to be rescinded? Table 4 provides the answer — by comparing the RBIs credited to the top-six RBI accumulators in 1912 — according to Lanigan (see reference 5) and to Neft (see reference 9).

Table 4: Unofficial 1912 NL RBI Leaders, according to Lanigan and Neft

As can be seen in Table 4, Neft showed Honus Wagner as the NL’s RBI champion in 1912 with 102 runs batted in — three more than the 99 RBIs Neft credited to Zimmerman. Moreover, Neft ranked Zimmerman third, behind Bill Sweeney, whom Neft credited with 100 RBIs. Indeed, among the top-six RBI accumulators, the only position that Lanigan and Neft agreed on was fourth place, occupied by Chief Wilson.

Furthermore, Lanigan and Neft did not agree on the RBI numbers for any of the top-six RBI accumulators — Doyle (97 vs. 90), Murray (88 vs. 92), Sweeney (92 vs. 100), Wagner (94 vs. 102), Wilson (93 vs. 95), and Zimmerman (98 vs. 99). Since Lanigan and Neft disagree on the RBIs credited to each of the NL’s top-six RBI accumulators, both Lanigan and Neft cannot be correct — at least one of them must be wrong.

So, with respect to the unofficial RBI leaders in the National League for 1912, the salient question is: “Whose RBI numbers are correct — Lanigan’s or Neft’s — OR are Lanigan’s RBI numbers AND Neft’s RBI numbers BOTH wrong?”[fn]An analogous question can be asked about the actual number of runs batted in Ty Cobb achieved in his 1909 Triple Crown season — Lanigan credited Cobb with 115 RBIs (Table 2) while Neft credited Cobb with 107 RBIs (Table 3).[/fn]

Regrettably, the criteria used by Lanigan and by Neft to credit or to not credit a player with a run batted in were apparently not recorded and, therefore, are unknown. And, unfortunately, no game-by-game RBI data are extant to support the full-season RBI numbers claimed by Lanigan or by Neft. Thus, there is absolutely nothing to substantiate the full-season RBI numbers claimed by Lanigan or by Neft.

In an effort to ascertain incontrovertibly which of the top-six RBI accumulators (according to Lanigan and to Neft) actually amassed the most RBIs in the NL in 1912 — and simultaneously resolve irrefutably the Triple Crown discrepancy, I initiated a comprehensive and in-depth research program to obtain the complete details for each and every run scored by the players on the 1912 Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Research Procedure

The most rigorous approach for ascertaining accurate RBI statistics for any player is to obtain the complete details for each and every run scored by his team in each of the games the player participated. That is precisely the research procedure I employed. Obtaining “complete details” for each run means that I identified:

1. The player who scored the run.
2. The run-scoring event — e.g., a 2-RBI double, a 1-RBI groundout, a 1-RBI grounder (batter safe on a fielding error), a 0-RBI grounder (batter safe on a fielding error), a 1-RBI bases-loaded walk, a 0-RBI balk, etc.
3. The player who completed his plate appearance during the run-scoring event — i.e., the player who may have earned credit for batting in the run. [Note that when the run scored on a steal of home, a passed ball, a wild pitch, etc., no batter completed his plate appearance during the run-scoring event.]

In order to obtain the complete details for each run I relied upon the descriptions given in the game accounts from multiple independent newspapers as well as many unpublished play-by-play accounts from Retrosheet.

Finally, in order to properly assign credit to a player for batting in a run, I adhered strictly to appropriate official scoring rules. Because runs batted in were not officially recorded until 1920, there were no official scoring rules for RBIs in 1912. Therefore, logically, one would utilize the 1920 official RBI scoring rules for awarding RBIs to players in earlier seasons. But, as shown here, the official scoring rules for RBIs for 1920 (indeed, through 1930) provide no guidance whatsoever for properly assigning credit for RBIs in prior seasons:

“The summary shall contain: The number of runs batted in by each batsman.” [Rule 86, Section B].

So, to assign credit for RBIs for the 1912 season, I utilized the 1931 official scoring rules — which do provide appropriate instruction:

“Runs Batted In are runs scored on safe hits (including home runs), sacrifice hits, outfield put-outs, infield put-outs, and when the run is forced over by reason of the batsman becoming a base runner. With less than two outs, if an error is made on a play on which a runner from third would ordinarily score, credit the batsman with a Run Batted In.” [Rule 70; Section 13].

The 1931 official scoring rules for RBIs are essentially the same rules that are in effect today, the only significant difference being the provision which, introduced in 1939, does not credit a batter with an RBI when the batter hits into a force groundout double play.

Results

Appendices 1-4 present the complete details for each run scored by the 1912 Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Appendices 5-8 present the game-by-game run-scored and run-batted-in details for each player on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates. Appendices 9-12 provide comparisons of the full-season RBI numbers obtained in the present investigation with those claimed by Neft.

• Related link: All of Herm Krabbenhoft’s appendices can be downloaded by clicking here

Culled from the information provided in Appendices 5-8, Table 5 presents the full-season RBI numbers obtained in the present investigation for the top-six RBI accumulators in the National League in 1912.[fn]While Murray’s 88 RBIs rank sixth in the NL according to my research on the Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates, it is possible that Dick Hoblitzell (of the Cincinnati Reds, with 85 RBIs according to Neft and 84 RBIs according to Lanigan) or Ed Konetchy (of the St. Louis Cardinals, with 82 RBIs according to Neft and 86 RBIs according to Lanigan) or Mike Mitchell (of the Cincinnati Reds, with 78 RBIs according to Neft and 85 RBIs according to Lanigan) could actually have had 88 or more RBIs. It is noted that Fred Merkle (of the New York Giants, with 84 RBIs according to Neft and 78 RBIs according to Lanigan) actually had 88 RBIs according to my research, as shown in Appendix 11 and Table 8. It is noted that Dots Miller (of the Pittsburgh Pirates, with 87 RBIs according to Neft and 83 RBIs according to Lanigan) actually had 86 RBIs according to my research, as shown in Appendix 12 and Table 9.[/fn] Also shown for comparison are the RBI numbers claimed by Lanigan and by Neft. Comparative full-season RBI statistics for all of the other players on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates are abstracted from Appendices 9-12 and presented in Tables 6-9, respectively.

Table 5: Unofficial 1912 NL RBI Leaders, according to the present research

And to provide additional perspective, Table 10 summarizes the number of RBIs each of the top-six RBI accumulators achieved via each run-scoring event (i.e., 1-RBI single, 2-RBI single, 1-RBI double, and so forth).

Editor’s note: Tables 6 through 9 — which contain unofficial full-season RBI totals for all players on the 1912 Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates rosters — can be found by clicking here to download the PDF file.

Table 10: RBIs Achieved by Each Top-Six RBI Player via Each Run-Scoring Event

Note: The values in the “0-RBI Safe-On-Error” row are bracketed with asterisks to indicate the number of runs scored when the player batted and was safe on a fielding error, the player not being credited with an RBI (e.g., when the run scored on a fielding error committed when there were two outs).

Included in Table 10 are (a) the number of RBIs each player was credited with on “Safe-On-Errors” (SOE) plays — i.e., the “1-RBI Safe-On-Error (1-RBI SOE)” row — and (b) the number of RBIs each player was not credited with when the runner scored from third base and the batter was safe on a fielding error — i.e., the “0-RBI Safe-On-Error (0-RBI SOE)” row. Such plays are judgment plays on which the game’s official scorer would have to render a decision — e.g., credit the batsman with an RBI when then “runner from third would ordinarily score.” Since the official scorer did not make such decisions before 1920, it becomes the responsibility of the researcher to make the decisions based on the information provided in the text descriptions given in the newspaper game accounts. Appendices 13-16 provide the pertinent text descriptions for each SOE run-scoring event included in Table 10.

Discussion

First of all, it is important to emphasize that the RBI numbers reported here are fully supported by rock-solid evidence gleaned from multiple independent newspaper accounts. The crystal-clear bottom-line take-away message is — the RBI numbers from my research are completely reliable. The results presented in Appendices 2, 6, and 14, and summarized in Tables 5 and 10, conclusively prove that Heinie Zimmerman actually amassed 104 runs batted in in 1912.[fn]For the text descriptions given in the various newspaper accounts for each of the 756 runs scored by the Chicago Cubs in 1912, see: Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate Runs-Scored Statistics for the Players on the 1912 Chicago Cubs,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 6 (December 2014), 1.[/fn] Likewise, analogous results (derived from Appendices 4, 8, and 16) prove undeniably that Honus Wagner actually collected 101 RBIs in 1912. And similarly, Bill Sweeney actually had 99 RBIs, Chief Wilson 94, Larry Doyle 91, and Red Murray 88.

Therefore, Zimmerman actually had the most runs batted in for the National League during the 1912 season. And, therefore, in conjunction with his batting and home run titles, Zimmerman did, in fact, win the Triple Crown in 1912 … and should — just like Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, etc. — be included in the list of Triple Crown winners given on MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball.[fn]As of this writing, the lists of “Triple Crown Winners” given on MLB.com can be accessed by clicking here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/rare_feats/index.jsp?feature=triple_crown.[/fn]

Inspection of Table 10 shows that only a handful of runs involved Safe-On-Error plays. Because their RBI numbers are so close to one another, the SOE run-scoring events involving Zimmerman, Wagner, and Sweeney require close scrutiny. Appendices 13-16 provide the pertinent newspaper text descriptions of the SOE run-scoring events for the top-six RBI accumulators — and my judgments to credit or to not credit RBIs. Others may disagree with some or all of my RBI decisions; that is their prerogative based on their interpretations of the information. Significantly, however, even if Zimmerman’s two RBIs from the two 1-RBI SOE plays are revoked, he would still have 102 RBIs — which are still more than Wagner’s 101 RBIs and Sweeney’s 99 RBIs. The unmistakable conclusion remains that, regardless of the RBI decisions on the SOE-impacted run-scoring plays, Zimmerman still had the most runs batted in for the National League in 1912 — and therefore, won the Triple Crown.

Turning now to the RBI numbers achieved by other players on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates, inspection of Tables 6-9 reveals that my RBI numbers and Neft’s RBI numbers are different for more than half of the players — 22 out of 37 players on the Braves (i.e., 59%); 20 out of 40 players on the Cubs (50%); 19 out of 28 players on the Giants (68%); and 19 out of 38 players on the Pirates (50%). Again, the correctness of my RBI numbers is fully validated by multiple newspaper accounts. With regard to the specific differences between my RBI numbers and Neft’s RBI numbers, it is seen that the deltas are both negative and positive, the range being minus-five to plus-seven. The overall absolute-value median difference is just one RBI. So, from a mathematical perspective, while Neft’s RBI numbers and my RBI numbers are different, they are similar, i.e., approximately the same. Recently, it has been advanced that old-time baseball statistics are only approximate.[fn]Rob Neyer, “Old-Time Baseball Statistics: Merely An Approximation,” SBNation.com, June 29, 2012.[/fn] However, it would seem that (some/many/most) baseball fans are not satisfied with approximate numbers; they expect (demand?) accurate numbers — especially when the subject is “Which player had the most whatevers?” Again, my RBI numbers are fully supported by iron-clad substantiation and, therefore, are actual (not approximate) RBI numbers. In 1912, Zimmerman actually had 104 runs batted in — which were the most in the National League. And, therefore, Zimmerman did indeed win the Triple Crown.

As it has transpired, all of Neft’s Big-Mac RBI numbers for the 1912 season — indeed, for each of the 1891-1919 seasons — were adopted by Pete Palmer and incorporated into his data base of baseball statistics. Furthermore, the “Neft-Palmer” full-season RBI statistics for the 1891-1919 seasons are currently utilized throughout baseball. For instance, they are employed in the most-recent editions of the various hard-cover baseball encyclopedias (e.g., Total Baseball[fn]John Thorn, Phil Birnbaum, Bill Deane, Total Baseball (New York: Sport Media Publishing, New York, 8th ed., 2004).[/fn] and The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia[fn]Gary Gillette, Pete Palmer, The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (New York: Sterling Publishing, 5th ed., 2008).[/fn]) and on numerous baseball websites (e.g., Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com). However, recent research has shown that Neft’s RBI numbers are not completely accurate for most of the players on the 1919 Boston Red Sox[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Records for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 1 — The Players on the 1919 Boston Red Sox,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 1 (February 2014), 1. (Click here to download the PDF).[/fn], the 1906 Detroit Tigers[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Records for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 2 — The Players on the 1906 Detroit Tigers,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 3 (June 2014), 4. (Click here to download the PDF).[/fn], the 1919 Detroit Tigers[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, Accurate RBI Numbers for the Players of the Deadball Era: Part 3 — The Players on the 1919 Detroit Tigers,” The Inside Game, Volume XIV, Number 4 (September 2014), 11. (Click here to download the PDF).[/fn], the 1914-1918 Detroit Tigers[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, “Consecutive Games RUN Batted In (CGRUNBI) Streaks for Players on the Detroit Tigers — 1919-1914,” Research Presentation given at the annual Retrosheet meeting during SABR 44, Houston, Texas, July 31, 2014.[/fn], and the 1895 Philadelphia Phillies.[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, “Accurate RBI Numbers for the Players on the 1895 Philadelphia Phillies,” Research Presentation given at the annual SABR Baseball Records Committee meeting during SABR 44, Houston, Texas, August 2, 2014.[/fn]

Since the results from my RBI research on the 1912 Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates are in alignment with those findings[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft, “The Definitive Resolution of the 1912 NL Triple Crown Discrepancy,” Research Presentation given during SABR 44, Houston, Texas, August 2, 2014.[/fn], I provided the evidence I had collected to Pete Palmer for his review.[fn]Herm Krabbenhoft to Pete Palmer email, November 2, 2014.[/fn] Significantly, Palmer concurred with my conclusions and has incorporated all of the corrections in his data base of baseball statistics.[fn]Pete Palmer to Herm Krabbenhoft email, November 8, 2014.[/fn] Palmer’s updated runs-scored and runs-batted-in numbers have already been incorporated on Retrosheet.org and should also be on Baseball-Reference.com sometime in 2015.[fn]Retrosheet’s semi-annual release on December 14, 2014, includes runs-scored and runs-batted-in information from Pete Palmer’s updated data base of baseball statistics — which are in 100% agreement with my RBI numbers (Appendices 9-12) for all of the players on the 1912 Braves, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates. For instance, on the Retrosheet.org website, selecting the path “Games/Players/Parks” —> “Games” —> “Regular Season” —> “1912” —> “ML League Leaders,” one sees that, for “NL Batting,” Zimmerman had the highest batting average (.372), the most home runs (14), and the most RBIs (104) — i.e. Zimmerman led the National League in each of the three categories that define the Triple Crown. Similarly, by choosing “Chicago Cubs” (instead of “ML League Leaders”) and then “Complete Roster” (either “Alphabetical” or “By Position”), one sees that Zimmerman’s stats for HR (14), RBI (104), and AVG (.372) are all in bold-faced type, indicating that he led the league in each of those batting departments, thereby winning the Triple Crown.[/fn] [fn]In his November 8, 2014, email (Reference 25), Palmer stated that while he usually sends his updated statistics to Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference, and SABR in mid-November, he could not tell when the corrected stats will appear on the websites.[/fn]

So, the prospect for achieving and presenting accurate RBI statistics across the baseball landscape is indeed heartening. That is particularly important for the 1901-1919 period for which, according to Neft’s RBI numbers, the NL’s annual RBI leaders topped the runners-up by just three RBIs of fewer in ten of those nineteen Deadball Era seasons.[fn]Listed here are Neft’s RBI numbers for those players who were league leaders or runners-up for selected NL seasons during the Deadball Era: (a) 1903: Sam Mertes (104), Honus Wagner (101); (b) 1904: Bill Dahlen (80), Harry Lumley (78), Sam Mertes (78); (c) 1906: Joe Nealon (83), Harry Steinfeldt (83), Cy Seymour (80); (d) 1907: Sherry Magee (85), Ed Abbaticchio (82), Honus Wagner (82); (e) 1908: Honus Wagner (109), Mike Donlin (106); (f) 1911: Wildfire Schulte (107), Chief Wilson (107); (g) 1912: Honus Wagner (102), Bill Sweeney (100), Heinie Zimmerman (99); (h) 1914: Sherry Magee (103), Gavvy Cravath (100); (i) 1916: Heinie Zimmerman (83), Hal Chase (82); (j) 1919: Hi Myers (73), Rogers Hornsby (71), Edd Roush (71).[/fn] Accordingly, fellow researchers are encouraged to join the pursuit of ascertaining accurate RBI stats for the players on their favorite teams — and thereby determine the true RBI champions.

