Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0003/00032.txt

Text File | 1994-02-16 | 45KB | 783 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00032}
$Title{Lives of the Players:  H-I}
$Author{}
$Subject{Hack Hafey Haines Hamilton Hanlon Harder Hargrove Harridge Harris
Hartnett Hecker Hegan Heilmann Henderson Henrich Herman Hernandez Herzog
Hodges Hooper Hornsby Howard Hoyt Hubbard Hubbell Huggins Hulbert Hunter
Irvin}
$Log{
Stan Hack*0025801.scf
Chick Hafey*0026001.scf
Jesse Haines*0026101.scf
Billy Hamilton*0026201.scf
Will Harridge (left) and Kenesaw Mountain Landis*0026501.scf
Gabby Hartnett*0026601.scf
Jim Hegan*0026801.scf
Harry Heilmann*0026901.scf
Babe Herman*0027201.scf
Billy Herman*0027301.scf
Keith Hernandez*0027401.scf
Whitey Herzog*0027701.scf
Gil Hodges*0027801.scf
Harry Hooper*0027901.scf
Rogers Hornsby*0028101.scf
Frank Howard*0028601.scf
Waite Hoyt*0029001.scf
Carl Hubbell*0029101.scf
Catfish Hunter*0029301.scf}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Lives of the Players:  H-I


Stan Hack
Third Baseman, Chi (N) 1932-47.  Manager, Chi (N) 1954-56, StL (N) 1958

"Smiling Stan" played on four Cubs pennant winners and hit .348 in the Series
(.471 in 1938), though the Cubs lost all four.  The Sporting News chose him as
its all-star third baseman three years in a row, 1940-1942.
     A lifetime .301 hitter, he cracked out 2,193 hits in sixteen years.  He
also drew 1,092 walks and scored 1,239 runs.  He seldom hit with much power,
but he was consistent.
     Hack's most famous hit came in the sixth game of the 1935 Series against
the Tigers.  Down three games to two, and tied in this game 3-3, Stan led off
the ninth inning and smote one of Tommy Bridges' curves over the Tiger center
fielder's head for a triple.  A sacrifice fly ball would give the Cubs the
lead.  But Billy Jurges struck out, Larry French bounced out, and when Augie
Galan finally got the fly, it was too late.  A half inning later the Tigers
won the game and the Series.


Charles "Chick" Hafey
Outfielder, StL (N) 1924-31, Cin (N) 1932-35, 1937

Hafey had everything you could ask for in a ballplayer except good health.  He
hit for a good average with fair power.  He was fast.  He could field.  And he
had the best throwing arm of any NL outfielder during his time.
     The quiet, modest slugger was at the same time known for playing
practical jokes on his teammates.  He first became a regular with the
Cardinals in 1926, as the team fought toward its first pennant.  He was beaned
several times during the season, affecting his sight.  He was advised to wear
glasses, a rarity among players of his day.  His sight fluctuated so that he
actually used three different pairs, depending on the state of his eyes.
     From 1927 through 1931 he hit above .300 each season for the Cards, who
won pennants in 1928, 1930, and 1931.  He drove in over 100 runs in three of
those seasons, and had a career-high 29 home runs in 1929--this despite a
chronic sinus infection that required several operations.
     In 1931 Hafey won the closest batting race in NL history, nosing out Bill
Terry by .0003.  Terry hit .3486 to Hafey's .3489.  Chick had been a holdout
several times before; when he asked for a raise to $17,000 after winning the
batting championship, St. Louis traded him to Cincinnati.  He had several good
seasons with the Reds before retiring in 1935.  A comeback attempt in 1937 was
unsuccessful.
     Hafey was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971.


Jesse "Pop" Haines
Pitcher, Cin (N) 1918, StL (N) 1920-37

Haines was a temperamental workhorse who relied on a good fastball and tricky
knuckleball to win 210 games, all with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Until Bob
Gibson surpassed his mark, he was the Cards' all-time winner.  He didn't join
the team until he was twenty-six years old but stayed until he was
forty-five--hence his nickname "Pop."
     He won 20 or more three times and pitched a no-hitter in 1924.  During
his time with the Redbirds, they won five pennants and three world
championships.  Haines was 3-1 in World Series play.
     Haines was 13-4 in 1926, as the Cards won their first pennant.  In the
Series he shut out the Yanks, the last time that would happen for sixteen
years.
     Oddly Haines was most famous for being relieved in a ball game.  In the
seventh game of the 1926 Series, he was leading 3-2 when he developed a
blister from throwing the knuckler and loaded the bases in the seventh inning
with two out and Tony Lazzeri up.  Manager Rogers Hornsby waved in Grover
Alexander from the bullpen.  Alexander's strikeout of Lazzeri is one of the
most famous events in baseball history.
     Haines was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970.


