Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0002/00027.txt

Text File | 1994-02-24 | 58KB | 969 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00027}
$Title{Lives of the Players:  B}
$Author{}
$Subject{Lives Players Baker Bancroft Banks Barrow Bartell Baylor Beckley
Beckwith Bell Bench Bender Berra Bishop Blyleven Boggs Bonds Boone
Bottomley Boudreau Boyer Brecheen Bresnahan Brett Bridges Brock Brouthers
Brown Browning Bulkeley Bunning Burdette Burkett Bush}
$Log{
Frank Baker*0005401.scf
Dave Bancroft*0005501.scf
Ernie Banks*0005701.scf
Ed Barrow*0005901.scf
Don Baylor*0006101.scf
Buddy Bell*0006601.scf
Johnny Bench*0006901.scf
Yogi Berra*0007401.scf
Max Bishop*0007501.scf
Bert Blyleven*0008001.scf
Wade Boggs*0008201.scf
Bobby Bonds*0008401.scf
"Sunny Jim" Bottomley (1924)*0008601.scf
Ken Boyer*0009001.scf
Harry Brecheen*0009301.scf
Roger Bresnahan*0009401.scf
George Brett*0009501.scf
Lou Brock*0009801.scf
Dan Brouthers*0010001.scf
Pete Browning*0010101.scf
Jim Bunning*0010401.scf
Jesse Burkett*0010501.scf
Lou Brock's 1973 stolen base record (with audio)*0009801.scf,56186031.aud}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Lives of the Players:  B


Frank "Home Run" Baker
Third Baseman, Phi (A) 1908-14, NY (A) 1916-19, 1921-22

Although he led the American League in homers four straight years (1911-1914)
with his fifty-two-ounce bat, Baker's season high was an un-Ruthian 12 in
1913.  He spent most of his career in the dead-ball era, when the baseball was
as lively as an octogenarian's libido.  His "Home Run" nickname stemmed from
two timely shots off Christy Mathewson and Rube Marquard to win a pair of
games in the 1911 World Series.
     Later third basemen punched more round-trippers with a bouncier baseball,
but few could match Baker's all-around play.  Named to the Hall of Fame in
1955, his career Relative Batting Average (batting average adjusted to the
league average) of .307 is surpassed only by Wade Boggs and George Brett among
hot corner practitioners.  He was anchor man of the Philadelphia's "$100,000
infield" (with first baseman Stuffy McInnis, second baseman Eddie Collins, and
shortstop Jack Barry), a quartet so adept that the A's won four flags in five
years.  In World Series play, Baker hit .409 in 1910, .375 in 1911, and .450
in 1913.  When he slipped to .250 in 1914, the A's lost the Series four
straight.
     Baker sat out the 1915 season in a salary dispute. (He also missed the
1920 season due to the death of his wife.)  Connie Mack began selling off his
stars, and Baker was sold to the Yankees in 1916 for a then-tidy $37,500.  He
was New York's biggest drawing card until Babe Ruth arrived in 1920 and
redefined the job description for "home run hitter."


Dave "Beauty" Bancroft
Shortstop, Phi (N) 1915-19, NY (N) 1920-23, Bos (N) 1924-27, Bkn (N) 1928-29,
NY (N) 1930.  Manager, Bos (N) 1924-27

Bancroft is less famous than some, but he's one of the three top fielding
shortstops ever, along with Ozzie Smith and Art Fletcher.  No shortstop has
ever handled more chances than Bancroft did in 1922--984 (Smith's busiest
season was 933 in 1980).  Of course strikouts were fewer in Beauty's day than
in Ozzie's, meaning more opportunities for fielders, and the ball is more
lively today.  But gloves were much smaller in 1922, which explains why three
times Bancroft committed 60 errors or more.
     Beauty, who was named to the Hall of Fame in 1971, was a winner.  Manager
Pat Moran gave him credit for sparking the Phils from sixth place to the
pennant as a rookie in 1915.  Traded to New York in 1920, Bancroft was made
captain right away, and the next year the Giants won their first of four
straight flags.  He teamed with Frankie Frisch on the double play, and with
George Kelly at first base and Heinie Groh at third, to form one of the game's
top infields.  Bancroft got his nickname from his habit of yelling "Beauty!"
whenever his pitcher made a good pitch.
     A switch-hitting leadoff man who crowded the plate, Bancroft coaxed
plenty of walks but was a light hitter until the lively ball appeared in 1920.
That year he hit .299 and followed it up with three consecutive .300 seasons,
skipped a year, and then hit .300 twice more.
     Bancroft was a sparkplug on the field, a fiery team leader with great
instincts for the game who also managed during his four seasons in Boston.
When he first joined the Giants, they asked if he wanted to go over their
signs.  "I don't have to," Beauty said, "I know them already."


Ernie Banks
Shortstop/First Baseman, Chi (N) 1953-71

Likable, popular Ernie hit more home runs than any other shortstop, 47 in
1958.  He's also the first National Leaguer to win back-to-back MVPs (Yogi
Berra did it in the AL).
     A slim man for a slugger, Ernie had fast wrists and swung a light,
thirty-one-ounce bat, producing a powerful buggy-whip action.  His 44 home
runs in 1955 included a record 5 grand slams.  He led the NL with his 47
homers in 1958 and again with 41 in 1960, to complete four straight years of
40-plus homers.  But his homer totals are slightly inflated because he played
in "the friendly confines of Wrigley Field" (his words)--Ernie hit 290 at
home, 222 away.
     Banks' batting average was modest, and he was a disaster on base.  He
was thrown out more than he stole, 53-50.  Although he was a solid fielder and
set an NL season record for shortstops in fielding average with .985 (only 12
errors) in 1959, Banks did not win many games with his glove.  And he could
never lead the Cubs to a pennant--they finished fifth in both his MVP years.
Banks was at first base, where he had moved in 1962, when the Cubs collapsed
in 1969 and lost the pennant to the Mets.  But at age thirty-eight, Ernie
still contributed 23 home runs and 106 runs batted in and led NL first basemen
in fielding percentage.
     His sunny disposition and his chirpy "Let's play two!" made him "Mr.
Cub," a favorite of Wrigley's bleacher bums.  In 1977 he was elected to the
Hall of Fame.


Al Barlick
Umpire 1940-43, 1946-1955, 1958-71

When a labor strike shut down the coal mine where he worked in Springfield,
Illinois, young Al Barlick turned to umpiring local sandlot games for a dollar
each.  Soon he entered the minor leagues, and in 1940, when famed ump Bill
Klem was sidelined with an injury, Al was brought up to the majors.  He stayed
for thirty-one years, with time out for military service during World War II
and two years off after suffering a heart attack in the mid-1950s.
     Barlick worked a record seven All-Star Games and seven World Series.  He
was universally regarded as strict but fair--unyielding in his demand for
respect.  Fellow man-in-blue Ed Vargo called him "an umpire's umpire."
     In 1990 he became only the sixth umpire to be named to the Hall of Fame.


