Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0003/00035.txt

Text File | 1994-02-24 | 62KB | 1,099 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00035}
$Title{Lives of the Players:  M}
$Author{}
$Subject{Mack Mackey MacPhail Madlock Magee Maglie Maloney Mantle Manush
Maranville Marberry Marichal Maris Marquard Marshall Martin Mathews
Mattingly Mathewson Mays Mazeroski McCarthy McCormick McCovey McGinnity
McGraw McKechnie McPhee McRae Medwick Mendez Messersmith Miller Minoso
Mize Morgan Morris Munson Murphy Murray Musial}
$Log{
Bill Madlock*0036101.scf
Jim Maloney*0036301.scf
Mickey Mantle*0036601.scf
Heinie Manush*0036701.scf
Rabbit Maranville*0036801.scf
Fred "Firpo" Marberry*0036901.scf
Juan Marichal*0037001.scf
Roger Maris*0037201.scf
Rube Marquard*0037301.scf
Mike Marshall*0037401.scf
Billy Martin*0037501.scf
Eddie Mathews*0037601.scf
Don Mattingly*0037901.scf
Christy Mathewson*0037701.scf
Carl Mays*0038301.scf
Willie Mays*0038401.scf
Bill Mazeroski*0038501.scf
Joe McCarthy (left), Bill Terry, and Jake Ruppert*0039001.scf
Tommy McCarthy*0039101.scf
Willie McCovey*0039301.scf
Joe McGinnity*0039801.scf
John McGraw*0039901.scf
Hal McRae*0040501.scf
Andy Messersmith*0040901.scf
Minnie Minoso*0041501.scf
Johnny Mize*0041701.scf
Joe Morgan*0042301.scf
Jack Morris*0042601.scf
Eddie Murray*0043201.scf
Stan "The Man" Musial*0043401.scf
Willie Mays' spectacular 1954 World Series catch (with audio)*0038401.scf,56494032.aud}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Lives of the Players:  M


Connie Mack (Cornelius McGillicuddy)
Catcher, Was (N) 1886-89, Buf (P), 1890, Pit (N) 1891-96.
Manager, Pit (N) 1894-96, Phi (A) 1901-50.

For fifty years Mack managed the Philadelphia A's, building and destroying two
dynasties.  He had some of the greatest and some of the worst teams in
history--his 1916 A's lost 117 games.  Mack finished first nine times and last
sixteen times.  His lifetime 3,731-3,948 record is first among all managers in
both wins and losses.
     A lean, sweet-faced man in derby hat and stiff collar, even in the
dugout, he was known to everyone as "Mr. Mack."  To some he was a skinflint.
But lack of money was his lifelong problem.  With a modest fortune behind him,
he might have dominated the AL, as the Yankees did in the 1920s and 1930s.
     Born during the American Civil War, he quit school in the sixth grade to
work in a cotton mill.  He was a weak-hitting (.245) catcher for a while in
the 1880s before sinking his life savings in Buffalo of the Players League.
When the league folded after one year, Mack was wiped out.
     After three years of managing lackluster Pittsburgh in the 1890s, and a
four-year stint with Milwaukee of the Western League, he was given the
Philadelphia franchise in the new AL in 1901, with backing from Ben Shibe.
Some said the team would be a "White Elephant," a symbol of wasted capital,
but Mack brought the A's in first in 1902.  The White Elephant became the
team's symbol.  He developed stars such as Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, Chief
Bender, Eddie Collins, and Home Run Baker and won five flags in ten years,
1905-1914.
     John McGraw's Giants beat him in the 1905 World Series, but Mack got
revenge in 1911 and 1913.
     But the Miracle Braves of 1914 shocked him in four straight; the Federal
League was raiding his stars and bidding salaries up.  Mack began selling his
stars, plunged to the bottom in 1915, and stumbled in last for seven years in
a row.  Anyone else would have been canned, but Connie was, after all, a
stockholder.
     Patiently Mack founded another dynasty with Foxx, Simmons, and Cochrane,
and even shelled out a record $100,600 for Lefty Grove.  They brought him
three more flags, 1929-1931, before the Depression broke, and he sold his
stars to pay the rent.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937.  He was still managing in
1950 at eighty-seven, still looking for that third dynasty.  New York gave him
a tickertape parade.  He died in 1956 at the age of ninety-three, after his
heirs had sold the club to a corporation in Kansas City.