Billy Hamilton
Outfielder, KC (AA) 1888-89, Phi (N) 1890-95, Bos (N) 1896-1901

"Sliding Billy" epitomized the jackrabbit era of the 1890s.  Only five-six, he
stole 912 bases--111 in 1889, 102 in 1890, and 111 in 1891--and led his league
in steals in seven of his fourteen seasons.  The 111 steals was a record until
Lou Brock broke it eighty-five years later.  Of course they were not all what
we call stolen bases today.  Going from first to third on a single was counted
as a "steal."
     Hamilton was the most efficient leadoff man ever.  He had more runs
scored than games played--a record--1,690 runs in 1,591 games.  He also holds
the all-time record for runs scored in a single season with 192 in 1894.  He
led the league four times.  He was able to accomplish these things for several
reasons in addition to his undeniable speed.  In the first place, he was an
exceptional hitter, leading the NL twice--.340 in 1891 and .380 in 1893.  His
career average was .344, eighth best of all time.  Second, he walked a lot.
He topped the NL in bases on balls five times.  Third, he was followed in the
batting order through most of his career by other outstanding hitters.
     In 1894, his record year for scoring runs, he played center field for the
Phillies and hit .404.  Left fielder Ed Delahanty hit .407, and right fielder
Sam Thompson hit .407.  And substitute outfielder Tuck Turner hit .416 in 80
games!  Even so, the Phillies finished fourth.
     In 1896 the Phillies traded him to Boston for veteran third baseman Billy
Nash.  He joined Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy in the Beaneaters' outfield and
helped his new team win pennants in 1897-1898.
     Hamilton was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1961.


Ned Hanlon
Outfielder, Cle (N) 1880, Det (N) 1881-1888, Pit (N) 1889, 1891, Pit (P)
1890, Bal (N) 1892.  Manager, Pit (N) 1889, 1891, Pit (P) 1890, Bal (N)
1892-98, Bkn (N) 1899-1905, Cin (N) 1906-07

Ned Hanlon was the original dirty tricks manager with the old Baltimore
Orioles and Brooklyn Superbas of the Gay Nineties.  With Willie Keeler, John
McGraw, Joe Kelley, Hughie Jennings, and the rest, Hanlon's teams bunted and
hit-and-ran their way to five flags.
     They also reportedly:
       raised the foul lines so bunts would stay fair
       grabbed runners' belts as they rounded third base
       hid extra balls in the outfield grass to throw in on long hits
       flashed mirrors in the faces of the other teams' batters and fielders
       rolled on the ground and pinched their arms to fake being hit by
         pitches
       buried cement in front of home plate, then beat balls down on it so
         they'd bounce high enough to beat out--the famous "Baltimore Chop."
     After a dozen years as a good field/no hit outfielder, Hanlon took over
the Orioles in 1892, when they finished twelfth.  He picked on young McGraw
mercilessly until John offered to "punch his big head"--exactly the reaction
Ned wanted.
     The next year he had the O's up to eighth, and by 1894 to first.  They
won three straight flags, then finished second twice.  Moving to Brooklyn, he
won flags his first two years, 1899-1900, then began a descent to last.  But
Ned still ended with a .530 winning percentage.
     After baseball he went into real estate and made a fortune.


Mel Harder
Pitcher, Cle (A) 1928-47

Harder won over 223 games in twenty years of pitching for Cleveland, including
20-win seasons in 1934-1935.  Only Bob Feller won more for the Tribe.  He had
the honor of pitching the opening game in Municipal Stadium against Lefty
Grove before 82,000 fans.  He lost 1-0.  In the 1934 All-Star Game, he hurled
five scoreless innings.
     After retiring from the mound, Mel coached the Indian pitchers in 1949
through 1963, the glory years of their magnificent pitching staffs.  He was
credited with helping Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, Mike Garcia, Herb Score,
and others.  It was said that "he had a camera in his head" because of his
uncanny ability to spot pitching flaws.


Mike Hargrove
First Baseman, Tex (A) 1974-78, SD (N) 1979, Cle (A) 1979-85

Hargrove was called "the Human Rain Delay" because of his long, involved
ritual before taking his stance in the batter's box.  He'd walk up near the
plate and take exactly three deliberate practice swings.  Then he would step
into the box and meticulously dig in his left foot.  Next he'd adjust his
helmet.  Arrange his uniform.  Tug his belt.  At last, he was ready.  But
after the first pitch, he'd go through it all again.  He drove pitchers crazy.
But it worked.  He hit .290 for his twelve seasons, led his league in walks
twice, and had four seasons of over 100 walks.  His lifetime OBP of .401, when
normalized to the league average and adjusted for home park, is among the top
twenty of this century.


Will Harridge
American League President, 1931-59

Harridge worked for the Wabash Railroad handling travel arrangements for AL
teams and umpires.  He had never seen a major league game until he became
private secretary to AL President Ban Johnson in 1911.  Twenty years later the
efficient but colorless, conservative Harridge was promoted to chief and
served twenty-eight years, 1931-1959.
     He preferred to stay in the background, but he never hesitated to enforce
league rules and decorum.  In 1931, shortly after taking office and in the
middle of a heated pennant race, he suspended Yankee catcher Bill Dickey for a
month for slugging another player.  Harridge was a strong advocate of the
All-Star Game.  He opposed night baseball until he saw that such games made
baseball more available to families.  He hated gimmicks and showboating, and
was not amused when Bill Veeck used a midget as a pinch hitter.
     He fined Boston's Ted Williams for spitting at fans.  But when Ted won
the 1941 All-Star Game with a ninth-inning homer, Harridge lost his reserve.
He almost kissed Ted, he said, and would have "if there weren't so many people
around."
     Harridge was named to the Hall of Fame in 1972.