Edward Barrow
Executive, Bos (AL) 1917-20, NY (A) 1921-45.  Manager, Det (A) 1903-04,
Boston (A) 1918-20

The beetle-browed Barrow discovered Honus Wagner, switched Babe Ruth to the
outfield, developed the Yankees' farm system, and masterminded them to
fourteen flags and ten world championships.
     This former bare-knuckle fighter and hotelman also pioneered night ball
(at Paterson, New Jersey, in 1896), sanctioned the only woman to pitch in
organized baseball (Lizzie Arlington, Eastern League, in 1897), was the first
man to paint distances on outfield fences (Yankees, 1923), and to put large
numbers on players' uniforms (Yanks, 1929).
     After starting as a concession manager in 1894, he managed, operated, and
part-owned several minor league teams, including Wheeling, West Virginia,
where author Zane Grey played outfield.  Barrow also was a fight promoter, and
he sometimes hired heavyweight champs John L. Sullivan, James Corbett, and Jim
Jeffries as umpires.
     In 1917 Barrow became manager of the Red Sox.  He led them to the world
championship in 1918, when he began the transition of Ruth from pitcher to
everyday player.  Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to New York in 1920, and
Barrow followed in 1921 as general manager.
     Upon his arrival he told Yankee owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert, "If you ran
your brewery the way you run this club, you'd go broke."  Babe's 54 homers in
1920 had not been enough to move New York out of third place, but the next
year, Barrow's first, the Yanks finally won their first flag.  As he and
assistant George Weiss built up a farm system, the Yankees would win six
pennants in Barrow's first eight years, another in 1932, and another four
between 1936 and 1939.
     Barrow became president of the Yankees after the death of Ruppert in 1939
and held that position until the team was sold in 1945.  He is memorialized
with plaques in Cooperstown and one in center field of Yankee Stadium, the
park he did so much to build.


Dick Bartell
Shortstop, Pit (N) 1927-30, Phi (N) 1931-34, NY (N) 1935-38, Chi (N) 1939,
Det (A) 1940-41, NY (N) 1941-43, 1946

In his autobiography, Rowdy Richard, Bartell modestly argued that he ought to
be in the Hall of Fame.  He found few backers outside his immediate family,
but the old battler has a better case for the Hall than if he were running for
Mr. Congeniality.  In Palmer's Linear Weights System, Bartell's 27 Games Won
put him ahead of five shortstops now in the Hall--Ernie Banks, Travis Jackson,
Joe Tinker, Pee Wee Reese, and Luis Aparicio.
     A pepperpot who usually batted first or second in the order, he hit over
.300 six times in his career.  In 1933, he tied a record with four doubles in
one game.  Dick was at the top of his game in 1936 and 1937.  In the former
year he hit .298 for the Giants and led all shortstops in assists, double
plays, and total chances per game.  His teammate, Carl Hubbell, was the MVP
with 26 victories, but Bartell played every day and may have had more total
value.  In the World Series Dick hammered Yankee pitchers at a .381 clip in a
losing cause.  The Giants won the NL pennant again in 1937, as Dick hit .306
and again led in total chances per game.
     In 1940 Bartell was traded to Detroit in the AL.  He hit only .233, but
the Tigers won nine games more than they had the year before without him and
rose all the way from fifth to first.  Dick was the World Series goat, though,
when, with the Tigers leading the seventh game 1-0, he took a throw from the
outfield with his back to the plate and let the Reds' Frank McCormick score
the tying run.  Detroit eventually lost 2-1.
     Bartell was sent back to the Giants the next year, after a slow start in
which he saw little action.  He batted .303 for New York over the rest of the
season.  The Tigers fell back to fifth.
     For all his participation on pennant winners, the image that remains (and
the one Bartell himself perpetuates in his autobiography) is one of a
hot-headed scrapper who enjoyed fighting and baseball in that order.


Don Baylor
Designated Hitter/Outfielder, Bal (N) 1970-75, Oak (A) 1976, Cal (A) 1977-82,
NY (A) 1983-85, Bos (A) 1986-87, Min (A) 1987, Oak (A) 1988

Look up DH in the baseball dictionary and you'll see a picture of Baylor.  He
was one of the most effective at that ersatz position of all the American
Leaguers who've tried it.  He was even the AL MVP in 1979 when he decorated
his .296 batting average with 36 homers and league highs in RBIs (139) and
runs scored (120).  Actually he was in the outfield in 97 and DH'd in only 65
that year, but who's counting?  Baylor's defensive limitations made him
somewhat of a designated hitter even when he had a glove on.
     All told, Baylor officially DH'd in nearly 1,300 of his more than 2,200
games.  Except for six seasons in California, he was pretty much of a
have-bat/will-travel around the AL.  It moved him into rarefied sluggers' air:
more than 300 homers and nearly 1,300 RBIs.  Although he was hired for his
bat, he also had an admirable reputation as a team leader and steadying
influence in the clubhouse.  While such things are not subject to statistical
evaluation, most of the teams he hit for were winners.


Jake "Eagle Eye" Beckley
First Baseman, Pit (N) 1888-89, 1891-96, Pit (P) 1890, NY (N) 1896-97, Cin (N)
1897-1903, StL (N) 1904-07

One of the last of the handlebar-mustache players and a big star at the turn
of the century, Beckley played more games than any first baseman in history,
2,377--Gehrig was more than 200 behind.  Jake rapped out 2,930 hits, paving
the way to his Hall of Fame election in 1971.  He batted over .300 thirteen
times, and hit three home runs in one game in 1897, a feat that would not be
repeated for twenty-five years (by Ken Williams in 1922).
     It was hard to hit homers then.  Not only were the baseballs deader than
Saturday night in Des Moines, but the fences were deeper because they built
ballparks to the shapes of city blocks.  The center field fence could be some
550 feet away with an area in front roped off for carriages.  Players could
sooner mail the ball to the fence than hit it there.  Triples were a better
indicator of power.  Jake hit 243, more than anyone in his day, and fourth
best all time, behind Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Honus Wagner.  Twice he hit
three in one game.
     When the players revolted against management in 1890 and formed the
short-lived Players League, Beckley was one of the many stars who jumped with
them.  "I'm only in this game for the money," he said candidly.
     But he played with verve too.  Sometimes he turned the bat around and
bunted with the handle.  His favorite stunt was a cute hidden ball trick.
Jake liked to hide the ball under first base, and then pull it out and shock
the runner who'd just seen him barehanded.  Somehow the naive runners never
caught on.


