Runs and Bases- the 1930's Part 1

[SWC75]

THE NEGRO LEAGUES

Some years ago, before I entered my leisurely retirement, the head of the cafeteria at the Federal Building decided to have a weekly trivia contest. His first question was: Who was the first black baseball player? The winning answer: Jackie Robinson. The guy actually believed that no African- American had played baseball before Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers. I told him about Bud Fowler, the first black player to play professional baseball, who grew up in Cooperstown:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Fowler

I also told him of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first black major leaguer, who once played for the Syracuse Stars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Fleetwood_Walker

Then I told him about the Negro Leagues:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_Leagues

And of the many great players who played in those leagues in the era of baseball’s apartheid, between Walker and Robinson, including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, etc. He was shocked. He’s thought that Jackie Robinson was simply a good athlete that Branch Rickey had taught how to play baseball.

In Ken Burns’ epic “Baseball” documentary, Buck O’Neill keeps stressing the point that black players were not helpless and impoverished during the apartheid, as is sometimes depicted. In fact they were well organized and financed, (sometimes by people in the numbers racket, the most lucrative black businesses in those days). They had a league, a season, an all-star game and a championship series. “If that’s not ‘organized’, I don’t know what is.” In those 60 years there were many great players who played in those leagues, just as there were many great black players in the 60 years after Robinson re-integrated the major leagues.

Unfortunately, there are many people who are not aware of the great players of the Negro League era because they don’t appear on the “all-time” statistical lists, (including mine, below), or the Major League All-Star game or World Series. To those people they either didn’t exist or they were in some kind of minor league where the level of completion must have been so low that their achievements are irrelevant.


The flip side of this is since those players don’t appear on those lists, you can claim anything you want for them: that Josh Gibson was the equal of or greater than Babe Ruth, that Satchel Paige was better than any white pitcher you ever saw, etc. etc. You can’t look at the lists and “prove” otherwise. And, of course it was important to black players and fans that their heroes be as good or better than the white stars. It’s often said that barnstorming black teams played major league teams several hundred times and won 2/3 of their games against them. But I’ve also read that Buck Leonard said that he felt the Negro Leagues were about the equivalent of the Triple A minor leagues, (but see below about the high minors)

Here’s an interesting discussion of the relative strengths of the Negro and Major Leagues:
http://www.baseball-fever.com/archive/index.php/t-39148.html

Here are some figures from Baseball Reference.com on famous Negro League hitters and some Major League players said to be comparable. For some reason the number of games played in the Negro Leagues was not kept track of but the plate appearances were computed so I used 648 plate appearances, (162 x 4) rather than 162 games for the comparisons.

Josh Gibson
.350BA .401OBP .624SP 208H 52W 33D 13T 35HR 8SB 432BP 114RBI 148RS 227RP

Babe Ruth
.342BA .474OBP .648SP 175H 126W 31D 8T 44HR 8SB 488BP 135RBI 133RS 224RP

Comment: Ruth had the greatest raw power of anyone who ever played the game and got on base more than anyone except Ted Williams. But Gibson hit for a higher average, had more speed and scored an amazing number of runs. Obviously his teammates helped with that but Ruth had some pretty productive teammates, too.

Buck Leonard
.320BA .386OBP .519SP 184H 63W 29D 10T 22HR 10SB 372BP 97RBI 136RS 211RP

Lou Gehrig
.340BA .447OBP .632SP 182H 101W 36D 11T 33HR 7SB 447BP 134RBI 127RS 228RP

Comment: Leonard was very good but didn’t have nearly the power of Gehrig and Lou’s batting average and on base percentage are well above his. Once again, both Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard scored far more runs than they drove in while Ruth and Gehrig scored and drove in runs at about the same rate.

Cool Papa Bell
.316BA .363 OBP .420SP 188H 45W 27D 9T 6HR 23SB 319BP 37RBI 127RS 158RP

Ty Cobb
.366BA .433OBP .512SP 207H 62W 36D 15T 6HR 44SB 397BP 96RBI 111RS 201RP

Comment: Again, Bell was good but he wasn’t Cobb, who got a lot more extra base hits, even in the Dead Ball Era and drove in a lot more runs. But there seems to have been an incredible number of runs scored in the Negro leagues.

Oscar Charleston
.339BA .401OBP .545SP 195H 59W 32D 13T 20HR 33SB 405BP 87RBI 127RS 194RP

Willie Mays
.302BA .384OBP .557SP 170H 76W 27D 7T 34HR 18SB 407BP 99RBI 107RS 172RP

Comment: Oscar didn’t have Willie’s power and didn’t drive in as many runs as a result but his other numbers are pretty much better across the board. Of course, Oscar never had to play at the Stick.

John Henry Lloyd
.337BA .384OBP .434SP 198H 44W 28D 8T 4HR 25SB 323BP 76RBI 100RS 172RP

Honus Wagner
.328BA .391OBP .467SP 189H 53W 35D 14T 6HR 40SB 323BP 96RBI 96RS 186RP

Comment: Lloyd had a higher batting average but Honus was better in everything else.

I also compared Satchel Paige to the top major league pitchers of the time. The Negro league stats don’t have “games pitched” but do have “games started” so this is per 40 starts. The numbers, of course, include those accumulated in relief appearances so they may be slightly inflated. The Negro Leagues didn’t calculate saves or earned runs, so they are not included here.

Satchel Paige
23 wins 11 losses 20CG 6SHO 295IP 226H 105R 266SKO 55W

Lefty Grove
26 wins 12 losses 26CG 3SHO 345IP 337H 140R 198SKO 104W

Carl Hubbell
23 wins 14 losses 24CG 3SHO 332IP 320H 127R 155SKO 67W

Dizzy Dean
26 wins 14 losses 27CG 5SHO 342IP 334H 135R 202SKO 79W

Bob Feller
22 wins 13 losses 23CG 4SHO 316IP 270H 129R 213SKO 79W

Comment: Pitching Satchel Paige didn’t mean an automatic victory by any means but it’s fascinating that he was a much better strike-out pitcher than either Grove or Feller and yet had more control than any of these four major league pitchers. He gave up far fewer hits and run than they did- even though, per the stats on the above batters, a great many runs were being scored in the Negro Leagues. I suspect that it’s true that if he’d been able to pitch his full career in the major leagues he would have been regarded as the best pitcher of his era and probably of all time. But it’s interesting that he didn’t pitch as much as his contemporaries in the majors. He didn’t complete as many games, (even though he had more shut-outs), and didn’t pitch as many innings. It would seem that Negro League managers were ahead of their white counterparts in suing the bullpen and realizing that you couldn’t use dead ball strategies in the Live Ball Era. If a guy was tiring, they took him out, even the great Satchel.

Here’s some more per 648 plate appearance numbers from Baseball Reference.com on selected Negro league players who are either in the Hall of Fame or in Bill James’ “New Historical Baseball Abstract”, (see the section on the Negro Leagues, p180-192) or Bill Jenkinson’s “Baseball’s Ultimate Power”, (see pages 65-79)

John Beckwith 3B ”a brute…(with) frightening physical capabilities” -Jenkinson
.347BA .384OBP .582SP 209H 36W 40D 10T 27HR 11SB 397BP 96RBI 118RS 187RP

Willard Brown RF “Tremendous right-handed power hitter” -James
.337BA .359OBP .539SP 211H 22W 29D 17T 21HR 29SB 388BP 97RBI 119RS 195RP

Martin Dihigo “The only guy I ever saw who could play all nine positions, manage, run and switch-hit” – Johnny Mize
.304BA .354OBP .499SP 181H 46W 25D 7T 25HR 14SB 355BP 83RBI 122RS 180RP

Rap Dixon RF “On a tour of Japan in 1927, he raced around the bases in 14.5 seconds and then amazed the Japanese by standing at home plate and throwing several balls over the outfield fence, 328 feet away.” – James
.317BA .376 OBP .493SP 183H 55W 30D 11T 17HR 25SB 366BP 59RBI 127RS 169RP

Silvio Garcia SS “Marty Marion couldn’t carry his glove” – Leo Durocher
.325BA .374OBP .513SP 195H 47W 31D 13T 19HR 25SB 381BP 116RBI 104RS 201RP

Fats Jenkins CF “Not fat at all: in the basketball Hall of Fame; captain of the Renaissance team” – James
.318BA .370OBP .385SP 188H 49W 21D 4T 4HR 26SB 304BP 26RBI 133RS 155RP

