Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0003/00030.txt

Text File | 1994-02-16 | 36KB | 652 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00030}
$Title{Lives of the Players:  E-F}
$Author{}
$Subject{Evans Evers Ewing Faber Face Fain Feller Ferrell Fingers Finley
Fisk Fitzsimmons Flick Flood Ford Foster Fox Foxx Freehan French Frick Frisch}
$Log{
Dwight Evans*0020201.scf
Johnny Evers*0020301.scf
Buck Ewing*0020401.scf
"Red" Faber*0020501.scf
Bob Feller*0020601.scf
Rick Ferrell*0020801.scf
Wes Ferrell*0020901.scf
Carlton Fisk (1975 World Series HR)*0021301.scf
Fred Fitzsimmons (right) and Leo Durocher*0019601.scf
Elmer Flick*0021601.scf
Curt Flood*0021801.scf
Whitey Ford*0022001.scf
Nellie Fox*0022401.scf
Jimmie Foxx*0022501.scf
Bill Freehan*0022601.scf
Ford Frick (center)*0022801.scf
Frankie Frisch*0022901.scf
Carlton Fisk's home run to win 1975 World Series Game (with audio)*0021301.scf,62032019.aud}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Lives of the Players:  E-F


Billy Evans
Umpire

Evans began as a sportswriter and umpired his first minor league game only
because the assigned man didn't show up.  In 1906 his ability got him promoted
all the way from a Class C minor league to the AL.  He was only twenty-two.
     Billy umpired back when it took guts to wear a blue suit.  He once had
his skull fractured by a bottle during a riot in a ballpark.  Another time he
tangled with Ty Cobb under the stands and was nearly choked to death.  But
Evans learned to substitute diplomacy for belligerence and became one of the
great umpires.  A friendly, fastidious man, he helped gain respect for all
umps.
     In Game Two of the 1909 World Series, Evans and Bill Klem had to ask the
bleacherites whether a ball had landed fair or foul because temporary seats
jutted out onto the field and hid the deep foul line.  The next day four
umpires worked the game, a practice that was eventually adopted for all major
league games.
     After 1927 Evans left umpiring to become the general manager for the
Cleveland Indians.  He also wrote a sports column, and later served as
vice-president of the Detroit Tigers.
     In 1973 Evans was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Darrell Evans
Third Baseman/First Baseman, Atl (N) 1969-76, 1989, SF (N) 1976-83,
Det (A) 1983-1988, Atl (N) 1989

Evans combined a home run bat and an ability to draw walks into a
twenty-one-year major league career.  His career batting average hovered
around .250.
     Evans says his career turned around when he saw a UFO while sitting on
his porch in California in 1976.  He'd just been traded from Atlanta, where
he'd been hitting .173, to San Francisco.  He took the sighting as a good omen
and began hitting with renewed energy.
     In 1985, in friendly Tiger Stadium, Darrell led the AL with 40 homers at
the age of thirty-eight, the oldest HR champ ever and the only man to hit 40
in both leagues.  Two years later he slugged 34, the oldest man to reach that
height.


Dwight Evans
Outfielder, Bos (A) 1972-90, Bal (A) 1991

In his first years with the Red Sox, Evans was regarded as a good defensive
outfielder but a poor hitter. Slowly he won respect for his bat. His
strength was not his batting average, although he finally cracked .300 in his
eighteenth AL season. Evans learned to draw walks, leading the league three
times, and at the same time turned into one of the AL's better home run
hitters. His 22 in the strike-shortened 1981 season tied for first in the
league, but he has also had three seasons with more than 30 homers. Whether
making circus World Series catches or driving long shots over or against the
Fenway Wall, Evans became a darling of Boston fans.
     His leaping one-handed catch of Joe Morgan's home run bid in the eleventh
inning of the Sixth Game in the 1975 World Series was one of the most
heart-stopping ever seen. He then threw to the infield to double off Ken
Griffey for the third out, setting the stage for Carlton Fisk's game-winning
homer in the twelfth.