John Beckwith
Shortstop/ Catcher, Negro Leagues, 1919-38:  Chicago Giants, Chicago American
Giants, Baltimore Black Sox, Homestead Grays, Harrisburg Giants, Lincoln
Giants, Bacharach Giants, New York Black Yankees, Newark Dodgers,
Brooklyn Royal Giants

Beckwith was only nineteen when he knocked the first ball ever hit over the
left field fence at Redland Field, Cincinnati, in 1920.  A righthanded pull
hitter, he went on to rank as one of the great long-ball sluggers in the black
leagues, clouting a reported 72 and 54 home runs in two of his seasons in
Chicago.  After he moved East in the late 1920s, he topped all hitters there,
including Josh Gibson, in home runs in 1930 and 1931.
     John could also hit for average, belting black and white big leaguers
equally well--.323 in the black majors and .311 in twenty-nine games against
top white big leaguers.  His two best seasons were 1924, when he led all
hitters with a .452 average, and 1930, when he posted an amazing .546.
     A big man at 230 pounds, Beckwith could play any position on the field
and would even pitch occasionally.  He was a moody, antisocial man whose
personality may have kept him on the move from team to team.  But it also
helped enhance his reputation as one of the most fearsome sluggers of his day.


David "Buddy" Bell
Third Baseman, Cle (A) 1972-78, Tex (A) 1979-85, 1989 Cin (N) 1986-87,
Hou (N) 1988

Buddy never made it to a World Series or even to the playoffs, so he never got
much national publicity.  But he was among the top four defensive third
basemen, according to Palmer's linear weights.  His hard-nosed,
give-all-for-the-team style of play made him a crowd favorite at each of his
stops and won him six consecutive Gold Gloves.  Bell was a sixteenth-round
Cleveland draft pick as an outfielder and wasn't moved to third until his
second year with the Indians.
     A consistent .280-.290 hitter throughout his career, Bell's best season
was 1979, his first in Texas.  He played in every game, led the league in
at-bats, and hit .299, with 200 hits, 42 doubles, 18 home runs, and 101 RBIs.
He gave the Rangers two more .290 seasons and two .300 years before being
packed off to Cincinnati, where he had his first 20-home run season.  Bell
left holding the Ranger records for doubles, RBIs, extra-base hits, and total
bases.
     Over his career, Buddy amassed more than 2,500 hits, and his 201 homers,
when added to his father Gus' 206, give the Bells second place in the
father-son home run derby.


James "Cool Papa" Bell
Outfielder, Negro Leagues, 1922-46; St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords,
Detroit Wolves, Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, Memphis Red
Sox, Homestead Grays

That Bell could switch off the light and jump into bed before the room got
dark, as Satchel Paige always claimed, may be a slight exaggeration.  (Bell
says he did it but admits that the light switch had a short in it.)  But he
was fast enough to score from second on a fly, which he did against Dizzy Dean
in Yankee Stadium in 1935, and to score from first on a sacrifice, which he
did against Bob Lemon in 1948, when Bell was forty-five years old.  According
to legend at least, Cool Papa was the fastest man in spikes.
     Like Ruth, George Sisler, and Stan Musial, Bell started as a pitcher at
age nineteen with the St. Louis Stars.  He threw a knuckleball and won his
first three games, calmly sleeping before a big game against Rube Foster's
American Giants to win his nickname, "Cool Papa."
     Bell, who stood over six feet, could also hit the long ball righthanded.
His manager, Big Bill Gatewood, who taught Satchel Paige the hesitation pitch,
converted the rookie Bell into a switch-hitting outfielder and told him to hit
the ball on the ground.  Infielders like Judy Johnson admit that if the ball
took two hops, you might as well put it in your pocket.
     Eventually Bell joined two of the most famous teams in blackball annals,
the Crawfords (with Paige, Josh Gibson, Johnson, and Oscar Charleston), and
the Grays (with Gibson and Buck Leonard).
     Bell's lifetime batting average, though records are still incomplete, is
tenth on the Negro League list.  Surprisingly he is ninth among home run
hitters.  In games against white big leaguers Bell hit .392.
     Although he never had a chance at the white majors himself, Cool Papa
helped some others.  He was hitting .411 in 1946, but he sat out the final
doubleheader so the batting title would go to young Monte Irvin and help boost
him into integrated ball.  Bell also counseled Jackie Robinson to give up
playing shortstop and concentrate on second, the position he settled on with
the Dodgers.  He said his greatest thrill was the day Jackie made good in the
majors.
     In 1974 Cool Papa was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Johnny Bench
Catcher, Cin (N) 1967-83

Bench was all but elected to Cooperstown in 1970 at the age of twenty-two when
he slugged 45 home runs with 148 RBIs and was named MVP.  It was a bit of an
overreaction.  He proved to be an outstanding player and a certain Hall of
Famer during the rest of his career, but he never quite matched that 1970
season.  His second best season came two years later in 1972, when he hit 40
home runs and won his second MVP.
     With eleven seasons of 20-plus home runs, Bench demolished the home run
record for catchers with 325 (to Yogi Berra's 313).  But his batting average
was unimpressive, and even his high RBI totals were dependent on the wealth of
opportunities offered anyone batting mid-lineup for Cincinnati's Big Red
Machine.
     Johnny had a splendid Series in 1976, hitting .529 in his direct
competition with Yankee Thurman Munson, the AL's top catcher.  Bench's two
homers and five RBIs was the coup de grace in Game Four of the Reds' sweep.
     No one, including Bench, could live up to Bench's reputation as a
catcher.  In his first year, 1968, he led in both assists and passed balls.
As esteem for his throwing arm grew, runners tested it less, and his
caught-stealing numbers declined.  Whether he was the best came second to
whether everyone thought he was the best.
     He called the pitches as Cincinnati's Big Red Machine rolled to six
division titles, four NL pennants, and two World Series.  But he handled only
one 20-game winner, and the Reds' pitching usually had the same relationship
to the team as his heel had to Achilles.  In 1989, he was elected to the Hall
of Fame.