Stanley "Bucky" Harris
Second Baseman, Was (A) 1919-28, Det (A) 1929, 1931.  Manager,
Was (A) 1924-28, Det (A) 1929-33, Bos (A) 1934, Was (A) 1935-42, Phi (N) 1943,
NY (A) 1947-48, Was (A) 1950-54, Det (A) 1955-56

Harris broke in as a regular second baseman with the Senators in 1920, hitting
.300 for the only time in his career.  In 1924 "the Boy Manager" became the
Senators' skipper at age twenty-seven.  He took the team to its first pennant
and a World Series victory over the Giants.  With Washington down three games
to two, Harris knocked in both runs to win Game Six 2-1 and tie the Series.
The next day Bucky drove in three runs to pull his team to a 3-3 tie after
nine innings.  They won in the twelfth on the famous hit that bounced over
third baseman Fred Lindstrom's head.  Harris hit .333 for the Series, with
seven RBIs, and two homers--he hit only nine other home runs in his career.
     Though the Senators repeated as pennant winners in 1925, they lost the
Series to the Pirates.  In 1929 Harris moved to Detroit as player-manager and
began a career as the "Available Man."  All told, he managed for twenty-nine
years.  He had two more sessions in Washington (1935-1942 and 1950-1954), two
in Detroit (1929-1933 and 1955-1956), one year in Boston (1934), two-thirds of
a season with the Phillies (1943), and two years with the Yankees (1947-1948).
Most of the time he was saddled with teams that had little chance to win;
twenty of them finished in the second division.  But Harris was respected as a
manager who got the most out of his limited material.
     He won his last pennant and world championship with the Yankees in 1947
but lost a three-way race to Boston and Cleveland in 1948.  The Yanks promptly
fired Harris and hired Casey Stengel.
     Bucky ranks third all-time in managerial wins with 2,159 and second in
losses with 2,219.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.


Charles "Gabby" Hartnett
Catcher, Chi (N) 1922-40, NY (N) 1941.  Manager, Chi (N) 1938-40

While AL fans argued the merits of Cochrane and Dickey, NL fans
had no problem identifying their circuit's best catcher.  Hartnett was the
cream of the NL, and to some the best of all.  Although he was often described
as a "beefy man with a tomato face who talked a lot," his nickname was
actually hung on him ironically when as a Cubs rookie in 1922 he said
virtually nothing.  He developed his communication skills, of course, but for
twenty seasons his batting and catching skills spoke louder.
     An excellent defensive catcher with a powerful arm and a take-charge
handler of pitchers, he caught 1,790 games.  In twelve seasons, he played in
over 100 games.  He led National League catchers in fielding six times.
     His lifetime batting average was .297, and at one time he held the record
for home runs by a catcher, with 236.  He drove in 1,179 runs, with a personal
high of 122 in 1930.  While he was with them, the Cubs won four pennants.  He
appeared in five All-Star Games and was NL MVP in 1935.
     He was behind the plate in the 1932 World Series when Babe Ruth hit his
"called shot" off Charley Root.  Gabby always insisted the Babe didn't point.
     In 1934 he caught Carl Hubbell's great All-Star Game feat of striking out
Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons, and Cronin.  "Just throw them what you throw me,"
he told Hub, "I can't hit it, and neither will they."
     But Hartnett's greatest moment--perhaps the greatest in Chicago baseball
history--was his "homer in the gloaming" against Pittsburgh as darkness fell
on Wrigley Field, September 28, 1938.  Gabby had become Cubs manager in
midseason and led the club from 6 1/2 games behind to 1 1/2 behind the
Pirates.  The teams met in Chicago for a series that would decide the pennant.
In the leadoff game, the score was tied after eight innings, and the umps
warned that the ninth would be the last.  There were two out in the bottom of
the ninth, 34,465 crazed fans in the stands, and Mace Brown had an 0-2 count
against Gabby.  Hartnett hit the next ball into the bleachers and the Cubs
went on to the flag.
     Gabby was named to the Hall of Fame in 1955.


Guy Hecker
Pitcher/First Baseman/Manager, Lou (AA) 1882-89, Pit (N) 1890.
Manager, Pit (N) 1890

In 1884 Hecker led the old American Association with a 52-20 mark and 1.80
ERA.  Two years later he led the league in batting with .342.  Guy was surely
the best hitting pitcher until Ferrell.  He averaged .283 for his career and
even stole 48 bases in 1887.  On August 15, 1886, he allowed Baltimore four
hits in a complete-game victory while registering six hits himself, including
three homers and two doubles.  He also scored a record of seven runs.
     Hecker's pitching was his forte, however.  In four years 1883-1886, he
averaged 34-22 for a team that finished third, fourth, fifth, and fifth.  In
his big year, 1884, he also led in complete games, innings pitched, and
strikeouts.


Jim Hegan
Catcher, Cle (A) 1941-42, 1946-57, Det (A) 1958, Phi (N) 1958-59, SF (N) 1959,
Chi (N) 1960

The top defensive catcher in the AL in the post-World War Two period, Hegan
holds a record that may never be broken--he handled eighteen 20-game winners
with the Indians, 1946-1957.  The glory years of Cleveland pitching coincided
with the tenure of Jim (and pitching coach Mel Harder).  Three of Hegan's
stars--Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Early Wynn--are in the Hall of Fame.  Two of
them--Feller and Wynn--call him the best receiver ever.
     In 1946, in his first season as a regular, Hegan handled Feller's
348-strikeout season.  That year the Indians were 45-43 with him, 21-43
without.  In 1954 his pitchers won 111 games, the most ever in the AL.  In
between he caught three no-hitters, by Feller, Lemon, and Don Black.
     A poor hitter with a career .228 batting average, Hegan had his best
offensive season in the Indians' world championship season of 1948.  He batted
.248, hit 14 homers, and drove in 61 runs.