Concluding Remarks

Accurate RBI statistics have been ascertained for each player on the 1912 Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Consequently, it has been definitively shown that Heinie Zimmerman led the National league in runs batted in for 1912. And therefore, in combination with his league-leading marks in batting average and home runs, Heinie Zimmerman won the Triple Crown and … is the correct answer to the opening question.

HERM KRABBENHOFT, a SABR member since 1981, is a retired research chemist. His baseball research has focused on ultimate grand slam home runs, leadoff batters, triple plays, the uniform numbers of Detroit Tigers, and consecutive games streaks for scoring runs and batting in runs—which requires having accurate game-by-game runs and RBI statistics—which requires correcting the runs and RBI errors in baseball’s official records.

Acknowledgments

With tremendous gratitude I gratefully thank the following people for the fantastic help and cooperation they have provided to me in this research endeavor: Steve Boren, Keith Carlson, Dave Newman, Pete Palmer, Gary Stone, Dixie Tourangeau, and Dave Smith and Tom Ruane and their fellow Retrosheet volunteers.

• Related link: Read “Seeking Resolution of the Discrepancy for the 1912 NL Triple Crown,” by Herm Krabbenhoft in the Spring 2015 Baseball Research Journal
  

1. On September 23, 1930 in a less- than-inspired move the Chicago Cubs sacked manager Joe McCarthy and replaced him with Rogers Hornsby, their second baseman. The Cubs had four games left to play. Hornsby played in none.

2. In 1914 at age 45 – perhaps to hype a late-season gate-Washington Nationals manager Clark Griffith pitched one inning.1

3. In 1942 manager Mel Ott played in 152 games as his New York Giants compiled an 85-67 record. Ott thereby became the fifty-ninth and last manager to play in at least as many games as his club had decisions.

It would be ludicrous to equate as playing managers Ott, who played in 152 games; Griffith, who pitched one inning, and Hornsby, who didn’t play at all. Yet, strictly speaking, Griffith and Hornsby were playing managers. A basis is clearly needed to distinguish those managers who played and managed (PAMs) from those who managed and played (MAPs). If one swallow doesn’t make a summer, then one inning doesn’t make a playing manager.

Since playing must be the criteria for distinguishing PAMs from MAPs, for purposes of this paper a playing manager (PAM) will be a non-pitcher who played in at least 50 percent of his team’s games while managing it. Pitcher-managers must have played in at least 20 percent of their team’s games. A manager playing in less than the requisite percentages would have spent most of his time in the dugout thinking and thus was, in reality, a bench manager (MAP).

From 1876 through 1983 a total of 418 managers (144 individuals) played in one or more of their teams’ games.2 Of these 266 (99 individuals) were PAMs.3 It is interesting to note that of the 252 MAPs (45 individuals) only 15 played in as many as 40 percent – but fewer than 50 percent – of their teams’ games in a particular season. It thus would seem the 50 percent criteria is quite realistic.

Having established what a playing manager is, let’s now turn to the most obvious questions concerning PAMs:

1. How successful were they?
2. Which positions did they play?
3. At what ages did they become PAMs?
4. Did managing affect their play?

Baseball success can be measured in various ways. A team that was expected to finish last and came in third would normally be considered to have had a successful season. So, too, would a team that finished in the first division. However, if in battle victory is the payoff, so, too, it is in baseball. The primary measure for success is winning the pennant.

During the 58 National League seasons in which one or more PAMs were chargeable for their teams’ standings,4 there were 159 PAM-led teams (32.3%) and 333 bench-managed clubs. PAMs won 22 pennants (39.7%), which is 22.9 percent more than they were entitled to on a pro rata basis. In the American League 82 PAM-led teams (23.7%) won 12 pennants (28.6%) in the 42 seasons in which there was at least one PAM. American League PAMs thus won 20.7 percent more flags than they were entitled to.5

How did PAM-led teams fare when they faced the best bench manager of the other league in the World Series?6 Very well. PAMs won nine of 14 such Series for a .642 mark.7 Note that a team playing a full season at that clip would win 104 games over a 162-game schedule. Since division play began in 1969- excluding strike-torn 1981 – a .642 percentage would have won a division title about 90 percent of the time.

Regardless of the measure of success that is used, the only conclusion must be that PAM-led teams were very successful as a group.8

Most PAMs (62) were infielders. Of the others 17 were outfielders, 12 catchers and five pitchers, while three managed two seasons each at different positions. Two played the infield one season and the outfield the other; the third pitched one year and played the infield the other.

The infielders (62.6% of the PAMs) won 23 pennants (67.6%). Six of the 11 other pennants were won by outfielders, while catchers won three and pitchers two. First basemen took 14 of the pennants, far outdistancing second basemen and left fielders, each of whom won four. No right fielder ever managed a team to a flag (or even finished better than third, a plateau reached but once).

Batting averages as PAMs (as contrasted to their averages for the entire season) are unavailable in The Baseball Encyclopedia for the 14 PAMs who managed for only part of a season (but were not interim managers). Of the remaining 80 non-pitcher PAMs, 20 hit ten or more points better than they did as players, 30 hit within ten percentage points of their player mark and 30 hit at least ten points worse. Thus about 63 percent of the PAMs were not adversely affected at the plate by their managerial duties. It should be noted that nine of the 30 who hit worse were 34 years or older when they first became a PAM. It’s conceivable that in their cases advancing age was as great a factor in their declining batting averages as was managing.

The youngest PAM was Jim McCormick, skipper of the 1879 Cleveland club. Because only the year of his birth is known, his exact age cannot be determined. He probably was only 22. At most he was 23 and about four months.9 Of the 97 PAMs whose years of birth are known, 68 were at least 30 years old when they first became PAMs. The oldest, Cy Young10, was 40. The median age at which PAMs began their managing careers was a bit under 31.

The prospects for more playing managers would seem virtually nil. A poll of major league executives indicated they agree that the strategy of the game remains essentially the same now as it always has been. The only change, the designated hitter, makes the manager’s task easier because he no longer has to make difficult decisions of whether or not to pinch-hit for his pitcher. Nevertheless these executives gave many reasons why the age of the playing manager has passed and presumably will never return. Some of their reasons (with my comments in parentheses) are:

1. Player problems are far more complicated today. Young people are more complicated and require the more sophisticated leadership that a bench manager can provide. (A major contention of young people is that older people don’t understand them. A 30-year-old PAM, having probably recently experienced his younger players’ problems, would seem in a better position to deal with them to his players’ satisfaction.)

2. Salaries far above that of the manager make discipline and cooperation more of a problem today. (This strikes me as more of an argument for rather than against a PAM. The salary problem, which is very real for bench managers, would virtually disappear with a PAM, who quite likely would be the highest – or close to the highest – paid player on the team. Discipline and co-operation would be lesser problems in such a situation.)

3. Players have other interests than baseball and don’t have the 90 percent dedication of players of two decades ago. (Alas, all too true. Neither a PAM nor a bench manager will have a big edge in dealing with lack of dedication, viz., peer pressure. If the manager is on the field living and dying with his troops, peer pressure would become a great factor. Greater esprit de corps and a “We’re all in this together” spirit could bring some rockheads into line.)

Nine Player-Managers In Both 1934-35

Does Pete Rose’s appointment as manager of the Cincinnati Reds portend a return to the days of playing pilots? Or is it likely to be merely an isolated situation? While most observers probably would lean to the latter, only time will tell.

The heydey of the full-time player-manager ended almost 50 years ago. In the mid-1930s there were two consecutive seasons when nine of the 16 teams were headed by skippers who were still active on the playing field. By contrast, until Rose took over the Cincinnati reins in August 1984, the majors had not had a manager who also played regularly since Lou Boudreau with Cleveland in 1950.

The Great Depression doubtless figured in the last great flurry of player-managers. Having one person fill two positions obviously affected the payroll considerably.

The 1930 season began with a full complement of bench bosses, but during the final week of the campaign the Cubs fired Joe McCarthy and replaced him with Rogers Hornsby. In 1931 Hornsby was the only legitimate player-manager, although Bucky Harris of Detroit played in four games and Gabby Street, 48-year-old boss of the champion St. Louis Cardinals, made one brief appearance.

Two teams launched the 1932 season with playing pilots while two more joined the ranks during the summer. One year later five opened with skippers still active on the diamond and two others promoted players to manager during the season. Charlie Grimm, who succeeded Hornsby in August, proceeded to lead the Cubs to the 1932 flag, while Bill Terry and Joe Cronin guided the Giants and Senators, respectively, to pennants in 1933.

The start of the 1934 season found seven teams with player-pilots and two others elevated active players to the helm during the season. Both pennant-winners again were directed by field bosses – the Cardinals by Frank Frisch and the Tigers by Mickey Cochrane.

All nine playing managers returned in 1935 and retained their posts throughout the season. Five were essentially full-time regulars Cochrane, who led Detroit to the world championship; Frisch, Terry, Cronin and Jimmy Dykes. Jimmie Wilson and Pie Traynor played about half the time, while Grimm, whose Cubs won the National League pennant, and Hornsby saw only limited action.

The number of player-mangers declined steadily the next several years, and by 1941 there were only two. Cronin still was the Red Sox’ regular shortstop, but Leo Durocher played in just 18 games while leading Brooklyn to the pennant.

Prior to Rose’s return to Cincinnati, the majors had seen only six player-managers in the last 20 years. They were Harry Walker, 1955; Solly Hemus, 1959; Hank Bauer, 1961; Frank Robinson, 1975-76; Joe Torre, 1977, and Don Kessinger, 1979. The last player-pilot to lead his team to a pennant was Lou Boudreau in 1948.

4. Drug and family problems. (Whether a 30-year-old PAM could capably advise a player so beset any better or worse than a bench manager is anyone’s guess. Certainly at age 30 the PAM would have the maturity to give sound advice.)

5. Variation in races and religions on clubs is much greater today. (Here the PAM would figure to have a much better relationship because by and large younger people are less prejudiced than their seniors.)

6. Handling the media. This is a very important job and requires a large percentage of a manager’s time. (But not during a game. Afterwards media distraction would be equally great regardless of who the manager was.

Whether a PAM, or for that matter a bench manager, could handle it would vary from individual to individual.)

7. Pressure on managers to win is much more intense than in the old days. (But why would it be any more intense on a PAM? Pressure is pressure.)

8. Managing responsibilities detract from a player’s performance on the field. (As we’ve seen, history emphatically refutes this contention.)

9. If a player fails as a manger, the team will have lost a star player. (This is a valid point. It shouldn’t, however, rule out the use of a PAM. Instead it shows the need to select a playing manager with great care. If that is done, the chances are that the player will succeed as a manager.)

When judiciously used the contrary opinion theory of investing has proved profitable. It’s simple. If others are selling, one buys. And vice versa. The problem, of course, is to apply the theory to the right stock. With baseball’s current view of playing managers, the contrary opinion theory might well be applied profitably to them.

A playing manager would not per se be a panacea. However, a solid third-place team might just close the gap the following year with a PAM at the helm. The trick would be to find him. Painstaking care in selecting the PAM would be required. Ideally the choice would be an infielder about 30 years old with the requisite attributes – intelligence, drive, maturity, leadership and aggressiveness. Such a manager could prove to be worth quite a few games to his team.

A playing manager would bring to his club an additional benefit. The trend in baseball franchises is – and, unfortunately, has been for some time – toward depersonalization. Corporate ownership seldom brings warmth with it. Corporate officials are rarely knowledgeable about baseball. Their specialty is the bottom line, not cutoff and squeeze plays. As a result, some observers feel today’s fans no longer relate to their clubs as those of yesteryear did to owners like Clark Griffith, Frank Navin and Connie Mack, who were baseball men through and through.

A playing manager would be a symbol for the team’s fans. Their leader would be on the field giving his all for the cause. He would be visible rather than a shadowy figure surrounded by a cluster of coaches in the dugout. A PAM is a field commander; a MAP or bench manager is a chief of staff. An analogy as to the comparative emotional impact of the two would be the feeling of the public toward George Patton and George Marshall during World War II. Patton fought the war with his men. He was a PAM. Marshall planned the war an ocean away. He was a MAP. Patton stirred the public. Marshall left them unmoved.

A franchise with a good, but not yet winning, team and the vision and courage to install the right playing manager might be very pleased with the results both on and off the field.

Notes

1 In 1909-10-12-14 Griffith, as manager, made an annual playing appearance. He pinch-hit once and pitched one inning in each of his other appearances. His only real rival for the manager-making-a-single-appearance role was Hughie Jennings, Detroit’s skipper from1907 through 1920. He had three such years between 1908 and 1918. When Jennings played in his last game (one at-bat), he was 48 years old.

2 As a matter of judgment six interim managers who met the definition of a PAM have not been included. For example, Honus Wagner managed Pittsburgh for five games in mid-season 1917 while the team sought a new manager. Wagner played in all five games. However, he made it clear that his role was temporary and that under no circumstances would he become the team’s manager. The five others, with the number of games they managed in parentheses, were: Chick Stahl, 1906 Boston AL (18); Roger Peckinpaugh, 1914 New York AL (17); Ivy Wingo, 1916 Cincinnati NL (2); Jimmy Austin, 1918 St. Louis AL (14), and Heine Groh, 1918 Cincinnati NL (10). It is possible that interim managers Arlie Latham, 1896 St. Louis NL (2), and Mike Griffin, 1898 Brooklyn NL (4), may also have qualified as PAMs.

3 My sources did not permit ascertaining whether five others were PAMs: Jim Rogers, 1897 Louisville NL (almost surely); Pud Galvin, 1885 Buffalo NL; Fred Dunlap, 1889 Pittsburgh NL, and Connie Mack, 1894 Pittsburgh NL (all quite likely), and Wilbert Robinson, 1902 Baltimore AL (unlikely).

4 The same standards used to determine winning and losing pitchers serve well in deciding whether to credit or charge a PAM for his team’s efforts. For example, if a PAM managed for half a season and was fired with the team in third place, the PAM would get no credit if it eventually won the pennant and would be charged if it did not win.

5 During the same periods National League PAMs gained 33.9% of the first-division berths (5% more); American League PAMs took 30 percent of the first-division spots (26.8% more).

6 In the four Temple Cup Series (1894-97) PAM Monte Ward, 1894 New York (NL), won and PAM Patsy Tebeau, 1896 Cleveland (NL), lost. Their clubs had each finished second. The 1895 Cleveland club which won the Cup (after finishing second) was also led by Tebeau, who came within two games of being a PAM (which he had been in 1892-93-94 and was again in 1896-97-98-99.

7 PAMs managed both teams in the 1903, 1906, 1933 and 1934 World Series.

8 PAMs did not generally do well subsequently as bench managers. Thirty-one did poorer, 17 did better and five did equally well. Notable failures were Frank Chance (.688 vs .487), Frank Frisch (.603 vs .490) and Fielder Jones (.593 vs .483). Successes included Miller Huggins (.447 vs .578) and John McGraw (.520 vs .594).

9 Interim manager Roger Peckinpaugh was 23 years and 7 months of age when he took over as manager of New York (AL) in 1914. The next three youngest PAMs were Monte Ward, 1884 New York (NL), who had just turned 24; Fred Clarke, 1897 Louisville (NL), who was about 24½, and Lou Boudreau, 1942 Cleveland (AL), who was about 24 years and nine months of age.

