Ghosts of Baseball's Past
By Brett Kiser
()
About this ebook
Brett Kiser
I am a life long fan of baseball with an obsession for history. I believe that Tris Speaker is the greatest player ever and that pinstripes are unsightly. My favorite clubs are the Houston Astros and my hometown team, the forever rebuilding; Kansas City Royals.
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Ghosts of Baseball's Past - Brett Kiser
Ghosts of Baseball’s Past
Brett Kiser
iUniverse, Inc.
New York Lincoln Shanghai
Ghosts of Baseball’s Past
Copyright © 2006 by brett kiser
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
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for them.
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-41827-5 (pbk)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-86169-9 (ebk)
ISBN-10: 0-595-41827-9 (pbk)
ISBN-10: 0-595-86169-5 (ebk)
Contents
Introduction
NEWT ALLEN
RED AMES
HAROLD BAINES
GINGER BEAUMONT
VIDA BLUE
BERT BLYLEVEN
KEN BOYER
HARRY BRECHEEN
PETE BROWNING
BILL BUCKNER
CHARLIE BUFFINTON
LEW BURDETTE
BRETT BUTLER
JOE CARTER
BOB CARUTHERS
GEORGE CASE
NORM CASH
DEAN CHANCE
SPUD CHANDLER
HAL CHASE
CUPID CHILDS
WILL CLARK
MORT COOPER
WILBUR COOPER
DOC CRAMER
LAVE CROSS
MIKE CUELLAR
BILL DAHLEN
JAKE DAUBERT
WILLIE DAVIS
ANDRE DAWSON
BINGO DE MOSS
JOE DOBSON
MIKE DONLIN
PATSY DONOVAN
WILD BILL DONOVAN
DOUG DRABEK
RYNE DUREN
DEL ENNIS
MIKE GARCIA
STEVE GARVEY
JACK GLASSCOCK
GOOSE GOSSAGE
BOBBY GEICH
RON GUIDRY
STAN HACK
HARVEY HADDIX
NOODLES HAHN
TOM HENKE
BABE HERMAN
KEITH HERNANDEZ
OREL HERSHISER
PIANO LEGS HICKMAN
PINKY HIGGINS
GIL HODGES
KEN HOLTZMAN
CHARLIE HOUGH
FRANK HOWARD
DUMMY HOY
TOMMY JOHN
BOB JOHNSON
JOE JUDGE
JIM KAAT
HENRY KIMBRO
TED KLUSZEWSKI
JERRY KOOSMAN
SAM LEEVER
DUTCH LEONARD
BUDDY LEWIS
ED LOPAT
DENNY LYONS
SHERRY MAGEE
FIRPO MARBERRY
OLIVER MARCELLE
ROGER MARIS
DENNIS MARTINEZ
CARL MAYS
JIM McCORMICK
STUFFY McINNIS
DAVE McNALLY
ANDY MESSERSMITH
BING MILLER
MINNIE MINOSO
EARL MOORE
CANNONBALL MORRIS
JACKMORRIS
TONY MULLANE
GEORGE MULLIN
DALE MURPHY
BUDDY MYER
DON NEWCOMBE
LEFTY O’DOUL
AL OLIVER
BUCK O’NEIL
DAVE ORR
ORVIE OVERALL
MILT PAPPAS
DAVE PARKER
GARYPETERS
DEACON PHILLIPPE
BILLY PIERCE
VADA PINSON
DICK RADATZ
ED REULBACH
JIM RICE
STEVE ROGERS
SCHOOLBOY ROWE
NAP RUCKER
RON SANTO
HERB SCORE
DEATH VALLEY JIM SCOTT
MIKE SCOTT
SONNY SIEBERT
TED SIMMONS
FRANK SMITH
LEE SMITH
JAKE STENZEL
RIGGS STEPHENSON
HARRY STOVEY
JESSE TANNEHILL
JEFF TESREAU
MIKE TIERNAN
JOE TORRE
ALAN TRAMMELL
VIRGIL TRUCKS
GEORGE VAN HALTREN
JOHNNY VANDER MEER
HIPPO VAUGHN
BOBBY VEACH
DIXIE WALKER
ALTA WEISS
BOB WELCH
DOC WHITE
FRANK WHITE
WILL WHITE
MAURY WILLS
HOOKS WILTSE
SMOKEY JOE WOOD
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
Welcome Baseball fans to Ghosts of Baseball’s Past, a book profiling the lost legends of the game. Within these pages can be found many great ballplayers, all of whom have yet to be enshrined in Cooperstown, but are deserving of immortalization in their own right.