Raleigh "Biz" Mackey
Catcher, Negro League, 1918-47, San Antonio Giants, Indianapolis ABCs,
Hilldale, Darby Daisies, Philadelphia Stars, Washington Elite Giants,
Baltimore Elite Giants, Newark Eagles

Mackey is usually named as the finest defensive catcher of the Negro Leagues.
Josh Gibson hit with much more power, but Mackey was his superior with a
glove.  "He was the master of defense," his protege, Roy Campanella, would
say.  "For real catching skills, I don't think Cochrane was the master that
Mackey was."
     Pitchers loved to throw to Biz.  He built up their confidence, called
their game, "stole" borderline strikes for them.  A jolly, bubbly man, he
"jived" the hitters to take their mind off the game.  Infielders loved to
cover bases for him.  "You didn't have to move your glove six inches," Judy
Johnson said.  The ball reached second light as a feather.
     And he could hit, from either side--.364 in 1923, .363 in 1924, .317
lifetime.
     In 1935 Biz met fifteen-year-old Campanella and shaped him into a Hall of
Famer.  "You saw Campy catch, you saw Mackey," oldsters say.  In 1941 Biz
could still outpoll Campy in the balloting for the black All-Star Game by
30,000 votes.
     Biz retired as a forklift operator in Los Angeles.  When the Dodgers gave
Campy a "night" in 1959 before 93,000 fans at the Coliseum, Roy called on Biz
to stand and take their applause.  He died soon afterwards.


Larry MacPhail
Executive, Owner

Night ball, radio broadcasts, batting helmets, air travel, old-timers' day,
fireworks, three championship dynasties, loud feuds with his managers--the
chances are that anything that Bill Veeck, Charles Finley, or George
Steinbrenner thought up, Larry MacPhail had already done.
     Wounded and gassed in World War One, the fiery redhead had even tried to
kidnap the German Kaiser in a daring adventure.  (All he got was the Kaiser's
ashtray.)
     Back home Larry took over the Cardinals' Columbus farm team and pioneered
in the advent of night games and air travel by baseball clubs.  He also
slugged a cop in a hotel lobby and was fired by St. Louis.
     As general manager of Cincinnati in 1935, MacPhail brought the first
lights to a major league park ("Every night will be a Sunday") and laid the
groundwork for the Reds' champs of 1939-1940.
     Moving to the moribund Dodgers in 1938, Larry brought Red Barber in to
broadcast home games, hired manager Leo Durocher, and built a winner in 1941.
     After another tour in the Army as a colonel, MacPhail bought a one-third
interest in the Yankees.  He installed lights in Yankee Stadium and brought
the Yanks to a pennant and world championship in 1947.  During the victory
celebration, he engaged in a loud public brawl.  The next day his partners
terminated his contract as club administrator and bought him out.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1978.  His legacy lived on in his
son Lee, president of the AL (1974-1983), and grandson, Andy, general manager
of the Minnesota Twins.


Bill Madlock
Third Baseman, Tex (A) 1973, Chi (N) 1974-76, SF (N) 1977-79, Pit (N) 1979-85,
LA (N) 1985-87, Det (N) 1987

Madlock won four batting titles to put him in rarefied company.  The first two
came with the Cubs in 1975-1976.  Then after a disappointing two and a half
seasons in San Francisco, he was traded in mid-1979 to the Pirates and hit
.328 down the stretch to help them win the pennant.  In the World Series that
year, he hit .375.
     Although he won batting titles for the Pirates in 1981 and 1983, the team
slipped lower in the standings.  Many Pittsburgh fans placed some of the blame
on Madlock--unfairly it would seem.  He had never been a power hitter or an
outstanding fielder, but these failings became increasingly criticized as the
Pirates slumped.  He played with injuries, but when he sat out games, he was
accused of malingering.  Much of the criticism actually stemmed from his habit
of speaking his mind honestly about a deteriorating situation with the ball
club.  Pirate fans, not liking the message, wanted to shoot the messenger.
     He later helped Los Angeles and Detroit win division titles.