Harry "Slug" Heilmann
Outfielder, Det (A) 1914, 1916-29, Cin (N) 1930, 1932

Heilmann was a good hitter who became a great hitter when the lively ball was
introduced in 1920.  Line drives that fielders had previously reached began
whizzing by their gloves before they could react.  Harry was a line drive
machine.  His homer totals were only average; his biggest year was 21 in 1923.
But he hit plenty of gappers for doubles and triples. For much of his career
he batted behind Ty Cobb, helping him to his all-time record in runs scored.
Harry had 1,538 RBIs and topped 100 in eight seasons.
     "Slug" didn't help his team in the outfield.  He was slow and awkward.
For two years the Tigers tried to put him at first base.  He led AL first
basemen in errors both years, so they sent him back to the outfield, where he
had fewer opportunities to be slow and awkward.
     But with a bat in his hand, Heilmann rivaled the NL's Rogers Hornsby as
the greatest righthanded hitter of the time.  He led the AL in hitting four
times, oddly--in alternating odd years.  In 1921, he led with .394; in 1923
it was .403; in 1925, .393; and in 1927, .398.  In his "off-years" between
titles, he bided his time with .356, .346, and .367.  His career average was
.342.
     Heilmann was a low-key, articulate man, who told droll stories of his
playing days.  After retiring, he put those talents to work as a popular
play-by-play radio broadcaster for the Tigers.  He was named to the Hall of
Fame in 1952.


Rickey Henderson
Outfielder, Oak (A) 1979-84, 1989-93, NY (A) 1985-89, Tor (A) 1993

The greatest thief since Willie Sutton, Henderson demolished the single-season
stolen base record in 1982, when he swiped 130 for Oakland. Three times he
has gone over 100, and he's led the AL in steals eleven times. He
shattered Lou Brock's all-time stolen-base record a couple of years
ago and is now hard at work on his second thousand.
     An ideal leadoff man, Rickey usually bats in the .290-.310 range, draws
plenty of walks (he's twice led the American League), and scores and scores
and scores; he's averaged over 100 runs scored per season for his career.
     Henderson also hits with occasional power, setting the record for leadoff
home runs.


Tommy Henrich
Outfielder, NY (A) 1937-42, 1946-50

"Old Reliable" Henrich played right field on eight Yankee champions in eleven
years.  Yankee fans like to say that the Keller-DiMaggio-Henrich outfield was
the best ever, but Yankee fans are like that.  Tommy was a first-rate player,
but his .282 batting average and 183 homers do not quite put him in "best"
circles.  On the other hand, DiMaggio called him the smartest player in the
majors, and nobody gave tests to prove otherwise.
     One thing, Tommy was always in the middle of the action.
     In the 1941 Series, he was at bat when Mickey Owen dropped that third
strike.  Henrich alertly raced to first, igniting the game-winning rally in
Game Four.
     He got the game-winning hits in three of the four Yankee victories in the
1947 Series, including the deciding seventh game.
     He played hurt most of 1949 but was such a clutch hitter in the 115 games
he limped into that he finished sixth in the MVP voting.  He finished the
season with a flourish, whipping the home run that beat Boston on the final
day to clinch the flag, the first of Casey Stengel's record-breaking five
straight pennants.  Then, in the opening game of the World Series, Tommy
slugged a homer off Newcombe in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Dodgers,
1-0.


Billy Herman
Second Baseman, Chi (N) 1931-41, Bkn (N) 1941-43, 1946, Bos (N) 1946,
Pit (N) 1947.  Manager, Pit (N) 1947, Bos (A) 1964-66

Herman was a great hit-and-run man and smart second baseman, who played on
four NL champs with the Cubs and Dodgers, winning every third year--1932,
1935, 1938, and 1941.
     Billy succeeded Rogers Hornsby at second base for the Cubs in 1932, hit
.314, improved the defense, and helped the team move up from third to the
flag.  He set an NL record by handling over 900 chances at second for five
straight years.  For his first seven seasons in Chicago, Billy teamed with
shortstop Billy Jurges in a double-play combination that had even old-time
Cubs fans asking "Who-to-who-to-Chance?"  Herman's best year was 1935, when he
hit .341, cracked 227 hits to lead the NL, and scored 113 runs.  His career
batting average was .304.
     Early in the 1941 season, Billy was sent off to Brooklyn.  "I just bought
a pennant," Dodger owner Larry MacPhail crowed.  He was right.  Billy and his
new partner young Pee Wee Reese meshed beautifully and the Dodgers won their
first flag in twenty-one years.
     Herman was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.