10 At age 41 the virtually indestructible Cap Anson, the quintessential PAM, played in 146 games as his Chicago (NL) team went 70-76 in 1892. In his final year as Chicago’s manager, 1897, at age 46 Anson played in 114 games as his team again had a 70-76 record.

11 The worst record in baseball history was the 20-134 mark by Cleveland NL in 1899. It was achieved under not one but two PAMs – Lave Cross and Joe Quinn.

12 Bucky Harris’ leadership produced a 17-game improvement as the 1924 Washington AL team won the pennant and the World Series. This was essentially the same team that had finished a bad fourth in 1923. The improvement Harris brought was typical of that of the eight other PAMs who also won a flag in their first full year as manager. Their teams improved about 18 games on average.

Jimmy Callahan accepted the job with a two-year contract, but the results were disastrous. The Pirates finished in sixth place with their worst winning percentage since 1914. The 42-year-old Wagner suffered through a myriad of injuries to his hands and hip, and was no longer the “Flying Dutchman.” He had lost more than a few steps and played in 92 games at shortstop, the fewest since moving to that position full-time in 1903, though he also made 23 starts at first base.

Wagner wasn’t sure if he’d be back with the Pirates in 1917. He concluded the season with the worst slump of his career, managing just 11 hits in his last 77 at-bats and scoring just one run in his final 23 games. His struggles intensified speculation that he would finally hang up his spikes. He hadn’t batted .300 since 1913, it was increasingly difficult for him to get into and stay in condition, and his days as an everyday shortstop were over. On the other hand, he was the most visible person in the Smokey City. Pittsburgh sportswriter Henry Keck called him “probably the most beloved man in baseball,” admired and praised by fans and press across the country as much for his accomplishments as for his upstanding character.2 There wasn’t much more he could do: He was a World Series champion, had collected the most hits (3,359) and runs (1,724) in big-league history, and was the active leader in home runs (101).

Cognizant of his eroding skills, Wagner needed a rest and also wanted to spend more time with 26-year-old Bessie Smith, a local Pittsburgher and his companion of eight years. Although he was an avowed bachelor who had pledged to remain one as long as he played baseball, Wagner’s attitude shifted that offseason after the sudden death of his oldest brother, Charley, from complications of pneumonia on October 31, 1916. The two siblings had been very close; Charley and his wife, Olive, and three children provided Hans a semblance of domestic life. Long known as an intensely shy man who shunned the spotlight, Wagner pulled off the biggest surprise of his life on December 30 when he married Smith in a private ceremony in his childhood parish, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Carnegie, a small coal-mining and steel mill community six miles southwest of Pittsburgh, where Wagner grew up and still lived. The wedding was such a secret that Wagner’s brother Al, who served as best man, found out just hours before the ceremony, after which the newlyweds traveled to the bride’s house to inform her parents. “Honus Wagner Caught at ‘Home’ by Dan Cupid,” reported the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times playfully on the front page the following day, adding confidently, “His retirement from baseball is not yet in sight.”3

While Wagner embarked on a care-free honeymoon vacation in warmer climates in the south and west, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss brooded. The shrewd German-born businessman, upset about high player salaries coupled with poor results on the field, embarked on a policy of financial retrenchment, as did owners throughout baseball. He slashed contract offers, in some cases by half, and expected holdouts, reported sportswriter Charles J. Doyle of the Gazette-Times, but players had few options and no leverage.4

Among the highest paid players in baseball, earning a reported $10,000 annually, Wagner had his salary reduced significantly, according to Arthur Hittner in his groundbreaking biography Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball’s “Flying Dutchman,” and might have been slashed to as low as $5,400.5 Ralph S. Davis, a sportswriter with the Pittsburgh Press, attempted to diffuse the growing public perception that Wagner was in a salary dispute with Dreyfuss and had retired, suggesting that Wagner’s reluctance to sign had more to do with his expanding girth (he had gained a reported 20-30 pounds).6

By the first week of February 1917, the great Wagner wait was on. While Pittsburgh sportswriters reported every rumor, Wagner himself remained silent about his future. Wagner “still has a lot of baseball left in him,” said former Pirates skipper Clarke.7 Wagner uncharacteristically stepped into the limelight on February 25 when the Hot Stove Club of Pittsburgh put on a gala celebration for the player’s 43rd birthday at the luxurious William Penn Hotel, where he was roasted by local politicians, industrial magnates, and big-league players. Dreyfuss described his longtime star as a model player and the one “with whom no one ever had any trouble,” according to sportswriter Ed F. Balinger.8 Those laudatory remarks seemed to diffuse, at least momentarily, any sign of a feud between the two kingpins of Pirates baseball and instilled confidence that Wagner would play in 1917.

Wagner was not with the Bucs when they departed on March 9 to Columbus, Georgia, for spring training. “Is Hans dissatisfied in his relations with the Pirates club?” asked beat reporter Harry Keck. “Or is he afraid that he will not be able to finish the season a regular? Does he see the dread shadow of the bench trailing in his wake?”9 Dreyfuss publicly denied that Wagner was a “hold-out” because of a salary dispute but also added that “I do not know what he will do.”10

Questions swirled around not only Wagner’s future, but the entire 1917 baseball season. On April 6, the United States declared war on Germany, thereby expanding the scope of the world war and raising discussions about canceling the season. Baseball commenced as planned, but for the first time since the previous century, Wagner was not on the Pirates’ roster when they opened the season on April 11 in Chicago. “As far as I know,” said Dreyfuss a few days later, Wagner “has quit the game as he told me he thought of doing.”11 While the Pirates played 28 of their first 35 games of the season on the road, sportswriters deliberated if Wagner retired on his own accord or if he was forced out by the miserly Dreyfuss’s contract offer. “Whichever is correct,” declared Davis, “Wagner quit.”12

As Wagner gradually faded from the headlines in May, Balinger dropped a bomb in the Pittsburgh Post on June 3: “Hans Wagner’s baseball days may not be over after all,” began the sportswriter in an article that initiated a frenzied few days.13 Wagner’s return, if it happened, continued the scribe, would be as a coach. Pittsburghers woke four days later to read “Wagner Signs Pirates Contract” emblazoned on the front page of the sports section of the Post.14 The previous evening Wagner had accepted a contract calling for a reported $10,000 salary. Dreyfuss issued a statement suggesting the inevitability of Wagner’s return. “He has been a fixture for so many years that he has come to be almost a part of the club, like the grandstand or the pitcher’s box.”15

Less than a day after signing his contract, Wagner was in uniform as the lowly Pirates, with major league baseball’s worst record (14-27), took on the Brooklyn Robins at Forbes Field on June 7 in front of an “unusually large” crowd [estimated at 4,000] for a midweek game.16 “It was evident that something would have to be done to revive interests,” Davis quipped about the legend’s return to the moribund team.17 Playing first base and batting fifth, Wagner put on a “classy performance” (Balinger) and “played in oldtime style” (Davis), singling in four at-bats and driving in a run, but the Pirates lost yet again.18 Visibly overweight and out-of-shape, Wagner hadn’t trained, let alone played baseball, since ending the 1916 season in a month-long slump; nonetheless, in his fourth game, he took over third base, a position he’d played just 18 times since 1901. After his first eight games in 1917, he had managed nine singles, four of which came in one game, in 33 at-bats, while the Bucs won just twice. It was clear that the Flying Dutchman was no elixir to the Bucs woes.

Wagner’s return for his 21st season was akin to a grand farewell tour. In the first contest of a three-game series in St. Louis, Wagner was “center of attraction for the fans,” opined the Press.19 That was just prelude to “Wagner Day” on June 22, when Pittsburgh celebrated its favorite citizen’s return to baseball by staging a grand fête and 200-car parade with a “distinct military atmosphere,” reflecting the country’s wartime status.20 Hailed as a “national institution through baseball,” Wagner, flanked by mayor Joseph G. Armstrong, passed by immense crowds from Liberty Street and Fifth Avenue to Forbes Field. The festivities were even greater at the ballpark, where Wagner was presented various gifts while an estimated 1,000 soldiers drilled. “Hans Wagner was the hero of one of the most public demonstrations in the history of the diamond,” gushed Balinger.21 The 43-year-old lined an RBI single in his first at-bat in the Bucs’ eventual victory in 10 innings over the Chicago Cubs. Still, Pirates fans had little to cheer other than Wagner, who ended his slump one day after those festivities by pounding out 13 hits in his next 21 at-bats over a five-game stretch to lift his batting average from .236 to .342 on June 28.

By that time, reports circulated that Callahan, on the hot seat for weeks, had been fired and that Wagner would take the reins of the club. Ralph S. Davis attempted to quash those rumors, reminding readers that Wagner had refused the job when Clarke retired. “He is even more determined now that he will not be manager of the Pirates,” wrote Davis, adding that Wagner “is evidently too wise to attempt to bring order out of chaos that exists.”22 Pittsburgh sportswriters seemed concerned about Wagner’s reputation and how it could be tarnished by taking over a club described by Balinger as comprising “considerable inferior material” and by Davis as a “mistfit aggregation of minor leaguers” and “disgruntled” veterans.23

Callahan was removed as manager on June 29, leading to “all sorts of weird guesses” about his successor, wrote Davis.24 The new manager, he reported, was supposedly from “out west” and had “considerable experience.” Among those tossed around by sportswriters as the next manager included Harry Wolverton, the recently fired skipper of the San Francisco Seals, who was supposedly in Pittsburgh to discuss the matter with Dreyfuss; former NL MVP Larry Doyle, captain of the Cubs, who was rumored to have been acquired in a trade for flychaser Max Carey; and even Dreyfuss himself.

Defying expectations of the Smokey City sportswriters, Wagner was named Pirates interim manager the day Callahan was fired. “Just how long Wagner will remain at the helm appears to be indefinite,” wrote Balinger, noting that Wagner “would be afforded ample opportunity to show what he might do in the role of a real pilot.”25 Providing a different perspective, Davis reported that Wagner “requested that he be relieved of the duties as soon as possible. Evidently, the veteran does not care to shoulder the responsibility for a tail end club.”26

While spreading the news about Wagner, Davis offered yet another twist by suggesting that Hugo Bezdek, a “professional friend” of Dreyfuss, might be the hitherto unidentified westerner and yet another managerial candidate. Bezdek was a well-known college football coach who had guided the University of Arkansas to an undefeated season in 1909 and was coming off a Rose Bowl victory as head coach of the University of Oregon. He had also served as head baseball coach at those two institutions and was a Pirates scout on the West Coast. Unimpressed with those credentials, Davis opined that Bezdek “can probably be secured on the cheap.”

On his first day calling the shots for what Davis called “one of the cheapest [teams] in the major leagues and . . . just where it belongs in the standings,” manager Wagner made all the right moves while first baseman Wagner supplied some timely hitting for the last-place Bucs’ 5-4 win against skipper Christy Mathewson’s Cincinnati Reds.27 Wagner led off the second with a double and then scored on Chuck Ward’s two-bagger to tie the game 1-1. In the sixth, Wagner’s two-run single knotted the game 3-3. Wagner’s batting average improved to .354, but declined steadily thereafter.

Notwithstanding his reputation as one of the greatest players in history, Wagner was in an untenable position as both player and interim manager. His return, predicated on Dreyfuss’s acquiescence to his salary demands, fueled dissension among the players, most of whom weren’t in the big leagues during the Flying Dutchman’s heyday. The Pittsburgh Press noted that some players were upset by what they felt was Wagner’s special treatment by Dreyfuss and “became more sullen and discontented than ever, and, instead of helping matters, the situation became worse than ever.”28 To some teammates, Wagner was part of the problem, not a solution.

Fresh off his first, and what proved to be his only, victory as manager, Wagner and the Pirates traveled to Cincinnati for a doubleheader the next day. Wagner “was not forgotten by his thousands of faithful friends at Redland” Field, gushed Queen City sportswriter Jack Ryder about the large crowd, estimated at 18,000 strong, on hand for “Wagner Day” at the park.29 Reds players and officials celebrated the living legend and showered him with gifts in ceremonies before the first and second games. Reds hurler Fred Toney stole the show, however, as he started both games of the twin bill, tossing consecutive complete-game three-hitters. Wagner collected one safety in each contest, extending his hitting streak to nine games.

Accompanying the Pirates on their one-day whirlwind tour to Cincinnati was Dreyfuss, who met with Bezdek, who’d arrived from Oregon. The reason for the meeting was unclear, but to Pittsburgh sportswriters, it appeared as though an intrigue were brewing. Harry Keck of the Post defended Wagner, writing that he “will lose no prestige if he doesn’t improve” the team, and that he doubted Wagner would remain much longer as skipper because he lacks the tough-edged personality needed to discipline the players.30 Ralph S. Davis thought Wagner “appears to be defeated before he starts,” considering the Pirates below-average talent.31

Dreyfuss, Wagner, and Bezdek traveled back to the Smokey City separately from the players. Following the Bucs’ 6-4 loss to the Cardinals at Forbes Field on July 2, details of their meeting emerged. Balinger reported that Wagner and Bezdek “will work together,” with the former in charge of “playing” and the latter taking care of “business affairs” in a potentially awkward responsibility-sharing situation.32 “The team needs much more than a new manager before it will become a menace to the other seven clubs in the league,” wrote the Press.33

On Tuesday evening, July 3, following the Pirates’ fourth straight loss, Wagner resigned from his position as interim manager. “You couldn’t coax him back on the job with a battle ax as a persuader,” joked Davis in the Press.34 The 34-year-old Bezdek was named the new skipper for the rest of the season and was in the dugout as the club hosted the Redbirds for a Fourth of July doubleheader. The Bucs dropped both games, but Wagner, noted Balinger, “played first base without being bothered by the cares and worries of a tail-end ball club.”35

So ended Wagner’s inglorious five-game, four-day career as Pirates skipper. Liberated from a task he never really wanted, Wagner was able to settle into his role as the grand old man of the national pastime and continue his farewell tour. On July 6, the Pirates kicked off an eastern road swing in Philadelphia, where the Phillies celebrated Wagner Day at the Baker Bowl by presenting the player with a leather traveling bag in a pre-game ceremony.36 Six days later, it was the Brooklyn Robins’ turn with Wagner Day at Ebbets Field, where the club’s namesake, skipper Wilbert Robinson, presided over a ceremony at home plate.37

A chance for a fairy-tale ending to Wagner’s illustrious career was abruptly snatched away two days later when he was spiked on the right ankle by the Robins’ Casey Stengel in the second game of a doubleheader in Brooklyn.38 The injury, initially diagnosed as slight, became infected and derailed Wagner’s season. Batting a robust .313 at the time, he had trouble pivoting on the foot and started only 24 more games the rest of the year. He was shelved for Wagner Day at Braves Field in Boston on July 19, but delighted fans the next afternoon at Coogan’s Bluff by pinch-hitting against the New York Giants on yet another Wagner Day, at the Polo Grounds. A hobbling Wagner managed just 3 hits in his final 30 at-bats of the season and batted a paltry .202 (20-for 99) after the spiking.

In an interview with Baseball Magazine in March 1918, Wagner admitted, “I had firmly made up my mind to quit [following the 1916 season]. I was getting old for a player and the end was clearly in sight. . . . But when the season rolled around and the boys began to take their swing and the pitchers started loosening up I couldn’t get over the idea that I would like one more try at it.”39 Wagner had the same thoughts again that spring, but knew better than to try another comeback.

A lifelong Pirates fan, GREGORY H. WOLF was born in Pittsburgh, but now resides in the Chicagoland area with his wife, Margaret, and daughter, Gabriela. A Professor of German and holder of the Dennis and Jean Bauman endowed chair of the Humanities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, he is currently the co-director of SABR’s BioProject and has edited seven books for SABR, including those on the 1929 Chicago Cubs (2015), 1957 Milwaukee Braves (2014), 1965 Minnesota Twins (2015), 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates (2016, co-edited with Bill Nowlin), as well as County Stadium (2016) in Milwaukee, the Houston Astrodome (2017), and Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis (2017). He’s written more than 150 biographies of players for the BioProject, and approximately 100 games for the Games Project.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet’s World Wide Web site, Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, and The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record.

