The A-To-Z History of Base Ball: Twentieth Century Baseball Players

Copyright © 2008 by Mark Cressman.

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Contents

A Hank Aaron, Grover Cleveland Alexander

B Cool Papa Bell, Johnny Bench, Barry Bonds

C Oscar Charleston, Roger Clemens, Ty Cobb

D Ray Dandridge, Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby

E Dennis Eckersley, Johnny Evers

F Jean Faut, Bill Foster, Jimmie Foxx

G Lou Gehrig, Josh Gibson

H Harry Heilmann, Rogers Hornsby

I Monte Irvie Irvin

J Joe Jackson, Judy Johnson, Walter Johnson

K Chuck Klein, Sandy Koufax

L Nap Lajoie, Buck Leonard, Pop Lloyd

M Biz Mackey, Mickey Mantle, Christy Mathewson,

Willie Mays, Stan Musial

N Hal Newhouser

O Mel Ott, Buck O’Neil

P Satchel Paige, Eddie Plank

Q Dan Quisenberry

R Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, Babe Ruth, Nolan Ryan

S Doris Sam Doris Sams, Mike Schmidt, George Sisler,

Warren Spahn, Tris Speaker

T Bill Terry, Pie Traynor

U George Uhle

V Dazzy Vance, Arky Vaughan

W Honus Wagner, Ted Williams

X No player with a surname beginning with X

had played in the major leagues

Y Carl Yastrzemski, Cy Young

Z Jim Zapp, Todd Zeile

Baseball Eras

Players

Top Ten All-Time

Career Leaders

Bibliography

Dedication

Dedicated to my lovely wife, Cindy, for her continuous support, and to my son, Noah, with whom I hope to share my passion for baseball and its history.

A special thank you to baseball-reference.com and

Sports Reference for the use of their registers.

A

Hank Aaron

It’s appropriate that Hank Aaron, one of the greatest players to have played the game of baseball and voted a member of Major League Baseball All-Century Team during the twentieth century, is one of the first players listed, in alphabetical order, in the Major League Baseball (MLB) directory. Hammerin’ Hank finished his career as the all-time home run king, amassing 755 career home runs. He surpassed the legendary Babe Ruth on April 8, 1974, with his 715th career home run. On August 7, 2007, Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s hallowed career home run record with his 756th home run. Never having hit more than 47 home runs in a single season, Aaron played a long and illustrious Hall of Fame career moving with the Braves from Milwaukee to Atlanta prior to the 1966 season and appropriately retiring following the 1976 season as a Milwaukee Brewer, in the city where it all began.

Aaron began his playing career in 1952 for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues (NL), helping the team win the 1952 Negro American League championship. He was signed by the Boston Braves following his first season with the Clowns and joined the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. In 1957, Aaron won his only Most Valuable Player Award and helped the Braves win the NL Pennant and beat the New York Yankees in seven games for the World Series title. The following season, Aaron led the Braves to the 1958 NL Pennant as their roles were reversed, losing to the Yankees in seven games in the World Series.

Aaron finished his twenty-three-year career with 3,771 career hits and the career leader in home runs (755), games played (3,298), at bats (12,364), extra base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856), and runs batted in (RBIs) with 2,297. He has since been passed in home runs, games played, and at bats. Not only did he hit for power, he hit for average, finishing his career with a .305 batting average. He played in a record-tying twenty-four All-Star games (1955-1975) joining Willie Mays and Stan Musial and earned three Gold Glove Awards playing right field. He led the NL in home runs (1957, 1963, 1966, 1967) and RBIs (1957, 1960, 1963, 1966) four times and batting titles twice (1956, 1959). When he retired after the 1976 season, Aaron was the last Major League Baseball player to have played in the Negro Leagues. He is one of the only four players in major league history to hit 500 home runs and 3,000 hits in a career and is joined by Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, and Rafael Palmeiro. Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers in 1982, Aaron was listed at number 5 on the Sporting News list of baseball’s one hundred greatest players of the twentieth century.

Batting

Teams played for: Indianapolis Clowns (1952), Milwaukee Braves (1954-1965), Atlanta Braves (1966-1974), and Milwaukee Brewers (1975-1976)

Seasons played: 24 (1, Negro League; 23, Major League)

Hall of Fame: 1982

Grover Cleveland Pete Alexander

One of the greatest pitchers of all time, Grover Cleveland Pete Alexander made his major league debut in 1911 with the Philadelphia Phillies during the dead ball era and pitched a modern-day major league rookie record of 28 wins. Through 1920, Alexander dominated the National League (NL), winning the NL pitching Triple Crown three times (1915, 1916, 1920) by leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA (earned run average) and won at least thirty games a season three years in a row (1915-1917). In 1915, Alexander led the Phillies to their first World Series by winning the 1915 NL Pennant. In the World Series, the Phillies lost to the Boston Red Sox in five games.

