Results tagged ‘ Hall of Fame ’
Introducing: The MLB Hall Of Fame Class of 1964.
Luke Appling: Shortstop, Chicago White Sox
.310 average, 1319 runs scored, 2749 hits, 4 home runs, 1116 RBI, 179 stolen bases
Luke Appling manned the shortstop position and leadoff spot in the lineup for his entire 20-year career. As a hitter, he was best known for being able to intentionally foul off pitches until he received one that he wanted to put in play. He hit over .300 in a season 16 times (including nine straight), won two AL batting titles, was elected to seven All-Star games, and had his #4 retired by the White Sox. Appling also had quite the reputation with his glove; he has the seventh highest total of games played at shortstop in a career (2,218), seventh highest total putouts at short all-time (4,398), and the sixth most assists ever at the position (7,218). He was a coach for some time after his playing career was over, but only got one chance to manage; it was with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967 and he went 10-30 as a late season replacement. What’s Appling’s biggest regret…never reaching the postseason with the Sox in his entire career.
Introducing: The MLB Hall Of Fame Class Of 1963.
John Clarkson: Pitcher, Boston Beaneaters
328-178 record, 2.81 ERA, 4536.1 innings pitched, 1978 strikeouts
I feel like I’ve said this a million times, but I’m going to say it once more: the game of baseball has completely transformed from the 19th century into what we know it today. John Clarkson is yet more evidence of that; here is a pitcher that only played professional baseball for 12 seasons, yet he still managed to start over 500 ballgames. His 328 wins currently puts him 12th on the all-time wins list, and his career highlights don’t end there. Clarkson in 1889 when he won the pitcher’s triple crown (49 wins, 2.73 ERA, 284 strikeouts), he led the league in wins and strikeouts three times each, paced his competitors in innings pitched four times (topping 600 IP twice), and won 30 or more games six times. Again, what gets me is the percentage of games he completed during his 12 years in Major League Baseball; he started 518 games during his career and completed 485 of them, meaning that when he started a game, he finished it 94% of the time. He also led the National League in games pitched, games started, and complete games three different years. Clarkson also helped himself at the plate, hitting 24 career home runs (7th all-time among pitchers), drove in 232 runs, and scored 254 times. This was truly a pitcher that could do it all.
Elmer Flick: Right Fielder, Cleveland Indians
.313 average, 950 runs scored, 1752 hits, 48 home runs, 756 RBI, 330 stolen bases
Another player in this induction class with a “short” career by Hall of Fame standards, outfielder Elmer Flick played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, with nine of those seasons coming at the end of his career with the Cleveland Indians. Flick was so well-regarded around the league that Cleveland and the Detroit Tigers almost swapped him for fellow Hall of Famer Ty Cobb, but the deal never materialized. The Indians outfielder hit over .300 on eight different occasions, led the league in stolen bases twice, led the league in triples three years in a row, and won one batting title while also having the highest slugging percentage in 1905. Flick made a name for himself when he filled in for the injured Sam Thompson and showed that he was capable of being a success in professional baseball. After a few years, he jumped shipped and started playing for the Philadelphia Athletics in the brand new American League. Once there was an injunction put into play by the court that players who left the Phillies couldn’t play for anyone else, him and teammate Nap Lajoie went to play for Cleveland, since the ruling couldn’t be enforced in Ohio. He had a world of talent in the outfield, but he unfortunately couldn’t help any of his teams win a league championship.