Notes

1  Dennis DeValeria and Jeanne Burke DeValeria, Honus Wagner. A Biography (New York: Henry Holt, 1995), 267.

2  Harry Keck, “Sporting Chit Chat,” Pittsburgh Post, June 21, 1917.

3 “Honus Wagner Caught At ‘Home’ by Dan Cupid,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, December 31, 1916.

4 Charles J. Doyle, “Carmen Hill Released to Birmingham in Grimes’ Deal,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, January 7, 1917.

5  Arthur D. Hittner, Honus Wagner. The Life of Baseball’s “Flying Dutchman,” (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1996).

6 Ralph Davis, “Ralph Davis’ Column,” Pittsburgh Press, February, 5, 1917.

7   “Hans Wagner Praised by His Former Pilot,” Pittsburgh Press, February 11, 1917.

8   Ed F. Balinger, “Wagner Night Howling Success,” Pittsburgh Post, February 25, 1917.

9 Harry Keck, “Sporting Chit-Chat,” Pittsburgh Post, March 13, 1917.

10  “Wagner Not a ‘Hold-Out,’ Says Barney,” Pittsburgh Post, March 16, 1917.

11 “Wagner Has Not Signed A Contract,” Pittsburgh Press, April 15, 1917.

12   “Ralph Davis, “Ralph Davis’ Column,” Pittsburgh Press, April 21, 1917.

13   Ed F. Balinger, “Wagner May Come Back. See Phils Down Bucs. Confers With Callahan,” Pittsburgh Post, June 3, 1917.

14   Ed F. Balinger, “Hans Wagner Signs Pirates Contract,” Pittsburgh Post, June 7, 1917.

15   DeValeria and DeValeria, Honus Wagner, 272.

16   Ralph S. Davis, “Baird Goes To Bench,” Pittsburgh Press, June 8, 1917.

17  Ralph. S. Davis, “Brooklyn-Pittsburgh Ball Game Today Postponed,” Pittsburgh Press, June 6, 1917.

18 Davis, “Baird Goes To Bench.”

19   “Pepper Shown By Pirates,” Pittsburgh Press, June 19, 1917.

20   “Thousands Will Honor Honus Wagner Today,” Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, June 22, 1917.

21   Ed F. Balinger, “Bigbees’s Long Blow and Big Bill’s Rap End Fray in 10th,” Pittsburgh Post, June 23, 1917.

22  Ralph S. Davis, “Dreyfuss Seeking Successor to Jimmie Callahan. Wagner Refuses The Job,” Pittsburgh Press, June 29, 1917.

23 Ed F. Balinger, “New Buccaneer Leader May Succeed Callahan With Next Few Days,” Pittsburgh Post, June 29, 1917; Davis, “Dreyfuss Seeking Successor.”

24 Ralph S. Davis. “Guessing As To Identity of New Buccaneer Manager,” Pittsburgh Press, June 30, 1917.

25  Ed F. Balinger, “Hans Wagner Chosen Pilot of Buccaneers in Callahan’s Place,” Pittsburgh Post, July 1, 1917.

26 Ralph S. Davis, “Honus Wagner In Command,” Pittsburgh Press, July 1, 1917.

27 Davis, “Honus Wagner In Command.”

28   Ralph S. Davis. “Callahan’s Successor in Tough Tome. New Policy Is Needed,” Pittsburgh Press, July 1, 1917.

29 Frank Ryder, “Toney Wins Both Ends of Double-Header,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1917.

30  Harry Keck, “Sporting Chit Chat,” Pittsburgh Post, July 2, 1917.

31 Ralph S. Davis, “Bezdek Will Not Supplant Wagner Just Now, ‘Honus’ Still On The Job,” Pittsburgh Press, July 2, 1917.

32 Ed F. Balinger, “Hans Wagner Comes First On Pilot Job,” Pittsburgh Post, July 3, 1917.

33   Ralph S. Davis, “Wagner Can’t Make ‘Em Win,” Pittsburgh Press, July 3, 1917.

34   Ralph S. Davis, “Big Job For News Manager,” Pittsburgh Press, July 5, 1917.

35 Ed F. Balinger, “Hans Wagner Resigns And Managerial Reins Are Given To Bezdek,” Pittsburgh Press, July 5, 1917.

36   Jim Nasium, “Phils Lacked Punch When Men Were On,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 7, 1917.

37  Ed F. Balinger, “Dodgers Donate Stein To Wagner, Game To Pirates,” Pittsburgh Post, July 13, 1917.

38  Ed F. Balinger, “Dodgers Again Take Twin Bill Off The Bezdeks,” Pittsburgh Post, July 15, 1917.

39   “Twenty-One Years In The Major Leagues,” Baseball Magazine, March 1918: 395.

In major league history, 121 pinch slams have been hit, 70 in the National League and 51 in the American. No one connected in the 19th century, when pinch hitting was at a minimum. Ironically, the first pinch clam was hit by a pitcher for the Cardinals, Mike O’Neill, in a game against the Braves on June 3, 1902. Mike, born in Ireland, was one of the four O’Neill brothers, the best known of whom was Steve. Another brother, John, caught that June 3 game for the Cards. The first AL pinch slam did not originate until September 24, 1916, when Marty Kavanagh, a utility infielder for Cleveland, hit a hard liner off Hubert “Dutch” Leonard of the Red Sox. The ball rolled through a hole in the fence and every one scored.

Who hits pinch homers with the bases loaded? Not necessarily the great sluggers. Of the top dozen career home run hitters, only Jimmie Foxx and Harmon Killebrew have connected as emergency batters with the bags full. Double-X did it twice, once in each league. Roy Sievers also blasted one in each league. Other two-timers were Vic Wertz, Bill Skowron, and Rich Reese in the AL, and Ed Bailey and Willie McCovey in the Senior Circuit. But the King of Swingers was “Round” Ron Northey, who went “Bingo” on three occasions while with the Cards and Cubs.

It is also noted that no less than five pitchers have come through with pinch, slams. In addition to O’Neill, there was Schoolboy Rowe, Early Wynn, Zeb Eaton, and Tommy Byrne. If pitchers can hit pinch slams, what kind of hurlers can serve them up? Looking over the list, it appears that relief hurlers are the chief victims. This seems only logical, considering that most substitute batters appear late in the game. Only five pitchers were burned twice: Don Mossi, Steve Ridzik, Dave Koslo, Satchel Paige, and Hank Borowy, who was bombed once in each league. Early Wynn was the only player to serve one up (to Bob Cerv in 1961), and to hit one himself (off Jack Gorsica in 1946).

Pinch homers with the bases loaded have been hit in each inning from the 2nd to the 12th. Twenty-eight were hit in the 9th, and 26 in the 7th. Even team managers got into the act. At least two of them looked over their bench and decided that they could do better themselves. Rogers Hornsby connected for his Cubs in 1931, and Phil Cavarretta also hit one for the Cubs shortly after he took over the helm in 1951. Cavvy belted it off Robin Roberts when the latter was at the height of his career. On May 26, 1929, Pat Crawford of the Giants and Lester Bell of the Braves both connected in the same game, the only time that has been accomplished.

The full list of players who have hit pinch hone runs with the bases filled is carried below. (* indicates 2nd game)

National League pinch-grand slams, through 1971

American League pinch-grand slams, through 1971

Assisted by Raymond Gonzalez and Leonard Gettelson.

John McGraw was one of the most successful baseball managers ever, leading the New York Giants to ten pennants in his 30 years with the club. His arrival in mid-1902 marked the turning point in the fortunes of the Giants, a team which had been struggling for years. However, despite an influx of new players whom McGraw brought with him to New York, the Giants barely showed any improvement for the balance of the 1902 season, losing over 60 percent of their decisions in that period. This article will review the Giants’ 1902 season and attempt to show why McGraw was unable to make an immediate improvement in the team.

1902 was a season of turmoil not just for the Giants, but for all of Organized Baseball. The National League was at war not only with the American League, but with itself. In its December 1901 meeting, four owners supported a plan proposed by John Brush to convert the National League into a trust which would be owned by all eight owners. This trust would own all eight teams and the contracts of all players. The other four owners supported the candidacy of former league president Albert Goodwill Spalding. Spalding had led the league in its successful battles with the Player’s League in 1890 and the American Association in 1891, and these four owners felt he was the perfect choice to defend the league against the upstart American League.

The two sides couldn’t reach an agreement, and the trust group, including Giants owner Andrew Freedman, left the meeting. The other four owners, claiming a quorum was still present, elected Spalding president. A lawsuit was filed by the trust group and the matter wasn’t resolved until the beginning of April 1902. The season schedule was adopted on April 5, just twelve days before opening day.

The American League, under its strong president, Ban Johnson, had moved into several large Eastern cities in 1901 and declared itself a major league on a par with the NL. While its playing talent was probably not on a par with the NL’s that year, it did succeed in attracting such top stars as Nap Lajoie and Cy Young. Following the 1901 season, the AL took advantage of the chaotic situation in the NL to step up its player raids. Many of the NL’s top players such as Elmer Flick, Jimmy Sheckard, Jesse Burkett, Al Orth, and Ed Delahanty signed with the American League.

Meanwhile, the Giants seemed to be making little effort to resign their players or obtain new talent. By the end of 1901, regulars Kip Selbach, Jack Warner, Charley Hickman, and pitcher Luther Taylor, who had led the league’s pitchers in games started, had signed with American League teams. Most damaging, future Hall of Fame shortstop George Davis, the Giants’ manager in 1901, signed with the Chicago White Stockings. Later, third baseman Sammy Strang jumped ship as well.

The decline of the Giants since they were purchased by the petulant, domineering Andrew Freedman in 1894 seemed to be complete. Once one of the league’s premier franchises, the team had finished last or next to last the past three seasons. Freedman likely expected the trust scheme to be adopted, and that the Giants would get first pick of the league’s stars. Because of the stalemate over that issue, they had to rebuild the club the old-fashioned way. With no National Agreement between the major and minor leagues, there was no draft to provide a cheap source of new talent.

Late in December, the Giants started putting together a team for 1902 by signing minor-league pitchers Roy Evans and John Burke as well as catcher Manley Thurston. They also purchased second baseman/manager George Smith from the Eastern League champion Rochester team. An offer was made to Jesse Burkett, who had just jumped to the AL, but he turned it down. The Giants also tried to woo manager Ned Hanlon away from their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Superbas, but that was also unsuccessful. Towards the end of January, Freedman chose Horace Fogel to manage the team.

Fogel’s managerial experience consisted of one season at the helm of Indianapolis of the National League. Otherwise, he made his living as a sportswriter and editor, mainly in Philadelphia. Fogel promised to sign some stars, but all he found were college players, American League rejects, and “Roaring” Bill Kennedy, a one-time star pitcher who had been cut loose by the Superbas. As February neared its end, however, the Giants seized an opportunity when Chicago released first baseman Jack Doyle. Fogel quickly signed Doyle and appointed him team captain, giving him responsibility for the team during games. Doyle had been a member of the champion Baltimore Orioles in 1896 and had spent three seasons with the Giants before 1901. He was a good hitter and aggressive baserunner. However, he tended to make enemies wherever he went, as he was demanding and lacking in diplomacy.

The Giants didn’t go south for spring training, which was not unusual at the time. Fourteen players reported to the Polo Grounds on March 24 to begin working out under the direction of Jack Doyle. More arrived the next few days. As practice began, the team lined up this way: Captain Doyle at first, Smith at second, Walter Anderson at short, Billy Lauder at third, and Frank Bowerman behind the plate backed up by George Yeager. Veteran George Van Haltren would be the center fielder, with several players competing for the other two outfield spots, including Jim Jackson, Roy Clark, Libe Washburn, Jim Stafford, Jimmy Jones, and Jim Delahanty.

The pitching staff was led by the sensation of 1901, Christy Mathewson. Virtually every other pitcher from the prior year was gone. Attempting to replace them were Henry Thielmann (also an outfield prospect), Frank Dupee, Tully Sparks, Burke, Evans, Kennedy, and Bill Magee. Efforts were made to improve the team during spring training; on March 26, it was reported that the manager job was offered to Ed Barrow, then manager of the Toronto team in the Eastern League, and later Red Sox manager and Yankees president. Contracts were supposedly offered to American Leaguers Nap Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Topsy Hartsel, and others, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase shortstop Wid Conroy from the champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

Anderson proved inadequate at short, and after Delahanty and Thielmann were tried there, the Giants signed Jack Dunn, who had been released by the Orioles. The weather was cold and rainy throughout spring training. Only 6 exhibition games were played, against college and minor league teams, with the Giants managing to win them all. Five other games were cancelled due to the weather. When that happened, the Giants could work out with weights or exercise machines in the Polo Grounds clubhouse.

Other players failing to make the grade during spring training were Stafford and Dupee, with Clark returning to complete his studies at Brown University. Bowerman and Van Haltren were injured during training camp; thus when the Giants opened the season at home against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 17, the lineup looked like this:

1. Dunn SS
2. Delahanty RF
3. Jones CF
4. Lauder 3B
5. Doyle 1B
6. Jackson LF
7. Smith 2B
8. Yeager C
9. Mathewson P

Jack Dunn began his major-league career in 1897 as a pitcher. He converted to infield in 1901, playing third base and shortstop for the American League Baltimore Orioles. After his release by that team, he was signed by the Giants to fill their gap at short. He ended the season as a utility player, filling in at second and third and playing more games in right field than anyone else. He even started two games as pitcher, and relieved in another. Dunn spent two more seasons with the Giants as a utility infielder. He is best known today as the owner of the minor-league Baltimore Orioles, where he discovered and developed many players, such as Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove.

Jim Delahanty, one of five brothers to play in the major leagues, was a very good hitter who changed teams frequently during his 11-season AL and NL career, most of which was spent as a second baseman. He had spent the bulk of 1901 playing in the Eastern League. After spring training trials at shortstop and center field, he opened the season as the regular right fielder. This was his second major-league trial; his career would begin in earnest in 1904 as the regular third baseman for the Beaneaters.

Jim Jones was a fast runner without much hitting ability. Like Dunn, he had begun his career as a pitcher; Jones had played a few games for the Giants in 1901. 1902 would be his final major-league season. He was filling in for the veteran George Van Haltren, who was expected to be the Giants’ regular center fielder in 1902, as he had been since 1894. Van Haltren was nursing a cold and an injured finger. At 36 years of age, he was one of the oldest players in the league, and was frequently referred to in print as “Rip” Van Haltren. 1902 would be his 16th major-league season.

Billy Lauder was a good field, no hit third baseman. According to Ned Hanlon, Lauder was as good a third baseman as had ever played the game. Unfortunately, he had been out of professional baseball for two years, and was never able to regain his hitting eye.

Jim Jackson was a speedster who spent his rookie season in 1901 with the Baltimore Orioles. He had a .291 on base average and a .330 slugging average in 1901. Joining the Giants in 1902, where he had to deal with the foul strike rule, his hitting took a predictable fall. In addition, his fielding average fell from a league-leading .971 in 1901 to .897 in 1902.

George “Heinie” Smith was a slick-fielding, weak-hitting second baseman. Smith played for Rochester in the International League in 1901. At 30 years old, this was Smith’s first year as a regular in the majors after four previous trials. He would soon be regarded as the best defensive second baseman on the Giants since John M. Ward in 1893-94, but his big-league career would end the following year with Detroit. Smith and Lauder were the only Giants to play over 109 games in 1902.

George Yeager was a veteran of five big-league seasons as a backup catcher. 1902 would be his last year in the major leagues. He was filling in for the injured Bowerman.