Sherry Magee
Outfielder, Phi (N) 1904-14, Bos (N) 1915-17, Cin (N) 1917-19

Magee was an excellent hitter in the dead-ball era.  He stole a lot of bases
(441), hit a lot of doubles (425), and led the league three times in RBIs,
twice in slugging average, and once in batting.  He finished his career in
1919 with a .291 career average and 1,182 RBIs.  His reputation would be
higher today except for two quirks of fate.  First, after eleven seasons with
the Phillies, he was traded to the Braves in 1915, just before the Phils'
first pennant and just after the "Miracle Braves" pennant, thus depriving him
of a World Series showcase.  Second, and worse, he is often confused with Lee
Magee, a contemporary who was banned from baseball on fixing charges.


Sal Maglie
Pitcher, NY (N) 1945, 1950-55, Cle (A) 1955-56, Bkn (N) 1956-57,
NY (A) 1957-58, StL (N) 1958

Maglie was one of the jumpers who signed with the Mexican League in 1946.  It
cost him a four-year suspension from the majors.  When he returned in 1950 at
age thirty-three, he was 18-4.
     He had a 23-6 mark in 1951, the year of the Miracle of Coogan's Bluff.
It was Sal who kept the Giants in the race the first half before their other
hurlers caught fire.
     In 1956 the thirty-nine-year-old Maglie stunned New York by moving to the
Dodgers, where he went 13-5.  Sal pitched one crucial September game against
fifth-place Philadelphia, when a loss would have put Brooklyn out of the race.
He responded with a no-hitter, and the Bums captured the flag.
     They called him "the Barber" because he shaved the hitters close with
inside pitches (and because he had a permanent five o'clock shadow himself).
As a coach, he passed on his philosophy to Jim Bouton:  "If you're 2-0 on a
guy, go ahead and flatten his ass."


Jim Maloney
Pitcher, Cin (N) 1960-70, Cal (A) 1971

Before a sore arm ended his career at age thirty-one, Maloney pitched three
no-hitters and five one-hitters.  Some say he was faster than Koufax.
     In 1963 he struck out eight straight Braves--Eddie Mathews was
eighth--before Hank Aaron grounded out.  Jim was 23-7 that year for the
fifth-place Reds.  (He also led in wild pitches, keeping the hitters honest.)
     Two years later he was 20-9, as Cincy finished fourth.  Two of his wins
were no-hitters; the first went ten innings against the last-place Mets before
two hits in the eleventh beat him 1-0.


Mickey Mantle
Outfielder, NY (A) 1951-68

The most powerful switch-hitter ever, Mantle was a magnificent talent who was
beset throughout his entire career by injuries.  A high school football injury
left him with a chronic bone infection in his legs.  He had a shoulder
operation, a broken foot, a torn hamstring.  He taped his legs every day he
played; even so, he sometimes took to the field in pants soaked with blood.
He compounded his injury problems by refusing to follow exercise programs and
partying into the wee hours with his Yankee buddies.  His attitude was "live
now"; no male member of his family had lived past forty.
     Joining the Yankees in 1951 as the designated successor to Joe DiMaggio,
Mantle had a difficult rookie year, was farmed out, and considered quitting
baseball.  A visit from his terminally ill father, who had named him Mickey
after Mickey Cochrane, convinced the young slugger to go on.  He returned to
the Yankees but injured a knee in the second game of the World Series that
year.
     In 1952 he began to show his awesome talent, hitting .311.  He quickly
became known for his tape measure home runs.  Among others during his career,
he walloped one to the facade on Yankee Stadium's roof, estimated at 600 feet,
hit a 565-footer in Washington, and blasted one in Chicago, which, Yankee
Manager Casey Stengel said left seats "flyin' around for five minutes."
     In eighteen seasons he twice topped 50 homers, led the AL in home runs
four times, and finished with a total of 536.  He scored a Triple Crown in
1956, played in twenty All-Star Games, and earned three MVP Awards (in 1956,
1957, and 1962).
     Mantle played in twelve World Series.  He hit the most Series homers
(18), scored the most runs (42), and batted in the most (40).
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1974.


Heinie Manush
Outfielder, Det (A) 1923-27, StL (A) 1928-30, Was (A) 1930-35, Bos (A) 1936,
Bkn (N) 1937-38, Pit (N) 1938-39

Manush was an outstanding hitter during the 1920s and 1930s with several AL
teams.  He compiled a lifetime batting average of .330.  A line drive hitter,
he knocked out more triples (160) than home runs (110).  As a Detroit rookie
in 1923, Heinie played beside Harry Heilmann and Ty Cobb, who gave him batting
tips.  Three years later he dueled Babe Ruth for the batting title.  He went 6
for 9 in the final doubleheader to hit .378 and beat the Babe by six points.
     In 1928 he cracked out 241 base hits to again hit .378 but lost the
batting crown to Goose Goslin by one point.  Two years later the two men would
be traded for each other.