Heavy Johnson LF “He was immense, a 250 pound right-handed hitter who could hit the ball out of any park. No fielder and didn’t have a long career.” – James
.357BA .397OBP .568SP 213H 40W 38D 15T 20HR 16SB 381TB 91RBI 106RS 177RP

Biz Mackey “A dangerous switch hitter and regarded as the finest defensive catcher in the Negro Leagues“ – James
.328BA .364OBP .449SP 197H 34W 27D 8T 10HR 12SB 316BP 70RBI 94RS 154RP

Dobie Moore SS ”Career ended prematurely when he was shot by his girlfriend while jumping out the window of a whorehouse.” – James (His girlfriend ran the place.)
.347BA .380OBP .520SP 209H 32W 37D 17T 11HR 18SB 363BP 60RBI 98RS 147RP

Alejandro Oms RF “A natural entertainer: if the game wasn’t close he would clown around in the outfield, catching the ball behind his back and doing 720 degree spins before throwing the ball back to the infield.”- James
.324BA .377OBP .488SP 188H 50W 34D 6T 16HR 8SB 340BP 75RBI 114RS 173RP

Buck O’Neill 1b “The Great Soul of Negro league Baseball- a line drive hitter and Gold Glove firstr baseman, very graceful good baserunner, excellent arm.” – Bill James
.283BA .317OBP .382SP 173H 30W 23D 10T 6HR 25SB 289BP 84RBI 99RS 177RP

Spotswood Poles CF “Extremely fast, switch-hitting singles hitter who hit .610 in exhibitions against major league players” – James
.320BA .388OBP .398SP 182H 63W 22D 9T 2HR 49SB 340BP 54RBI 118RS 170RP

Ed Rile 1B “Big switch-hiiter…hit around .350 with power in a short career.” – James (Also pitched)
.320BA .370OBP .498SP 188H 47W 37D 12T 15HR 11SB 352BP 44RBI 86RS 115RP

Louis Santop C “A huge left-handed power hitter who was a superstar in the Walter Johnson era.” –James “One of baseball’s mightiest performers as well as one of its finest ambassadors” – Jenkinson
.330BA .377OBP .461SP 195H 45W 32D 11T 8HR 17SB 335BP 102RBI 96RS 190RP

Bonnie Serrell 2b Per Bill James, left Kansas City Monarchs because he was tired of racism and married a woman in Mexico and the Monarchs signed Jackie Robinson, who was considered an inferior player, to replace him. I suspect that he is the inspiration for the Richard Pryor character in “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings”
.324BA .338 OBP .463SP 202H 14W 21D 23T 7HR 11SB 315BP 85RBI 117RS 202RP

George Scales 2b “A right-handed hitter with power, he tended to put on weight.” – James. Maybe he should have stepped on the scales?
.319BA .386OBP .511SP 184H 62W 40D 9T 18HR 13SB 371BP 88RBI 113RS 183RP

Chino Smith RF Died of Yellow Fever at age 29. Had hit .465 and .429 his last two seasons.
.398BA .472OBP .692SP 222H 79W 44D 13T 31HR 24SBN 488BP 106RBI 167RS 242RP
Could he have kept this rate of production up? We’ll never know.

Turkey Stearnes LF “A lifetime .352 hitter with Willie Stargell power….left handed hitter, comparable to Ted Williams or Mel Ott” – James Bill Jenkinson says he was a lifetime .359 hitter with 185 home runs in 905 games. “One of the best and most powerful performers in the annuals of his sport.
.344BA .396OBP .618SP 203H 51 W 34D 18T 31HR 20SB 437BP 103RBI 118RS 190RP


Ted Strong RF “Kind of a switching-hitting Dave Winfield: a long, lean fellow with a strong arm and good speed. An original member of the Harlem Globetrotters.” – James
.308BA .373OBP .454SP 180H 61W 27D 6T 15HR 19SB 344BP 85RBI 131RS 201RP

Mule Suttles LF “Swung at everything and struck out a lot but hit prodigious home runs.” - James. Jenkinson quotes Chico Renfroe of the Kansas City Monarchs, who said “He had the most raw power of any player I’ve ever seen. He went after that ball viciously,. When he swung, you could feel the earth shake.”
.329BA .376OBP .578SP 195H 44W 35D 12T 29HR 10SB 395BP 94RBI 122RS 187BP

Christobal Torriente CF “Cuban superstar…Left-handed hitter with power to all fields. Light-skinned enough to have ‘passed’ and played in the majors, except he had crinkly hair.” – James
.331BA .401OBP .491SP 189H 67W 34D 13T 10HR 23SB 369BP 81RBI 106RS 177RP

Willie Wells SS “Did everything outstanding except throw…often hit by pitches, one of the first players to wear a batting helmet, picking up a construction worker’s helmet and wearing it to the plate.” – James
.320BA .380OBP .519SP 187H 56W 34D 10T 21HR 19SB 379BP 73RBI 130RS 182RP

Jud Wilson 3b “A left-handed hitter and a great one…Huge, huge shoulders, arms like a gorilla, big, bear-trap hands but a small waist, short but powerful lower body… As a third baseman, he was awkward but adequate, played everything off his chest… he just couldn’t or wouldn’t control his temper.” - James
.338BA .388OBP .479SP 201H 48W 32D 6T 13HR 15SB 347BP 76RBI 117RS 180RP

Guys with significant careers in both the Negro leagues and the Major Leagues:

Roy Campanella C Started in the Negro National League in 1937 at age 15
NNL: .314BA .346OBP .481SP 193H 30W 30D 9T 18HR 6SB 331BP 140RBI 106RS 228RP
NL: .276BA .360OBP .500SP 156H 72W 24D 2T 33HR 3SB 358BP 115RBI 84RS 166RP

Larry Doby CF “Doby was one of those rare five-tool players: he did everything well- If you scored Doby on hitting for average, hitting for power, speed, defense throwing, strike zone judgment, probably his lowest score would be hitting for average- yet he hit as high as .326.” – James “The man was genuinely powerful but he was also intense, honest and principled.” - Jenkinson
NNL .304BA .342OBP .468SP 185H 35W 22D 17T 15HR 15SB 336BP 111RBI 114RS 210RP
AL .283BA .386OBP .490SP 156H 90W 25D 5T 26HR 5SB 364BP 100RBI 99RS 173RP

Luke Easter 1b “”If you could clone him and bring him back, you’d have the greatest power hitter in baseball today” – James
NNL .270BA .339OBP .522SP 158H 61W 31D 20T 26HR 5SB 373BP 133RBI 117RS 224RP
NL .274BA .350OBP .481SP 158H 58W 18D 4T 31HR 0SB 335BP 114RBI 86RS 169RP

Monte Irvin LF “Second half of career in majors” – James
NNL .354BA .393OBP .532SP 214H 38W 29D 7T 21HR 18SB 376BP 143RBI 124RS 245RP
NL .293BA .383OBP .475SP 164H 79W 22D 7T 22HR 6SB 351BP 99RBI 82RS 159RP

Jackie Robinson (only had 63 at bats in the Negro leagues)
NAL .414BA .460OBP .569SP 247H 51W 41D 10T 10HR 21SB 410BP 165RBI 133RS 288RP
NL .311BA .409OBP .474SP 169H 83W 30D 6T 15HR 22SB 361BP 82RBI 105RS 172RP

Pitchers: (James doesn’t have a separate section for comments on them.)

Ray Brown 29-13 34CG 4SHO 365IP 354H 168R 130SKO 71W
Andy Cooper 26-13 24CG 2SHO 363IP 347H 171R 140SKO 61W
Leon Day 24-11 22CG 2SHO 305IP 269H 153R 169SKO 79W
Bill Foster 27-13 31CG 6SHO 356IP 287H 129R 210SKO 109W
Rube Foster 23-16 37CG 3SHO 360IP 282H 150R 145SKO 118W
Jose Mendez 29-14 30CG 6SHO 405IP 320H 149R 223SKO 102W
Cannonball Dick Redding 24-19 34CG 4SHO 372IP 342H 163R 185SKO 118W

Bullet Rogan 31-13 33CG 4SHO 380IP 338H 156R 231SKO 95W
He also has quite a hitting record:
.338BA .390OBP .515SP 198H 49W 31D 17T 13HR 28SB 379BP 57RBI 103RS 147RP

Hilton Smith 34-15 24CG 7SHO 401IP 337H 153R 238SKO 47W
Frankly, that compares well with Paige’s numbers. He could also hit, but not with Rogan’s power:
.323BA .331BP .429SP 204H 7W 42D 5T 5HR 2SB 280BP 85RBI 85RS 165RP
I guess Smith just wasn’t as colorful as Paige. He may have been better.