Johnny Evers
Second Baseman, Chi (N) 1902-13, Bos (N) 1914-17, 1929, Phi (N) 1917,
Chi (A) 1922.  Manager, Chi (N) 1913, 1921; Chi (A) 1924

Rumor to the contrary, Evers did not earn his way into Cooperstown in 1946 by
being the middle word in the refrain of F.P. Adams' poem about "Tinker to
Evers to Chance."  However, like a bowl of chicken soup, it didn't hurt.
Except for an un-Evers-like .341 in 1912, his batting averages look sad beside
those of AL contemporaries Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins.  Still, at the time
Johnny played, what with the dead ball, there weren't many players at any
position who hit with Lajoie or Collins.  Evers' batting averages were
consistently above the league average.  Little Johnny was undeniably the top
NL second baseman of the twentieth century's first two decades.
     The Cubbie double-play combination that set F.P. Adams' pen in motion
never led the league in twin killings--and small wonder.  The Chicago pitchers
kept baserunners to a minimum.  What made "T to E to C" exceptional was their
timing; on those rare occasions when a DP was crucial, they were the best in
the business.
     They were the main men in Chicago's four pennants between 1906 and 1910.
Of the three, the 140-pound Evers was probably the most valuable player both
in the field and at the plate.  The hardest to get along with, too.  His
nickname was "The Crab."  Even Tinker didn't like him; except for obligatory
You take its and I got its, they didn't speak for years.  Grouchy as he was,
little Johnny was also skilled, pugnacious, and ingenious.
     Evers was the culprit who called for the ball and tagged second base,
putting out poor Fred Merkle and throwing the 1908 race into a tie. It worked
in part because he'd warned the umpire that he would do it if the occasion
arose.  When Merkle made a beeline for the clubhouse instead of touching
second and Johnny put the ball on the bag, the umpire had no choice but to
call Fred out.
     Sold to Boston in 1914, Evers joined shortstop Rabbit Maranville and
sparked the miracle come-from-behind flag.  He was voted MVP.  Johnny was
usually hot in the Series; he hit .350 in both 1908 and '09.  He hit .438 in
this one, and his single drove in the winning run in the fourth and final
game.


William "Buck" Ewing
Catcher, Tro (N) 1880-82, NY (N) 1883-89, 1891-92, NY (P) 1890,
Cle (N) 1893-94, Cin (N) 1895-97.  Manager, NY (P) 1890, Cin (N) 1895-99,
NY (N) 1900

Ewing was the subject of an early lithograph dramatizing the day he stole
second and third, then announced, "And now I'm going to steal home"--and did.
In 1919, twenty-five years after he stepped down as a regular, no less
authority than the Reach Guide linked him with Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner as the
three top stars of all time.  Very likely, Buck was the greatest all-around
player of the nineteenth century.
     He wasn't the greatest with the bat, but he was a strong hitter,
averaging .303 over eighteen seasons.  He led the NL with 10 home runs in 1883
and hit 20 triples the next year.  And, as the lithograph showed, he was a
daring and dangerous baserunner.
     In the field, Ewing was just about as good as it got.  He could and did
play every position, but he was most famous as a catcher, the most demanding
defensive slot.  He was quick and had an exceptional arm.  In fact, his arm
was so strong that he regularly threw out runners without rising from his
catcher's crouch, a feat unheard of before his time.
     A field leader par excellence, Ewing captained New York's NL champions of
1888-1889.  After he retired as a player, he managed for several years,
compiling a 489-395 mark.  He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
     Connie Mack, a catcher himself, called Ewing the greatest ever. Buck's
teammate, Mickey Welch, called him the greatest player, period.  Buck was the
first catcher to throw from the crouch and one of the first to use the big
mitt.
     His biggest rival was "King" Kelly of Chi, though Kelly played the
outfield, too.  Both were consistent--.303 for Ewing, .308 for Kelly.  Ewing
had power (a league-leading 10 homers in 1883) but Kelly had more (with 13 in
'84).
     Buck was fast enough to lead off, often stealing over 50 bases a year;
but, then again, so did Kelly.
     In 1893 Ewing played all nine positions.  But Kelly played all but
pitcher.
     Kelly and Ewing--what little there was to choose between them was in
their handling of pitchers, and in this Ewing had no peer.


