Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (20 page)

A tremendously gifted athlete, there was nothing Charleston could not do on the ball field. He had great running speed, was an instinctive and aggressive baserunner, had superb range, good hands, and a powerful arm in the outfield, and could hit for both power and average. The 1921 season was perhaps the greatest example of Charleston’s all-around brilliance. Playing for the St. Louis Giants that year, the lefthanded hitting Charleston compiled a .434 batting average, and led the league with 35 stolen bases, 14 doubles, 11 triples, and 15 home runs in only 60 league games.

Charleston was equally proficient as an outfielder. Rightfielder Dave Malarcher, who played alongside Charleston, said, “He could play all the outfield. I just caught foul balls. I stayed on the lines.” Buck O’Neill, who played against him in the Negro Leagues, said, “Willie Mays was the best major league player I ever saw, but Oscar Charleston was the best baseball player I ever saw.”

Cool Papa Bell might have been the fastest man ever to play organized baseball. The 5'11", 150-pound Bell was once clocked circling the bases in an amazing 12 seconds. He used his speed and daring to become the foremost base-stealer in baseball, once being credited with stealing over 170 bases in a 200-game season. Bell was so fast that he frequently beat out infield hits on two-hoppers hit directly to infielders, scored from second base on sacrifice flies, and advanced from first to third on bunts. Legend has it that he even scored all the way from first base on a bunt against Bob Lemon and a team of major league all-stars. Bell also utilized his speed to become an outstanding defensive outfielder, playing a shallow centerfield and often outrunning pitcher’s mistakes by turning his back on home plate and tracking down long fly balls.

An outstanding switch-hitter who consistently batted well over .300, Bell compensated for his lack of power at the plate by hitting down on the ball to use his great running speed, and by smacking line drives to all fields. Various sources have his lifetime batting average in Negro League play approaching the .340-mark, and he batted .395 in exhibition games against major league players. During his career, Bell played on 11 championship teams and was an annual selection for the East-West All-Star Game.

Bill Veeck, owner of several major league teams, said, “Defensively, he was the equal of Tris Speaker, Joe DiMaggio or Willie Mays.”

Pro basketball pioneer and baseball scout Eddie Gottlieb said, “If he had played in the major leagues, he would have reminded people of Willie Keeler as a hitter and Ty Cobb as a baserunner— and he might have exceeded both.”

Billy Hamilton/Hugh Duffy

These two men were the greatest centerfielders of the 19th century.

Billy Hamilton was not only the finest centerfielder of the 19th century, but was one of the five or six greatest players of that period. Although many people are not aware of it, it was Hamilton’s stolen base record that Lou Brock broke—and not Ty Cobb’s—when he stole 938 bases during the 1960s and 1970s. Although Cobb had been credited with the “modern” record for stolen bases all those years, his 891 steals actually fell 21 short of the 912 Hamilton stole for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1888 to 1901.

However, Hamilton was far more than just a great base-stealer. He finished his career with a .344 batting average, a .455 on-base percentage, 1,690 runs scored, and 2,158 hits in only 6,268 at-bats. By scoring 1,690 runs in just 1,593 games, Hamilton became one of only two players in major league history to average more than a run a game. As part of the Philadelphia outfield that batted over .400 in 1894, he had his greatest season that year. Not only did Hamilton hit a career-high .404, but he stole 98 bases and scored an all-time record 192 runs. He also batted over .380 two other times and led the league in on-base percentage five times, walks five times, batting average twice, hits once, and runs scored four times. Hamilton’s election to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1961 was long overdue.