Smokey Joe Williams 26-16 32CG 2SHO 362IP 325H 153R 222SKO 93W

Comments:

- There’s a gap between the power reputations of some of the hitters and their home run averages. This may have something to do with the statistics and their completeness or accuracy. The ball parks the Negro League teams played in were generally the same ballparks white teams played in: the major league parks in the big cities and the minor league ballparks in the lesser cities. I don’t think the distances would have been unusual.

- The term “switch-hitter” comes up a lot in James’s descriptions of these players. It would appear that switch-hitting was more prevalent in the Negro Leagues. So was playing multiple positions, pitchers who were noted hitters, etc. it would seem that Negro League players were less specialized and more versatile than their white counter-parts.

- As noted the top players seem to have driven in fewer runs than they scored, primarily because great numbers of runs were being scored. I also note that there weren’t a lot of walks or high on base percentages but more steals than you see in the white majors during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. The Negro Leagues combined Dead Ball Era tactics, (when there weren’t many walks or home runs but lots of extra base hits and steals), with Live Ball Era tactics, (power hitting), to produce an exciting, high scoring game with far more showmanship than we would ever see today.

- The guys who had both significant Negro League and Major League careers have a tendency to hit for higher averages in the Negro Leagues but hit more home runs in the Major Leagues. There may have been a tendency to “hit the ball where it’s pitched” in the Negro Leagues and pull it down the lines in the Major Leagues to get more home runs. In other words, Negro league sluggers were more like Bill Terry and Major League sluggers more like Mel Ott.

Again, the pitching statistics are per 40 starts, even though some of them would have been accumulated in relief. Hilton Smith has 67 starts on his Baseball Reference.com page and a won-- lost record of 57-25. As noted in the comment on Satchel Paige, above, Negro League managers apparently didn’t go as long with tired pitchers as white managers of the day. But they must have been very willing to send an ace pitcher out there in relief and have him finish somebody else’s game. You put that with the versatility comment above and it’s clear that they couldn’t afford large rosters and had to get the most out of the players they had and did a good job of that.

- As a group, I think the top players of the Negro League Era are probably comparable to the top African American players since then. I don’t know that they are any better. Their exclusion denies them credit but also afford them “legendary” status. It’s possible that the greatest pitcher, the greatest hitter or the greatest player at particular positions played in the Negro leagues. Bill James thinks there may have been 3-4 such players: Paige, Gibson, Charleston and Lloyd. That seems like a lot. I would like to have found out what these guys could have done with a full career in the major leagues and how major league history might have been changed by their presence, (as it certainly would have been). When society excludes groups of people from opportunities, everyone loses.

 

[SWC75]

THE HIGH MINORS

For many years the Negro leagues and the players in them were ignored by “organized” baseball and by the Hall of Fame. Finally, at the urging of Ted Williams, among others, the Hall took a look at the players who played in those leagues and began to give them credit for their talent and achievements by inducting a few of the top Negro league players into the Hall of Fame. I think there’s another group that has been ignored by the Hall of Fame and I don’t think this will ever be corrected, due to barrier created by one word, and that’s unfortunate.

When we think of the term “minor” leagues, we think of Branch Rickey’s invention, the farm system, where a big league team would own or have an exclusive working agreement with several minor league teams, whose rosters would be controlled by the major league team and full of young prospects or guys who failed to stick in the majors. But it wasn’t always like that.

The minors used to be more like college sports: independent teams and a leagues representing cities that weren’t big enough or close enough to the majors, (who until the 50’s were in the northeastern quadrant of the country: St. Louis was both the most southern and western city of the ten in in the big leagues), or who were simply excluded because the major league owners didn’t want to share their status or the money they were making. Many of the cities in the high minors later got major league teams and many of them were already major league cities in terms of the size of their market. They had ballparks close to major league size and could pay salaries close to or equal to major league teams. Many players elected to play for their teams because they came from those cities or those areas of the country or they just liked it there.

Some of those cities had teams that might have been able to compete for the pennants in either of the major leagues. After Baltimore lost its National League Orioles in 1899 and then it’s American League Orioles in 1903, a new Baltimore Orioles team was created for the Eastern league, (which was renamed the International League in 1911). It was first managed by former Orioles Wilbert Robinson and Hughie Jennings until another McGraw protégé, Jack Dunn, took over in 1907. Dunn became a master for recognizing and developing talent and knowing how long to hold onto it before selling a player’s contract to a big league team for a profit. His most famous discovery was Babe Ruth. But his masterpiece was the team he put together after World War One. From 1919-1925, Dunn’s Orioles won SEVEN consecutive International League pennants. Their average record in those years was 111-50 and they won their pennants by a total of 74 ½ games. My favorite pennant race of all time was the International League in 1920. With a month to go in the season, the Orioles were only a game ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who got white hot and had an epic 24-2 record in September. But they finished 2 ½ games behind the Orioles, who had gone 25-0 over the same stretch. The Orioles were a fully independent team but they had a sort of unofficial relationship with Connie Mack’s Athletics who soon became a powerhouse using several of Dunn’s players, including Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw, Max Bishop and Joe Boley, (Dunn somehow missed out on Maryland native Jimmie Foxx).

Lefty Grove had a great major League career, winning 300 games and losing only 141 in 17 games. But before that he’d spent five years with Dunn’s Orioles, winning 108 games and losing 36. Bill James, from his first Historical Baseball Abstract: “What Grove’s ‘career’ record doesn’t show is that he was a great pitcher- and I mean a great pitcher- for five years before he reached the majors. Is Grove to be deprived of the distinction of being the greatest ever because Jack Dunn wanted to keep him at Baltimore? What if Dunn had never sold him to Philadelphia. Would he just be nothing then?”

The following cities had teams in the International League, the American Association and the Pacific Coast League in the 1920’s and 1930’s: Baltimore, Montreal, Toronto, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle, all major league cities now. Many of them, even then, had ballparks nearly comparable to major league facilities, (Municipal Stadium in Baltimore eventually had a capacity of 31,000). The take-over of the minor leagues by the majors started by Branch Rickey wasn’t complete until the early 60’s. Until that happened, some great players chose to play for those teams.

My favorite is Joe Hauser. Joe became the starting first baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922. He hit .323, .307 and .288 his first three seasons. His home run totals increased as his average went down, 9 to 16 to 27, with 115 RBIs. Then he broke his leg and got Pipped by Jimmie Foxx . Hauser spent a year in Kansas City, where he hit .353 with 49 doubles, 22 triples, 20 homes, 25 steals with 134RBIs and 145 runs scored. He returned to Philadelphia but couldn’t break into the lineup and couldn’t do it in Cleveland, either. He wound up in Baltimore. Jack Dunn had died in 1928 but it didn’t end the excitement in Baltimore. In 1930 Joe Hauser hit 63 home runs for the Orioles, batting .313 with 113 extra base hits. The second place guy in the home run race, Rip Collins, had 40. Hauser drove in 175 runs and scored 173. He did that in 168 games. Independent leagues could play for as long as they wanted to. And players like Joe Hauser could play for the team the entire year without being called up when they got hot to languish on a major league team’s bench. In those days, we got to see what they could do when they stayed hot the entire season.

The next year Joe slumped to .259 with 31 homers due to a groin injury. His contract was sold to Minneapolis of the American Association, where he immediately became the favorite of the city’s German community, who called him “Unser Joe”, (“Our Joe”). His first year in In Minneapolis he hit .303 with 49 home runs, 129 RBIs and 132 runs scored in 149 games. But that was just a preliminary to the next season when Hauser upped his own single season home run record for professional baseball by hitting 69 home runs, more than twice as many as runner-up Hal Trosky, who had 33. 50 of them were hit at home at Nicolett Park. He hit .332 and had 182 RBIs and 153 runs scored in 153 games. Five years later a young Ted Williams played for the Millers in Nicolett Park and had a tremendous season, hitting .366 with 43 home runs. But 43 isn’t 69.