Urban "Red" Faber
Pitcher, Chi (A) 1914-33

The last of the AL's "legal" spitball pitchers, Faber spent his entire career
with the White Sox.  In 1921 he scored one of the finest pitching feats ever.
Playing for the seventh-place White Sox, he was 25-15, with a league-leading
ERA of 2.48.  To prove it was no fluke, he went 21-17 the next year and again
led in ERA, as the White Sox climbed to fifth.
     Faber had won 20 earlier with strong teams behind him, but 1921 was the
beginning of the post-Black Sox era, when Chicago plunged into the second
division for almost two decades.  In fifteen of Red's twenty seasons, Chicago
finished in the second division.  Yet, he had only six losing years and
finished with 254 victories.
     Disdaining strikeouts, Faber wanted batters to hit his pitch--his
spitter--right into the dirt.  He once pitched a nine-inning game with 67
pitches, or less than 3 pitches per out.
     In the 1917 World Series, Red won 3 games and lost 1.  He sat out the
1919 Black Sox Series with an injury, watching eight of his teammates lose on
purpose.
     In 1964 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Elroy Face
Pitcher, Pit (N) 1953, 1955-68, Det (A) 1968, Mon (N) 1969

In 1959 Face and his newfangled forkball set an amazing record, 18-1, in
relief for the fourth-place Pirates.  Because the practice today is to bring
in the "closer" almost exclusively to protect a lead, relief pitchers now
accumulate more saves than ever before, but wins are rare.  Face often
relieved with the score tied or the Pirates a run or two behind.  Of course,
he "vultured" a few, also--blowing the lead, then getting the victory when the
Pirates came from behind to win.
     When Pittsburgh reached the World Series the next year, Face saved the
first 3 games, as the Pirates beat the Yankees in 7 games on Bill Mazeroski's
homer.  With the different utilization of relief pitchers in his day, Face
saved 193 games in his sixteen-year career.  He won 96 games in relief and 8
more as a starter.  His "out" pitch was the forkball, which he threw as an
off-speed pitch.  Now it is better known as the split-fingered fastball.


Ferris Fain
First Baseman, Phi (A) 1947-52, Chi (A) 1953-54, Det (A) 1955, Cle (A) 1955

Fain was a singles hitter in a HR position.  He won two batting crowns,
hitting .344 in 1951 and .327 in 1952, but had only one other .300 year.  His
OBP, however, was consistently high, as he drew at least 94 walks in seven of
his nine seasons.  In fact, his lifetime OBP of .425 is the eighth best of all
players.
     Although he led AL first basemen in errors five times, he was considered
an exceptional fielder, with unusual range.  He led in assists four times.
     Fain became a star in the Pacific Coast League and complained that he had
to take a pay cut when he came to the majors.


Bob Feller
Pitcher, Cle (N) 1936-41, 1945-56

Feller came out of Iowa as a phenom--a schoolboy with a legendary fastball.
Unlike so many prodigies, Feller made good on his promise.  He just may have
been the best pitcher ever.  Many veterans say Bob was the fastest they ever
saw, but Feller had a dangerous curve as well.  He set the standard as the
strikeout pitcher of his time.
     As a seventeen-year-old kid, just off the farm, in 1936, Bobby whiffed 8
Cardinals in three innings in his first big league exhibition.  In Bob's AL
debut he fanned 15.  At the age of nineteen in '38 Feller set a record with 18
strikeouts.  That year Bob led the league in both strikeouts (240) and walks
(208).
     In 1939, at the age of twenty, Bob had his first big year--24-9, for the
third-place Indians.  Again he led in Ks and BBs.  At twenty-one Bob hurled
the only Opening Day no-hitter, went on to a 27-11 mark, fanned a league-high
261, and won The Sporting News' vote as Player of the Year.  His no-hitter was
the first of three.  He also had a record 12 one-hitters, seven of them
spoiled by the scratchiest of hits.  Crowds flocked to see him duel Williams
or DiMaggio.  "It's just me against them," he exulted, "man to man."
     Bob was 25-13 in 1941, as the Indians almost won the flag.  Then, with
his mountaintop years just ahead, he volunteered for combat duty as a naval
gunner in the Pacific.  He would go on to win eight battle stars.  The war
took almost four full years out of the very peak of Bob's career, ages
twenty-three through twenty-six.  His own estimate, probably conservative, is
that it cost him 1,000 strikeouts and 100 wins, enough to give him over 3,500
whiffs and 360 victories.
     Instead he ended with 2,581 Ks (once third on the all-time list, now
farther down) and 266 wins.  Bob also had a then-record 1,764 walks.  In his
first full season back, in 1946, Feller added a slider and struck out 348, one
short of an AL record set by Rube Waddell in 1904.  Feller had three more
20-win seasons in the postwar years.
     Feller often pitched relief between starts and saved 21 games in addition
to his 266 wins.
     Bob never won a World Series game.  In 1948 he lost an opening-game
two-hitter, 1-0, when the Braves' Phil Masi was called safe on a pickoff play.
Films clearly showed Masi was out, but Masi scored the only run of the game.
     Feller was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.