Walter "Rabbit" Maranville
Shortstop, Bos (N) 1912-20, 1929-35, Pit (N) 1921-24, Chi (N) 1925,
Bkn (N) 1926, StL (N) 1927-28.  Manager, Chi (N) 1925

The real miracle behind the 1914 "Miracle Braves" was a hoppity little
five-five shortstop named Maranville (accent on the "an").  He hit only .246,
but he put on a nonpareil show at shortstop.
     Sporting a "vest pocket catch" and a better range than General Electric,
Rabbit handled more chances than any shortstop ever had before and teamed with
Evers to lead the league in double plays (far more than Evers had ever made
with Tinker and Chance).
     Maranville was sick for the first few weeks in 1914, as the Braves
stumbled in the cellar.  Then after July 14 he, and they, stormed to the
pennant.  In the World Series he even hit .308 as the Braves swept the mighty
A's in four straight.
     Braves' manager George Stallings hailed Maranville as another Cobb, but
the only way he might have had Cobb's bat would have been to swipe it from the
rack.  His career average was .258.  An incorrigible prankster, he was famous
for his mischief.  A free spirit, he was sometimes free with spirits; "there's
a lot less alcohol consumed since 1926," he once said, "because that's when I
stopped drinking."
     He played for twenty-three seasons and was considered a top gloveman to
the end.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1954.


Fred "Firpo" Marberry
Pitcher, Was (A) 1923-32, 1936, Det (A) 1933-35, NY (N) 1936

One of the earliest relief artists, Marberry was the forerunner of the great
relief pitchers of today.  Nicknamed for the Argentine fighter Luis Firpo,
Marberry had a similar, powerful physique.  He both started and relieved, but
his reputation was built on relieving as he led the AL in saves five times.
He helped Washington to two flags (1924-1925) and Detroit to one (1934).
     Marberry had 15 saves in 1924, plus 2 in the World Series, 15 more in
1925 as the Senators won again, and 22 in 1926.  He was 15-5 with 3 saves for
Detroit in 1934 to help them to their first flag in a quarter century, and he
ended with a 148-88 won-lost mark and 101 saves.


Juan Marichal
Pitcher, SF (N) 1960-73, Bos (A) 1974, LA (N) 1975

Facing Marichal was like facing a dozen different pitchers.  His high leg kick
was his trademark, but once the leg came down, the ball could zip toward the
batter from any angle--sidearm, three-quarters, over the top--as he delivered
fastballs, curves, and sliders in a multiplicity of speeds, yet always with
marvelous control.  From 1963 through 1969, the brilliant righthander from the
Dominican Republic was the major league's winningest pitcher.
     After winning 18 for the Giants in 1962, Marichal won 20 or more in six
of the next seven seasons.  He was 25-8 in 1963, including a no-hitter, to
lead the NL in wins and 25-6 in 1966 to lead in percentage.  In 1968 he was
back on top in wins:  26-9.  And the next season he led in ERA.  He completed
244 of his 457 starts; manager Al Dark said, "Put your club a run ahead in the
late innings, and Marichal is the greatest pitcher I ever saw."
     He did not have a losing season until 1972.  He averaged nearly 6
strikeouts per nine innings while walking less than 2.
     Usually easy-going, with a ready, impish grin, Marichal's reputation was
tarnished by one out-of-character moment.  In 1965, during a game with the
Dodgers, he was brushed back by the pitch.  Then the return throw from Dodger
catcher John Roseboro whizzed close by his ear.  Suddenly getting it from in
front and behind, Marichal turned and clubbed Roseboro on the head with his
bat.  He was fined $1,750, an NL record at the time, and suspended for nine
days.
     In 1983 Marichal was named to the Hall of Fame.