That was his peak but he played on until 1942. He hit .284 with 79 home runs in the majors but hit .299 with 399 homers in the minors. He holds both the International League and American Association home run records and probably always will because now those leagues contain only farm clubs that play 144 game seasons. And if anybody on those teams starts hitting like Joe Hauser, they won’t be on those teams for long.

There can be little doubt that most major league teams of the period could have used a bat like Joe Hauser’s on their team: he’d already proven he could hit major league pitching. And his numbers with the Athletics were likely just the beginning of what he would have accomplished. There’s also no doubt that if he were playing today, he’d be a major leaguer. And the towering nature of his statistical accomplishments suggests that he’d have been very successful as a major leaguer. The cities he played for are now major league cities- Milwaukee, (when he first came up), Kansas City, Baltimore, and Minneapolis. Joe played for those cities because he liked playing baseball there and because they liked having him play baseball there, not because he couldn’t play- and very well- in the major leagues.

You sometimes hear about some remarkable hitting accomplishments done in the low minors, often in the years after World War II: Bob Crues tied Hauser’s record of 69 home runs in the West Yexas-New Mexico League in 1948. In 1954 Joe Bauman hit 72 in the Longhorn League. That same year Bob Lennon hit 64 in the Southern Association. In 1956 there were three: Dick Stuart hit 66 in the Western league, Ken Guettler 62 in the Texas League and Frank Kennedy 60 in the Southwestern league. But those accomplishments did not come in leagues that approached a major league level of completion. Of those guys, only Stuart went on to a significant major league career.

The era between the wars in the high minors was different. Guys like Lefty Grove and Joe Hauser were major league caliber players playing for major league salaries, (or close to it), in major league cities that just weren’t in the National or American League at the time. The Pacific Coast League actually sought major league standing at one point. They were eventually granted an “Open” classification above Triple A. it was seen as a stepping stone to being accepted as a third major league, (but how would the championship be determined with three leagues?). What killed it was the transfer of major league franchises outside of the northeastern quadrant of the country in the 1950’s and expansion in the 1960’s. But for a while there the leading difference between the majors and the high minors was that the major league teams had a shot to get into the World Series. Who knows what Dunn’s Orioles teams might have done if they had a shot- or the 1911 Minneapolis Millers or the 1934 Los Angeles Angels or the 1937 Newark bears? There were some great teams - and some great players- playing in the high minors in that period.

Buzz Arlett actually hit more minor league home runs than Hauser: 432. He also hit .341 lifetime in the minors, well above Hauser’s .299. Buzz was the true Babe Ruth of the minors: he’d started out as a pitcher, winning 108 games for Oakland of the PCL, including a 29-17 record in 1920. Like the Babe his hitting eventually out shown his pitching and he became a full-time outfielder to take advantage of it. He consistently hit in the mid-.300s with a high of .382 in 1926, with 255 hits, 52 doubles, 16 triples, 35 home runs, 26 steals, a league-leading 140RBIs and the same number of runs scored. Aside from the batting average, that was basically an average season for Buzz. Eventually at age 32, he decided to give the majors a try and played 121 games for the Phillies in 1931, hitting .313 with 18 homers. The story goes that he’d put on weight and was fielding poorly so the Phillies sold his contract to the nearby Baltimore Orioles, who had just lost Joe Hauser to Minneapolis. Arlett responded with his greatest season, hitting 54 home runs and leading the league in both RBIs with 144 and runs with 141 in 147 games, (he’d played up to 200 games a season in the PCL, where the good weather allowed for a longer season). He led the league again the next year with 39 homers, then joined Hauser in Minneapolis where Buzz again led the league with 41 dingers to Hauser’s 33. The two were born 9 days apart in 1899 and were on the way downhill after that. Buzz wound up playing for the 1937 Syracuse Chiefs, where he failed to get a hit in 4 at bats. We would love to have had him earlier

Then there was Ike Boone, who compiled the highest all-time minor league career batting average: .370. His best year was with the Mission team of the PCL, (it’s a district of San Francisco), for whom he hit .407 with 55 home runs, 218 RBIs and 195 runs scored on 323 hits in 198 games. It would have been interesting to see what Ike might have done if he stayed with Mission the entire next year. In 83 games he hit .448 with 22 homers and 96 RBIs. The Dodger bought Ike’s contract. It was hit second stretch with the big leagues: he’d been with the Red Sox and the White Sox before playing for Mission. He hit .319 in 355 big league games. But it says on Baseball Referecne.com that “Ike hit well during his years in the majors but apparently his iron glove and lack of speed were not enough to keep him there.”

There are often stories of how inept these sluggers of the high minors were in the field. Look at my current signature for a funny story about a guy with a funny name, Smead Jolley. If you were a pitcher facing Smead Jolley in the 20’s and 30’s, you weren’t laughing. Smead’s lifetime minor league batting average was .366 with 336 home runs, His best year was 1928 with the San Francisco Seals when he hit .404 with 45 homers and 188 RBIs, in 191 games). He’s hit .397 the year before and would slump to .387 the next season. Jolley in his tenure with the White Sox and then the Red Sox hit .305 with 46 home runs in the equivalent of three seasons. Afterwards he returned to the minors, mostly in the IL and PCL, where he won a couple more batting titles. Does it really make sense that Arlett, Boone and Jolley couldn’t make it in the major leagues because they were bad fielders? Has that ever kept a guy who could really hit out of the major leagues?

The most successful of the high minor’s sluggers in a major league stint was Left O’Doul. Lefty also started out as a pitcher, going 25-9 for the 1921 San Francisco Seals. Then he switched to the outfield. He hit .392 in 1924 and .375 the next year with 309 hits, 63 doubles, 17 triples and 24 home runs, (in 198 games). That got him a shot with the New York Giants, for whom he hit .319 in 94 games before breaking his ankle. Bill James has a quote from a John McGraw biographer that “McGraw judged him too old and slow and not serious enough about his work.” Lefty loved playing golf and would sometimes play 36 holes before showing up for a game.

The Giants traded him to the Phillies and may have regretted it as Lefty crushed the ball for a .398 batting average, including a national league record 254 hits, 32 of which were home runs. He followed that up with a .383 year but was traded to Brooklyn, where he hit “only” .368 in winning a second National League batting title. He wound up back with the Giants and helped them win the 1933 World Series with a big hit.

He got an offer to become the player-manager of the Seals in 1935 and asked the Giants for his release. He returned to the coast with a lifetime .349 major league batting average. He continued playing on a decreasing basis until 1944, the year the Seals won the second of four straight PCL pennants. He was 47 years old when he quit playing. He continued managing the Seals until 1951 and then managed four other PCL teams until 1957, winning 2,094 games as a manager. He opened a famous restaurant in San Francisco and was a lifelong friend of Joe DiMaggio’s.

But he’s probably best remembered for his role in the development of Japanese baseball: “O'Doul may have made his greatest contributions to baseball with his many trips to Japan. He trained countless Japanese in the skills of the game and fostered communication and interaction between those in the Japanese and American games both before and after the Second World War. He is also credited as one of the founders of Nippon Professional Baseball. For his efforts, O'Doul was the first American elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.” (SABR) He also took American and Japanese teams to Australia to get the game started there.

But Lefty isn’t in Cooperstown. Wikipedia: “He has the highest career batting average of any player eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame who is not enshrined. His relatively short career as a full-time batter and the fact that his statistics were accumulated during a period of historically high offensive production in the major leagues are factors militating against his selection to the Hall of Fame” Bill James, in “The Politics of Glory”, grumpily says “As a player, his little Mike Greenwell, Alex Johnson type career doesn’t really amount to anything.” Nice. In their years as major league regulars, O’Doul hit an average of 61 points above his league, Greenwell +32 and Johnson +30. But even James admits that O’Doul’s work in establishing Japanese baseball and bringing it back after the war merits Hall of Fame consideration by itself. There’s a Hall of Fame argument called the “Lefty O’Doul argument”. It’s that while a player may not quite be a Hall of Famer based on any one aspect of his career or contribution to the game, you ought to be able to add them all together and still consider them a Hall of Famer. In Lefty’s case, there’s his career as a pitcher in the PCL, a hitter in the PCL, a hitter in the majors, a manager in the PCL and his work on developing the game abroad. But most people only want to consider his major league career and they consider that to be too brief and in a time when the numbers can’t be trusted, so he’s out.