My sole purpose for writing this book was to keep the names of players, overlooked by Hall-of-Fame voters, alive through detailed accounts of their careers. I had no intentions of campaigning for any player, trying to get them enshrined in Cooperstown, because the Hall is crowded as is (I could write a book about the players I feel have no business being enshrined). Although I am a supporter of the Bert Blyleven and Buck O’Neil For the Hall
battle cries, this book isn’t a campaign for those two amazing Baseball personalities. A person could make a valid campaign for literally hundreds of former players; given the assemblage of old players with Bronze Busts. When my personal favorite catcher Brad Ausmus retires, I could make a case for his enshrinement, given the Ray Schalk residence in the Hall. Or a David Eckstein fanatic (which I am borderline) could make a convincing argument because of Pee-Wee Reese and Phil Rizzuto’s Cooperstown stature. But this book isn’t a campaign; it is merely an account of a select group of superior Ball Diamond performers, whose names shouldn’t fade with the passing of years.
So sit back and read about Will The Thrill
Clark and Piano Legs Hickman; relive Virgil Trucks’ double no-hit season of 1952 and find out which Hall-of-Famer thought Smokey Joe Wood threw harder than anyone. It’s all inside, Baseball fans. So enjoy the trip through Baseball’s Past!
NEWT ALLEN
Date of Birth: ????
Position Played: SECOND BASEMAN
Due to poor records kept by the Negro Leagues, the ability to judge talent of the old African American players is next to impossible. The Negro League players are remembered by the few surviving teammates who played with and against them. That being said, Newt Allen is remembered as one of the slickest fielding second basemen the Negro Leagues had ever known. He is remembered fondly as a master of small-ball
, the art of slap hitting and taking the extra base. Some sources label Newt as a .278 lifetime hitter, but the legendary Cool Papa Bell once said one day I got five hits and stole five bases, but none of that was written down because they didn’t bring the scorebook to the game that day.
Arguably the best fielding middle infielder in Negro League history, switch hitting Newt Allen knew few peers.
LIFETIME STATS
• Insufficient data
• Possible .278 lifetime hitter
RED AMES
Date of Birth: August 02, 1882
Position Played: PITCHER
Leon Kessling Red
Ames began his career with John McGraw’s New York Giants in 1903, as a 20 year old right handed pitcher. Red was used sparingly his first few seasons, thanks to the presence of Hall-of-Famers Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity, but by 1905 he supplanted Hooks Wiltse as number three on McGraw’s Depth Chart. In the midst of a career year in 1908, Red missed time due to an illness, but still managed to finish second to Christy in team winning percentage and ERA with a 1.82 mark. Throughout his prime years, Red was overshadowed on Pennant winning Giant teams by Mathewson, McGinnity, Wiltse and another Hall-of-Famer in Rube Marquard. By 1912, Red had run out of favor with McGraw, despite never posting an ERA above 3.00. He left the Giants early in the 1913 season, and teamed with Hall-of-Famer Three Finger Brown to give Cincinnati a solid front two, but the lack of offense hindered the club, and they barely edged out St. Louis for the division basement.
For the basement dwelling Cincinnati club, Red led the league in losses in 1914 with 23, but in his defense, he had a 2.64 ERA and allowed fewer hits that innings pitched, as he did throughout most of his career. Dealt to another bottom feeding club in St. Louis, Red paced the league in saves with 8 in 1916 while also completing 10 of his 25 starts, proving to be a valuable and versatile member of the Cardinals’ staff. Proving that he wasn’t washed up as a 35 year old, Red paced the club in games started, complete games and ERA in 1918, his last successful season.
Red Ames was more than just a quality third starter for a championship caliber team, who had to deal with poor run support on losing clubs after leaving the dynasty that John McGraw built in New York. Had he spent his prime years out of the shadows cast by a solid group of Hall-of-Fame hurlers, Red Ames would likely have carried a staff himself.
LIFETIME STATS
HAROLD BAINES
Date of Birth: March 15, 1959
Position Played: OUTFIELD
Harold Douglas Baines was a left handed hitting power threat for the majority of his career, beginning with and ending with the Chicago White Sox, with many stops in between. Harold enjoyed his first taste of success in his third season in Chicago, pacing the club in homeruns and RBI, and playing in all but one game for Tony LaRussa’s club. In 1983, Baines’ hitting prowess, coupled with career years by Ron Kittle and Greg Luzinski, propelled the White Sox to the top of the division, but they lost out to the Orioles in the ALCS.