After a band concert which concluded with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and the first ball was thrown out by a former fire commissioner, the Giants got their season off to a rousing start with a seven to nothing victory. Over the next few days, they would lose more than they won before rattling off a seven-game winning streak to close their home stand.

As they headed for Chicago, the Giants had a 10-5 record. Their winning streak ended abruptly as Chicago swept the three-game series. However, the first two games were later disallowed by the league as Fogel had discovered before game three that the pitching rubber at West Side Park was two feet too close to home. (Those games were later replayed, with the Giants winning both.) Not including the two protested games, the Giants won four of the first six games on the trip.

On May 16 in Cincinnati, as the new Palace of the Fans was dedicated, George Yeager pinch-hit a two-run single in the ninth to cap a five-run rally and give New York a 14-7 mark. They looked like a pennant contender. However, the good times were over, as the team would lose 43 of its next 51 decisions. A few days after the Giants’ come-from-behind victory, Fogel was quoted in a Cincinnati newspaper making disparaging remarks about golden boy Christy Mathewson. He made a quick retraction, but his days at the helm of the Giants were numbered.

Personnel changes were coming fast and furious. Taylor jumped back to the Giants. Bill Magee was released after lasting only two innings in his first start. Delahanty was dropped after seven games. Steve Brodie, a veteran center fielder and former Orioles teammate of Doyle, was signed, released, signed again, released again, and finally signed for a third time the next day after an injury to the Giants’ latest outfielder.

Indeed, injuries and illnesses would plague the team all season, especially amongst the outfielders. Brodie, despite his multiple comings and goings, was the only person to play more than 67 games in the outfield for New York. The most severe injury occurred on May 22, when Van Haltren broke his leg sliding in Pittsburgh. He missed the remainder of the season, and his major-league career ended the following year.

A shortstop, Joe Bean, who had played with Smith at Rochester in 1901, was signed. Unfortunately, Rochester had an option on his services for 1902 and they got a court injunction against the Giants. This matter was resolved in a few days, with the Giants purchasing Bean’s contract.

Thielman, who was used in the outfield for a trio of games as well as on the mound, was dropped in mid-May as was catcher Thurston, who never got into a game. Outfielders came and went after two or three games. Pitcher Bob Blewett from Georgetown University was given a chance, but he lived up to his name, going 0-2 in five games. Libe Washburn, star pitcher at Brown University, was used in the outfield for a few games but never got a chance on the mound. Roy Clark had rejoined the team, but, like Mathewson and Sparks, didn’t play on Sundays. (This was a problem only when the team was playing in three western cities, since Sunday ball was illegal in the four eastern cities and Pittsburgh.)

After losing fourteen of their last 15 games in May, and rumors of dissension spread, changes were made. On June 2, Jack Doyle was stripped of his captaincy, with George Smith taking over that role. The next day, Fogel left the team due to his father’s death, and he never returned to the helm, with Smith being promoted to manager on June 11. In an effort to end the dissension on the club, Doyle was released late in June. These changes didn’t help the team, as they could only achieve a 5-27 record under Smith.

There had been rumors during the winter about Mathewson having a sore arm. Although he claimed to be fine during spring training and his first pitching appearances were successful, his performance soon fell off. This led to Fogel’s threat to bench him. Due to Matty’s sore arm and the Giants’ infield problems, Smith used him at first base for three games. There was some discussion about converting him to shortstop once his arm healed. While Matty was an excellent fielder on the mound and a good hitter for a pitcher, he proved a flop at first base, making four errors in his three games there, and he returned to pitching.

Meanwhile, on July 1, a new shortstop, Heinie Wagner, joined the team. He had been found playing sandlot ball in New York by Horace Fogel. No one on the team knew anything about him, and some fans thought the Giants had somehow obtained Pittsburgh’s star, Hans Wagner. Alas, Heinie, although later a capable major-league player, was not only not Hans, but also wasn’t ready for this level of play.

Another newspaper interview in early July gave insight into the Giants’ troubles. Jack Hendricks, who had been released after a brief trial in June in right field, spoke candidly to a Chicago Journal writer. He claimed that Bowerman and Yeager did all they could to prevent young players from succeeding and that the team had deliberately played poorly behind Blewett to make him look bad. Hendricks, a Northwestern University graduate who would go on to a long career as a manager in the National League and the minors, also had harsh words for Mathewson, calling him a “conceited pinhead” who constantly moaned when things didn’t go his way. Matty’s teammates rarely spoke to him, and gave him poor support also, according to Hendricks. On the other hand, he had nothing but praise for Doyle, who he said was very helpful to the young players and was a “splendid fellow.” He concluded that Freedman should make certain changes in the team, including the manager.1

In the meantime, over in the American League, the Orioles’ manager John McGraw was having his own problems. McGraw, another veteran of the NL Orioles of the 1890’s, had begun his managerial career with that club in 1899. He quickly established a reputation as a genius by leading the team to a strong fourth-place finish even though most of the club’s stars had been transferred to its sister team, the Superbas. When the American League moved into the east, McGraw was offered part-ownership of the Baltimore franchise. However, Ban Johnson insisted on supporting his umpires, which put him at frequent loggerheads with McGraw, a notorious ump-baiter. By mid-1902, McGraw was fed up with the frequent suspensions and fines handed him by Johnson. As a player, he had been out of action since being spiked by a baserunner on May 24.

On July 2, McGraw was spotted at the Polo Grounds, and rumors quickly spread that he would take over the helm of the Giants. On the ninth, it became official. The Giants signed McGraw to a three-year contract at $10,000 or $11,000 per year, a munificent sum for the time, when the top player salaries were $6,000-7,000 at best. In his first interview as the Giants’ pilot, McGraw stated that he had been given unlimited authority to improve the team. “The only instructions that I have received,” he stated, “were to put a winning organization in this city at any cost.”2 Although he admitted that first place was out of reach this year, he did expect the team to finish in the first division and then compete for the flag in 1903.

The details of how McGraw left the Orioles, of which he was part-owner, and how he planned to strengthen the Giants, soon became public. He had arranged for a majority of the Orioles’ stock to be sold to Andrew Freedman, who released McGraw and many of the team’s stars, including future Hall-of-Famers Joe McGinnity and Roger Bresnahan, as well as first baseman Dan McGann and pitcher Jack Cronin.3 This quartet joined McGraw and the Giants for his first game as manager on July 19. At the same time, Joe Kelley, who had also played on the Orioles of the 1890’s, signed with John T. Brush to be Cincinnati’s playing manager; joining him was center fielder Cy Seymour. In the ten days between McGraw being announced as new manager and his first game, he was supposedly trying to sign new players, but was in fact being treated for appendicitis, which would plague him for the rest of the season.

McGraw released seven players upon joining the Giants: Yeager, O’Hagen, Blewett, Wagner, Burke, Sparks, and Evans. Roy Clark received his 10-day notice of release two days before McGraw’s signing. In addition to the four Baltimore players, the Giants soon added left fielder George Browne, who had been released by the Phillies, and pitcher Roscoe Miller, who jumped from the Detroit Tigers. Libe Washburn was released on July 25 and Jimmy Jones was suspended and then released after assaulting umpire Bob Emslie on August 6. Bresnahan split time between right field and catcher, while Browne became the regular left fielder. Both were big improvements over the players the Giants had previously tried. McGraw became the new shortstop.

While the Giants lost their first game under McGraw, the team reportedly showed more “life” than they had in some time. After two days off and an exhibition game versus the Orange (New Jersey) Athletic Club, they took three out of five games against the Superbas. However, despite strong performances from some of the newcomers, the team kept on struggling, and finished the season in last place.

Injuries continued to plague the Giants, and one led to a challenge to McGraw’s authority. Frank Bowerman’s foot was hurt by a foul ball on August 2. The next day the team played an exhibition game in Bayonne, New Jersey and Bowerman didn’t suit up. In fact, due to injuries on the Bayonne club, Roger Bresnahan caught all nine innings for both teams. Since Bowerman hadn’t asked permission to sit out, McGraw fined him 50 dollars. Bowerman argued that the fine wasn’t fair, and he refused to suit up again until it was rescinded. He threatened to jump to the American League but gave in and was back in uniform on August 7. In his first game behind the plate after the incident, however, he committed three errors and five passed balls. While it is not known if his poor fielding was deliberate, it so disgusted Mathewson that in the ninth inning, after the final two passed balls, Christy began lobbing the ball over the plate, and a 3-2 deficit quickly became an 8-2 loss. Despite all this, and later rumors of signing with the St. Louis Browns, Bowerman remained with the team through the 1907 season.

John T. Brush sold most of his stock in the Reds in August, and a few days later was made managing director of the Giants. He worked with McGraw in trying to obtain new players. Late in the season, with McGraw aiding in the negotiations, he bought Freedman’s stock and became president of the board of directors. A new era in Giants’ baseball was beginning.

Why didn’t McGraw turn around the Giants’ fortunes in 1902 despite the influx of new talent? The reason seems to be lack of interest. Apparently, he decided soon after arriving in New York that the Giants wouldn’t be able to reach the first division and turned his attention to obtaining players for 1903. In this he was successful; he signed several American Leaguers and the team rallied to second place that year. However, this meant that McGraw was away from the team for long stretches. In all, he missed 20 games due to scouting trips and his appendicitis. The team’s record in these games was 8-12, little different from their overall mark after McGraw became manager. As further evidence that McGraw wasn’t his usual fighting self, he wasn’t ejected from a single game by the umpires with the Giants in 1902. He had promised to contain his temper after coming to New York, and did so. A year later, he was quoted as saying “Baseball is only fun for me when I’m out front and winning. I don’t give a hill of beans for the rest of the game.”4

The Giants continued to be disrupted by injuries as well as rainouts; seven games were postponed between September 9 and October 1. Also, McGraw began the transition from player-manager to bench-manager; 1902 was his last season as a regular player, and he played his last game of the season on September 11. This probably took some getting used to for McGraw.

McGraw made one serious personnel misjudgment, releasing Tully Sparks and signing Roscoe Miller. Miller went just one and eight with a 4.58 ERA. The following season he won two and lost five with a 4.13 ERA. Meanwhile, Sparks was in the midst of a 12-year major-league career which saw him credited with 121 pitching wins and an ERA of 2.79.

The result of the above was that the Giants record under McGraw was just 25-38-2, although 41 of the games were played at home, and they gained only a 1/2 game on seventh place. By contrast, the Cincinnati Reds after hiring Joe Kelley as manager were 36-26, climbing from seventh to fourth.

OF injuries:

4/17 Van Haltren out with cold and infected thumb until 4/19
4/18 Jones hurt sliding / didn’t play again until 5/12
4/22 Jackson out with tonsillitis / back 4/25
5/22 Van Haltren broke leg / out remainder of season
5/28 Jones hurt when Long fell on him / back 6/2
6/2 Clark’s finger injured-played 6/4 but next day thumb operated on, next played 7/2
6/6 O’Hagen hit by batted ball / back 6/20
6/17 Washburn hit by pitch, broken nose / out until 7/19
8/29 Bresnahan in bed with illness / back 9/8

1902 Giants transactions

Sources

The main sources used for this article were the New York Telegram and the Sporting Life. Other newspapers consulted were the New York Times, New York Herald, New York Evening World, New York Press, and The Sporting News. In addition, the following books and other records were used:

Charles Alexander, John McGraw

Joe Durso, Days of Mr. McGraw

Blanche McGraw with Arthur Mann, The Real McGraw

John Thorn and Pete Palmer. eds., Total Baseball, 3rd edition

Craig Carter, ed.. The Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book, 1994 edition

1902 Official National League Statistics

Information Concepts Inc. records of 1902 season

Thanks to Cappy Gagnon, John Pardon, David W. Smith, Darryl Brock, and Bill Deane for sharing their research, and to Paul Wendt, Frank Vaccaro, and Skip McAfee for their help with this article.

Notes

1 Chicago Journal as reprinted in Sporting Life, July 12, 1902.

2 New York Herald, July 10, 1902.

3 Details of the story vary, with some sources claiming that McGraw had reached agreement with Freedman by mid-June, with team secretary Fred Knowles and possibly John Brush acting as go-betweens. Mrs. McGraw, in her biography of her husband, claimed that the jump to New York was part of a plan between McGraw, Freedman, Brush, and Ban Johnson to put an AL team in New York, but she offers no evidence to support this notion.

4 David H. Nathan, ed., Baseball Quotations (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991).

      OBA    =  Hits + Walks + Hit-by-Pitch
                     At Bats + Walks + Hit-by-Pitch

For example, if we were figuring out Frank Robinson’s career on base average, it would be compiled like this:  2641 hits + 1213 walks + 178 hit-by-pitch (4032), divided by 8810 at bats + 1213 walks + 178 HBP (10201). His OBA is .395, which happens to be the tops among active players, but does not compare very well with players of the past.   Sacrifice hits are ignored in this calculation.

On base average can be quite different from batting average.   Take for example Joe DiMaggio and Roy Cullenbine, once outfield teammates for the Yankees. DiMag had a lifetime batting average of .325 and Cullenbine .276. But Roy was walked much more frequently than Joe and made fewer outs; he had an OBA of .404, compared to .398 for the Yankee Clipper.

In calculating OBA, the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia was used for hits, at bats, and bases on balls.   Hit by pitch data are from official averages back to 1920 in the AL and 1917 in the NL. Figures back to 1909 have been compiled by Alex Haas from newspaper box scores.   Some data before then comes from Haas, John Tattersall, and Bob Davids. Additional information is available in some of the old newspapers, but has not yet been compiled. Players with incomplete totals are credited with HEP at the known rate from available data for those unknown appearances. When no data are to be obtained, league averages are used.   Before 1887, a batter was not awarded first base when hit by a pitch.

Who is the all-time leader in on base average? It is Ted Williams with a spectacular .483 mark.   Not surprisingly, Babe Ruth is second with .474. It is no secret that Williams and Ruth were both exceptionally good hitters as well as being among the most frequent walk receivers. It was not unusual for them to get on base 300 times a season. Ranking third is the all-time list is John McGraw, who was elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager, but was also a fine hitter. In addition, he was adept at getting on base from walks and HBP. He holds the all-time NL record for OBA both lifetime and season. Billy Hamilton, the stolen base king, and Lou Gehrig are next in line, followed by such big names as Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx and Tris Speaker. Rounding out the top ten is Ferris Fain, former first baseman of the A’s, who quietly attained a very high OBA to go with his two batting titles.

Some players who many fans might not think to be among the leaders in OBA are Max Bishop, second baseman of the A’s last super teams of 1929-31, Clarence “Cupid” Childs, Cleveland second sacker in the 1890’s, Roy Thomas, Phil center fielder at the turn of the century, and Joe Cunningham, who played with the Cardinals and White Sox just a few years ago.   On the other hand, some of the famous hitters of baseball are not included in the accompanying list of players with lifetime on base averages of .400 or better.   Missing are such stars as Willie Keeler, Bill Terry, George Sisler, Nap Lajoie, Al Simmons, Hans Wagner, Cap Anson, Joe DiMaggio, and Roberto Clemente.

Since most of the players in the .400 list are either outfielders or first basemen, an additional table is shown that provides data on the top ten players at each position.   Many unheralded players are high in the OBA figures, such as Wally Schang, who played for many AL clubs in the teens and twenties, who is second among catchers, and Elmer Valo, another Connie Mack product, who ranks sixth in right field.

There are no active players with OBA’s of .400 or better, and only a few among the leaders by position. The level of OBA in the majors is presently quite low.   This could be attributed to many factors, such as improved pitching (bigger and stronger pitchers throwing from the unchanged distance of 60 feet 6 inches, more use of relief pitchers, and the widespread use of the slider as an extra pitch), larger ball parks, and increased emphasis on hitting home runs.   Those players with high OBA’s that are now active are shown below:

It is interesting to note that if hit by pitch were not included in figuring OBA, Frank Robinson would rank only fourth.