There are also some pitchers with impressive minor league careers who proved they could win in the majors. Frank Shellenback had been a starter for the Black Sox but was in the PCL when the decision was made to outlaw his favored pitch, the spitball. The agreement was that major league pitchers who were using the spitball as their basic pitch could continue doing so but no one else. Frank, not being in the majors at that moment, wasn’t “grandfathered in”, so he never pitched in the majors again. But he could sue the spitter in the PCL, where he pitched for 19 seasons, winning 315 games compared to 192 losses, with five twenty win seasons, a high of 27-7 in 1931.

Lefty Grove may not have been the best pitcher on Jack Dunn’s Orioles. While he was going 108-36 for Dunn’s master pieces, Jack Ogden was going 191-80. Dunn held onto Ogden when he sold Grove’s contract to the Athletics. Ogden finally got a shot at the majors with bad St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds teams, for which he was 25-34. Injuries and illness also held him back, causing him to miss the entire 1930 season, before retiring in 1934.

Dick Barrett was a another pitcher burdened by pitching for bad major league teams, going 34-58 for perennial last place Phillie teams in the mid 40’s but winning 325 minor league games , including seven 20 win seasons in the PCL for Seattle. Earl Caldwell went 33-43 for some bad Browns teams in the mind thirties but won 321 minor league games, mostly in the International League and American Association for Toronto and Milwaukee. He won 20 games five times. Tony Freitas won 342 minor league games, mostly in the PCL. He had nine 20 win seasons, six in a row for Sacramento. He had been 25-33 for the A’s when they were on the downslide and the Reds before they rebuilt themselves into champions. Sam Braxton went 32-38 for some mediocre Tiger teams before winning 20 games five times for the Seasl. He won 307 minor league games. Doc Crandall had the good fortune to pitch for three New York Giant Pennant winners before becoming a five time 20 game winner in the PCL for Los Angeles. His professional record was 351-225, 102-62 in the majors.

I maintain that, just as a serious look was made into the top Negro League players to see who might belong in the Hall of Fame, so should there be a serious look into the star playes of the high minors in the era when they were independent and represented major league size cities to see if any of those players should be in Cooperstown. I believe that many of them would already be there if they had played out their career in the American and National league, (and maybe they would have had there been a Hall of Fame in their time). If they played today, they would surely have been major leaguers and possibly Hall of Famers.

But every time I suggest this to anyone, they get stuck on that one word: “Yeah, but they did it in the MINORS!”

 

[SWC75]

RUNS AND BASES

1930 National League

Runs Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 288
Hack Wilson CHI 281
Kiki Cuyler CHI 276
Bill Terry NY 245
Babe Herman BRO 238
Mel Ott NY 236
Frankie Frisch STL 225
George Grantham PIT 219
Freddie Lindstrom NY 211
Johnny Frederick BRO 201

Bases Produced
Hack Wilson CHI 531
Chuck Klein PHI 503
Babe Herman BRO 500
Kiki Cuyler CHI 460
Bill Terry NY 457
Woody English CHI 429
Mel Ott NY 413
Freddie Lindstrom NY 413
Wally Berger BOS 398
Lefty O’Doul PHI 385

1930 American League

Runs Produced
Al Simmons PHI 281
Lou Gehrig NY 276
Babe Ruth NY 254
Jimmie Foxx PHI 246
Joe Cronin WAS 240
Ed Morgan CLE 232
Charlie Gehringer DET 226
Johnny Hodapp CLE 223
Tony Lazzeri NY 221
Goose Goslin STL 216

Bases Produced
Lou Gehrig NY 532
Babe Ruth NY 525
Jimmie Foxx PHI 458
Al Simmons PHI 440
Goose Goslin STL 435
Ed Morgan CLE 421
Charlie Gehringer DET 414
Joe Cronin WAS 390
Earle Combs NY 368
Carl Reynolds CHI 365

1931 National League

Runs Produced
Bill Terry NY 224
Chuck Klein PHI 211
Mel Ott NY 190
Kiki Cuyler CHI 189
Pie Traynor PIT 182
Frankie Frisch STL 174
Chick Hafey STL 173
Babe Herman BRO 172
Woody English CHI 168
Del Bissonette BRO 165

Bases Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 413
Wally Berger BOS 384
Bill Terry NY 378
Kiki Cuyler CHI 375
Mel Ott NY 361
Woody English CHI 342
Paul Waner 332
Lloyd Waner PIT 323
Del Bissonette BRO 316
Pie Traynor PIT 316

1931 American League

Runs Produced
Lou Gehrig NY 301
Babe Ruth NY 266
Earl Averill CLE 251
Ben Chapman NY 225
Joe Cronin BOS 217
Al Simmons PHI 211
Lyn Lary NY 197
Goose Goslin STL 195
Joe Vosmik CLE 190
Red Kress STL 185

Bases Produced
Lou Gehrig NY 544
Babe Ruth NY 507
Earl Averill CLE 438
Ben Chapman NY 426
Goose Goslin STL 417
Joe Cronin BOS 384
Earl Webb BOS 383
Al Simmons PHI 379
Lu Blue CHI 375
Jimmie Foxx PHI 369

1932 National League

Runs Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 251
Don Hurst PHI 228
Bill Terry NY 213
Mel Ott NY 204
Pinky Whitney PHI 204
Lefty O’Doul BRO 189
Paul Waner PIT 181
Hack Wilson BRO 177
Dick Bartell PHI 170
Riggs Stephenson CHI 167

Bases Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 500
Mel Ott NY 446
Bill Terry NY 409
Don Hurst PHI 392
Lefty O’Doul BRO 391
Paul Waner PIT 390
Babe Herman CIN 379
Hal Lee PHI 338
Dick Bartell PHI 326
Pinky Whitney PHI 321

1932 American League

Runs Produced
Jimmie Foxx PHI 262
Al Simmons PHI 260
Lou Gehrig NY 255
Heinie Manush WAS 223
Babe Ruth NY 216
Earl Averill CLE 208
Mickey Cochrane PHI 207
Joe Cronin WAS 205
Charlie Gehringer DET 200
Earle Combs NY 199

Bases Produced
Jimmie Foxx PHI 557
Lou Gehrig NY 482
Earl Averill CLE 439
Babe Ruth NY 434
Al Simmons PHI 418
Ben Chapman NY 384
Charlie Gehringer DET 384
Goose Goslin STL 372
Heinie Manush WAS 368
Mickey Cochrane PHI 364

1933 National League

Runs Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 193
Mel Ott NY 178
Arky Vaughn PIT 173
Joe Medwick STL 172
Pepper Martin STL 171
Pie Traynor PIT 166
Paul Waner PIT 164
Wally Berger BOS 163
Babe Herman CHI 154
Gus Suhr, PIT 137

Bases Produced
Chuck Klein PHI 436
Pepper Martin STL 366
Mel Ott NY 347
Paul Waner PIT 345
Wally Berger BOS 342
Arky Vaughn PIT 341
Joe Medwick STL 327
Babe Herman CHI 311
Gus Suhr PIT 308
Chuck Fullis PHI 300

1933 American League

Runs Produced
Lou Gehrig NY 245
Jimmie Foxx PHI 240
Heinie Manush WAS 205
Joe Cronin WAS 202
Ben Chapman NY 201
Charlie Gehringer DET 196
Joe Kuhel WAS 185
Tony Lazzeri NY 180
Fred Schulte WAS 180
Doc Cramer PHI 176

Bases Produced
Jimmie Foxx PHI 501
Lou Gehrig NY 460
Babe Ruth NY 385
Charlie Gehringer DET 367
Bob Johnson PHI 363
Joe Cronin WAS 360
Joe Kuhel WAS 357
Ben Chapman NY 346
Heinie Manush WAS 344
Mickey Cochrane PHI 335

1934 National League

Runs Produced
Mel Ott NY 219
Ripper Collins STL 209
Joe Medwick STL 198
Paul Waner PIT 198
Arky Vaughn PIT 197
Bill Terry NY 184
Wally Berger BOS 179
Sam Leslie BRO 168
Jack Rothrock STL 167
Ethan Allen PHI 162

Bases Produced
Mel Ott NY 429
Ripper Collins STL 428
Paul Waner PIT 399
Arky Vaughn PIT 389
Wally Berger BOS 387
Joe Medwick STL 352
Bill Terry NY 339
Gus Suhr PIT 333
Sam Leslie BRO 323
Jo Jo Moore NY 318

1934 American League

Runs Produced
Charlie Gehringer DET 250
Lou Gehrig NY 244
Hal Trosky CLE 224
Hank Greenberg DET 221
Billy Rogel DET 211
Earl Averill CLE 210
Jimmie Foxx PHI 206
Roy Johnson BOS 197
Goose Goslin DET 193
Al Simmons CHI 188

Bases Produced
Lou Gehrig NY 527
Jimmie Foxx PHI 474
Earl Averill CLE 444
Hal Trosky CLE 434
Hank Greenberg DET 428
Charlie Gehringer DET 421
Billy Werber BOS 411
Bob Johnson PHI 378
Al Simmons CHI 352
Goose Goslin DET 348

Cumulative Runs Produced Rankings (again it’s 10 points for finishing first in a league, 9 for second, etc.)