Sam Rice: Right Fielder, Washington Senators
.322 average, 1515 runs scored, 2987 hits, 34 home runs, 918 RBI, 351 stolen bases
Sam Rice breaks the mold from our first two 1963 inductees because even though he didn’t get his first full season under his belt until the age of 27, he played 20 years of professional baseball, with all but one year playing for the Washington Senators. Rice was well known for his prowess at the plate; he is among the top-30 on the career hits list, topped a .300 batting average 13 times, had six seasons of 200 or more hits, and five seasons of 100 or more runs scored. He enjoyed the best three year stretch in Senators history from 1923-1925 when the organization won three pennants and won a World Series in 1924. Rice holds the most career hits by any player that didn’t reach the 3,000 hit club; he retired at the age of 44 and proclaimed that he really didn’t know how many hits he had compiled over his entire career. The owner of the Senators asked him if he wanted to come back briefly to reach the milestone, but he didn’t have it in him to get back into playing shape. He said that if he knew he was that close, he would have stuck around to get those last 13 hits. One of the qualities one looks for in a Hall of Famer is resiliency. No one in Cooperstown has the type of resiliency that Rice had because before he made his debut in the Big Leagues, he lost his entire family, which included his wife, parents, and children, to a tornado in Illinois in 1912. It must have taken a lot to go on with his career and life after that.
Eppa Rixey: Pitcher, Cincinnati Reds
266-251 record, 3.15 ERA, 4494 innings pitched, 1350 strikeouts
Eppa Rixey was the epitome of a gamer throughout his entire 21 year career. After playing college ball at the University of Virginia, he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies and immediately made it to the show, never pitching an inning in a minor league game. Rixey was an intellectual type of pitcher, especially since he taught high school Latin during the off-season. He led the league in wins, innings pitched, and shutouts once and at the time of his retirement, he held the most career wins by a left handed pitcher. He enjoyed four 20-win seasons, but his first eight seasons in professional ball with the Phillies was up and down at best because he led the league in wins once, but also led the league in losses twice. Once he was traded to the Reds, he really found his stride with eight consecutive winning seasons before his skills started to decline at the age of 38. However, this was a man that didn’t care about his age and said, ” I want to pitch against everybody. I don’t care if I’m almost forty-three.” The tenacious southpaw didn’t get to enjoy his election to the Hall of Fame very long because he died in Cincinnati a month after the Veterans Committee elected him in.
Next week, we take a look at the induction class of 1964, which is the largest in quite some time with six new members.
Thanks for reading! To follow all of my posts from On The Way Home and Call to the Pen, follow me on Twitter: @mmusico8
Pedro Martinez Shifts His Focus After Announcing Retirement.
Even though he hadn’t pitched in a Major League game since he was with the Phillies in 2009, Pedro Martinez officially announced his retirement from baseball this past December. Everyone knew that he wouldn’t play professionally again, but I couldn’t help but be sad once the news hit all of the media outlets; being able to watch Pedro pitch for the Mets from 2005-2008 was very amusing- when he wasn’t hurt at least. It seemed as if every time he took the mound, it was an event at Shea, and that’s how it was throughout his 18-year career with five different teams (Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, Expos, and Dodgers).
Introducing: The MLB Hall Of Fame Class Of 1962.
Bob Feller: Pitcher, Cleveland Indians
266-162 record, 3.25 ERA, 3828 innings pitched, 2581 strikeouts
Even though he missed four years of the prime of his career due to WWII duty, Bob Feller still dominated during his 18-year career, all which was spent with the Cleveland Indians. Best known for the velocity of his fastball, Feller threw three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters during his MLB career, which were both records when he retired from the game. Feller was an eight-time AL All-Star, and also compiled six 20-win seasons (leading the league in each of those years), innings pitched five times, strikeouts seven times, complete games three times, and shutouts four times. On the all-time list, Feller ranks 53rd in games started (484), had the 52nd highest total of complete games (279), and 44 shutouts (35th all-time). What’s most important to most Indians fans is that he was on the last World Series team that played in Cleveland, back in 1948. Feller was destined for greatness when he debuted in August of 1936 when he struck out 15 St. Louis Browns hitters, fresh out of high school. After his dominance in the Major Leagues was through, he was voted into the Hall on his first ballot, receiving 93% of the vote.