Albert "Chief" Bender
Pitcher, Phi (A) 1903-14, Bal (F) 1915, Phi (N) 1916-17, Chi (A) 1925

This half-Chippewa Indian from the White Earth reservation in Minnesota was
the money pitcher on Connie Mack's champion A's of the 1905-14 era, the man
Connie said he'd pick if he had one game he had to win.  Connie never spoke
with a forked tongue, yet oddly Bender pitched only one must-win game in his
life, the final game of the 1905 World Series, and lost it 2-0.  Altogether
the Chief won six out of ten Series games for Philadelphia.  In 1910 Eddie
Plank was hurt, and Bender and Jack Coombs pitched the entire Series, winning
4-1.  In 1913, when Coombs was hurt, Mack asked Bender to pitch out of turn
and promised to pay the Chief's mortgage of $2,500 if he would do it.  Said
Connie: "I knew then the Giants were done for."  Bender won both his starts.
     A product of the Carlisle Indian School, Bender never pitched in the
minors and won the first big league game he pitched, a four-hitter, when he
was nineteen.  He was a big man (six-two), who pitched with a high kick and an
overhand delivery.  His out pitch, in those days before doctoring was illegal,
was the "talcum ball," which he rubbed with talcum powder to make it smooth.
He claimed it gave the ball a sharp drop.
     Although he won 212 games in his sixteen seasons, the Chief won 20 games
only twice (in 1910 and 1913).  But he had some terrific ERA years.  Four
times he went under 2.00.  Even in the dead-ball era, that wasn't chopped
liver.  No one sold off his Hall of Fame stock when he was elected in 1953.
If he was no superstar, he was a very good pitcher with a great team--one that
included Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker--behind him.


Lawrence "Yogi" Berra
Catcher, NY (A) 1946-63, NY (N) 1965.  Manager NY (A) 1964,1984-85,
NY (N) 1972-75

Yogi just might have been the best catcher the game has ever seen.  Certainly
he's the most seen catcher, having appeared on TV in a record 14 World Series,
ten of them as a member of the world champs.  He holds the records for most
Series games (75) and most hits (71).  Yogi is also the only catcher ever to
call a perfect World Series game.
     After shuttling between catching and the outfield, Berra was handed the
first-string catcher's job by new manager Casey Stengel in 1949, and the
Yankees won the first of five straight pennants.  The two facts are not a
coincidence.  Yogi was "the man who holds us together," Stengel said in 1955,
when Yogi won his third MVP.
     One of the game's great bad-ball hitters, Berra hit only .285, but Oriole
manager Paul Richards called him the most dangerous hitter in baseball after
the seventh inning.  He totaled 358 homers, and his 313 as a catcher are more
than any backstop except Bench.  Yogi could field, too, once going 148
straight games and 950 chances without an error, both records for catchers.
His handling of pitchers always earned good reviews, and the Yankee staff
numbers indicate the kudos were deserved.
     Berra's best year was 1950, when he hit .322 with 124 RBIs but saw the
MVP go to teammate Phil Rizzuto.  Berra did win the award in 1951, 1954, and
1955.  In 1972, he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
     Though an intelligent student of baseball (and an intelligent person),
Berra was considered a buffoon by people who think reading the headlines on
the sports page makes them experts.  Yogi's favorite reading was comic books,
he finished out of the money in the Mark Harmon Look-alike Contest, and his
natural shyness sometimes makes him seem slow on the uptake.  His malaprops
have made him the most quoted person in baseball history, although it's
getting harder every year to know what he said and what they said he said.
Either way, he's moving up fast on Bill Shakespeare in Bartlett's.  Some
Yogi-isms:  "He was a big clog in their machine." "It gets late early there
[left field]." "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." "Take it with a
grin of salt."  Or the immortal "It's never over till it's over."  When Yogi
was given a benefit on his retirement, he graciously thanked "all those who
made this day necessary."
     Thus it came as a surprise when Berra was named to manage the Yankees in
1964.  Despite injuries to Mantle, Whitey Ford, and others, they came from six
games back to win.  But Yogi lost the Series to Johnny Keane's Cards, then was
summarily replaced by Keane.  He went crosstown to coach the Mets and managed
them to a pennant in 1973.  His winning percentage as a manager is an
impressive .522.


Max Bishop
Second Baseman, Phi (A) 1924-33, Bos (A) 1934-35

Bishop was called "Camera Eye" for the way he looked over pitches.  He led the
AL second basemen in fielding in 1926 and 1928, but his range was only
ordinary.  He seldom stole a base and had little power at bat.  Although he
hit .316 in 1928, he was more comfortable at .270 and often a good deal lower.
     What made Bishop valuable was his ability to draw walks.  The
Philadelphia A's of 1929-1931 had plenty of people who could hit a ton; Bishop
gave them someone to drive home.  Only 165 pounds, he never played in more
than 130 games in a season, but in seven of the eight years when he played in
at least 114 games, he walked over 100 times.  From 1928 through 1931, he
scored over 100 runs each season.
     An extreme example of his unique talent came in 1929.  He played in 129
games and made only 110 hits for a poor .232 batting average.  But he walked a
league-leading 128 times, nearly one a game, and scored 102 runs.  His on-base
percentage was .395!


Bert Blyleven
Pitcher, Min (A) 1970-76, Tex (A) 1976-77, Pit (N) 1978-80, Cle (A) 1981-85,
Min (A) 1985-88, Cal 1989-90, 1992

One of six foreign-born pitchers to win over 200 games, handsome Bert Blyleven
was born in Holland. Had he stayed there, he might have wasted his long
fingers plugging dikes instead of throwing the most wicked curves since the
Burma Road. Bert's roundhouse was voted best in the league by AL managers,
but the hitters knew it before the ballots were passed out. He didn't get to
number three on the all-time strikeout list by throwing tulips.
     Blyleven is a control pitcher. When his hook wasn't hooking, he spent a
lot of time watching the ball sail into the seats. He surrendered an amazing
50 home runs in 1986, although pitching in the Metrodome surely had something
to do with that.
     He had been one of the top AL pitchers of his generation. Unfortunately
he had some of his best years for teams ranging from bad to mediocre, making
his 287 wins all the more impressive. In 1973 Bert was 20-17 for
third-place Minnesota, his only 20-win season. Eleven years later, he almost
made it at 19-7 for the tail-end Indians.
     In one of his rare sojourns with a strong team, he was 12-5 for the 1979
Pirates and won a playoff game and a World Series tilt. His complaints the
next year that he was being underused and overrelieved by manager Chuck Tanner
did not endear him to Pirate fans but won him a ticket back to the American
League. His subsequent record would tend to support his argument. He helped
the Twins to the AL pennant in 1987 with a pair of LCS wins and added another
in the World Series victory over the Cardinals.


Wade Boggs
Third Baseman, Bos (N) 1982-1992, NY (A) 1993-

If Boggs were to be run over in an elephant stampede tomorrow, he would still
be remembered as one of the best hitters of the 1980s--perhaps the best.
Certainly his batting averages put him in the lead. As a rookie in 1982, he
batted a terrific .349. It turned out to be an "off" year. Every year from
1983 to 1988, he topped .350 except for 1984, when he slumped to .325. Three
times he's been over .360. All this has added up to five AL batting crowns in
his first seven seasons. He is probably the only player in baseball who could
lead his league in hitting and see his career average go down.
     Criticized for shoddy defense when he first arrived in Boston, he's
worked hard to improve that. He also showed surprising power in 1987, when he
hit 24 home runs. Nevertheless his job is to get on
base and be driven in. He did that so well that for seven straight seasons
(1983-89) he scored 100 or more runs.
     According to published reports, Boggs eats chicken before every game as a
sort of charm. Perhaps it wards off krypton.