Rick Ferrell
Catcher, StL (A) 1929-33, 1941-43, Bos (A) 1933-37, Was (A) 1937-41,
1944-45, 1947

Ferrell was the catcher for the AL in the first All-Star Game and caught all
nine innings.  Durability was one of his virtues.  He held the AL record for
most games caught with 1,805 until Carlton Fisk surpassed it in 1988.  A fine
defensive catcher with a strong arm, he was considered one of the best
handlers of pitchers around.  Ferrell was a fair hitter, who topped .300 four
times, but had little home run power.  His brother Wes, a pitcher, hit 10 more
career homers, but Rick seldom struck out and drew more than his share of
walks.
     From 1934 into 1938, Rick caught his kid brother Wes, one of the more
successful brother batteries in history.  They were so in tune, it was said,
that Rick could catch a whole game without signs.  When they were on opposite
sides, Rick did well against Wes, once homering off him.
     Rick had a rare knack for handling knuckleball pitchers.  In 1945 he
caught for Washington, a team with four knuckleballers as starters.
     He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.


Wes Ferrell
Pitcher, Cle (A) 1927-33, Bos (A) 1934-37, Was (A) 1937-38, NY (A) 1939,
Bkn (N) 1940, Bos (N) 1941

Ferrell won 20 or more games for the Indians in each of his first four full
years, starting in 1929.  Possessed of a blazing fastball and a blazing
temper, the handsome righthander was a little wild on the mound.  In two of
those seasons, his walks outnumbered his strikeouts.
     A sore arm in 1933 cost him his fastball and he was traded to Boston the
next year, where he joined his catcher brother Rick.  Wes became a junkball
pitcher and twice won 20 for the Bosox.  He had his best season in 1935 when
he was 25-14 with the fourth-place Red Sox and led the AL in wins, complete
games, and innings pitched.  He finished his career with a 193-128 record and
.601 percentage.  His 4.04 career ERA looks better in the context of his time
than it does when compared with earlier and later eras.
     Ferrell may have been the best-hitting-pitcher of all.  He had a career
batting average of .280 and his 38 home runs are the most by any pitcher.
Wes' best home run year was 1931 with 9.  That year he also tossed a
no-hitter, a rare feat in the high-hitting 1930s.
     An amateur astrologer, Wes guided his career by the stars and said they
accurately predicted his ups and downs.


Rollie Fingers
Pitcher, Oak (A) 1968-76, SD (N) 1977-80, Mil (A) 1981-82, 1984-85

In his seventeen-year career, Fingers saved 341 games.  That's more preserving
than Grandma used to do at canning time and it's also the all-time record for
relief pitchers.  His 107 relief wins are third on the list.
     Rollie was the main man out of the Oakland bullpen in the early 1970s
when the A's won five division titles, three pennants, and three World
Championships.  In the 1974 World Series, his 1 win and 2 saves earned him the
MVP nod.  His 6 saves in three Series is a record.
     Fingers pitched for San Diego from 1977 to 1980 and had his two top save
seasons there, with 35 in 1977 and 37 the next year.  Both marks led the NL.
He was named Relief Man of the Year by Rolaids and Fireman of the Year by The
Sporting News in both seasons.
     Returning to the AL with Milwaukee in 1981, he led the AL in saves with
28 in a strike-shortened season.  He was named both MVP and Cy Young winner.
An arm injury in 1982 kept him out of the World Series and caused him to miss
the 1983 season.
     Famous for his handlebar mustache, the spare, six-foot-four righthander
relied on good control of his fastball.  Later in his career, Fingers added a
slider.