Honus Wagner (1897-1917) 137
Ty Cobb (1905-1928) 126
Cap Anson (1871-1897) 119
Babe Ruth (1914-1935) 109
Sam Crawford (1899-1917) 96

Rogers Hornsby (1915-1937) 89
Lou Gehrig (1923-1939) 81
Tris Speaker (1907-1928) 81
Nap Lajoie (1896-1916) 77
King Kelly (1878-1893) 76

Hugh Duffy (1888-1906) 75
Eddie Collins (1906-1930) 74
Dan Brouthers (1879-1904) 73
Sherry Magee (1904-1919) 68
Bobby Veach (1912-1925) 66

Jim O’Rourke (1872-1904) 64
Ed Delahanty (1888-1903) 60
Harry Stovey (1880-1893) 57
Harry Heilmann (1914-1932) 57
Al Simmons (1924-1944) 55

Roger Connor (1880-1897) 55
Sam Thompson (1885-1906) 54
Frank Baker (1908-1922) 51
Ross Barnes (1871-1881) 49
Deacon White (1871-1890) 49

Cumulative Bases Produced Rankings

Ty Cobb (1905-1928) 129
Babe Ruth(1914-1935) 125
Honus Wagner (1897-1917) 112
Tris Speaker(1907-1928) 110
Rogers Hornsby (1915-1937) 98

Cap Anson (1871-1897) 91
Billy Hamilton (1888-1901) 89
Eddie Collins (1906-1930) 89
Harry Stovey1880-1893) 88
Lou Gehrig (1923-1939) 86

Sam Crawford (1899-1917) 86
Dan Brouthers (1879-1904) 83
Ed Delahanty (1888-1903) 79
Jim O’Rourke (1872-1904) 73
Max Carey (1910-1929) 73

Roger Conner (1880-1897) 70
Sherry Magee (1904-1919) 66
Jesse Burkett (1890-1905) 63
Joe Jackson (1908-1920) 62
George Burns (1911-1925) 61

King Kelly (1878-1893) 57
Elmer Flick (1898-1910) 53
Hugh Duffy (1888-1906) 53
Paul Waner (1926-1945) 51
Ross Barnes(1871-1881) 50

Comment: Babe Ruth could only finish 4th in run production, although he nearly caught Ty Cobb in base production. He’d very likely be #1 in both if he hadn’t started out as a pitcher. Lou Gehrig is accelerating rapidly up the rankings but his illness will prevent him from reaching the top: he’s 56 short in runs and 43 in bases. He’s got some good years still left but not enough to make up those deficits. It will take another generation of ballplayers to unseat Wagner and Cobb, if it can be done.

 

[SWC75]

THE PLAYERS

It was an era of inflated numbers. When the owners saw how popular Babe Ruth was, they “juiced the ball” several times, probably by tightening the laces. They started using a “special Australian wool” on the ball for the 1930 season offensive numbers totally exploded. It was the year the entire National league batted .303. The Philadelphia Phillies batted .315 and finished last. There was such an outcry that a new “cushioned cork” centered was introduced for the 1931 season. Numbers plummeted and players who looked like all-time greats suddenly looked like mere mortals. Some examples:

HACK WILSON was 5-6 and weighed 190 pounds. "For a brief span of a few years," wrote a sportswriter of the day, "this hammered down little strongman actually rivaled the mighty [Babe] Ruth." (Wikipedia). When Wilson was first acquired by the Giants, John McGraw, who was 5-7 had to give Hack one of his own uniforms because they didn’t have one that fit Wilson’s unusual dimensions. Wilson had many of the qualities of Ruth. He was a carouser and a brawler, (which the Babe sometimes was) and he could tear the cover off the ball, (as the Babe often did). Strangely, Bill Jenkinson mostly ignores him, rating him the 85th best power hitter in major league history and mentioning him briefly on only one other page of his book. Wikipedia credits him with hitting the longest-ever home at Ebbets Field and one of the longest ever at Wrigley Field, (off the center field scoreboard). He had more than the one good year, leading the NL in home runs four times. He had a great year in 1929, hitting .345 with 39 homers and a league leading 159 RBIS. But then he stopped that in 1930 with .356, a national league record of 56 home runs that lasted until McGwire and Sosa and a record of 191 RBIs, (reported for years as 190). The closest the mighty sluggers of recent years have come to that is Manny Ramirez’s 165. James points out that we don’t have enough players who concentrate on getting on base ahead of the sluggers these days for anyone to challenge Wilson’s record.

But James also says “I will guarantee you that if any scout working today saw Hack Wilson playing in college ball, he would write the guy off as ‘no prospect’”. Despite the RBI record he’s most famous for losing two fly balls in the sun during a 10 run inning by the Philadelphia Athletics in the fourth game of the 1929 World Series that wiped out an 8-0 Cubs lead and turned the series around in the A’s favor. “After the game, (Cubs manager Joe) McCarthy reportedly told a boy asking for a souvenir baseball, "Come back tomorrow and stand behind Wilson, and you'll be able to pick up all the balls you want!" (Wikipedia). But Joe didn’t send Hack back down to “the minors” for his bad fielding.

Biographer Clifton Blue Parker described him as "... the Roaring '20s epitome of a baseball player, primed for an age of American excess ... at a time when baseball was America's favorite sport." That could also describe the Babe but whereas Ruth’s weaknesses were somehow endearing, Wilson’s were destructive. Cubs owner William K. Wrigley couldn’t abide players who drank. In 1931, when Wilson showed up for spring training 20 pounds overweight, got in a fistfight with some sportswriters and followed up his awesome 1930 season with an unawesome .261BA 13Hr 61 RBI season, Wrigley got rid of him. He wound up in Brooklyn where he made a comeback with .297-23-123 but it didn’t last. One sportswriter later observed that he was "built along the lines of a beer keg, and was not wholly unfamiliar with its contents."

Wikipedia notes that Wlison’s parents were both heavy drinkers and “while his unusual physique was considered an oddity at the time, his large head, tiny feet, short legs and broad, flat face are now recognized as hallmarks of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.” Hack was a born ball-player but he was also a born drunk.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, BABE HERMAN hit .393 with 241 hits, 35 homers 130 RBIs and 143 runs scored. Despite this, Brooklyn’s Babe was more famous for his comical fielding. “Never once did I get hit on the head by a fly ball. Once or twice in the shoulder, maybe, but never in the head.” Once Herman had to share a locker with Fresco Thompson. “It’s a heck of thing to have to share a locker with a .250 hitter.” Thompson replied “How do you think I feel, having to share a locker with a .250 fielder?” Bill James, in his original Baseball abstract, says Herman wasn’t as good a player as Buzz Arlett- a guy who spent most of his career in the minors, (see above). In 1931, Herman hit .313 with 191 hits, 18 homers, 97 RBIs and 93 runs scored. He stayed at about that level for the next several years for the Reds, Cubs and Pirates. He was a known as a comically bad fielder, but that didn’t keep him from a productive major league career. He fished with a lifetime batting average of .324 with 690 extra base hits, one of which put him in the middle of the famous play in which three Dodgers wound up on third base. His comic image and that of his team has kept him out of the Hall of Fame.

CHUCK KLEIN is often lumped together with Wilson, Herman and others as possessors of “phony numbers” inflated by the juiced ball, the short porches and the lack of bullpens in his time. But Klein didn’t suffer the abrupt slumps other hitters did in 1931, even if he never quite matched his 1929-30 output. He came up with the Phillies midway through the 1928 season and hit .360 with 11 home runs in 64 games. Then he exploded for .356-43-145 and .386-40-170, (with 158 runs scored- the National league record for the 20th century) the next two years. While Wilson and Herman were falling off the radar, Chuck hit .337-31-121 in 1931, .348-38-137 in 1932 and .368-28-120 in 1933. He won the batting title that last year, led the league in home runs four times, doubles twice, steals once, RBIs twice and runs scored four times. He also set a record for outfield assists in 1930 with 44. SABR: “In his first five full seasons (excluding his 64-game 1928 season), Klein averaged .359 with 36 home runs, 46 doubles, 139 RBI, 132 runs, 224 hits, and 396 total bases per season. He truly was the Babe Ruth of the National League.”