Bobby Bonds
Outfield, SF (N) 1968-74, NY (A) 1975, Cal (A) 1976-77, Chi (A) 1978,
Tex (A) 1978, Cle (A) 1979, StL (N) 1980, Chi (N) 1981

Bonds combined power and speed like no player before him. In 1969 he became
only the fourth player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season, and
then he went on to repeat that feat four more times, to take permanent
possession. He was also the first man to 30-30 in both leagues.
     Bobby stole 461 bases and hit 332 homers, 35 of them as leadoff man, 11
of those in one season, both records at the time. He is one of two men to hit
a grand slam in his first big league game, and the first to do it since 1898.
     Twice he led the league in runs scored and once in total bases, but where
he was a real pacesetter was in strikeouts. That was Bonds' weakness. He set
the major league record when he whiffed 187 times in 1979 and then broke it
with 189 in 1970. He averaged one K in every four at-bats and ranks number
six on the all-time strikeout list.
     After seven seasons with the Giants, Bonds became a nomad, spending the
next seven years with seven teams, all of them looking for his instant
offense. In 1979, at age thirty-three, he hit 25 home runs and stole 34 bases
for Cleveland, missing a sixth 30-30 season.
     With son Barry's more than 200 home runs, the Bondses are easily at
the top of the all-time father-son home run championship.


Bob Boone
Catcher, Phi (A) 1972-81, Cal (A) 1982-88, KC 1989-90

Until Carlton Fisk passed him in 1993, Boone had caught more games than
any other man in big league history. He surpassed Hall of Famer Al
Lopez (1,918 games) in 1987.
     As a defensive catcher, Boone was been one of the best. He led league
catchers in assists in 1973 and 1984. His 89 assists in 1973 were the most
for a rookie since Johnny Bench had 108 in 1968. With California from 1982 to
1988, he threw out better than 45 percent of runners attempting to steal,
including 58 percent in his first year with the Angels. He won his first Gold
Glove in 1978 with a .99l fielding average, breaking Bench's ten-year streak.
Since then he's earned four more.
     Boone's record as a handler of pitchers was a mixed bag. The ERAs
of both the Phillies and Angels went up after he joined them, and when he left
the Phils, the club ERA went down. Nevertheless on his arrival in California,
the Angels immediately rose from fifth to first. In all, he's guided his
staffs to six division flags. And although Tim McCarver was Steve Carlton's
personal catcher in Philadelphia in the late 1970s, Steve's wins went up from
18 to 24 when Boone took over in 1980.
     Not much of a hitter during the regular season, Boone had a splendid
postseason record at bat--.311, including .400 for the Phils in the 1977 LCS
and .455 for the Angels in the 1986 championship series. He appeared in one
World Series, with Philadelphia in 1980, and batted .412.
     Bob and father Ray, a longtime infielder for Cleveland and Detroit, are
the second father and son after the Bells to each have 100 career home runs.


"Sunny Jim" Bottomley
First Baseman, StL (N) 1922-32, Cin (N) 1933-35, StL (A) 1936-37.  Manager
StL (A) 1937

Swaggering, popular, his hat cocked rakishly on the side of his head, Sunny
Jim is in the record books for batting in 12 runs in one game.  He did it in
1924 on two homers, a double, and three singles.  That game, more than his
career record, got him elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974.
     In his sixteen major league seasons, Bottomley batted .300 eight times
and batted in 100 or more runs six years in a row.  Certainly not a wimp
record but less impressive than it would be if it had occurred at any time in
history other than the hit-happy 1920s and 1930s.  In those days .300 hitters
were as common as hip flasks at a hop.  Bottomley was not particularly adept
defensively, leading NL first basemen in errors four times.
     Jim helped the Cardinals win four flags, in 1926, 1928, 1930, and 1931.
He was named MVP in 1928 after leading the league in RBIs and triples and
tying for homers with Hack Wilson.
     In 1931 Jim figured in the closest batting race in history.  Though
injured, he hit .3482, losing to Bill Terry with .3486, and to his own
roommate, Chick Hafey, who had .3489.  If batting averages had been adjusted
according to difficulty of the home ballpark, the Giants' Terry, playing in
the cavernous Polo Grounds, would have won fair and square.


Lou Boudreau
Shortstop, Cle (A) 1938-50, Bos (A) 1951-52.  Manager, Cle (A) 1942-50,
Bos (A) 1952-54, KC (A) 1955-57, Chi (N) 1960

Boudreau got a lot of ink by pulling the "Boudreau Shift" against Ted Williams
in 1946, bunching six of his Cleveland players on the right side of second
base and daring Williams to take a shot.  Actually Boudreau's manager Roger
Peckinpaugh had first used the shift against Ted in 1941.  But the maneuver
earned Lou a reputation as a creative strategist, a fame unsupported by his
record, which, except for one unforgettable year, was a losing one.
     Lou Boudreau's greatest asset as a manager was that he could write the
name Lou Boudreau in at shortstop every day.  His hitting and his fielding
combined to make him one of the half dozen best shortstops in this century.
     A fine fielder, he led AL shortstops in fielding average a record-tying
eight times, in double plays five times, and in putouts four.  His 134 double
plays in 1943 was a record, as was his .982 fielding average in 1947.  His arm
was only so-so, and others had more flat-out range, but Boudreau's knowledge
of hitters allowed him to compensate by positioning himself where the action
was.
     In 1942, at the age of twenty-four, Lou applied for the Cleveland
manager's job and got it, becoming the youngest man to manage a full season.
The Indians finished fourth, the same spot they had held under Peckinpaugh.
The Tribe moved up to third in 1943, then slipped to fifth in 1944, although
Boudreau won the batting title with .327.
     By 1947, when the Indians finished a ho-hum fourth, new owner Bill Veeck
tried to trade Boudreau to the St. Louis Browns, a fate considered only
slightly more humane than the guillotine.  Angry Cleveland fans cast a
newspaper vote 90 percent in favor of keeping Lou and trading Veeck.  The
owner decided to stick with Lou for one more year.
     What a year!  "Lou was determined to prove I was a jerk," Bill wrote.
"And he did."  In that magical 1948 Boudreau had the kind of season Frank
Merriwell used to dream about.  He hit .355, with 18 homers and 106 RBIs.  He
was always--or seemed always--to be at the center of a rally.  One day he sat
out with a slight injury, then came off the bench to pinch-hit for a win.
More, he inspired his team; several players had career years.  A furious
four-way pennant race ended with the Indians and Red Sox tied.  In the playoff
at Boston, Boudreau daringly named a rookie lefty, Gene Bearden, to start.  He
himself smacked two home runs to destroy the Sox 8-3.  The Indians then bested
the Braves in the Series.  Lou was AL MVP with more than 100 votes to spare.
     Everything after that was an anticlimax.  Lou managed four teams,
finishing between third and eighth, before becoming a broadcaster for the Cubs
and the father-in-law of Denny McLain.
     In 1970 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.