Charles O. Finley
Owner, KC (A) 1961-67, Oak (A) 1968-80

Only George Steinbrenner, among ballclub owners, has been more controversial
than Finley, an insurance tycoon who bought the old Kansas City A's and moved
them to Oakland.  He feuded with his players, with fans, and with Commissioner
Bowie Kuhn.  He also built a dynasty around Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter,
Sal Bando, Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, and others.  His Athletics won five
straight division titles from 1971 to 1975, and three consecutive World
Championships.
     Free agency eventually did Finley's A's in.  Unwilling to pay the
ever-increasing salaries, Finley tried to sell off a few of his stars before
they became free agents, but the deals were blocked by the commissioner.
Finley went to court but lost.  And then he lost the players.  Ironically, it
was some of his controversial labor relations with players that inadvertently
helped hasten free agency.
     Finley hired and fired managers at a pace that seemed breakneck in those
pre-Steinbrenner days.  He also drew fans with sometimes outrageous
promotions.  He put a jackass in his bullpen and named it "Charley O."  He
burst with ideas--many of which were originally laughed at but many of which
have also come to pass.  He favored night World Series games, colorful
uniforms, and designated hitters.  He also advocated interleague play and
orange baseballs.
     Stubborn and volatile, Finley changed baseball in his twenty years with
the A's.  For the worse, his critics said.  For the better, time seems to be
saying.


Carlton Fisk
Catcher, Bos (A) 1969-80, Chi (A) 1981-93

The image of Fisk using body English to coax his game-winning homer to stay
fair in the twelfth inning of Game Six in the 1975 World Series is locked in
the minds of millions of baseball fans who saw it on television. But Fisk was
more than a one-hit hero.
     He won the Rookie of the Year Award with the Red Sox in 1972, hitting
.293 with 22 home runs. Although he topped .300 twice, his batting average
was normally well below that of his first year. However, he maintained
his long-ball power. In 1985, at age thirty-seven, he hit 37 homers. In 1987
he surpassed 300 career home runs. And in 1988 he established a new mark for
games caught.
     Durable, strong-armed, and an outstanding handler of pitchers, Fisk ranks
among the best catchers in the history of the game. In 1981 he left Boston
via free agency and signed with the White Sox.


Freddie Fitzsimmons
Pitcher, NY (N) 1925-37, Bkn (N) 1937-43.  Manager, Phi (N) 1943-45

Fitzsimmons combined with southpaw Carl Hubbell to give the Giants an
excellent righty-lefty one-two punch in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Although Hubbell was the Giants' "Meal Ticket," the team also fed on a steady
diet of wins by "Fat Freddie."  Fitzsimmons combined a wide assortment of
pitches, excellent control, and an odd windup involving a turn toward second
base (a la Luis Tiant) to go 20-9 in 1928 and 19-7 in 1930.  Twice he won 18.
     Traded to Brooklyn in 1937, he was used as a spot starter with great
success.  His 16-2 mark in 1940 led the NL in winning percentage.  In 1941, at
the age of forty, Fitzsimmons started Game Three of the World Series to become
the oldest starter in Series history.  For seven innings he shut out the
mighty Yankees, but a drive off the bat of his mound opponent, Marius Russo,
hit him flush on the knee and put him out of the game.  The Yankees scored
twice in the next inning to win, 2-1.
     Fitzsimmons finished his career at 217-146.


Elmer Flick
Outfielder, Phi (N) 1898-1902; Cle (A) 1902-10

Although he's chiefly famous for winning the 1905 AL batting crown with an
average of just .308, Flick was actually one of the top hitters at the turn of
the century.  In 1905 the league batting average was only .241; Willie Keeler,
another pretty good hitter, was the only other regular in the league to get
above .300.  Elmer's best mark, .367 in 1900, almost won the NL title; he lost
to Honus Wagner's .381 on the final day.
     For three years straight, 1905 to 1907, Flick led the AL in triples. His
career batting average was .313.
     Flick was so good, in fact, that when he hit .302 for Cleveland in 1907,
Detroit offered to swap their young star outfielder for Elmer even up.
Cleveland preferred to stick with Flick and so passed up the offer of Ty Cobb.
Unfortunately, injuries all but ended Elmer's career the next year; he played
in only 99 more games.
     He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963.