Jackie Robinson: 2nd Baseman, Brooklyn Dodgers
.311 average, 947 runs scored, 1518 hits, 137 home runs, 734 RBI, 197 stolen bases
There are not enough words in the English language to state just how important Jackie Robinson was for the game of baseball. Without Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947, the game would be entirely different today in 2012. In his short, 10-season career, he was able to amass quite an impressive career while being under the microscope of the American public in the height of racism in the United States. He hit over .300 six times, led the league in stolen bases twice, was named to six All-Star games, won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1947, the NL MVP in 1949, and helped the “next year” finally come for the Dodgers and their fans in Brooklyn with a World Championship in 1955. Robinson could do it all with his athletic ability; he became the first athlete in the history of UCLA to letter in four sports in the same year. Those sports were football, baseball, basketball, and track. To honor this trail blazer, his uniform number 42 is retired by all of Major League Baseball, preventing any future player to put that number on their back in a professional baseball game…except on Jackie Robinson day, of course.
Edd Roush: Center Fielder, Cincinnati Reds
.323 average, 1099 runs scored, 2376 hits, 68 home runs, 981 RBI, 268 stolen bases
Even though he was known for his defense while patrolling center field, Edd Roush hit over .300 for eleven consecutive seasons, while winning the batting title in two of those years. During his 18-year career, he was able to show why he was such a treat to watch out in the outfield. As a center fielder, 1,286 career games, which ranks 45th all-time. He racked up 155 assists, which ranks 5th all-time, while recording 3,166 put outs (46th all-time). Roush won a World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, when the Chicago White Sox threw the Series in the famed “Black Sox Scandal.” However, the star center fielder claimed up until the day that he died that even if the White Sox played the way that they should have, the Reds would have still come out victorious. What I thought was the most interesting fact about Edd Roush was that he used a huge, 46-ounce bat during his MLB career, and claimed that he never broke a bat during his entire 18-year career.
Come back next week, as we take a look at the class of 1963, when four inductees were welcomed into Cooperstown.
Introducing: The MLB Hall Of Fame Class Of 1961.
The class of 1961 contained only two new inductees, but it was the cream of the crop for center fielders, with Max Carey and Billy Hamilton being enshrined into baseball immortality.
Max Carey: Center Fielder, Pittsburgh Pirates
.285 average, 1545 runs, 2665 hits, 70 home runs, 800 RBI, 738 stolen bases
Max Carey was an extremely talented center fielder that played for 20 seasons in the MLB, with 17 of those seasons being with the Pittsburgh Pirates. This legendary player was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee, and rightfully so! He compiled over 2,600 career hits, hit over .300 in a season six times, and led the league in steals on ten different occasions. Even though he wasn’t known for his offense, he is 42nd on the all-time list for career triples (159), 9th all-time in stolen bases (738), and 13th in career sacrifice hits (290). During his career in the league, he patrolled the outfield for 2,421 games, which is the 12th highest total in history. During that time in the field, he registered 3,201 put outs and 133 assists. He helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1925 with a .343 regular season averaged, then kicked it into high gear with a .458 average in the post season. All those great players bring it to another level when the stakes are high, and that’s what Carey was able to do.
Billy Hamilton: Center Fielder, Philadelphia Phillies
.344 average, 1691 runs, 2157 hits, 40 home runs, 742 RBI, 937 stolen bases
Billy Hamilton was a special player during his 14-year career, which spanned from 1888 to 1901. He has the seventh highest career batting average in Major League history, and did so by hitting over .300 for 12 consecutive years. Hamilton has the fourth highest career on-base% (.455) and led the league five times. He has the distinct honor of being one of only three players in MLB history that has more runs scored (1,691) than games played (1,578). Over a five year period from 1891 to 1897, nobody in the National League accumulated more walks than Hamilton. To put the cherry on top, he was the all-time leader in stolen bases until Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson passed him later on. How dangerous was Hamilton on the base paths? He still owns the MLB record for most stolen bases in one game with seven thefts, which he did back in August of 1894. That’s pretty damn good.
Come back next week, as we look at the class of 1962, which holds three more special players.