Ken Boyer
Third Baseman, StL (N) 1955-65, NY (N) 1966-67, Chi (A) 1967-68, LA (N)
1968-69.  Manager, StL 1978-80

The best of six brothers who all played professional ball, Ken was a third
baseman in the Brooks Robinson mold, diving into the hole to snare hard
grounders or running them down backhand behind the bag.  Pie Traynor called
him the best he ever saw.
     Five times Ken led NL third basemen in double plays.  Six times he won
Gold Gloves.  He even played center field one season, 1957, and led all NL
outfielders in fielding average.  His kid brother Clete, a Yankees' third
baseman, was perhaps even better afield, but lacked Ken's bat.  Ken hit
over .300 five times and drove in 90 runs or better seven years in a row.
     He sparked the Cards to the flag in 1964, hitting .295 with, 24 home runs
and a league-leading 119 RBIs, and won the MVP.  It was to be his last big
season before a bad back slowed him down.
     In the Series that year Ken beat Clete's Yanks in Game Four with a grand
slam to even the Series.  Then he helped win the seventh with a homer and
three runs scored.  It was the only time brothers hit homers in the same
Series game.


Harry Brecheen
Pitcher, StL (N) 1940-52, StL (A) 1953

Brecheen was the Cardinal pitcher in 1946 when Enos Slaughter raced home from
first to beat the Red Sox in the seventh game of the World Series.  It gave
Harry his third win of the Series, making him the first man to notch three
since Stan Coveleski twenty-six years earlier and the only lefthander until
Mickey Lolich twenty-two years later.  The moment was a teensy tainted:
pitching in relief, Brecheen had just allowed two inherited runners to score,
blowing the lead he'd been sent in to hold.  He nailed the win by shutting out
the Sox in the ninth.
     Two years later, 1948, Brecheen posted a 20-7 mark and the NL's lowest
ERA.  He won 14 games or better six years in a row for the Cardinals and
pitched in three World Series, winning four and losing one.  After eleven
seasons with the proud Cardinals, he moved over to the humble Browns and
discovered where their humility came from.  He went 5-13 despite a decent 3.07
ERA.  The next year the Browns moved to Baltimore and Harry became the
pitching coach.
     Nicknamed "the Cat" for the way he would pounce off the mound to field
his position, Harry's World Series ERA of 0.83 is the second-best ever.


Roger Bresnahan
Catcher, Was (N) 1897, Chi (N) 1900, Bal (A) 1901-02, NY (N) 1902-08,
StL (N) 1909-12, Chi (N) 1913-15.  Manager, StL (N) 1090-12, Chi (N) 1915

Bresnahan is best known as the man who introduced shin guards for catchers in
1907, though some insist they had been worn earlier by black infielders.  Some
white catchers also reportedly wore protection under their socks.  But Roger
was the first white big leaguer to wear them openly, which brought jeering
from fans and other players.  He is said to have borrowed the idea from
cricket.  He also pioneered a crude leather batting helmet as early as 1908,
after nearly being killed by a beaning.
     Bresnahan caught Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity for the Giants.  He,
McGinnity, and manager John McGraw had arrived from Baltimore, picked up a
last-place club, made a 32-game winner out of McGinnity and a 29-game winner
out of Matty, and raised the team to second in 1903 and first in 1904 and
1905.  In 1905 Roger achieved a feat that may never be duplicated--he caught
four World Series shutouts, three of them by Matty.  He also batted .313.
     At bat, Bresnahan favored the thick-handled bats popular then.  His best
season was 1903, when he batted .350 with 42 extra-base hits and 34 stolen
bases.  He was unusually fast for a catcher, enough to bat first or second in
the lineup.  He had started out as a pitcher and then played center field, not
becoming a regular catcher until 1905.  He was a natural leader and, like his
boss, McGraw, a fiery umpire baiter with frequent suspensions.
     In 1945 Bresnahan became the first catcher elected to Cooperstown, two
years ahead of Mickey Cochrane, who was a much better hitter and arguably
better defensively and as a handler of pitchers.
     Roger said he was born in Tralee, Ireland, so he was nicknamed "The Duke
of Tralee."  Actually, he was born (and died) in Toledo, Ohio.


George Brett
Third Baseman/First Baseman KC (A) 1973-93

A curly-haired heart throb, Brett was the jewel in batting coach Charlie Lau's
crown. He'd never gotten to .300 in the minor leagues, yet hitting off his
front foot with the distinctive one-hand followthrough Lau taught, the
lefthanded hitter went on to win three American League batting titles, the
last one in 1990 to become the first to win batting crowns in three decades.
     His .390 in 1980 came within a point of John McGraw's 1899 mark for
highest batting average by a third baseman and was the closest assault on
.400 since Ted Williams' .406 in 1941. Also in 1980, Brett knocked in 118
runs in 117 games to become the first player since Joe DiMaggio in 1948 to
drive in over one run per game played.
     Three times (in 1975, 1976, and 1979) George led the AL in both hits
and triples during the same season, a feat matched only by Ty Cobb. In 1979
he became one of only five players to slug 20 doubles, triples, and home runs
in the same season.
     Brett has thrived in postseason play, leading Kansas City to the playoffs
six times, 1976-1985, and hitting .349 in playoff and Series competition. His
nine homers--three in one 1976 game--are a record in the playoffs. One of his
homers, a three-run shot off the Yanks' Goose Gossage, won the 1980 playoff,
ending three years of consecutive playoff losses to New York.
     Ironically George may be remembered longest for one at-bat at Yankee
Stadium in 1985 and the homer he did-didn't-did hit. In the ninth inning,
Brett put the ball in the stands to give Kansas City the lead. But Yankee
manager Billy Martin convinced the umpire to take a homer away from him
because there was too much pine tar on the bat handle. The usually calm Brett
blew up like the Hindenburg. His frenzied, screaming protest is still among
the most popular and amusing TV replays. A couple of days later, AL President
Lee MacPhail overruled his umpires and restored the homer on the grounds that
they should have called the bat for excess pine tar before Brett batted.