Floyd "Babe" Herman
Outfielder, Bkn (N) 1926-31, 1945, Cin (N) 1932, 1935-36, Chi (N) 1933-34,
Pit (N) 1935, Det (A) 1937

Poor Babe is remembered as the man who hit .393 and couldn't win the batting
crown, and as the daffy Dodger who got hit on the head with a fly ball and
somehow tripled into a triple play.
     True on the first count.  Libel on the other two.
     Babe hit .393 in 1930, when players were benched for hitting .290 and
optioned to Topeka for hitting .280.  Bill Terry won the batting championship
with .401, the last time a National Leaguer topped the .400 mark.
     In 1935 he hit the first night-game home run in big league history. Even
after he left Brooklyn, someone was always willing to hire him for his hitting
and look the other way while he tried to play the outfield.  For his thirteen
major league seasons, he averaged .324 with his bat and slightly higher with
his glove.
     Herman was not the naive simpleton that the writers and historians
created.  He was a thoughtful, intelligent man, and he did not triple into a
triple play.  He doubled into a double play.  It happened like this:  With the
bases loaded at Ebbets Field, Herman slammed a drive off the wall, and the
ball bounced all the way back to second base.  One run scored, and someone
yelled to throw home.  Dazzy Vance, halfway home, turned and scrambled back to
third base, where Chick Fewster had already arrived from first base.  Herman,
running full out but head down, heard the yell and thought Fewster must be
scoring, so he raced for third.  He slid in safely--even stylishly--to find
the other two already there.  They called Fewster and Herman out and gave him
credit for a double.  Ever after, when the Dodgers put three men on base, some
wag was sure to ask, "Which base?"
     As for getting hit on the head with a fly, Herman stoutly denied it. "How
about the shoulder, Babe?" someone asked.  "No," he said, "the shoulder don't
count."


Keith Hernandez
First Baseman, StL (N) 1974-83, NY (N) 1983-89, Cle (A) 1990-

If Hernandez ever melts down his Gold Gloves, he can fill every cavity in New
York.  As of 1990, he's won eleven and may be good for a few more before he's
done.  He is easily the premier fielding first baseman of today.  The only
argument is whether he is the best of all time.  The fact that he already
holds the record for career assists by a first baseman (but is not in the top
ten of games played) supports the "Aye" vote.
     A consistent .300 hitter with line-drive power, Keith led the NL with a
.344 batting average in 1979 and was voted co-MVP with Willie Stargell.  In
1982 he hit .299 and drove in 94 runs, as the Cardinals won the world
championship.  His surprise trade to the Mets the next season is still a sore
point with Cardinals' fans.  Mets fans think of it as akin to Christmas
morning.
     Hernandez played on his second world champion team with New York in 1986
and a divisional championship in 1988.  The handsome lefthanded hitter is
considered a leader in the clubhouse and on the field.


Dorrel "Whitey" Herzog
Manager, Tex (A) 1973, KC (A) 1975-79, StL (N) 1980-90.  Outfielder,
Was (A) 1956-58, KC (A) 1958-60, Bal (A) 1961-62, Det (A) 1963

Herzog's playing career was eight years of undistinguished outfielding.  His
managing career ranks as one of the best and brightest.
     He took over at Kansas City in mid-1975 and brought them home second.
Three consecutive division titles followed, but the Royals lost the LCS all
three times.  When Kansas City finished second in 1979, he was fired.
     He crossed the state to St. Louis, where he had his greatest success. His
Cardinals won the world championship in 1982 and pennants in 1985 and 1987.
In none of those years was St. Louis favored in preseason appraisals.
     Whitey's best Series may have been 1987.  Playing without his top hitter,
Jack Clark, and with substitutes in several positions, he still took the
Series to seven games against Minnesota.
     "Whitey-ball" in the 1980s was tailored to Busch Stadium, with its
artificial surface and deep power alleys.  Typically his lineup was mostly
made up of speedy, good-fielding, line-drive hitters, with at least one strong
power hitter to bat cleanup.  His pitching staff normally hosted more than the
usual number of lefthanders.


Gil Hodges
First Baseman, Bkn (N) 1943, 1947-57, LA (N) 1958-61, NY (N) 1962-63.
Manager, Was (A) 1963-67, NY (N) 1968-71

Gil was one of the top guns in the Dodgers' Murderers' Row, 1948-1959.  He
slugged 370 homers during an eighteen-year career, drove in 1,274, and was
considered a top fielder among National League first basemen.  He played on
seven Dodger pennant winners, six in Brooklyn and the last in 1959 for Los
Angeles.
     Hodges was an even-tempered gentleman of immense strength, both in
physique and character.  His inner strength helped him persevere during the
extended batting slumps that he was prone to as a player.  Most fans know
Hodges' frustrating 1952 Series when he went 0-for-21.  Dodger fans were
sending him batting tips and lighting candles in church for him.  Fewer recall
that he hit .364 the next year in the Series or that he drove in both runs of
the final game in 1955, as the Dodgers won their first world championship.
     As manager of the dreadful Washington Senators (1963-1967), he needed
every ounce of his patience.  When he brought the team up to sixth in 1967,
people said his next project would be parting the Red Sea.
     Actually he undertook something more difficult--he became manager of the
Mets.  Throughout the 1960s the Mets had always been good for a laugh but
rarely good for a win.  They didn't disappoint the stand-up comics in 1968,
Hodges' first year at the helm, finishing ninth.  Then, in 1969, with Hodges
platooning a lineup of mostly retreads and with a young pitching staff
boasting Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Tug McGraw, the team became the
Amazing Mets.  They won the NL East, brushed aside Atlanta in the LCS, and
humbled Baltimore in a five-game World Series--"The Miracle of Flushing
Meadows."