Curt Flood
Outfielder, Cin (N) 1956-57, StL (N) 1958-69, Was (A) 1971

Flood was one of the most important and influential players in the history of
baseball, though his significance was unrelated to his undeniable talent.
During the 1960s Flood helped the Cardinals to three pennants as their center
fielder.  A good hitter (career average .293), Curt excelled in the outfield.
He was voted Gold Gloves from 1963 through 1969.
     However, when the Cardinals attempted to trade him to the Phillies after
the '69 season, he refused.  "I do not feel I am a piece of property to be
bought and sold irrespective of my wishes," he wrote to Commissioner Bowie
Kuhn.  He turned down a $100,000 contract with the Phillies to challenge
baseball's reserve clause in federal court.  The case went all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court, where his plea was rejected, 5-3.  Nevertheless, the
narrowness of the ruling forced baseball's owners to agree to an arbitration
system, which eventually ended the reserve clause.
     Flood, a serious, introspective man, briefly attempted a comeback in 1971
and then retired.  Though he received none of the benefits of baseball's
current free agency, he--more than any other player--is responsible for it.


Ed "Whitey" Ford
Pitcher, NY (A) 1950, 1953-67

The "Chairman of the Board," Ford ranks as one of the greatest lefthanded
pitchers of all time.  His 236-106 career record yields a winning percentage
of .690, third all-time and the best of any 200-game winner in this century.
He led the AL in victories three times, ERA and shutouts twice.  He won the
1961 Cy Young Award at a time when only one was given to cover both leagues.
     But Whitey's fame rests primarily on his ability as a "money pitcher,"
and pitching for eleven Yankee pennant winners gave him ample opportunity to
earn his reputation.  His World Series performances alone were enough.  He
started the most games (22), pitched the most innings (146), gave up the most
hits (134), struck out the most batters (94), walked the most (34), and won
the most (10).  He also ranks first in losses (8), but his 2.71 ERA speaks
better for the quality of his efforts.
     A fun-loving native New Yorker, Whitey first pitched for the Yankees in
1950, when he went 9-1 and added his first Series win after a midseason
call-up.  He then entered the service for two years, but upon his return,
picked up where he'd left off.  Yankees Manager Casey Stengel used him
judiciously throughout the 1950s; in only 1955 did Ford start more than 30
games, limiting the number of wins (and losses) he could earn in a given
season.  After Stengel was replaced in 1961, the number of Whitey's starts per
year increased sharply.  He won 25 games in 1961 and 24 in 1963.
     Ford pitched with his head more than his arm.  He was the master of a
variety of pitches, including a few frowned upon in the rulebook.  He was
moderately wild in his early years, but developed into one of the best control
artists in the league.
     In 1974 Ford was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Bill Foster
Pitcher, Negro Leagues, 1923-37, Memphis Red Sox, Chicago American
Giants, Homestead Grays, Kansas City Monarchs, Cole's American Giants

Big Bill, Rube Foster's younger half-brother, was considered one of the two
best lefthanded pitchers in the black leagues.  He ranks first in wins and his
18 victories in 1927 are the third-highest season total.
     Foster's two most famous wins came for the Chicago American Giants over
"Bullet Joe" Rogan, ace of the rival Kansas City Monarchs, in the 1926
championship playoff.  Bill's team was down 3 games to 2, when he beat Rogan
2-0 and 5-0 in a double-header to clinch the pennant.
     Foster's best seasons were 1927 (18-3) and '32 (14-6).


Andrew "Rube" Foster
League President/Owner/ Manager/Pitcher, Negro Leagues, 1902-26,
Chicago Union Giants, Cuban-X Giants, Philadelphia Giants, Leland Giants,
Chicago American Giants