Tommy Bridges
Pitcher, Det (A) 1930-46

In his first major league appearance, Bridges entered the game in relief
against the Yankees, got Babe Ruth to ground out, and struck out Lou Gehrig.
He went on from there to carve out an outstanding career with the Tigers.  The
slightly built righthander's trademark was a hard-breaking, heart-breaking
curve that skittered sharply down and away.  It helped make him one of the top
AL pitchers of the 1930s, a milieu that included Lefty Grove, Ted Lyons, Red
Ruffing, and Lefty Gomez--Hall of Famers all.
     Tommy won 20 games three years in a row, 1934-1936, and helped pitch the
Tigers to pennants in the first two.  He also led the league in strikeouts in
1935 and 1936.  But Bridges was also prone to control problems; he walked over
100 batters six times and averaged 3.79 walks per nine innings pitched.
Nevertheless his career ERA of 3.57 wasn't bad at all in an era when the
league averaged well above four.  Bridges missed perfect-game immortality in
1932, when he gave up a single to pinch hitter Dave Harris (.327) with two out
in the ninth.
     He pitched in four World Series, winning four games and losing one.  The
win they all remember came in the 1935 Series, when, leading 4-3 in the ninth
inning of Game Six, he gave up a leadoff triple to Stan Hack of the Cubs.  Tom
slammed the door with a strikeout, a grounder, and a fly to make the Tigers
champs.


Lou Brock
Outfielder, Chi (N) 1961-64, StL (N) 1964-79

According to traditionalists, the trade that sent Brock from the Cubs to the
Cardinals in 1964 for pitcher Ernie Broglio was the greatest steal since
Brinks.  "Steal," of course, is a significant word when discussing Brock--he
once held the season record for stolen bases with his 118 in 1974.  Actually
the Cards also got a couple of guys named Jack Spring and Paul Toth, and the
Cubs received Bobby Shantz and Doug Clemens, but Shantz was near the end of
the line and the others never had one to begin with.  So when Broglio won only
seven games for Chicago in three years before disappearing into a trivia
question and Brock played in the Cardinal outfield for sixteen years, made
over 3,000 hits, and led the Cards to three pennants, the deal looked pretty
darn good for the Redbirds.
     But wait!  According to some revisionist statisticians, Brock wasn't the
bargain he was cracked up to be.  They point out that Lou didn't walk enough
for a leadoff man, so that his 3,023 career hits and .293 batting average
become only a .341 on-base percentage.  They also murmur seductively that he
struck out way too often--1,730 times.  And even though Brock finished up as
the all-time base-stealing champ with 938 and led the NL eight times,
revisionists ho-hum.  They weigh the rally-killing effect of a caught-stealing
against the marginal value of a successful theft, and downgrade the whole
maneuver as something that just keeps 'em happy in the cheap seats.  Finally
revisionists point out that Brock was barely adequate in left field and had an
arm you could stuff in a Christmas stocking.
     Against all that evidence, the traditionalists can only mumble that Lou
led the league in runs scored twice and wound up with 1,610.  That he hit 149
homers and batted in 900, both above par for leadoff batters.  That he hit
.300 in one World Series, .400-plus in two, and twice stole seven bases in a
Series, for an all-time record of fourteen.  He also scored sixteen runs in
twenty-one Series games and knocked in thirteen.  And, the traditionalists
quibble, for all those seasons he played in St. Louis, opponents thought he
was doing things that beat them and had the losses to show for it.
     In 1985, the first chance they got, the baseball writers elected Brock to
the Hall of Fame.  Shows whose side they're on.


Dennis "Dan" Brouthers
First Baseman, Troy (N) 1879-80, Buf (N) 1881-85, Det (N) 1886-88,
Bos (N) 1889, Bos (P) 1890, Bos (AA) 1891, Bkn (N) 1892-93, Bal (N) 1894-95,
Lou (N) 1895, Phi (N) 1896

Brouthers (pronounced "Broothers") was the Mickey Mantle of the 1880s.  He hit
only 106 home runs--no one hit many in those days--but many of Dan's were
tape-measure blows.  In 1886 one knocked the fans out of a tower behind the
park in Boston.  He led the National League in home runs twice (1881 and
1886), not counting a career-high 14 in 1884.
     A big man for his era (six-two, 220 pounds), Brouthers possessed a great
batting eye and rarely struck out.  He is said to have originated the phrase
"Keep your eye on the ball."  And that he did.  His lifetime batting average
of .342 is ninth-best all-time.  He was the first man to win back-to-back
batting titles, in 1882 and 1883; he won five overall.  He drove in 100 or
more runs five times and led in slugging average six straight seasons
(1881-1886); his .519 lifetime slugging average was by far the best in the
nineteenth century.
     With Buffalo in the early 1880s, Brouthers played lead assassin in
baseball's first Murderers' Row: "the Big Four" that also included Hardy
Richardson, Jack Rowe, and Deacon White.  All four were sold to Detroit after
the 1885 season for a then princely $7,500.  They won the pennant in 1887 and
beat American Association champ St. Louis in a challenge Series, ten games to
five.  "We slugged 'em to death," Dan said.  Dan moved up to Boston in 1889,
where he played in three leagues in three years.  His Players League and AA
teams won pennants.  Finally, at Baltimore in 1894 he teamed with John McGraw
to help the Orioles win their first flag.  Brouthers ended as a night watchman
at the Polo Grounds.  He died in 1932 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame
in 1945.


Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown
Pitcher, StL (N) 1903, Chi (N) 1904-12, 1916, Cin (N) 1913, StL (F) 1914,
Bkn (F) 1914, Chi (F) 1915.  Manager StL (F) 1914

When Brown was seven, he stuck his right hand in his uncle's corn shredder,
cutting off the top two joints of his index finger and paralyzing his little
finger.  The accident probably put him in the Hall of Fame.  The damaged
fingers gave Mordecai a natural knuckler, and he used it to star for the Cubs
in their great years, 1905-1910.  The shredder became a tourist attraction.
     His biggest win was one of the most famous games ever played, the 1908
makeup of the Cubs-Giants game suspended when Fred Merkle failed to touch
second base.  Merkle's "boner" nullified a Giant win and left the teams tied
at season's end.  The makeup game was in New York in a park loaded with
partisan fans, who thought they had been cheated out of victory.  Brown and
other Cubs received fistfuls of "black hand letters"--death threats--before
they took the field.  When Chicago starter Jack Pfeister got in trouble in the
first inning, manager Frank Chance quickly called in Brown, who walked to the
mound amid savage catcalls while a policeman stood guard.  Brown was 29-9 in
1908 with a 1.47 ERA, while his mound opponent, Christy Mathewson, was 37-11,
1.43, but Brown had the edge that day, winning 4-2.
     It was one of nine straight victories Mordecai scored over Matty going
back to 1905.  Their lifetime record versus each other:  13-11, Brown.
     From 1904 through 1910, Brown had ERAs of 1.87, 2.17, 1.04, 1.39, 1.47,
1.31, and 1.86.  That 1.04 is the record and the only time he led the NL.  Low
ERAs were the norm during those dead-ball days, but such consistency was
scary.  Speaking of consistency, he won 20 or more for six straight seasons
from 1906 through 1911.  Brown totaled a tidy 239 career wins, with a .648
winning percentage.  In addition, he recorded 49 saves.  By the modern
definition of saves, he led the league four years in a row, topped by 13 in
1910.  Of course, he had a first-rate team--the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance
Cubs--playing behind him.  Or maybe they had a great pitcher out front.  He
three-fingered Chicago to pennants in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910, and then
took the Chicago Feds to the flag in 1915 with 17-8, 2.10.