Alexander spent seven seasons with the Phillies before being traded to the Chicago Cubs after the 1917 season. He served in the army during the Great War (World War I), missing most of the 1918 season. While serving in the army, Alexander suffered from shell shock, partial hearing loss, and seizures. It was rumored that Alexander was a drinker prior to the war, but after he returned, he became a very heavy drinker due to the issues he developed. However, his drinking did not contribute to a decline in his pitching ability as he won the NL pitching Triple Crown in 1920, leading the league with 27 wins, 173 strikeouts, and a 1.91 ERA; but it did contribute to him being sold to the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1926 season. This was a good move for the Cardinals as Alexander helped the Cardinals win the 1926 and 1928 NL Pennants and win their first World Series title in 1926 by beating the New York Yankees in seven games.

Alexander retired during the 1930 season with 373 wins, 2,198 strikeouts, 90 shutouts, and a 2.56 ERA vs. the league average ERA of 3.45. His career spanned the dead ball era when pitching dominated to the live ball era when hitters dominated. He finished his twenty-year major league career tied with Christy Mathewson for most career wins in NL history with 373 and tied for the third most career wins in Major League Baseball history behind Cy Young and Walter Johnson. His 90 career shutouts ranked second all-time behind only Johnson, including a major league single season shutout record of 16 during the 1916 season. During his career, he set the NL record for most Opening Day starts in a row with 12, game started with 600, and shutouts and strikeouts by a rookie with 7 and 227, respectively. These National League records have since been tied or surpassed. Alexander led the league in wins (1911, 1914-1917, 1920) and strikeouts (1912, 1914-1917, 1920) six times, ERA (1915, 1916, 1919, 1920) four times, and shutouts (1911, 1913, 1915-1917, 1919, 1921) seven times. In 1938, Alexander was voted into the National Baseball Hall Fame by the Baseball Writers, and the following year was inducted with the initial class of Hall of Famers when the Hall of Fame Museum opened. In 1999, he was ranked number 12 on the Sporting News list of one hundred greatest baseball players of the twentieth century.

Pitching

Teams played for: Philadelphia Phillies (1911-1917, 1930), Chicago Cubs (1918-1926), and St. Louis Cardinals (1926-1929)

Seasons played: 20 (Major League)

Hall of Fame: 1938

B

Cool Papa Bell

One of the fastest professional baseball players in the history of the game, James Thomas Cool Papa Bell played for twenty-nine summer seasons, mostly in the Negro Leagues and twenty-one winter seasons playing in the Cuban, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, and the Mexican leagues. Not known for his power, Bell was the first player in Cuban League history to hit three home runs in one game in 1929.

Bell began his career with the St. Louis Stars in 1922 as a pitcher in the first Negro National League (NNL), moving full-time to centerfield in 1924. He received the nickname Cool Papa during his rookie season for remaining calm during a time-pressure game situation. Bell played with the Stars through the 1931 season when the first NNL was dissolved and the team discontinued playing, leading the team to league titles in 1929, 1930, and 1931.

In 1932, Bell signed with the Homestead Grays for one season before joining the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1933 in the newly formed NNL. He spent six years with the Crawfords and in 1935 helped form one of the greatest teams in Negro League history and perhaps the history of baseball. The 1935 Crawfords team included National Baseball Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Judy Johnson, and Cool Papa Bell.

Bell played in the Mexican League from 1938-1941 for $450 per month, the highest salary he received playing baseball. Rejoining the Grays in 1943, he led the team to three consecutive NNL titles beginning in 1943 and two Negro League World Series titles in 1943 and 1944, beating the Birmingham Black Barons each year. In 1948, Bell joined the Kansas City Stars, a Kansas City Monarchs farm team, as player-manager and retired in 1950.

Due to the color his skin, Bell was not provided an opportunity to play Major League Baseball. It was not until Jackie Robinson integrated baseball in 1947 that African-Americans were allowed to play in the major leagues. In 1951 the St. Louis Browns offered Bell a chance to play Major League Baseball but at the age of forty-eight he decided not to play due to his age.

Although complete and accurate records were not kept while Bell played, he is credited with hitting better than .400 during multiple seasons, had a career batting average of .341, and hit .391 when he played exhibition games vs. white major league players. Even though the numbers have not been verified, Bell claimed to have stolen 175 bases in a two-hundred-game season. In addition to his ability to hit, Bell was an excellent defensive player. He was selected to play in seven East-West All-Star Games between 1933, the first year the game was held, and 1944. In 1974, Bell became the fifth Negro League star to be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Negro Leagues Committee behind Satchel Paige,