Roger Maris
Outfielder, Cle (A) 1957-58, KC (A) 1958-59, NY (A) 1960-66, StL (N) 1967-68

Maris may never be forgiven.  He broke the Babe's sacrosanct record of 60 home
runs in a season.  How dare he!  When Hank Aaron passed Ruth's career total,
there was anger among the unreasoning, but the 714 never had the magic of 60.
And Aaron roared past and added 30 more after he broke it.  Maris topped 60 by
only one in a season eight games longer than the Babe's.  And Aaron was a
great player.  Maris wasn't.
     "I don't want to be Babe Ruth," Maris protested.  He needn't have said
it.  There were too many others anxious to prove that he wasn't.  So Maris
struck more home runs than any other major league batter had ever hit in a
single season and spent the rest of his life hearing what a bum he was.
Commissioner Ford Frick even ordered an asterisk placed beside Roger's 61,
though he might have preferred a scarlet letter.
     Maris was no bum.  He was an intelligent, likable man, a bit reserved--a
private sort of person--totally unprepared to turn the media blitz that
drowned him to his advantage.  He was a talented player.  All right, not a
great player, but a good one.  He was sure in the outfield, with a fine arm.
He never hit for much of an average, and he ended his twelve-year career with
only a .260 mark, but he had good home run power.  In eleven other seasons he
totaled 214 homers.
     He was AL MVP the year before his 61-homer season, with 39 home runs and
a league-leading 112 RBIs.  In 1961, besides the homers, he led in runs (132)
and RBIs (142), so his second MVP wasn't just for breaking Ruth's record.  In
1962, he had 33 homers and 100 RBIs.  He had some injuries after that, and the
numbers fell off, but he was the regular right fielder when healthy for five
straight Yankees pennant winners (1960-1964).  He finished up in 1967-1968, as
a regular for two Cardinals teams that won flags.
     If he'd hit 59, he'd have been a hero.


Richard "Rube" Marquard
Pitcher, NY (N) 1908-15, Bkn (N) 1915-20, Cin (N) 1921, Bos (N) 1922-25

The Giants bought Marquard from Indianapolis for a record $11,000 in 1908 and
rushed him into the pennant race before he was ready.  The result was an
"$11,000 Lemon" until careful nurturing by coach Wilbert Robinson turned him
into a "beauty" in 1911.  Rube was 24-7 to help win the flag.  It was the
first of three 20-victory years for the lefthander and three straight flags
for the Giants.  In the 1911 Series he had a 1.54 ERA but lost his only
decision.
     In 1912, when he was 26-11, Marquard won his first 19 games to tie Tim
Keefe's record.  He actually won 20 if modern scoring rules are applied; one
"win" was scored a save.  In the World Series that year, he had an 0.50 ERA
and won two of the Giants' three victories.
     In 1913 he was 23-10, giving him 73 victories in three years.
     Those were his three best years.  He had a brief comeback with Brooklyn
under Robinson in 1916.  He was 13-6, and the Dodgers won the flag.  He upped
that to 19-12 the next year, but led the NL in losses in 1918.  He helped the
Dodgers to another pennant with a 10-7 mark in 1920.
     Although nicknamed after another star lefthander, Rube Waddell, Marquard
was no Rube.  He was sophisticated, a flashy dresser, no drinker (unlike
Waddell), and married a Broadway actress.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971.


Mike Marshall
Pitcher, Det (A) 1967, Sea (A) 1969, Hou (N) 1970, Mon (N) 1970-73,
LA (N) 1974-76, Atl (N) 1976-77, Tex (A) 1977, Min (A) 1978-80, NY (N) 1981

A doctor of physiology, Marshall jogged four miles a day and set a record
pitching in 106 games in 1974.  That year he was 15-12 with 21 saves for the
Dodgers, all tops in the NL for relievers that year.  That performance earned
him the Cy Young Award, the first ever won by a reliever.  Two other times
(1973 and 1979) he went over 90 games.
     Mike designed his own conditioning program, but his education intimidated
coaches and managers.  He fought with Mayo Smith, Sal Maglie, and Harry
Walker, with little success, until he joined Montreal under Gene Mauch, who
let him do what he wanted.  Marshall's saves shot up to 23 in 1971 and 31 in
1973.
     In Minnesota in 1979 he used his screwball to save 32 games, his all-time
high.
     He ended his fourteen-season career with 92 relief wins and 188 saves.