"The Father of Black Baseball," Foster first attracted attention with his
pitching.  In 1902, he won four of the Philadelphia Cuban-X Giants' five wins
against the Philadelphia Giants in a playoff billed as for the "Colored
Championship of the World."  The next year he switched to the Giants and led
them to the title.
     In 1910, in partnership with the son-in-law of Charles Comiskey, he
formed the Chicago American Giants to play at the White Sox's old South Side
Park.  Although there was no league, Foster's Giants were generally recognized
as the leading black team throughout the decade.  As their manager, Foster
built his teams on speed and pitching, insisted on disciplined play and
initiated several strategies that became standard.
     Black baseball was generally in a chaotic state when Foster and the
owners of six Midwestern teams formed the Negro National League.  Foster was
named president and his Giants won the first three pennants.  The NNL raised
standards for players, drew fans with pennant races, and, according to many,
saved black baseball.  As president, Foster worked fifteen-hour days but drew
no regular salary.  He did receive a percentage of league-game attendance, but
contributed part of that to the league.  He preached that if blacks maintained
a high level of play, when the whites were ready to open the doors, the blacks
would be ready to walk through.
     In 1926 Foster suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork.  He died four
years later, but black baseball had been put on a solid footing.
     In 1981 Foster was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


George Foster
Outfielder, SF (N) 1969-71, Cin (N) 1971-81, NY (N) 1982-86, Chi (A) 1986

Foster earned the nickname "The Destroyer" as well as the NL's 1977 MVP Award
for his heavy hitting with Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in the 1970s.  A
quiet, introspective man with deep religious convictions, he conversely
presented one of baseball's most menacing presences when standing at the plate
with his black bat and glowering expression.  From 1976-78 he led the NL in
RBIs, with 121, 149, and 120.  He also was home run leader in 1977-1978, with
52 and 40.
     Traded to the Mets in 1982, he found himself playing half his games in a
poor hitter's park and without the flock of teammates clogging the bases,
waiting to be driven home, that he had known in Cincinnati.  Although he twice
drove in 90 runs, he could never regain the slugging level he'd attained with
the Reds, and his fielding--never good--became a major liability.
     He completed his career with 348 home runs and 1,239 RBIs.


Nellie Fox
Second Baseman, Phi (A) 1947-49, Chi (A) 1950-63, Hou (N) 1964-65

Little Nellie (five-ten, 160 pounds) was a plucky second baseman, known for
his choke-up batting grip and huge wad of tobacco.  He was the heart of the
Go-Go White Sox of the 1950s, teaming first with Chico Carrasquel and then
with Luis Aparicio as the AL's premier keystone combo.  He led the league's
second basemen five times in turning double plays.
     Considered a poor hitter when he first arrived in the majors, Fox learned
to punch out short drives and led the AL seven straight years (1954-1960) in
singles and four years in total hits.  He batted .300 or better six times and
finished with a .288 career batting average.  He struck out about as often as
Chicago has an honest election, and ranks as the third-hardest batter to whiff
in history.
     But more than for his stats, Nellie was known for his all-out hustling
play and infectious spirit.  When the White Sox won their first pennant in
forty years in 1959, Fox was named Most Valuable Player, though several other
players had better statistics.


Jimmie Foxx
First Baseman, Phi (A) 1925-35, Bos (A) 1936-42, Chi (N) 1942, 1944-45

Foxx, the Maryland strongman discovered appropriately by Home Run Baker, ranks
with the greatest sluggers of all time.  When he retired, his 534 homers
ranked second to Babe Ruth and only Ruth and Roger Maris hit more in one
season than Jimmie's 58 in 1932.
     "Double X" loved to show off his bulging biceps by cutting the sleeves
off his shirts.  "Even his hair has muscles," winced Lefty Gomez, who threw a
pitch that Jimmie walloped into the farthest corner of the third deck in
Yankee Stadium.  "It took forty-five minutes to walk up there," Lefty said.
     Originally a catcher, Foxx found that way blocked with the A's by Mickey
Cochrane.  He switched to first base and became one of the key players in
Philadelphia's 1929-1931 dynasty.  In those three seasons he hit 100 home runs
and drove in 343.
     In 1932 the good-natured, moon-faced Foxx launched an assault on Babe
Ruth's five-year-old mark of 60 homers.  Although he fell short with 58, fans
noted he had 2 home runs washed out by rainouts.  His homers, 169 RBIs, and
.364 batting average won him the MVP award.  He won again in 1933 with a
Triple Crown year:  48 home runs, 163 RBIs, and a .356 batting average.
     Traded to the Red Sox after tying for the home run crown with 36 in 1935,
he took advantage of Fenway Park's short left field fence to produce several
fine years.  In 1938 his league-leading 175 RBIs and .349 batting average
earned him his third Most Valuable Player award.  Curiously, his 50 homers did
not lead the league, but his more modest 35 the next year did.
     "The Beast," as he was affectionately known, finished his career with
1,921 RBIs (sixth all-time) and a .325 batting average.  His lifetime .609
slugging average ranks fourth behind only Ruth, Williams, and Gehrig.
     In 1951 Foxx was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Bill Freehan
Catcher, Det (A) 1961, 1963-76