Baines continued his tear, becoming a force in Chicago’s lineup, earning the title of the most feared slugger on the club. By 1987, Harold’s work with the glove had become a liability, and new skipper Jim Fregosi made Baines his everyday Designated Hitter. Enjoying his best season in 1989, Harold was hitting the ball at a .321 clip, when he was dealt by the last place White Sox to the contending Texas Rangers. This began the nomadic era of Harold’s career, as he didn’t spend a full season down south before getting shipped to Oakland. The move worked brilliantly for the Athletics, as Harold’s second trip to the postseason was much better than his first. He helped Oakland to the World Series by hitting .357 and leading them with 3 ALCS RBI, but watched as Cincinnati swept his club in the Series. Proving to handle October well, he paced the Oakland club with a .440 batting average in the ALCS of 1992, but couldn’t carry the club past the Toronto Blue Jays.
Although Harold Baines never led the league in any offensive category, he was a devastating presence in the heart of the lineup, amassing over 350 homers, over 450 doubles, over 1,500 RBI and came within distance of the hallowed 3,000 hits plateau. Every player with more hits than Harold Baines is enshrined in Coo-perstown, except for the few ineligible players.
LIFETIME STATS
GINGER BEAUMONT
Date of Birth: July 23, 1876
Position Played: OUTFIELD
Clarence Howeth Ginger
Beaumont stood at 5’8" and weighed in at 190 pounds. A short and squat player, Ginger made for a remarkable center fielder on the Pittsburgh Pirate dynasty of the early 1900’s. Teaming with player/manager Fred Clarke and superstar shortstop Honus Wagner, the trio made for a dynamic and fleet offense, as all three stole more than 20 bases in their 1901 Championship season.
A strong case can be made for who the key player was on the Pirate dynasty of the early 1900’s, as both Wagner and Clarke are enshrined in Cooperstown. But Ginger Beaumont gets overlooked despite some lofty credentials. In 1902, as both Clarke and Wagner were enjoying solid seasons, Ginger eclipsed all his teammates, and the entire league, at wielding a bat. He paced the National League in hits with 194 and batting average, as he hit at a .357 clip, helping Pittsburgh to another crown. But Beaumont outdid himself the following year, leading the National League in at bats (613), runs (137) and hits (209) while finishing behind teammates Wagner and Clarke in batting with a .341 average. Despite the solid season by Pittsburgh’s big three, all failed to deliver in the World Series as they were beat by Boston; none of the three hit better than .270 in the Fall Classic.
The Pirates began to fade as John McGraw built his Giants dynasty in New York, but Ginger still paced the league in hits (185) in 1904 despite a fourth place finish by his club, which would prove to be his last good year in Pittsburgh. Banished to the lowly Boston Braves in 1907, Ginger rebounded and paced the National League in hits once again with 187 on a second to last place Boston club. But 1907 would be his final good year, as his batting average dipped to .267 in 1908.
Despite Wagner and Clarke still performing well in Pittsburgh through the time Beaumont was shipped off to Boston, the Pirate dynasty flamed out with his departure, proving that he was the key piece of the franchise.
LIFETIME STATS
VIDA BLUE
Date of Birth: July 28, 1949
Position Played: PITCHER
Left-handed Vida Rochelle Blue, born in Mansfield, LA., made is debut as a 19 year old for the 1969 Oakland Athletics. Two years later, he had eclipsed Hall-of-Famer Catfish Hunter as Staff Ace, leading the league with a 1.82 ERA as a 21 year old, but proved he was human getting beat in Game 1 of the ALCS by Baltimore, and watched as the Orioles took the remaining games, sweeping his club. Vida held-out for part of the 1972 season, and when he returned, he found himself back behind Catfish, Blue Moon Odom and Ken Holtzman on the Depth Chart, as he was used sparingly in their Championship Season of that year.
Putting a lackluster 1972 campaign behind him, Vida returned to the rotation in 1973 and became the ace again in 1975 when Catfish Hunter jumped ship and signed with the Yankees. Vida carried the Oakland staff through the 70’s, as they finished first until Kansas City became the division powerhouse, as he regularly paced the club in wins and innings pitched. But by 1977, Oakland plummeted to dead last in the West Division, and Vida paced the American League with 19 losses. Saved from the lowly Athletics, Vida found himself in San Francisco, and was asked to be the Staff Ace, as he paced the Giants with 18 wins in his first NL season.
Although he never built off his outstanding 1971 campaign like he was suppose to, Vida Blue still carved out a very good career, always eating innings and keeping his ERA total near 3.00.
LIFETIME STATS
BERT BLYLEVEN
Date of Birth: April 6, 1951
Position Played: PITCHER
Number 5 all time in career strikeouts, number 8 all time in career games started, number 9 all time in career shutouts, number 13 all time in career innings pitched and number 24 all time in career wins. Every