Louis "Pete" Browning
Outfielder, Lou (AA) 1882-89, Cle (P) 1890, Pit (N) 1891, Cin (N) 1891-92,
Lou (N) 1892-93, StL (N) 1894, Bkn (N) 1894

The original Louisville Slugger, Browning hit a career .341 back in the 1880s,
mostly for Louisville of the AA.  Pete, who lived and died in the city by the
Ohio River, was the first man to have his bats made to order for him, by John
Hillerich, who went on to found the famous bat-making firm.
     Although he led the American Association in batting twice and the Players
League once, Pete's best year was 1887, when he finished second.  He hit .471
under that year's rule which counted walks as hits.  With the walks factored
out, he dropped to "only" .402.  His worst year was .256 in 1889.  He blamed
it on too much "German tea," swore off the stuff, and hit .373 the next
season.
     A pure hitter, Browning was pollution in the field with a lifetime .882
fielding average.


Morgan G. Bulkeley
Executive

Ever since Bulkeley was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937, Cooperstown
apologists have been hard-pressed to explain the error.  They point out that
old Bulks was a successful businessman and banker, head of Aetna Life
Insurance for years, governor of Connecticut (1889-1893), U.S. senator
(1905-1911), and a distinguished citizen of many public and personal virtues
all his long life--all of which should get him into the Hall of Fame about as
much as wearing a tutu should get you into the Marines.
     As to what he did for baseball:  well, he was president of the Hartford
Dark Blues baseball club in 1874-1875.  Remember them?  Then, because they
needed a figurehead, he let them make him President of the brand-new National
League in 1876.  He doesn't seem to have done anything during his year in
office, but that's pretty much what the real power in the league--founder
William Hulbert--wanted.  When he didn't show up at the 1877 meeting, the club
presidents elected Hulbert president since he'd been doing Bulkeley's job
anyway.  About thirty years later, Bulkeley's name was on the report of the
committee that decided Abner Doubleday invented baseball, but Bulkeley doesn't
appear to have been any more active in that than he'd been as NL prexy.  At
least that's in his favor.  We are also told that he remained "close" to the
game all his life.  Define "close."
     In point of fact, Bulkeley was a fine person who got into the Hall of
Fame because the selectors of 1937 didn't know beans about baseball's history
and figured the first NL president must have been a pioneer.  They were wrong.


Jim Bunning
Pitcher, Det (A) 1955-63, Phi (N) 1964-67, 1970-71, Pit (N) 1968-69,
LA (N) 1969

Bunning not only won 100 games in each league, he pitched a no-hitter in each.
His NL effort was a perfect game, one of only thirteen in the history of the
game, thrown against the last-place Mets on Father's Day in 1964.  Jim won 20
only once, 20-8 with the fourth-place Tigers in 1957, but he won 19 in 1962
for the Tigers and three straight times for the Phillies (1964-66).
     At six-three, Bunning was an intimidating power pitcher.  He led the AL
twice in strikeouts and the NL once.  When he retired, he had 2,855
strikeouts, then second only to Walter Johnson.
     With a degree in economics and nine children to support, Jim went into
Republican politics in his home state of Kentucky when he left baseball.  He
lost a bid to become governor, but later won a seat in the U.S. Congress.


Selva "Lew" Burdette
Pitcher, NY (A) 1950, Bos (N) 1951-52, Mil (N) 1953-63, StL (N) 1963-64,
Chi (N) 1964-65, Phi (N) 1965, Cal (N) 1966-67

Burdette was born in Nitro, West Virginia, and media types liked to refer to
him as "Nitro Lew" during his career because it gave their accounts an
excitingly explosive ambience.  Burdette's temper could go off occasionally.
And his curve--especially his wet curve--could drop like a bomb.  But his
career was anything but rocketlike.
     He was twenty-seven before he became a journeyman starter with the Braves
in 1953, playing a righthanded second banana to Warren Spahn's lefthanded
lead.  He was thirty when he became a very good pitcher in 1956, winning 19
and leading the NL in ERA.  He was nearing thirty-two the next year when,
after 17 regular-season wins, he became a great pitcher in the World Series.
In that fall of 1957, he defeated the Yankees three times, throwing three
complete-game seven-hitters.  Two of them--including the seventh game--were
shutouts. His Series ERA was 0.67.
     Having hit his peak, he stayed for a while, winning 60 games in the next
three seasons, including a 1-0 no-hit win in 1960.  Then came a slow decline
into spot starter and reliever, until he closed up shop with 203 career
victories in 1967.  The media types missed the proper metaphor.  Nitro is in
coal country, and West Virginia coal burns slow but gives off excellent heat.


Jesse Burkett
Outfield, NY (N) 1890, Cle (N) 1891-98, StL (N) 1899-1901, StL (A) 1902-04,
Bos (A) 1905

Burkett was known as the "Crab."  He was argumentative, surly, and unpopular
with both opponents and teammates.  He once punched a rival manager in the
nose and another time left a game under police guard for fomenting a riot.
When he wasn't fighting, he was complaining.  He griped almost as often as he
cracked out base hits.
     Burkett hit .400 twice.  He hit .409 in 1895, and .410 in 1896.  Those
two marks led the NL, but his 1899 .396 left him second to Big Ed Delahanty's
.410.  How he must have grumbled about that!  Two years later, the Crab got
his third NL batting title with a solid .376.  Those were hitters' years.  The
pitcher's mound had been moved back to its present position of sixty feet, six
inches from home plate in 1894, and the batters were able to tee off on those
longer throws.  It would take several years for the pitchers to catch up.
     But Jesse would have hit, anyway.  With the kind of speed that enabled
him to steal 389 bases in his career and beat out many infield hits, Jesse
boasted he could bunt .300.  He bunted so well, in fact, that he could foul
off third strikes indefinitely.  His prowess inspired the creation of the
present rule calling a bunted foul with two strikes an out.
     Jesse started out as a pitcher for the Giants, but promptly proved a much
better hitter and was moved to the outfield by the Cleveland Spiders.  But he
never seemed to get the hang of the outfield and, also hampered by the small
gloves of the day, was perennially among the league leaders in errors.  His
.338 lifetime batting average made up for his bobbles and made his personality
almost tolerable.