But the team stunk and was going broke, so Klein was sold to the Cubs. He was still productive but less so away from the Baker Bowl. He was also plagued by injuries that caused him to miss an average of 33 games a year from 1934-40. He was basically done by then but continued to play through the war years on a limited basis and ended up hitting .320 lifetime with an even 300 home runs, still a substantial total at that time. Klein had the sort of home-road splits we now associate with the Colorado Rockies: he hit .354 with 190 homers in 887 games at home, .286 with 110 homes in 866 road games. It kept him out of the Hall of Fame until 1980, 22 years after his death and he was a controversial choice even then, many people feeling that his numbers were ‘fake’.

But Daniel Okrent said “That’s just too much” and Bill James said “You can’t just ignore that much statistical evidence”. Bill also said that a player’s numbers are like the boulders on a beach. The waves wash over them and yet they remain. A similar attitude may someday be taken toward the big sluggers of our era.

The two guys who finished far behind Joe Hauser for those minor league home run titles went on to productive careers in the majors. RIP COLLINS replaced Jim Bottomley as the Gas House Gang’s first baseman in St. Louis. He got his nickname from the violent rips he took at the ball and was often called “Ripper”. (Bill James has an alternate theory that Collins used to “rip it” in the night life after the game.) His big year came with the 1934 team that beat the Tigers in the World Series. He hit .333 with 200 hits, 40 doubles, 12 triple, 35 homers which produced 128 RBIs and 116 runs scored. Not quite on the level of the 1930 superstars but a highly productive year by 1934 standards. He hit .367 in the series. After his major league career, Collins, as many players did in those days, simply continued his baseball career in the minors and in 1944 he was named “Minor League Player of the Year” at age 40 while playing for the Albany Senators of the Eastern League.

HAL TROSKY was the fourth best first baseman in the American League in the 1930’s. That doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the guys ranked ahead of him were Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg. Hal was a lot closer to those guys than to whoever you’d pick at #5. As a 21 year old in 1934 he hit .330 with 35 homers and 142 RBI. Two years later he was .343-42-162, the latter number leading the league. A small-town farm boy, he’d been so awed by the big leagues when he came up that when Babe Ruth hit a line drive into his glove, Trosky had the glove bronzed. Hal is a rare player who became a switch hitter in the big leagues. Mired in a 1 for 40 slump in 1935, Manager Steve O’Neill suggested that he try batting from the right side of the pate and broke out of his slump and went on to have his greatest year as a switch-hitter the next season. As with Gehrig, Trosky’s career was curtailed by medical problems. He started having severe migraine headaches, which not only effected his ability to play baseball but kept him out of military service. He tried a comeback with the White Sox but finally quit the game at age 33. It was later found he was allergic to dairy products, a bad problem for a dairy farmer.

The west coast was producing big-time ball players long before Joe DiMaggio. One of them was a teammate of Trosky’s named EARL AVERILL. After three years starring for the San Francisco Seals,, the last of which he hit .354 with 36 homers, 173 RBIs and 178 runs scored, (in 189 games), he came down running in Cleveland hitting .300 six years in a row and over 30 home runs three times. Then, after an off year, he hit a career high .378 in 1936. He wound up hitting .318 lifetime with 238 home runs, despite not being a big league rookie until age 26. After his big league career ended, he went back to the PCL to finish out his career. Both Trosky and Averill had namesake sons who made it briefly to the big leagues but were unable to match their father’s achievements.

The same year Averill was tearing up the PCL in San Francisco, WALLY BERGER was doing the same thing in Los Angles, hitting .335 with 40 homer, 166 RBIs and 170 runs scored in 199 games. He then set a rookie record by hitting 38 home runs for the 1930 Boston Braves He went on to hit an even .300 for his career with 242 homers, the best thing the Braves had going through some very lean years. Jenkinson has a chapter on him, crediting him with 10 homers over 460 feet in length, including a 500 footer over the left center field bleachers in Boston against the Reds in 1935. His output was limited by a 1936 shoulder injury and having to play in Braves Field, which had been built by an owner who worshipped the Dead Ball Era and wanted to discourage the hitting of home runs. By Berger’s time adjustments had been made but it was still 360 feet down the lines and 400 to the right field power alley when Wally played there. Wally led the league with 34 home runs and 130 RBIs in 1935, the year Babe Ruth ended his career with the Braves. In fact, Wally hit a home run in the Babe’s last game. Wally was also a fine center fielder. Bill James makes a comparison between Berger, Averill and Hack Wilson, who wound up with similar big-league career numbers, and concludes that Berger was “the best player of the group”.

Just as Houston had the “Killer Bees” in the 1990’s and 2000’s- Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman, Detroit in the 30’s had the “G-men”. The best of them was HANK GREENBERG. Greenberg grew up in New York and would have loved to be a Yankee but the Yanks had Lou Gehrig so Hank signed with the Tigers. Hank, who, like Ted Williams was 6-4, had been an outstanding high school basketball player, leading James Monroe to the city title in 1929. His coach said “Hank never played games. He worked at them. He wasn’t the natural athlete His reactions were slow and he had trouble coordinating his big body. He couldn’t run a lick because of his flat feet. But he was a great competitor because he hated to lose.” He kept that work ethic through his big league career.

Hank got a single at bat in 1930 at age 19 but then spent three years in the minors before he was ready for Detroit. He had a modest first season in 1933, hitting .301 with a dozen homers in 117 games. But he managed to drive in 87 runs, an early indication of his clutch hitting capabilities. The next year he became a major star, hitting .339 with 26 homers and 63 doubles, which produced 139 RBIs and 118 runs scored. The Tigers won the pennant but lost the World Series to the Gashouse Gang Cardinals in seven games. Then Hank topped that by hitting .336 with 46 doubles, 16 triples and 36 homers, producing 170 RBIs and 139 scored in leading the Tigers to the World’s Championship in 1935.

He was now a major star and sports celebrity. He had never been very religious but the fact that he was Jewish became important: there hadn’t been a Jewish baseball star in memory and he had a ready-made fan club. He was also the target of anti-Semitism, some of ti suggesting what Jackie Robinson would have to go through in the following decade.

In the minors, in Raleigh, North Carolina, “one of his teammates walked slowly around Hank staring at him. Greenberg asked him what he was looking at. The fellow said he was just looking as he'd never seen a Jew before. "The way he said it," noted Greenberg, "he might as well have said, 'I've never seen a giraffe before.'" I let him keep looking for a while, and then I said, 'See anything interesting?'" Hank let him look a bit and asked if he'd seen anything interesting. The befuddled teammate admitted that he'd seen nothing, that Greenberg looked like anyone else….Jo Jo White, his teammate at Beaumont in 1932, stared at him. Looking for horns and finding none, White said, "You're just like everyone else."” (SABR)

This left Hank with a feeling that he needed to represent the Jewish segment of the country. He refused to play on Jewish holidays, even in the middle of a pennant race, which created much controversy. "How the hell could you get up to home plate every day and have some son-of-a-bitch call you a Jew bastard and a k--e and a sheenie and get on your ass without feeling the pressure? If the ballplayers weren't doing it, the fans were. I used to get frustrated as hell. Sometimes I wanted to go into the stands and beat the s--t out of them."

He was off to a great start in 1936 when Jake Powell, a noted bigot, ran into him at first base, probably on purpose, and broke Hank’s wrist, ending his season. Then there was Joe Kuhel, a White Sox player, who slid into him, ripping off his shoes while trying to spike him, provoking a fight. Somebody on the White Sox bench called him a “yellow Jew bastard”. After the game, Hank calmly changed out of his uniform and walked over to the White Sox dressing room, and not so calmly demanded to know “Who said that?” Nobody stood up.