In regard to season averages, Dick Allen led the majors in OBA in 1972 with a mark of .422. Joe Morgan was the NL leader with .419. The only others with .400 or better on base average were Carlos may at .408, and Billy Williams at .403. These season averages are far, far below the top season averages of the past. The list of top season marks, which includes all instances of OBA of .500 or better, is dominated by another Williams named Ted, the all-time season leader, and by Ruth.

Ted Williams led the league in OBA every year he qualified except for his rookie season, and he had a higher OBA than the leader in three of his four seasons shortened by injury. Those leading the league most often in OBA are:

            AL       Ted Williams              12                    NL       Rogers Hornsby          8

                        Babe Ruth                 10                               Stan Musial                 5

                        Ty Cobb                     6                                Billy Hamilton             4

                        Lou Gehrig                 5                                Richie Ashburn           4

                        Carl Yastrzemski        5                                Mel Ott                       4

                                                                                            Honus Wagner            4

It is important to remember that OBA is only one component of hitting, and that slugging is equally valuable. Of course, the best long-ball hitters usually rank high in both departments because they are generally walked more frequently. One thing the OBA does is give percentage recognition to the players ability to get on via the walk and the HBP as well as the hit. He has saved his team an out and he is n a good position to score a run.

ON BASE AVERAGE LEADERS
1,000 games minimum – through 1972

+Hit by pitch estimated from partial career totals
*Hit by pitch estimated from league average

ON BASE AVERAGE LIFETIME LEADERS BY POSITION
1,000 games minimum – at least 500 games at position

Hitting has been on the rise in ba8eball the past decade or so, and there is talk that today’s ball, the Rawlings Rabbit, has more spring than any hare of seasons past. This is shortsighted history. Let me tell you, Sonny, about a time there was hitting in the major leagues.

The 1930 season is remembered for Hack Wilson’s 56 home runs and 191 runs batted in, and Bill Terry’s .401 batting average. Great as those achievements were, they stand out more in historical perspective than they did in their own day. In 1930, lusty hitting was a democratic activity, shared by all.

In 1984, the American League batted .264 and the National League hit .255. In 1930, the American League batted—including pitcher batting—.288 and the National League came in at .303. If the senior circuit had been a player-Nat League, 6-1, 190, throws right, switch-hits—it would have finished tenth in last season’s batting race.

In 1983 Lonnie Smith of the Cardinals missed the NL batting championship by only .002; if he had been warped back to 1930 with his .321 average, he would have found himself ranking seventh—not in the league, but on his own team. The 1930 Cardinals had twelve .300 hitters, only eight of whom could play at a time.

Wilson, of the Cubs, and Terry, of the Giants, had to hustle to stay on top. Wilson’s 56 homers stand as the National League record, but his mark of 191 runs batted in is considered more impressive, and often is listed among baseball’s few unbreakable records. It may be, but in 1930 Chuck Klein of the Phillies wasn’t far behind, with 170, and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees led the American League with 174. Six major leaguers drove in more than 150 runs each that season, and thirty-two had 100 or more.

For the batting championship, Terry edged Babe Herman of the Dodgers, who hit .393, and Klein, at .386. As any good fan knows, no National Leaguer has batted .400 since Terry. What’s more, no National Leaguer has hit .390 since Herman, either, or .386 since Klein.

Klein was the quintessential also-ran that season: second in the league in RBIs, second all-time; second to Terry in hits with 250, tied for third all-time; second to Wilson in slugging with .687, sixth best all-time. As for homers, Klein set the National League record just the year before, with 43, and lost it to Wilson in 1930. Strictly a spear-carrier, that Klein.

We could go on with these statistics. For example, count the .300 hitters: thirty-three in the National League, thirty-two in the American, a record. Trouble is, the figures understate the case, because they include only men who played in 100 games or more. In 1930, lots of .300 hitters couldn’t crack the lineup. Some of them were pitchers, like Red Ruffing of the Yankees (.374), Erv Brame of the Pirates (.353), Chad Kimsey of the St. Louis Browns (.343), Red Lucas of the Reds (.336), and Firpo Marberry of the Washington Senators (.329).

The hitters splattered the 1930 season all over the record books, but it was a remarkable baseball year in other ways, too. It was the first year of the Great Depression, and the first year of Babe Ruth’s $80,000 salary. Night baseball began in the minor leagues, was an immediate sensation, and was denounced by major league owners as a blight and a fad. Gabby Hartnett of the Cubs was caught by a photographer while chatting with Al Capone, and Babe Herman twice was caught and passed by teammates on the basepaths. The Yankees traded a star pitcher because of a detective’s report, and the Cardinals staged one of the greatest pennant drives in history, the more dramatic because of the disappearance—kidnapping?—of a star pitcher.

Baseball was such the dominant sport back then that its stars, like it or not, had to provide copy for the sports pages during the offseason as well as the summer. None filled the role as well as Ruth, who by then was a public idol of gargantuan proportions. Dour men like Rogers Hornsby made news only with their bats, but Ruth’s ebullient personality and hearty living habits enhanced his reputation.

Ruth was holding out for $85,000 that spring, and Jacob Ruppert, the Yankee owner, grumped at the figure. “Ruth has taken more money from the Yankees than I have,” he said. One venture fell through, Ruth’s Home Run Candy running afoul of the thirty-five-year-old copyright on the Baby Ruth bar, which had been named after the infant daughter of President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland. But no matter. Without playing another game of baseball or lending his name to another product, Ruth said, he was assured of a comfortable income for life.

But Ruth did not feel comfortable as a holdout, and during spring training he yielded, accepting $80,000 a year for two years. It was a stunning figure, forty times the wage of the average worker, and it brought out the prophet in Edward G. Barrow, business manager of the Yankees. “You will never hear of another ballplayer getting that kind of money,” Barrow said. Never? he was asked. “I’m sure there will never be another one on this ballclub,” Barrow replied.

Next to Ruth, other players paled. Lefty O’Doul of the Phils also held out that spring. O’Doul had led the National League in batting the season before at .398, with 32 homers and 122 runs batted in. He demanded—think of it!—$17,000. Too much, his boss said; O’Doul already was pulling down $8,000, more than any other Phillie, ever. O’Doul, like Ruth, had to compromise.

Edd Roush of the New York Giants would not compromise. A .324 hitter in 1929 and a future member of the Hall of Fame, Roush held out all spring, and all summer, too; he didn’t play a game. Al Simmons, the Philadelphia Athletics’ slugger, threatened to do the same, and Connie Mack announced that Spence Harris, a minor league lifer with an American League career average of .249, would take Simmons’ place. While the Athletics were warming up on opening day, Simmons signed. The fans at Shibe Park roared when he appeared in uniform, and roared again when he came to bat in the first inning, with a man on base, and homered off George Pipgras of the Yanks. So much for the value of spring training.

While Ruth’s physical dimensions were fully the match of his accomplishments on the field, Wilson supplied a contrast. With short legs, size 5 1/2 shoes, and a huge torso, Wilson looked dwarfish, almost deformed. He was only 5 feet 6 inches tall, but weighed 190. His arms were large and muscular, his hands small. Even his nicknames were degrading; he was referred to as a gorilla, a sawed-off Babe Ruth, the Hardest-Hitting Hydrant of All Time, the Squatty Outfielder, the Pugnacious Clouter, the Abbreviated One, the Boy with the Mountainous Chin, none of which did much for his ego.

While Ruth went into the 1930 season with the dramatic flourish of his record salary, Wilson carried the humiliation of a dreadful inning during the 1929 World Series. Trailing the Cubs 8-0 in the fourth game, the Athletics scored ten runs in the seventh inning. Wilson, the Cubs’ center fielder, lost two balls in the sun, one of them falling for a single and the other for a three-run homer. The A’s went on to win that game and the Series, four games to one.

Wilson was said to have been a pathetic figure following the Series. But he was a cheerful and likable man, and at spring training in 1930 Wilson was the life of the Cubs’ camp. Cub players shouted “Wilson!” when fungoes were hit into the sun. Lampooning his own misplays, Wilson pulled the window shade in the hotel dining room, and asked the maitre d’ to dim the light so he wouldn’t misjudge his soup. Perhaps wishing to share in the fun, Calvin Coolidge visited Catalina Island, California, where the Cubs trained. The former President had little to say, but posed for photographers with a macaw on his shoulder.

From the season’s beginning, the hitting in 1930 was extraordinary, and was recognized as such. Not that baseball had been a pitchers’ game in the 1920s—far from it; neither league had batted under .280 since 1920, and the number of home runs more than doubled between that decade’s first and last years. But in 1930 there was even more of what the club owners obviously considered a good thing, since attendance had increased with hitting.

Rallies were immense, and pitchers absorbed terrible punishment; it was not yet the custom to relieve short of disaster. On May 12, in Chicago, the Giants scored six runs in the second inning and seven in the third, helped by a home run by Mel Ott and two doubles by Fred Lindstrom. Larry Benton, the New York pitcher, carried a 14-0 lead into the fifth inning, and little seemed amiss when Cliff Heathcote homered for the Cubs; 14-1.

In the Cub sixth, Wilson and Gabby Hartnett walked, and Clyde Beck homered; 14-4. In the seventh, Heathcote led off with his second homer, and, after one out, Wilson homered to right. So did Charley Grimm. Les Bell flied out and Hartnett fanned for what would have been the third out, but Shanty Hogan, the Giant catcher, dropped the ball, and then threw it wildly, Hartnett reaching second. Beck homered again; 14-9. At this point John McGraw decided that Benton was weakening. McGraw brought in Joe Heving, who gave up six hits and three runs, but no homers. The Giants won 14-12, the Cubs having run out of time.

In late May, the Yankees and Athletics played three doubleheaders in four days, and the hitters gorged. Ninety-nine runs scored, and there were twenty-four home runs, eight of them by Ruth and three each by Gehrig and Philadelphia’s Jimmie Foxx. As if the sluggers were swinging a massive pendulum, all three doubleheaders were swept, and no game was close—15-7 and 4-1 for the A’s, 10-1 and 20-13 for the Yankees, 10-6 and 11-1, Yanks again.

In a devastating road swing in July, the Athletics scored ninety-seven runs in eight games, winning all of them while averaging twelve runs and fifteen hits a game. They scored ten runs in one inning at St. Louis, then, the next day, nine runs in the first three innings. In Chicago, Foxx hit a ball clear over the left field stands at Comiskey Park, the first player to do so.

The Senators, who had led the AL on Memorial Day, fell back, and so did the Yanks. Walter Johnson, the Washington manager, was appalled at the slugging and scolded his pitchers. Johnson was forty-four and hadn’t pitched for three years, but he thought he could do no worse than the younger men, and said he might pitch relief. Owner Clark Griffith talked him out of it. In truth, the Senators’ pitching staff was excellent, compared with others: Washington was the only team in baseball that yielded fewer than four earned runs per game that season.

Ruth was hitting so many home runs that he predicted he’d wind up with about 75. He might have, but on July 2 he jumped for a ball, caught a finger in the outfield screen, and lost the nail. The team doctor said the Babe would be out for a while, but he played the next day, his finger bandaged. Two days later, he hit his 32nd home run, putting him more than twenty games ahead of his pace in 1927, when he hit 60. But Ruth’s slugging tailed off; he finished with 49 homers.

The Yanks were managed in 1930 by Bob Shawkey, and were watched surreptitiously by a detective, who was hired by Ruppert and traveled with the team, socializing with the players without letting them know he was snitching on them. Waite Hoyt, a pitcher who enjoyed night life, was traded to Detroit early in the season after the detective reported he was staying out even the night before pitching assignments. The Yankees could have used Hoyt, even with a hangover; their pitching was dreadful, and they finished a distant third.

The Cubs were the pick of the National League, but Hornsby broke his ankle and the race was close. Everyone expected the Brooklyn Dodgers, 70-83 in 1929, to improve in 1930, but not to contend. They did both. These were the Daffiness Boys, the Robins of veteran manager Wilbert Robinson. The Dodgers made errors in horrendous clusters, and, led by Herman, tended to squelch rallies with baserunning blunders.

On May 30 Herman, leading off first base, stood and watched while Del Bissonette’s towering fly ball cleared the right-field screen at Ebbets Field. There was no chance that the ball would be caught, but Bissonette thought it might hit the screen and was running hard, as Herman should have been. Bissonette was declared out for passing a runner on the bases; his hit was registered as a single. On September 15 Herman did it again, this time depriving Glenn Wright of a home run.

On June 15, the Cardinals presented the Dodgers with three early runs on an outfield misplay. But the Dodgers fought back with five errors of their own, two of them by second baseman Mickey Finn, who fielded as if he had swallowed his name. Andy High, a Brooklyn castoff who was to haunt his old team all season, followed two of the errors with a triple, and a subsequent error with a home run. Dazzy Vance twice hit Taylor Douthit with pitches, but in the ninth decided to pitch to him, Dodger errors having placed two Cardinals on base. Douthit tripled, and the Cardinals won, 9-4.

Even while excelling, the Dodgers managed to err. At Pittsburgh on June 24, they managed to conclude the sixth inning with 10 straight hits, the last one a single to center on which Al Lopez was thrown out at the plate. Never mind; Brooklyn opened the seventh with a double by Wally Gilbert and a homer by Herman. That made twelve straight hits, a record even when done the Dodger way.

Perhaps aware that he could depend on the Dodgers to do themselves in, Pirate Manager Jewel Ens stuck through that awful sixth inning with his starter, the pitcher with the rhyming name, Heine Meine, who then departed, having yielded 14 runs and 19 hits, the last 10 of them in a row.

For hitting, no team was the superior of the Phillies, except whomever they were playing. In the nightcap of a doubleheader on July 23, the Phils attacked the Pirates with 27 hits, including two home runs by Don Hurst. Not enough; the Pirates won, 16-15, on a homer by Pie Traynor in the thirteenth inning. The Phils scored 15 runs the next day, too, against the visiting Cubs—who, alas, tallied 19.

An extraordinary number of high-scoring games were played that season on the home grounds of the Phillies, and it was no coincidence. The Phils played in Baker Bowl, a decaying museum of a stadium with a right field wall so close, according to Ray Benge, then a Phillie pitcher, that “standing on the mound it looked like you could reach back there and thump it.”

It was 280 feet to the right field corner, 300 feet in the right-center power alley. Today’s most inviting wall, the Green Monster in left field at Fenway Park, Boston, is distant by comparison at 315 feet—and short, too, at 37 feet, 2 inches. Baker Bowl was built in 1887, and whoever designed it should have invented the skyscraper instead. The stadium was rimmed with a high wall, and in right field a screen was put on top of that for a total height of 58 feet. Even the clubhouse, in center field, was two stories tall. The Phils dressed on the top floor, with a commanding view of the patchy green surface. “Down on the field it was like a hole,” Benge recalls.

Particularly for pitchers. “You just had one way to pitch,” according to Benge. “That was to the righthand side of the plate, outside to lefthanders, inside to righthanders. You wanted the righthanders to pull, but a lot of them wouldn’t do it. They’d punch the ball to right and ping it off the wall.”

One of the best pingers was Pinky Whitney, the Phils’ third baseman. “I hit a bunch of pop flies against it,” Whitney says. He batted .342, including 41 doubles, and batted in 117 runs.

On the Phils, that was good but not exceptional. The team scored an average of 6.13 runs a game, and batted .315. They had two strong lefthanded pull hitters in Klein and O’Doul, and both of them batted over.380. Together, Klein, Whitney, and O’Doul drove in 384 runs and scored 367. What would such a team do to the league?

The Phils’ answer, in 1930, was: bring up the rear. They won 52 games, lost 102, and never threatened seventh place. Phillie pitchers allowed a record 6.71 earned runs a game, about two more than a very bad pitching staff yields today, and Phillie fielders led the majors with 239 errors, 50 or so more than the most butterfingered of today’s teams.