Signed for a $100,000 bonus by the Tigers, Freehan turned out to be an
excellent investment.  He solved their catching problems for thirteen seasons
(1963-1975).  Freehan was a terrific catcher who won five Gold Gloves and
holds the AL record for career fielding percentage (.993) for catchers.  He
hit an even .300 in 1964, but most of his batting marks were considerably
lower, and he ended with a .262 career average.  That was offset by his 200
career home runs.  He got high marks as a team leader and helped the Tigers to
a World Championship in 1968 and an American League East pennant in 1972.


Larry French
Pitcher, Pit (N) 1929-34, Chi (N) 1935-41, Bkn (N) 1942

Four men have broken into the majors with one-hitters.  French is the only man
who went out with one.  He tossed it for the Dodgers in September of 1942 at
the age of thirty-four.  Then he marched into the Navy for the next
twenty-seven years, emerging as a four-stripe captain.  His career mark of
197-171 left him only 3 victories shy of becoming the first pitcher to win 200
without a 20-win season.
     A lefthanded knuckleballer, French spent the first half of his career
with the lowly Pirates, then joined the Cubs in 1935 in time to help them to
the pennant with a 17-10 mark.
     Chicago won again in 1938, but Larry had his worst season to become the
only man ever to lose 19 games with a pennant winner.


Ford Frick
Commissioner/League President

Starting as a sportswriter (and Ruth's "ghost"), Frick spent forty-three years
in baseball.  As NL president (1934-1951), he was pivotal in the Jackie
Robinson Revolution.  When the Cardinals threatened to strike rather than play
against Robinson in 1947, Frick told them bluntly:  "I don't care if half the
league strikes.  Those who do will . . . be suspended, and I do not care if it
wrecks the NL for five years.  This is the United States of America, and one
citizen has as much right to play as another."
     He was also one of the forces behind the establishment of a Hall of Fame;
in 1970 he was elected to the Hall himself.
     As Baseball Commissioner (1951-1968), Frick presided over expansion to
Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Houston,
Baltimore, Oakland, and Atlanta.  He negotiated a $13-million TV package with
NBC, and oversaw the end of the reserve clause and the birth of the free agent
draft.
     His most controversial ruling was probably his decision that an asterisk
be placed beside Roger Maris' 61-homer record, an edict that was never
enforced.


Frankie Frisch
Second Baseman, NY (N) 1919-26, StL (N) 1927-37.  Manager, StL (N) 1933-38,
Pit (N) 1940-46, Chi (N) 1949-51

"The Fordham Flash" stepped straight from the Rams' campus into the major
leagues with the Giants in 1919.  He was a key man on New York's four straight
pennant winners from 1921 through 1924.  A slashing switch-hitter, he "never
hit a home run when a single would win the game" but cracked plenty of
singles, doubles, and triples.  He led the NL with 223 hits in 1923, had
thirteen seasons of batting over .300, scored over 100 seven times, and batted
in over 100 three times.  His career marks included 1,532 runs scored, 1,244
RBIs, and a .316 batting average.
     For several years he was considered the likely heir to John McGraw as
manager of the Giants, but the feisty Frisch rebelled at McGraw's dictatorial
methods.  In 1927 he was traded to St. Louis in exchange for Rogers Hornsby,
a swap that shocked and angered Cardinal fans.
     Though never the hitter that Hornsby was, Frisch was a better fielder and
his equal as a team leader.  He played on Cardinal pennant winners in 1928,
1930-1931, and after becoming player-manager, in 1934.  All told, he played on
eight pennant winners and six runners-up.  He was named NL MVP in 1931, but he
is probably better known as the scrappy leader of the Cardinal "Gashouse Gang"
that won the 1934 world championship.
     In sixteen years as a manager, and despite being saddled with weak teams
in Chicago during his final seasons, he compiled a .513 winning percentage.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947.