Like Robinson, Hank got his revenge on the field. The next four seasons he hit .327 with 172 home runs, 591 RBI and 521 runs scored, leading the Tigers to another pennant in 1940. He came within one RBI of breaking Lou Gehrig’s AL record of 184 and two home runs of breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60, (Hank lost a homer in a rain out. The one that bothered him the most was the RBI record because he viewed driving in runs as his main job. But it also might have bothered him that he kept getting walked down the stretch in 1938 when he was approaching the Babe’s record. Some felt opposing pitchers- or managers or above that - were trying to protect Ruth’s record from a Jew. Greenberg later said that he understood what Roger Maris was going through when he finally topped Ruth in 1961. "You feel time is running out. You get impatient and swing at bad pitches and sometimes you get paralyzed and let good pitches to hit go by. Chasing records is hard on the nerves."

But Hank also knew bigger things were happening in the world, especially to Jews. When he was classified 4F due to his flat feet. He requested to be reexamined and was reclassified fit for duty. He was drafted and his tour was up on December 5rth, 1941. Two days later, we were at war and Greenberg re-enlisted. He wound up serving for 47 months, the longest of any major league player. He became a captain in the Army Air Force, scoring locations for B-29 bases in the China-Burma theater.

He came back to join the Tigers as they were going for another pennant, battling the Senators, a team that historically had been the most overt in their anti-Semitic jibes at Greenberg, (representing our nation’s capital-ugh!). It came down to the final game of the season. The Tigers were playing the St. Louis Browns and were down in the top of the 9th inning, 4-3. “The umpire allegedly told Hank that he was ready to call the game due to darkness, because the ump—former Yankee pitching star George Pipgras, supposedly said "Sorry Hank, but I'm gonna have to call the game. I can't see the ball." Greenberg replied, "Don't worry, George, I can see it just fine," Hank hit the pennant-winning grand slam on the next pitch. “The best part of that homer was hearing how the Washington Senators players responded: 'Goddam that dirty Jew bastard, he beat us again.” (SABR) They went on to beat the Cubs in the World Series. Hank’s batting average in four World Series was .318.

The next year Hank had his last great season, leading the league with 44 homers and 127 RBIs. But a salary dispute with team owner Spike Briggs led to Hank, the reigning home run and RBI champion, being put on waivers and claimed by the Pirates. One theory was that Hank wanted to be the Tiger’s general manager and Briggs wanted to avoid pressure to appoint him to that position because of his religion. Hank said, "I don't understand it and I never will." Hank was going to retire but Pirates owner John Galbraith offered him the first $100,000 contract. Co-owner Bing Crosby and pal Groucho Marx recorded a song in his honor,"Goodbye, Mr. Ball, Goodbye":
http://tenement-museum.blogspot.com/2011/04/goodbye-mr-ball-goodbye.html

So Hank played one year with the Pirates. The years and injuries caught up with him but he still hit 25 home runs, many into “Greenberg Gardens”, an area where the left field wall was shortened by 25 feet. He became a room-mate and life-long friend of young slugger Ralph Kiner, teaching him the Greenberg work ethic and convincing the Pirates to keep him with the big club despite an early slump. Hank then retired and “Greenberg Gardens” became “Kiner’s Korner.” In his Met broadcasts, Kiner lost no opportunity to praise Hank as a ballplayer, man and friend.

Hank also reached out to Jackie Robinson and became a friend and supporter. When Hank was named general manager of the Indians, he made them a sort of American League version of the Dodgers, following up Larry Doby with several other black players, although “In 1949, Larry Doby also recommended Greenberg scout three players Doby used to play with in the Negro leagues: Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays. The next offseason Doby asked what Indians' scouts said about his recommendations. Said Greenberg, "Our guys checked 'em out and their reports were not good. They said that Aaron has a hitch in his swing and will never hit good pitching. Banks is too slow and didn't have enough range [at shortstop], and Mays can't hit a curveball." (Wikipedia).

Hank also became a life-long friend of Bill Veeck. “During his tenure as a baseball administrator, Greenberg was partially responsible for the creation of the player pension plan and organized the split of World Series and All-Star Game receipts on the basis of 65% for the owners and 35% for the players. He also testified on behalf of Curt Flood, in Flood's anti-trust suit against Major League Baseball. Flood's suit was unsuccessful. Bill Veeck felt that Greenberg would have made a fine Commissioner of baseball. Veeck went on to add, "But he was much too qualified." Hank became very wealthy in the stock market and was one of the most admired men in the sport, on and off the field. Except for Bill James, who in his new Historical Baseball Abstract spends most of his anaylsis of Greenburg complaining about his ”intransigence and poor decisions” which “probably had as much to do with the collapse of the Indians franchise in the late 1950’s as anything else”. It seems a small thing. I prefer what he said in his first HBA: “Such intensive domination of the events of the events of his time may have no parallel.”

James gave GOOSE GOSLIN his “Yellowstone Park Award” for the 1920’s, meaning that Goose had the largest difference between his home and road home runs, indicating his power was much greater than his numbers suggested. “Goose Goslin in 1926 hit 17 home runs- all 17 on the road. Griffith Stadium was by far the toughest home run park in the major leagues from 1920 until the early 1950’s. Goslin also hit 11 out of 12 on the road in 1924, 8 of 9 on the toad, (1923 and 1935), 15 of 18 on the road (1929) and 13 of 17 on the road (1928). His ‘explosion’ to 37 home runs in 1930 was caused just by getting into a fair home run park. Had he played in St. Louis or Detroit or Cleveland, he would have hit 30+ every year.” Hank Greenberg hit .338 with 205 home runs at home, .289 with 126 home runs on the road, (very similar to Chuck Klein, which should either reduce our regard for Greenberg’s abilities or increase it for Klein’s). Goose Goslin hit .310 with 92 home runs at home, .321 with 156 home runs on the road. For all that his final numbers are pretty strong: .316 with twelve 100 RBI years and seven 100 runs scored years. Gosse got his nickname for his name and his huge nose. He had a good sense of humor about that, joking “If I could see around my nose, I’d hit .600.”

Here is a picture of CHARLIE GEHINGER of the Tigers taken by the great baseball photographer Charles Conlon in 1925, when Charlie was a 22 year old rookie trying to make the team:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boa...otopack-charlie_gehringer_-1925_tigers-_3.jpg

Here is another picture of Charlie, taken by Conlon nine years later, when he was a 31year old All-Star second baseman for the Tigers:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boa...otopack-charlie_gehringer_-1934_tigers-_5.jpg

One gets the impression that Charlie had his same suspicious expression on his face for the entire nine years. Indeed, there are dozens of pictures of him taken throughout his career in which he looks exactly like that. In a way it was appropriate that eh keep the same poker face for he was known for his consistency. He hit an even .320 lifetime and only missed .300 once between 1927 and 1940: in 1932, he hit .298. He had two streaks of playing in 500+ consecutive games in his career. His nickname was “The Mechanical Man”. Lefty Gomez: "Charlie Gehringer is in a rut. He hits .350 on Opening Day and stays there all season." Doc Cramer: “All you have to do is wind him up on opening day and he runs on and on all season.” He was “a bachelor though most of his career, lived with his mother in Detroit and attended Mass with her every morning.” (Bill James). He has the look of a player who just came out into the big world to play baseball and then went home.

 

[br801]

It's criminal that so few people acknowledge these posts.

 

[SWC75]

It's criminal that so few people acknowledge these posts.

I think they take one look at them and realize that they had a bunch of things they wanted to do today.

I figured out the numbers on "Runs and Bases" a couple of years ago but wondered what format to present them in since they were just numbers. I decided first to tell the stories of the players so people could better appreciate who complied those numbers. Then I decided to discuss what was happening in baseball at the time, as well as my personal points of view on various trends and issues. It's all gotten to be a bit much. I'll try to edit it down a little in future posts so the length won't seem so intimidating.

 

[br801]

I think they take one look at them and realize that they had a bunch of things they wanted to do today.

I figured out the numbers on "Runs and Bases" a couple of years ago but wondered what format to present them in since they were just numbers. I decided first to tell the stories of the players so people could better appreciate who complied those numbers. Then I decided to discuss what was happening in baseball at the time, as well as my personal points of view on various trends and issues. It's all gotten to be a bit much. I'll try to edit it down a little in future posts so the length won't seem so intimidating.

I love the stories and always learn something new. Thanks for putting all of this stuff together.

I know there are a lot of big baseball fans on this board and am just surprised more don't read and/or comment on these posts. I don't think it's the length. Perhaps it's just that the Other Sports board doesn't get a lot of traffic compared to the Basketball and Football boards.