Between the Phils and their opponents, the overall batting average at Baker Bowl that season was .350. Klein hit .439 at home, .332 away. The tall right field barrier was made for doubles, both live and by ground rule, the latter coming when balls punched through the rusty metal wall and rattled to the ground behind, lost forever. Klein hit 59 doubles himself, and, playing right field, stymied many an opposing batter by becoming a ricochet artist. He had 44 assists, enough to divide in two and lead the league twice.

The Phils started the 1930 season with high hopes. Les Sweetland and Claude Willoughby had pitched well the season before, and Sweetland pitched a shutout to open the Phillie season. But he soon foundered, and poor Willoughby never got started. “He had pretty good stuff,” Whitney recalls, “But when he had to pitch, he couldn’t pitch. It was all-day baseball.” Indeed, Sweetland and Willoughby held down so much combat duty on the mound that local sportswriters wove their names into a patriotic song:

My country, ’tis of thee
Sweetland and Will-ough-by
Of thee I sing.

For obvious reasons, sportswriters nicknamed Willoughby “Weeping Willie.” He won 4 games that season and lost 17, with a 7.58 ERA. Sweetland was 7-15, 7.71.

Baker Bowl, since torn down, was not the only stadium of that era to favor hitters. In addition, gloves were small and primitive by today’s standards, and pitching was less sophisticated. The slider was not in general use, and relief pitching was not used as effectively as it is today. Batting averages were boosted by a rule that counted as a sacrifice any fly ball that moved a runner up, and scoring by a rule that counted as a home run any drive that bounced into the stands.

Although these factors help explain the hitting of that era, they do not account for the extraordinary surge of 1930. Nor can it be said that major league hitters just had a hot year. Batting overwhelmed the minor leagues, too. Joe Hauser of Baltimore hit 63 home runs to establish an International League record that still stands, but it wasn’t enough to win him a promotion to the major leagues, or even to earn him recognition as the best first baseman in the league. That honor went to Rip Collins of Rochester, who had only 40 homers but batted .376 with 180 RBIs.

According to survivors, the fuel behind the hitting binge of 1930 was in the ball. The stitches were low, almost countersunk, which kept pitchers from getting a good grip. The insides had been gradually pepped up for a decade, and in 1930 they reached such superball resiliency that Ring Lardner called it “a leather-covered sphere stuffed with dynamite.”

Benge, the Phillie pitcher, first noticed that his infielders looked slow. They were, but the 1930 ball darted past even the fastest glovemen. Some were not so lucky. Fred Lindstrom of the Giants, a good enough third baseman to make the Hall of Fame, was knocked unconscious by a batted ball—not a line drive, but a grounder.

Lindstrom, too, noticed a difference early in the season, but from a happier perspective. He was hitting extraordinarily well, and so were his teammates. Indeed, Lindstrom batted .379 that season, far above his norm, and the Giants’ team average was .319.

Pitchers were intimidated. Joe Tinker, a star infielder for the Cubs a generation before, noted that many pitchers were not following through. “Pitchers are afraid to get off-balance for fear they’ll get killed when the ball comes back at them,” Tinker said. “Sakes alive,” recalls Benge, “that ball was so lively you’d throw it and look for a mole hole to get in.”

The hitting prompted a lively debate. Ruppert, of all people, wanted less of it, although he had benefited greatly from the lively ball as the owner of the Yankees and the employer of Ruth. “I should like to see the spitball restored and the emery ball, too,” Ruppert said, adding this scornful comment about a proposal designed to boost hitting even more: “Why, they have suggested someone hitting for the pitchers. Now, isn’t that rich?”

John J. McGraw, nearing the end of his long managerial career with the Giants, suggested that the ball be deadened and the pitching distance reduced by a couple of feet. Otherwise, he said, no one would want to pitch. “Youngsters in the amateur ranks and on the sandlots no longer have ambitions to become pitchers,” McGraw said. “They want to play some other position in which they can get by without being discouraged.”

On the status quo side of things was Joe McCarthy, the Cubs’ manager, who noted that the fans seemed to like high-scoring games. McCarthy, of course, had Wilson on his team.

The rabbit ball was not the only subject of controversy. Innovation comes hard to baseball, and in 1930 the major leagues grappled with all sorts of radical ideas. American League teams put numbers on the players’ backs, but the National League held out; true fans were supposed to recognize their heroes at a glance.

Broadcasting of baseball games had begun in 1927, but three years later most teams still spurned it, fearing that fans would not buy tickets if they could listen free at home. The St. Louis teams adopted a middle ground: Allow broadcasts, but keep them dull. As the price of admission—it had not yet occurred to club owners that they could charge radio stations for the privilege—St. Louis broadcasters agreed to give a straight play-by-play, with no commentary. “This should be mutually satisfactory to both the fans and the magnates, for there are some announcers prone to wander far from the actual occurrences on the field,” reported The Sporting News, which little knew how truly it spoke.

The most radical notion of all was night baseball, although it was not really a new idea. An amateur game was played under the lights in 1880, just a year after Edison invented the light bulb, and in 1896 Honus Wagner played a night game as a member of the Paterson, New jersey, team of the Atlantic League. The exhibition was staged by none other than Ed Barrow, by 1930 the dignified business manager of the Yankees and a staunch opponent of night baseball—a position to which he was still clinging fifteen years later with the same prescience he brought to the subject of baseball salaries.

Legend has it that the first night game in Organized Baseball was played on May 2, 1930, at Des Moines, Iowa. In fact, Des Moines, of the Class A Western League, was beaten to the punch by Independence, Kansas, of the Class C Western Association. On April 28, the illuminated Independence Producers beat Muskogee, 12-2. Four days later, Des Moines played under what a local sportswriter called “33,000 candle power of mellow light,” and scored 11 runs in the first inning en route to a 13-6 drubbing of Wichita. The game was attended by Cy Slapnicka, a Cleveland scout, who reported that he “did not see a man flinch from a ball, either batted or thrown.”

The fans certainly did not flinch; more than 10,000 attended. The minor leagues, which had resisted night baseball for so long, now rushed to embrace it. By the end of May, twenty teams had lights or were installing them. Attendance doubled and tripled; it was a financial boost that the minors badly needed.

Cities that continued to hold out were scorned. Four of the six teams in the Piedmont League had lights by mid-July. The two that did not, Henderson and Raleigh, were not drawing as well at home, and asked for a visitors’ cut of the gate receipts while on the road. The other four teams not only refused, but told Henderson and Raleigh to install lights or get out of the league. So much for tradition.

But the majors held fast. The only owner who favored night ball was Sam Breadon of the Cardinals, and his trial balloon was popped by Phil Ball, owner of the Browns and of the stadium where both teams played. The Browns could have used a boost; they drew barely a million fans that decade. But Ball was not alone. In the face of declining attendance during the Depression, this astonishing denial of self-interest was sustained by all sixteen teams until 1935, when the Reds installed lights and played the first major league night game.

Of course, the major leagues did not intentionally discourage fans. Teams were attracting thousands of new patrons with Ladies’ Days, a promotion so successful that the Chicago Cubs, for one, had to cut it back. One day in the heat of the 1930 race Wrigley Field was virtually taken over by 31,000 ladies, all admitted free. But the owners, then as now, feared that change would alienate the “true fan,” whoever he might be.

In 1930, the Cubs’ true fans included men prominent in Chicago’s flashiest business, bootlegging. Al Capone was a Cubs fan, and so was his rival, Bugs Moran. The Cubs used to put on an entertaining pregame show, with fancy fungo hitting and a razzmatazz infield drill, and the gangsters came early to see it. “They used to come out and watch us practice,” recalls Charley Grimm, the Cub first baseman. “They’d sit right behind our bench, and there was never a peep out of them.”

One day, however, Capone peeped at Gabby Hartnett, the Cubs’ catcher, and Hartnett walked over to Capone’s box to autograph a ball. A newspaper photographer happened to catch them, and the picture—the Cubs’ star catcher smiling alongside the country’s most notorious gangster—appeared in newspapers throughout the U.S. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was outraged; he summoned Hartnett for a scolding and ordered the league presidents to forbid any conversation between players and spectators. Landis also told the teams to stop announcing the next day’s starting pitchers, since that information was useful to gamblers, but sportswriters successfully protested that stricture, pointing out that if the judge really wanted to keep gamblers in the dark he should keep the schedule a secret, too.

There was plenty to gamble on. The National League was enjoying a tight race among the Dodgers, Cubs, and Giants, and in August the Cardinals crowded in. They had improved their pitching by trading for Burleigh Grimes, who frightened batters by throwing at them and got them out with a spitball, mean but legal. The spitter had been banned in 1920, but seventeen pitchers who already used it in the majors were given a grandfather clause. By 1930, only four were left; Grimes, at thirty-six, was the youngest.

The Cardinal hitting was fearsome. George Watkins hit .373, a record that still stands for rookies, but he was platooned in right field with veteran Ray Blades, who hit .396. Landis made the Cards keep a young catcher, Gus Mancuso, who had run out of options, and injuries to Jimmie Wilson, the regular catcher, forced them to use him. Mancuso merely hit .366.

These players, however, were not the Cardinal stars. Frankie Frisch, Chick Hafey, Jim Bottomley, and Taylor Douthit combined to drive in 411 runs.

But the Cardinals were somewhat undisciplined. They returned home in early August from a discouraging and raucous road trip, Manager Gabby Street having fined several players for what The Sporting News called “indiscrepancies,” and seemed out of contention. On August 9 they were twelve games out, in fourth place. But they took a home series from the Dodgers and took heart for the stretch drive with Brooklyn, the Cubs, and the Giants.

Zigging and zagging, the Dodgers lost nineteen of twenty-seven games, falling to fourth place, and then won eleven straight to regain the lead in September. All four contenders were thundering. With ten games to play the Cards crept to within a game of the Dodgers, and came into Brooklyn for three games. The Cubs, only a game and a halfback, meantime tangled at the Polo Grounds with the Giants, who trailed by five and a half.

The Dodgers had the home crowd and the momentum of their winning streak, while the Cardinals suffered the sudden disappearance of one pitcher and a freak accident to another. The vanishing pitcher was Flint Rhem, of Rhems, South Carolina, a hard enough thrower to have won 20 games in 1926 and a hard enough drinker to have been farmed out in 1929. The Cardinals restored him to grace in 1930, and Rhem went into the Brooklyn series with six straight wins.

Rhem did not return to his hotel room the night before the first game, did not show up at the ballpark the next day, and became an object of concern. He reappeared a day later, and immediately was pressed by newsmen as to his whereabouts.

“He was befuddled,” recalls his roommate, Bill Hallahan. But Rhem was not without imagination, and he seized upon a newsman’s chance question to spin a tale appropriate to the era:

I was idling outside the hotel, went Rhem’s tale, when this big, black limousine pulled up. A fellow beckoned me over, and when I came alongside these guys pulled guns and forced me into the car. They drove me to a secret hideaway and forced cups of raw whiskey down my throat.

Oh cruel fate. “Imagine kidnapping Flint Rhem,” says Hallahan, “and making him take a drink!”

The same night that Rhem disappeared, Hallahan caught two fingers of his right hand in a taxi door. The injury was to his glove hand, and the next day, as Hallahan puts it, “I had the catcher throw the ball lightly.” Hallahan threw the ball hard enough himself to have a no-hitter for 6 2/3 innings. But the Cards had as much trouble with Dazzy Vance, who fanned 11. The game was a tare classic of pitching and defense, with Dodger bumbles thrown in.

Herman stopped a Cardinal rally in the fourth with a brilliant catch. With two out in the Cardinal sixth, Sparky Adams was perched on third. He dashed for home and had it stolen, but Vance cut short his windup and fired the ball at Hafey, who was batting. It hit him: Dead ball, batter to first, runner back to third. Watkins, the next batter, fouled out.

In the Dodger eighth, batter Finn missed a hit-and-run sign: the runner, Harvey Hendrick, was out at second. Finn then singled, tried to stretch it and crashed into Charlie Gelbert, the Cardinal shortstop. Gelbert was knocked cold; Finn was safe but woozy. He tottered off second base and Hallahan picked up the loose ball and tagged him out.

With runners on first and second and none out in the home ninth, the Dodgers worked the right combination: a bunt, followed by a single. Trouble is, the bunt was popped to catcher Mancuso, who doubled the runner off second, and the single was wasted.

The Cardinals broke the scoreless tie in the tenth as pinch-hitter High doubled, went to third on Hallahan’s bunt, and scored on a single by Douthit. In the home half, Brooklyn loaded the bases with one out; Lopez grounded hard to the left of Adams, who was then playing short. Adams knocked the ball down, picked it up and flipped it to Frisch, who made a lightning pivot and barely nipped Lopez at first. Ebbets Field,recalls Hallahan, lapsed into sudden silence. The race was tied. The Giants meantime shoved the Cubs back, 7-0, on a three-hitter by Carl Hubbell.

The Cards won the next two with the Dodgers, and now had a two-game lead with seven to play. They won six of them, one a smooth 9-3 effort by Rhem at Baker Bowl. The Dodgers kept losing and finished fourth, behind the Cubs and Giants.

Pitching had largely decided the final games, and it dominated the World Series as well. Lefty Grove and George Earnshaw of the Athletics won the first two games, yielding only three St. Louis runs; the Cards’ Hallahan and Jesse Haines won the next two, the A’s scoring only once. Neither team scored in the fifth game until Foxx homered off Grimes in the ninth. Earnshaw, having pitched seven innings of that game, came back to pitch all nine innings of the sixth and final contest, won by the A’s, 7 to 1. The team batting averages were among the lowest on record—.197 for Philadelphia, .200 for St. Louis.

But who can blame the lumbermen if, after a long season of unprecedented exploits, their arms at last grew weary and their bats slow? Put October out of your mind; 1930 was The Year of the Hitter.

Aaron and Mays were matched because they both were born in Alabama. Of course, other great players were born there, including Heinie Manush, Satchel Paige, Billy Williams, and Early Wynn, but as expected, it was a two-way race. Aaron rode the crest of his home run popularity to a victory of 39 votes to 30 for Mays.

It was another two-way race in California where Ted Williams beat out Joltin’ Joe by 38 to 34. It was even closer in Pennsylvania where Honus Wagner edged Stan Musial 31-1/2 to 29-1/2, with Christy Mathewson coming in third.

The survey was conducted in the Spring of 1974, so performance for that season had no bearing on the vote. The Society is assessing the contribution that baseball has made in this Country and the review is keyed to the coming centennial observance of the National League and the 75^th anniversary of the American League in the Nation’s bicentennial year of 1976. Last year the Society voted on the greatest foreign-born players, with Juan Marichal of the Dominican Republic winning over Luis Aparicio of Venezuela in a very close vote.

Major league baseball players have been born in all 50 states, including one in Alaska. But in several states the representation was so small that an automatic selection was made of Roger Mans in North Dakota, Dave McNally in Montana, etc. However, ballots were issued covering 44 states.

The ballot included names of the top players in each of those states, including Maryland where Babe Ruth was born, and Georgia, birthplace of Ty Cobb. As it happened, Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Grove, and Al Kaline got a vote or two in Maryland, and Jackie Robinson and Bill Terry kept Cobb from sweeping the bases in Georgia. Only in Kansas did Walter Johnson get all 77 votes cast for that state, and he didn’t have very much competition.

On the other hand, members voted for 11 different players in Illinois and in Indiana. In each case a player not then in the Hall of Fame — Robin Roberts in Illinois, and Chuck Klein in Indiana — was selected over five players already enshrined at Cooperstown. There may be a message there.

Did the voters favor modern players over the old-timers? Not necessarily. Roger Connor, 19th Century slugger, won in Connecticut. In Ohio Cy Young and George Sisler snowed under Pete Rose; and Rogers Hornsby and Tris Speaker didn’t leave many votes for Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks in Texas.

Here are the full voting results:

SURVEY OF BEST BASEBALL PLAYERS BY STATES

ALABAMA — Henry Aaron 39; Willie Mays 30; Satchel Paige 4; Heinie Manush 2; Joe Sewell 1; Billy Williams 1; Early Wynn 1.