Harry Hooper
Outfielder, Bos (A) 1909-20, Chi (A) 1921-25

Hooper was an excellent rightfielder with a legendary throwing arm.  He played
with Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis in what old-timers called the best outfield
ever.  There have been several "best-ever" outfields since, but the trio
brought the Red Sox two world titles--in 1912 and 1915.  Speaker was the star,
of course, but after Spoke moved on to Cleveland, Lewis and Hooper helped the
Sox win another World Series in 1916.  And then, when Duffy wasn't around in
1918, Hooper was still there for a fourth championship.  If you get the idea
that Harry was a winner, you're probably running on all cylinders.
     In the final game of the 1912 World Series, he went back as far as he
could, then leaped, speared Larry Doyle's drive barehanded, and fell backward
into the stands.  His robbery kept the Sox alive to win in the tenth.
     In 1915, after hitting only two home runs all season, he hit two in the
final game of the World Series with the last one providing the margin of
victory.  In the 1916 Series, he hit .333 and scored six runs in five days.
     Harry was a leadoff hitter with a modest .281 lifetime batting average,
but he drew a lot of walks, which allowed him to score 1,429 runs in his
career.
     Hooper was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971.


Rogers Hornsby
Second Baseman, StL (N) 1915-26, 1933, NY (N) 1927, Bos (N) 1928,
Chi (N) 1929-32, StL (A) 1933-37.  Manager, StL (N) 1925-26, Bos (N) 1927,
Chi (N) 1930-32, StL (A) 1933-37, 1952, Cin (N) 1952-53

Hornsby always said he could have made it to the majors on his fielding even
if he'd only been an ordinary hitter.  Well, maybe.  The question is, how long
would he have stayed there?  Using his chances-handled-per-game as a gauge, he
started out with pretty good range but slowed down fast.  By 1920, when he
first showed himself to be a great hitter, he was average at best in the
field.  And throughout the 1920s just about every good team in the NL had a
second baseman covering more ground than the Rajah.
     Of course, none of them hit as well.  Hornsby never had to make a living
with his glove; he was a magnificent hitter.  Many call him the greatest
righthanded hitter of all time.  Proving that takes all sorts of adjustments
as you try to relate one era to another, so there might have been a
righthander to rank ahead of Hornsby, but he has to be in the top handful.
Take a deep breath and listen:
     His career batting average of .358 is second only to Ty Cobb, who batted
southpaw.  Hornsby is the only righthanded batter to hit .400 three times, and
his .424 in 1924 is a record for this century.  He won six straight batting
titles from 1920 to 1925 and added a seventh in 1928.  He made 250 hits in
1922, led the league four times, and cracked over 200 seven times.  He led the
NL in home runs twice, led in triples once and tied once, led in doubles four
times.  He led or tied in runs five times and in RBIs four times.  He won two
Triple Crowns and two MVPs.  Whew!
     In the feet-of-clay department, the Rajah had a royal disdain for the
opinions and feelings of everybody he ever met.  He was brusque, blunt,
hypercritical, dictatorial, moody, and argumentative.  He alienated almost
everyone sooner or later.  St. Louis traded him right after he'd
player-managed them to a world championship in 1926.  The Giants traded him in
1927 after he hit .361.  He predicted he'd lead the league again in 1928.  He
did, and the Braves immediately traded him to the Cubs for 1929.
     Except for that 1926 pennant in his second year as skipper, he had no
success as a major league manager.  He never had any other Hornsbys playing
for him, and he was satisfied with nothing less.
     His only vice--outside of a personality that could sand wood--was betting
on horses.  He was bad at it.  What he was, was a hitter.  He never drank,
smoked, read, or went to movies because he wanted to protect his batting eye.
     Hornsby was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1942.


Frank Howard
Outfielder, LA (N) 1958-64, Was (A) 1965-71, Tex (A) 1972, Det (A) 1972-73.
Manager, SD (N) 1981, NY (N) 1983

When six-seven, 255-pound Howard came up to bat, the pitcher must have figured
someone had moved the mound closer to the plate.  "Hondo" was intimidating and
he could deliver.  He hit some of the mightiest blasts ever seen and left
painted seats in the upper decks all over both leagues as mementoes of his
homers.  Even Ted Williams, his manager at Washington, shook his head in
admiration.
     Of course Howard struck out a lot too, flailing at low outside curves.
But when he connected, the balls flew.  Playing for the Dodgers, he walloped a
long home run in the 1963 World Series to beat Whitey Ford, 2-1, and complete
a four-game sweep of the Yankees.  With Washington, he hit 136 home runs from
1968 through 1970.  In 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, Howard had a streak of
ten homers in twenty at-bats.  Number ten, against Lolich, hit the roof of
Tiger Stadium.
     He was a bit clumsy in the outfield but was no Babe Herman.  And he
played hard, was always hustling.  He finished with 382 career homers and
everyone's respect.