Hugh Duffy was the other outstanding centerfielder of the 19th century. Although he was not the prolific base-stealer that Hamilton was, he still managed to swipe 574 bags during his 16-year career. In addition, he finished with a .324 batting average, 1,302 runs batted in, 1,552 runs scored, 2,282 hits, and 119 triples. He won the National League triple crown in 1894 by hitting 18 home runs, driving in 145 runs, and compiling the highest batting average in baseball history—.438. While it is true that averages throughout baseball that year were extremely high (Philadelphia’s team batting average was .349), Duffy’s mark of .438 was still 30 points higher than that of the runner-up in the batting race. He was also a league-leader in various other offensive categories during the course of his career. He led the league in home runs, runs batted in, and hits twice each, and in doubles and runs scored once each. He knocked in over 100 runs eight times, and scored more than 100 runs nine times, including 161 in 1890 and 160 in 1894. In fact, in that triple crown season of 1894, Duffy also collected 51 doubles and 237 hits, and compiled a .694 slugging percentage. During the 1890s, he batted over .300 in eight straight seasons.

As good as Duffy was, it is still somewhat curious that the Veterans Committee elected him in 1945, 16 years before Billy Hamilton gained admittance. Perhaps the reason lies in the limited availability of historical statistics during the early years of the elections.

Turkey Stearnes

Norman “Turkey” Stearnes may well have been the most underrated, underappreciated, and unheralded player in Negro League history. Possessing both exceptional power at the plate and outstanding running speed in the field and on the basepaths, Stearnes was one of the finest all-around players in the history of black baseball.

Satchel Paige said of Stearnes, “He was one of the greatest hitters we ever had. He was as good as Josh (Gibson).” Cool Papa Bell expressed his admiration for his centerfield rival by saying, “That man could hit the ball as far as anybody. But they don’t say too much about him. And he was one of our best all-around players. He could field, he could hit, he could run. He had plenty of power.”

Indeed, Stearnes provided the stiffest competition to Bell as the greatest leadoff hitter in Negro League history. Possessing superior power to Bell, Stearnes won six home run crowns during his 18-year career, spent predominantly with the Detroit Stars. He also captured three batting titles. In 1932, as a member of the Chicago American Giants, Stearnes became one of only two players in the history of organized baseball (Oscar Charleston being the other) to lead his league in home runs, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. Unofficial records show that Stearnes, a perennial .300 hitter, posted batting averages of .342, .374, and .430, from 1933 to 1935 for the Giants.

Prior to Stearnes’ induction into Cooperstown, Cool Papa Bell said, “If they don’t put Turkey in the Hall of Fame, they should take me out.” Fortunately, the Veterans Committee rectified its earlier oversight when it selected Stearnes in 2000.

Duke Snider/Earl Averill

Both Snider and Averill were excellent players whose prime years were relatively few in number. Yet, at their peaks, they were both among the very best players in the game.

Duke Snider first came up to the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1947 season. At that time, the great Joe DiMaggio still reigned supreme among New York outfielders. By 1951, although Snider was already beginning to establish himself as a true star, Willie Mays had come up to the Giants, and Mickey Mantle had been called up by the Yankees. Therefore, Snider never really had the New York spotlight all to himself, and was overshadowed somewhat by his New York counterparts for much of his career. However, in virtually every season from 1949 to 1957, Snider would have to be ranked among the five or six best players in the Major Leagues. In fact, he hit more home runs (326) than any other player in baseball during the 1950s.

From 1949 to 1953, Snider was the best centerfielder in the National League, and arguably in all of baseball. Over that five-year stretch, he averaged 29 home runs, 104 RBIs, and 103 runs scored, while hitting over .300 three times. Although Mays established himself as the best player in the game in 1954, he received stiff competition from Snider over the next few seasons. From 1954 to 1957, Snider hit more than 40 homers each year, knocked in and scored over 100 runs three times, and batted over .300 twice. He had his three finest seasons from 1953 to 1955. In 1953, he hit 42 homers, knocked in 126 runs, batted .336, and led the league with 132 runs scored. The following year, he hit 40 homers, drove in 130 runs, batted .341, and led the league with 120 runs scored. In 1955, he hit 42 homers, knocked in 136 runs, batted .309, and again led the league in runs scored, with 126. Snider was named
The Sporting News
Player of the Year for that 1955 season.