ARIZONA — Hank Leiber 42; Solly Hemus 19; Alex Kellner 12.

ARKANSAS — Brooks Robinson 38-1/2; Arky Vaughan 15; Dizzy Dean 13-1/2; Lou Brock 6; George Kell 2; Lon Warneke 1.

CALIFORNIA-   Ted Williams 38; Joe DiMaggio 34; Harry Heilmann 3; Bobby Bonds 1; Joe Cronin 1;   Tom Seaver 1/2; Duke Snider 1/2.

COLORADO —   Johnny Lindell 47; Roy Hartzell 13; Tom L. Hughes 8; Gene Packard 3.

CONNECTICUT Roger Connor 46; Jim O’Rourke 14; Jimmy Piersall 12; Tom Corcoran 4.

DELAWARE —   Vic Willis 40; Hans Lobert 25; Chris Short 7; Sadie McMahon 2.

1. C. — Maury Wills 56; Paul Hines 10-1/2; Doc White 8; Lu Blue 2-1/2.

FLORIDA —   Al Lopez 38-1/2; Bill White 16-1/2; Steve Canton 16; Boog Powell 5; Dave Johnson 1.

GEORGIA — Ty Cobb 75; Jackie Robinson 2; Bill Terry 1.

HAWAII — Mike Lum 64; Matt Wilcox 2; Prince Oana 1.

IDAHO —   Harmon Killebrew 72; Vernon Law 4; Larry Jackson 1.

ILLINOIS — Robin Roberts 25-1/2: Lou Boudreau 12; Joe McGinnity 9-1/2; Jim Bottomley 8-1/2; Red

  Ruffing 8; Fred Lindstrom 4; Ray Schalk 2-1/2; Phil Cavarretta 2; Larry Doyle 2; Red   Schoendienst 2; Ted Kluszewskji1.

INDIANA — Chuck Klein 16-1/2; Sam Rice 13-1/2; Sam Thompson 13-1/2; Mordecai Brown 7-1/2; Edd Roush 7; Amos Rusie 5-1/2; Max Carey 4-1/2; Gil Hodges 3; Babe Adams 2; Billy Herman 2; Fred Fitzsimmons 1.

IOWA —   Bob Feller 40-1/2; Cap Anson 33; Dazzy Vance 1-1/2; Fred Clarke 1; Red Faber 1.

KANSAS — Walter Johnson 77.

KENTUCKY — Earle Combs 26-1/2; Pee Wee Reese 16-1/2; Jim Bunning 13-1/2; Pete Browning 12; Bobby Veach 3-1/2; Carl Mays 3; Gus Weyhing 2.

LOUISIANA–   Melvin Ott 44-1/2; Bill Dickey 25-1/2; Ted Lyons 7.

MAINE — George Gore 37; Fred Parent 18; Bill Carrigan 15.

MARYLAND —   Babe Ruth 71-1/2; Jimmy Foxx 3; Al Kaline 2; Lefty Grove 1-1/2.

MASSACHUSETTS Pie Traynor 34-1/2; Mickey Cochrane 26-1/2; John Clarkson 7-1/2; Tim Keefe 3; Joe Kelley 1-1/2; Jack Chesbro 1; Wilbert Robinson 1; Jimmy Ryan 1; Wilbur Wood 1.

MICHIGAN —   Charlie Gehringer 62; Kiki Cuyler 5; Ed Cicotte 4; Hal Newhouser 3; Jack Fournier 1; Ed Reulbach 1.

MINNESOTA–   Chief Bender 68; Joe Bush 5; Gene DeMontreville 1; Jerry Koosman 1; Wes Westruin 1.

MISSISSIPPI Buddy Myer 28; Guy Bush 21; Claude Passeau 7; George Scott 7; Hugh Critz 4; Gee   Walker 4.

MISSOURI —   Carl Hubbell 29; Yogi Berra 20-1/2; Zack Wheat 13; Jim Galvin 4-1/2; Casey Stengel 4;   Jake Beckley 2; Clark Griffith 1; Charlie Grimm 1; Elston Howard 1; George Van Haltren 1.

MONTANA — Dave McNally (no contest)

NEBRASKA —   Grover Alexander 61-1/2; Sam Crawford 8; Bob Gibson 6-1/2; Richie Ashburn 1.

NEVADA —   Jim Nash (no contest)

NEW JERSEY-   Joe Medwick 28; Goose Goslin 27; Billy Hamilton 13; Don Newcombe 3; Johnny Vander Meer 2; George Case 1; Kid Gleason 1; Mike Tiernan 1.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Red Rolfe 58; Arlie Latham 15; George Tyler 1; Stan Williams 1.

NEW MEXICO- Ralph Kiner 62; Vern Stephens 15.

NEW YORK —   Lou Gehrig 56-1/2; Eddie Collins 6; Warren Spahn 5; Sandy Koufax 4-1/2; Dan Brouthers 2; Hank Greenberg 1-1/2; Waite Hoyt 1; Charles Radbourn 1; Frank Frisch 1/2.

NORTH —- Luke Appling 53; Hoyt Wilhelm 10-1/2; Enos Slaughter 7; Wes Ferrell 2-1/2;

CAROLINA —   Gaylord Perry 2; Jim Hunter 1.

NORTH DAKOTA   Roger Mans (no contest)

OHIO — Cy Young 39-1/2; George Sisler 29; Pete Rose 4; Ed Delahanty 3-1/2; Buck Ewing 1.

OKLAHOMA — Mickey Mantle 52; Paul Waner 21-1/2; Johnny Bench 2; Willie Stargell 1; Lloyd Waner 1/2.

OREGON  —   Ken Williams 41; Mickey Lolich 23; Johnny Pesky 8; Larry Jansen 2.

PENNSYLVANIA   Honus Wagner 31-1/2; Stan Musial 29-1/2; Christy Mathewson 10; Hack Wilson 3; Richie Allen 1; Roy Campanella 1; Eddie Plank 1.

RHODE ISLAND Nap Lajoie 65-1/2; Gabby Hartnett 9-1/2; Hugh Duffy 2.

SOUTH —-   Joe Jackson 67; Larry Doby 3; Bobo Newsom 3; Van Mungo 2; Marty Marion 1-1/2; CAROLINA —   Al Rosen 1/2.

SOUTH DAKOTA James Scott (no contest)

TENNESSEE–   Vada Pinson 17-1/2; Tommy Bridges 16; Bobby Caruthers 14; Ben Chapman 11-1/2; Clyde Milan 7; Red Lucas 4; Jim Gilliam 2; Tim McCarver 1; Claude Osteen 1.

TEXAS — Rogers Hornsby 43; Tris Speaker 24-1/2; Frank Robinson 4; Ernie Banks 3-1/2; Eddie   Mathews 2.

UTAH —   Duke Sims 37; Fred Sanford 19; Gordon Rhodes 10; Ed Heusser 5.

VERMONT —   Larry Gardner 37; Birdie Tebbetts 34; Ray Collins 2; Ernie Johnson 2.

VIRGINIA — Eppa Rixey 53; Deacon Phillippe 10-1/2; Willie Horton 5; Granny Hamner 3; George McQuinn 3; Steve Brodie 1-1/2.

WASHINGTON-   Earl Averill 56-1/2; Ron Santo 17-1/2; Earl Torgeson 1; Rube Walberg 1.

WEST —-   Jess Burkett 40; Bill Mazeroski 18; Lew Bundette 15; Arlie Cooper 3; Andy Seminick 1.

VIRGINIA —

WISCONSIN–   Al Simmons 48-1/2; Kid Nichols 12-1/2; Burleigh Grimes 8-1/2; Addie Joss 4-1/2; Ken   Keltner 1; Andy Pafko 1.

WYOMING —   Dick Ellsworth (no contest)

SURVEY OF BEST ALL-STAR TEAM BY STATE

In the second part of the survey, Society members were asked to pick the state that could put forth the best all-star team over the last century. New York edged out Pennsylvania and California, while Ohio trailed in fourth place. Texas finished fifth and would have received more votes except that its battery was weak. If Nolan Ryan has a few more good seasons, that would help remedy that situation. Here are the state all-star teams.

*Points are based on 6 for a first place vote; 5 for 2^nd; 4 for 3^rd, etc. Other states receiving 10 or fewer points include Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Some voters substituted players, such as Jake Daubert for Mickey Vernon; Tom Seaver for Lefty Gomez, etc.

Rube Benton’s career was checkered if not mediocre. Born in North Carolina, he was a free wheeling southpaw pitcher who acquired the nickname “Rube” (as did several other lefthanders) because of a similarity to Rube Waddell. He started out with Macon in 1910 and late in the season advanced to Cincinnati where he was 1 and 1. After a longer trial in 1911 (he was 3-3), he led the National League with 50 games pitched in 1912. Unfortunately, he lost 20 of those games, while winning 18. Injured in 1913, he finished at 11-7, but had one of his better seasons the next year with 16 wins and 8 losses.

By this time he had gained a reputation for drinking and carousing and had to be disciplined several times by Cincinnati management. In early August 1915 his record had fallen to 9-13 for the second-division Reds, and the club was ready to dump him. The New York Giants verbally claimed him on waivers, with an expiration date of August 16. However, on Friday the 13th, Barney Dreyfuss, President and owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, telegraphed an offer of $4000 to Garry Herrmann, President of the Reds (and also Chairman of the three-man National Commission). Since John McGraw and the Giants had offered only $3000, Hermann accepted Dreyfuss’s offer. McGraw, upon learning this, protested to John Tener, the National League President.

Meanwhile, Benton reported to the Pirates and Manager Fred Clarke announced he would use him against the Cubs on August 17. When President Tener, who was in New York, heard of Clarke’s plans, he sent a telegram to Dreyfuss warning him that the game would be forfeited to the Cubs. Dreyfuss then phoned John Heydler, Secretary of the National League, and reminded him that only the National League’s Board of Directors, not the President, could declare a forfeit. (Rule 26 concerning forfeits in the 1915 Reach Baseball Guide did not give the umpire authority to forfeit a game based on an ineligible player.)

On August 17, 1915, Benton pitched a six-hitter as the Pirates beat the Cubs 3-2. The Cubs had announced before the game began that they were playing under protest. The League attempted to solve the problem the next day, but lacked a quorum. After repeated delays, the League Board of Directors met on August 24. The voting members consisted of Charles Ebbets (Brooklyn) and James E. Gaffney (Boston). Garry Herrmann (Cincinnati), Harry Hempstead (New York), and Barney Dreyfuss (Pittsburgh) attended but were disqualified from voting. They awarded Benton to the Giants, but ruled that the Pirates had acted in good faith. Thus, rather than forfeit the game, the game would be replayed September 3 or 4.

Oddly enough, after the 1914 season the National League had debated at the fall meeting rules concerning waivers. In December 1914 the league passed a rule forbiding withdrawal of waiver requests or claims. The rule had been passed 6-2 with only the Pirates and the Giants dissenting!

The decision against the Pirates further irritated Dreyfuss. Earlier that year, Herrmann’s vote in the National Commission had ruled against the Pirates in their claim to young George Sisler’s contract. Thus he was very determined to punish Herrmann and his actions later helped to destroy the National Commission.

The next day, August 25, Benton pitched for the Giants. Ironically his opponent was the Pirates. Perhaps the long lay-off affected him since he lost 9-7. He gave up 12 hits in 4 innings and hit two batters. He finished the season 4-5 for the eighth-place Giants.

On September 4, 1915, the Cubs and Pirates played a doubleheader instead of a single game as originally scheduled. The Cubs won the first game 5-2. The Pirates won the second game 2-1, which was the rematch of the disqualified game that Benton pitched. This game had a wild finish. With two outs in the 12th inning, pitcher Babe Adams singled home Honus Wagner. Adams saw Wagner score and ran to the dugout before touching first base (a la Fred Merkle). Neither Cy Williams the Cubs center fielder, who played the ball, nor Bubbles Hargrave, the Cubs catcher, recognized this. Fred Clarke rushed Adams to first base before the Cubs noticed.

    The voiding of the August 15 game statistics and the inclusion instead of the September 4 figures had no serious long-term consequence. None of the Pirates or Cubs was near to the leaders of any season offensive mark. However, the loss of Roger Bresnahan’s two hits meant he had a career average of .279. (.27946) rather than .280 (.27966). Honus Wagner lost one double and thus is sixth on The Sporting News all-time list rather than tied for fifth.

Zip Collins, a SABR member living in Arlington, Virginia, was the center fielder for Pittsburgh in the disqualified game (in which he collected one hit) as well as the make-up game (in which he garnered two hits). At age 91, he is the only survivor of those two games, but he does not recall specifics of either one. He does remember Benton as a hot and cold pitcher. He could be very effective in one outing, and easy to hit in the next.

Benton did pitch some excellent games. On June 11, 1915, a couple of months before the dispute about his ownership, he hurled a 15-inning 1-0 win over the Dodgers. On July 16, 1920, when he was with the Giants, he worked 17 shutout innings against the Pirates, finally winning by the strange score of 7-0, when the Giants broke it open in the final frame. Benton also pitched a shut-out against the White Sox in the 1917 World Series. However, he did incur some responsibility (along with the catcher and first baseman) for not covering home plate in the sixth and final game when Eddie Collins scored the winning run with Heinie Zimmerman in futile pursuit. He was the losing pitcher in that game, although he did not give up an earned run.

Benton was 16-8 with the Giants in 1916, 15-9 in 1917, 1-2 in 1918 (most of the year spent in the Army), 17-11 in 1919, and 9-16 in 1920. He was again the center of controversy after the 1920 season. He had charged Buck Herzog of the Giants of having attempted to bribe him to lose games. The charge was not substantiated by Benton and he was counter-charged by Herzog of having advance knowledge of the 1919 World Series rigging and having bet on the Redlegs. Two players, Norman Boeckel and Art Wilson, signed affadavits against Rube.

Benton had a 5-2 record and a 2.87 ERA when he was released by the Giants as an “undesirable” player during the 1921 season. He was signed by St. Paul of the American Association where he finished 6-7 with a 4.70 ERA. However, in 1922 he was 22-11. The Cincinnati Reds in 1922 finished second in the National League, seven games behind the Giants. Thus Garry Herrmann traded pitcher Cliff Markle and an undisclosed amount of cash for Benton. President Heydler voided the transaction and notified the Reds that Benton was ineligible and could not play in the National League because of “undesirability.”

Cincinnati argued that if he were an undesirable player for the major leagues, he also was undesirable for the minor leagues, where he had been permitted to play for 1½ years. After a thorough debate, the National League voted to sustain President Heydler’s stand and to leave a final decision to him. Heydler stated he would await Judge Landis’ decision as to the charges against Benton. If Landis decided against Benton, he would be permanently banned. However, if Landis vindicated Benton, the league, although respecting that decision, did not necessarily have to reinstate Benton. If Landis should make no decision and the final adjustment was left to Heydler, then Benton undoubtedly would be banned for life.

Landis shocked the baseball world by ruling for Benton and chastising the League for depriving him of the right to earn a living. This stance was contrary to what Landis had ruled in all other similar cases. Irate, Heydler publicly criticized Landis. However, after a closed meeting with the Commissioner, Heydler quietly reversed his position.

Benton was 14-10 for the second-place Reds in 1923 as they finished 4½ games behind the Giants. By 1924 they were a fourth-place team and Benton was 7-9. After going 9-10 in 1925, Benton returned to the American Association where he spent eight more seasons.

Rube closed out his major league career with 155 wins (not counting that one for Pittsburgh in 1915) and 140 losses. He had a 3.09 earned run average. One of his unpublicized distinctions was that he was very stingy in giving up home runs. He allowed only 53 fourbaggers in 25 17 innings, one of the best percentages of his era.

Benton’s controversial life ended suddenly on December 12, 1937, when he was killed in an eight-person automobile accident in Dothan, Alabama. He was 47.