Waite Hoyt
Pitcher, NY (N) 1918, 1932, Bos (A) 1919-20, NY (A) 1921-30, Det (A) 1930-31,
Phi (A) 1931, Bkn (N) 1932, 1937-38, Pit (N) 1933-37

"The secret of success," Hoyt once said, "is to pitch for the New York
Yankees."  This Broadway playboy, vaudeville singer, part-time undertaker, and
baseball broadcaster won 237 games, mostly for the great Yankees of Ruth and
Gehrig.
     Signed by John McGraw when he was only fifteen, Hoyt pitched only one
inning for the Giants before he was sent to the Boston Red Sox in 1919.  His
record was mediocre over two seasons, except for one brilliant eleven-inning
perfecto stint sandwiched between hits in a thirteen-inning game against the
Yankees.  Impressed, New York acquired him in 1921 and made him a regular
starter.  Hoyt won 19 as the Yankees won their first pennant.  He was
sensational in the World Series that fall, pitching three complete games
without allowing an earned run.  Nevertheless, an error cost him the final
game of the Series, 1-0.
     He was the ace of the Yankees' staff throughout the 1920s, with his top
seasons coming in 1927, when he was 22-7 and led the AL in ERA, and in 1928,
when he went 23-7.  After leaving the Yankees in 1930, he pitched for many
teams with only occasional success as a starter.  He was, however, an
effective relief pitcher for four seasons with the Pirates in the mid-1930s.
     Hoyt, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969, was a popular
play-by-play man for Cincinnati for twenty-four years.


Cal Hubbard
Umpire, 1936-50

Hubbard is the only man in the baseball, college football, and pro football
Halls of Fame.  A 250-pound behemoth when most football linemen were 200-210
pounds, Big Cal played end and tackle at both Centenary and Geneva Colleges in
the mid-1920s, then went on to an all-pro career with the New York Giants and
Green Bay Packers of the NFL.  A devastating defensive player and
road-clearing blocker, he starred on four championship teams.
     Cal had taken up umpiring in the summers while still a football player
and moved smoothly into his new career.  He became an AL umpire in 1936 and
served for fifteen years.  He was known for his intimate knowledge of the
rules and for the efficient and authoritative way he ran a game.  A hunting
accident prematurely ended his active career, but he continued as supervisor
of umpires for the AL for another fifteen years.


Carl Hubbell
Pitcher, NY (N) 1928-43

In one of baseball's small ironies, the intelligent, level-headed Hubbell will
forever be known as a "screwball" pitcher.  The adjective refers, of course,
to what he threw, not what he was.  The pitch, thrown with a clockwise snap of
his left wrist, left Carl with a left arm so twisted that the palm of his hand
faces out!  It also made him the NL's premier lefthander of the 1930s.
     Reportedly, when he was a Tiger farmhand, Detroit manager Ty Cobb
discouraged him from throwing "that thing."  Fortunately, Carl continued to
toss what is, in effect, a reverse curve, and when the Giants bought his
contract, he got the chance to use it against major league batters.  They
hated it!
     He had five straight winning seasons under his belt, twice posting 18
wins, when he suddenly blossomed into "Super Pitcher" in 1933.  Carl
considered his greatest game to be a 1933 18-inning shutout without giving up
a base on balls.  In July, he went 46 straight innings without allowing a run.
He pitched ten shutouts in all that year, had a 23-12 mark for the champion
Giants, with the unbelievably low (for those years) ERA of 1.66.  He won the
MVP.
     In the Series that fall, Hub beat Washington in the opener, giving up two
unearned runs.  In Game Four he went eleven innings, giving up another
unearned run.  In the eleventh he loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a
bunt that didn't roll foul.  Then he calmly ended the game on a double play to
win 2-1.  His ERA for the Series was 0.00.
     In 1934 he went 21-12, with a league-leading 2.30 ERA.  In the All-Star
Game that year he struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons,
and Joe Cronin in succession.
     After a 23-12 year in 1935, "King Carl," the Giants' "Meal Ticket," took
them to another pennant in 1936 with his second MVP year, a 26-6 gem that saw
him again lead the NL in ERA.  That year Hubbell began a 24-game
regular-season winning streak that extended into 1937.  His 22-8 mark in 1937
gave him five straight 20-win seasons and gave New York one more flag.
     Carl became a spot starter for his final six seasons, with his only
losing mark being 11-12 in 1940.  He finished with a 253-154 career record,
and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947.  Not bad for a screwball!


Miller Huggins
Second Baseman, Cin (N) 1904-09, StL (N) 1910-16.  Manager, StL (N) 1913-17,
NY (A) 1918-29

Huggins wasn't a bad little second baseman for thirteen years in the NL, but
his main claim to fame is as manager of the Yankees' "Murderers' Row" of the
1920s.
     He began as the Cardinals' manager in 1913.  The Redbirds had never won a
pennant up till then, and Hug didn't change the status quo.  He did, however,
twice get them as high as third.  That earned him a chance with the Yankees in
1918.  New York was another team that had never won a pennant but had some
prospects for improvement.  Hug got them up to fourth and then third in 1919.
     The Yankees bought Babe Ruth in 1920, and when they finished third went
out and bought more talent.  By 1921 they were ready.  Almost as interesting
as the yearly pennant races was the relationship between the five-four,
140-pound Huggins and his overgrown Peck's Bad Boy, Ruth.  Hug fought with
him, fined him, suspended him, was hung over the rear platform of trains by
him, and above all won pennants with him--six of them in eight years,
1921-1928, including three world championships.  In 1925 Babe was making
$52,000 and hitting .246, when he stayed out three nights in a row.  Hug
called Babe and all the players into the dugout and slapped a $5,000 fine on
him, ten times the previous record.  Ruth complained to owner Jacob Ruppert,
who backed Hug.  The fine stuck.  The Babe apologized.
     Many consider Hug's 1927 Yankees the greatest team of all time.  Both his
1927 and 1928 teams swept the World Series in four straight games.
     The little guy died suddenly of blood poisoning in 1929.  Even Ruth cried
at the news.  Their monuments now stand side by side in Yankee Stadium's
center field.  In 1964 Huggins joined Ruth in the Hall of Fame.