During his career, Snider led the National League in homers, RBIs, and on-base percentage once each, in runs scored three times, and in slugging percentage twice. He was selected to the N.L. All-Star Team eight times, and he finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting six times, making it into the top five on three separate occasions.

Earl Averill played only 13 seasons in the major leagues and was a full-time regular in only 10 of those. However, from 1929 to 1936, he was the best centerfielder in the American League, and from 1931 to 1936, the best in all of baseball. Averill had his two finest seasons for the Cleveland Indians in 1931 and 1936. In the first of those years, he established career-highs in home runs (32), runs batted in (143), and runs scored (140), while batting .333. In 1936, Averill hit 28 homers, knocked in 126 runs, batted a career-best .378, and scored 136 runs while collecting 232 hits. Although it could not honestly be said that he was among the five or six best players in the game for most of his career, he certainly was in those two seasons. And he was clearly among the ten best players in the game from 1929 to 1936.

During his career, Averill only led the league in triples and hits once each, but he finished with more than 100 runs batted in five times, and with more than 100 runs scored in nine of his ten full seasons. Even though the All-Star game was not played in any of Averill’s first four big league seasons, he was still selected to the All-Star Team six times. He also fared very well in the MVP voting, finishing in the top 10 four times, and in the top five on three of those occasions.

Larry Doby

Jackie Robinson is widely remembered, among other things, for being the first black player to play in the major leagues. For some reason, however, Larry Doby never received the credit he deserved for being the first black man to play in the American League. In fact, while Robinson spent one season in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system prior to joining the big league club in 1947, Doby was the first player to go directly from the Negro Leagues to the majors, joining the Cleveland Indians just 11 weeks after Robinson began playing for the Dodgers.

Doby played second base for the Newark Eagles for four seasons and teamed with shortstop Monte Irvin to form one of the most talented double-play combinations in Negro League history. In his final season with Newark, in 1946, Doby batted .341 and led the Eagles to the league championship. However, when he joined the Cleveland Indians the following season he was quickly converted into a centerfielder. With Cleveland, he went on to lead the league in home runs twice and in runs batted in, runs scored, on-base percentage and slugging percentage once each. He knocked in more than 100 runs five times, and scored more than 100 runs three times. Over the course of his 13 major league seasons, Doby hit 253 home runs, drove in 970 runs, scored 960 others, and batted .283. He was selected to the American League All-Star Team seven times and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting twice.

On the surface, it would seem that Doby’s Hall of Fame credentials are modest ones and that he should be thought of as a borderline Hall of Famer, at best. However, consider the following:

  • He was the first black man to play in the American League.

  • He was the first player to go from the Negro Leagues straight to the majors.

  • He was the first black player to hit a home run in the World Series.

  • He was the first player to win championships in the Negro Leagues and the major leagues.

  • He was the first black player to win a home run title in the majors.

  • He was the first black player to win an RBI title in the American League.

Todd Bolton, an authority on the Negro Leagues and a researcher for the Society for American Baseball Research, said of Doby, “I don’t think Lary ever got the credit he deserved for going through what he did. He’s been on the backburner.”

All things considered, while Lary Doby was not a truly great player, his selection by the Veterans Committee in 1998 was a pretty good one.

Cristobal Torriente/Willard Brown

Many observers felt that both Torriente and Brown wasted a good deal of their tremendous natural ability. But both men were among the most talented players in Negro League history, with some extremely impressive Hall of Fame credentials.

Cristobal Torriente is generally considered to be the greatest Cuban position player of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably the greatest Cuban player ever. A five-tool player, Torriente also pitched on occasion during his 16-year Negro League career, spent predominantly with the Cuban Stars. Possessing fine speed, good hands, and a strong throwing arm, Torriente is said to have been an excellent defensive player. In addition to playing the outfield and pitching, he also played second base and third base during his career, an extremely unusual feat considering Torriente was a lefthanded thrower.