William Hulbert
National League Founder, President 1877-82

Hulbert's Hall of Fame plaque is incorrectly identified as "Morgan Bulkeley."
The real Bulkeley was a figurehead president in the NL's first year; Hulbert
founded the National League.  What they did in Cooperstown was sort of like
citing that dog that used to listen to "his master's voice" as the inventor of
the phonograph.
     From 1871 to 1875, the loose, rowdy, gambler-ridden National Association
made a stab at being a league.  Hulbert, the Chicago team owner, thought it
might be nice to have a league with enforced rules, regular schedules,
civilized behavior, and scores that weren't known on the mornings of the
games.  In 1876 he called together some like-minded owners, convinced them
there was hope for the future, and formed the National League.  The only
mistake he made was to get Bulkeley from Hartford to pretend to be president
as a sop to the eastern teams.  Hulbert had a problem with the east; he'd just
lured four of Boston's best players to Chicago.
     Well, the next year--after Chicago had won the first NL pennant--Bulkeley
didn't show up at the league meeting, so there was nothing to do but elect
Hulbert as president.  He did things like kick New York and Philadelphia out
of the league for failing to fulfill their schedules, ban four players for
life for fixing games, come down hard on drunks and rowdies, and generally run
things with a firm hand until his death in 1882.
     In the 1800s, he was referred to as the "Savior of the Game," which is a
bit much but beats "What's-his-name-from-Hartford" hands down.


Jim "Catfish" Hunter
Pitcher, KC (A) 1965-67, Oak (A) 1968-74, NY (A) 1975-79

Hunter was the ace of the A's great teams in the first half of the 1970s and
helped the Yankees win three straight pennants in the second half of the
decade.  And he started as a batting practice pitcher!
     In 1964 A's owner Charles O. Finley signed Hunter to a $50,000 bonus
contract.  And because Finley thought "Jim Hunter" lacked oomph and because
his bonus baby liked to hunt and fish, the owner hung the nickname "Catfish"
on him.  Considering the possibilities in the animal kingdom, it could have
been worse.
     In his first season, the eighteen-year-old righthander pitched only
batting practice for the A's.  At one point, Finley had a publicity photo
taken with Hunter sitting on the lap of Satchel Paige, who was sitting in a
rocker.  Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the joke.
     In 1965 the nineteen-year-old Hunter became a regular starter for the A's
and went 8-8.  The next year he was named to the AL All-Star team; his record
was 9-11 with the seventh-place A's.  He pitched a perfect game in 1968 but
didn't have his first winning season until 1970, when he was 18-14.  By then
Finley had moved the A's to Oakland, and his young players were becoming
stars.
     Starting in 1971, Hunter was 21-11, 21-7, and 21-5, and he won the Cy
Young Award in 1974 with a 25-12 mark and a league-leading 2.49 ERA.  The A's
won pennants and world championships from 1972 to 1974.  But all was not happy
in A's-ville.  Hunter sued Finley for breach of contract and ended up winning
a bigger award than the Cy Young:  he was declared a free agent and signed a
five-year contract with the Yankees for an estimated $3.75 million.
     His best year in New York was his first, 25-14, his fifth straight 20-win
season.  He slumped after that, but was still a useful starter in the three
pennant-winning seasons (1976-1978).  After the 1979 season, he retired. His
career totals were 224-166.  In 1987 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.


Monford "Monte" Irvin
Outfielder, Negro Leagues, 1938-48, Newark Eagles, NY (N) 1949-55,
Chi (N) 1956

Irvin got to the New York Giants after a fine career in the Negro Leagues,
where he was credited with two batting titles with the Newark Eagles, .396 in
1941 and .398 in 1946.  In the latter year, Irvin played shortstop for Newark,
and he and second baseman Larry Doby helped bring the Eagles the black world
championship of 1946 over Satchel Paige's Kansas City Monarchs.
     Irvin signed with the New York Giants in 1949 and played briefly with the
team that year.  He was thirty years old, and all agree that his skills had
diminished from the level he had shown in the Negro Leagues.  The "diminished"
Irvin hit .299 in 1950.  In 1951 he upped that to .312, led the NL in RBIs
with 121, and knocked out 24 homers.  Down the stretch, as the Giants chased
the Dodgers to a playoff and ultimate victory, he hit over .400.  In the World
Series, he hit .458 and even stole home in the opening game.
     A broken leg in 1952 almost ended Irvin's career, but he bounced back
with .323 in 1953.  In eight years but only five full seasons, his NL batting
average was .293, with 99 homers.
     In 1968 Irvin joined the Commissioner's Office as a public relations
expert.  Irvin represented Commissioner Kuhn at Atlanta when Henry Aaron broke
Babe Ruth's home run record.
     Irvin was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973.