Billy Martin
Second Base, NY (A) 1950-57, KC (A) 1957, Det (A) 1958, Cle (A) 1959,
Cin (N) 1960, Mil (N) 1961, Min (A) 1961.  Manager, Min (A) 1969,
Det (A) 1971-73, Tex (A) 1974-75, NY (A) 1975-78, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988,
Oak (A) 1980-83

"Everybody looks up to Billy Martin," one player said.  "That's because he
probably just knocked them down."
     As a Yankee second baseman in the 1950s, he earned a reputation for
light-hitting, heads-up play, and ready fists.  He'd once considered becoming
a middleweight boxer, and he was only too anxious to demonstrate his prowess.
A brawl in the Copacabana night club in 1957 led to a trade to Kansas City and
four final nomadic seasons.
     He became a major league manager with the Twins in 1969, and the Martin
pattern emerged.  His clubs invariably improved their record from the previous
year--the Twins jumped to the division title.  Then Martin would be involved
in a well-publicized fight, usually involving alcohol, and would be fired.
One season in Minnesota, three in Detroit, two in Texas, and three in Oakland.
     His saddest moments came with the Yankees, where he was hired and fired
five times.  Hired first in 1975, he took them to the pennant in 1976 and a
world championship in 1977, only to be fired after 94 games in 1978.  He was
rehired in 1979 for the final two-thirds of the season, then fired again.
After his three years in Oakland, he was back with the Yankees for all of
1983, most of 1985, and part of 1988.
     Martin, when sober and with his temper under control, was a bright,
articulate man.  He had many friends who were intensely loyal, and he showed
himself to be a talented manager.  Unfortunately his destructive side had one
enduring victim--himself.  He died on Christmas Day, 1989.


Eddie Mathews
Third Baseman, Bos (N) 1952, Mil (N) 1953-65, Atl (N) 1966, Hou (N) 1967,
Det (A) 1967-68.  Manager, Atl (N) 1972-74

Lefthanded hitting Mathews was the greatest home run hitter among third
basemen until Mike Schmidt.  Mathews' 512 homers made him only the seventh
man to hit 500, and he had four seasons with over 40, including league-leading
marks of 47 in 1953 and 46 in 1959.  Although he hit over .300 three times,
his career average was only .271; however, he supplemented his 2,315 hits with
1,444 walks, leading the NL four times.
     He played fifteen of his seventeen seasons in a Braves uniform, beginning
with the team's last season in Boston and ending with its first year in
Atlanta.  In between were thirteen seasons in Milwaukee.  He combined with
Hank Aaron to form perhaps the best one-two punch of all time.  Their total of
863 home runs while together ranks ahead of Mays-McCovey (800) and Ruth-Gehrig
(772).  Mathews usually batted third ahead of Aaron to take advantage of his
ability to draw walks.  He scored 1,509 runs, often being plated by Aaron.
Eddie drove in 1,453 runs himself.
     Curiously, with all his outstanding seasons in Milwaukee, two of the most
ordinary were the pennant winning years of 1957-1958.
     The handsome slugger was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1978.


Don Mattingly
First Baseman, NY (A) 1982-

Mattingly won the AL batting title with a .343 mark in 1984, his first full
major league season, and he was one of the most consistent hitters in
baseball until a 1990 back injury took some of his ability. Up to then
perhaps no hitter in the game combined high
average with home run power to the same extent. He's topped 200 hits three
times, 30 homers three times, and 100 RBIs five times. His 145 RBIs in 1985
led the AL. He led in doubles in 1984-1986. The 1985 MVP, he has been voted
the top player in baseball in more than one poll.
     Mattingly made headlines in 1988 with his criticism of the atmosphere
Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner produced on the ballclub.


Christy Mathewson
Pitcher, NY (N) 1900-16, Cin (N) 1916.  Manager, Cin (N) 1916-18

One of the first five men elected to Cooperstown in 1936, Matty was handsome,
intelligent, clean-cut, clean-living, the most popular pitcher of his day and
possibly the best.  They called Matty "Big Six," after New York's most famous
fire engine.  In an era of roughnecks, Matty was a college man who sang in the
Bucknell glee club, belonged to the literary society, was president of his
class, and could beat twelve foes at checkers at the same time.  He refused to
pitch on Sunday.  The childless John McGraw virtually made him his son.  Matty
was the model for the Frank Merriwell of Yale books and the "Baseball Joe"
stories that molded young boys' characters when Great Grandpa was a kid.
Christy's own book, Pitching in a Pinch, is still a delight to read.
     Connie Mack once compared Mathewson with Walter Johnson, who was also one
of the first five in the Hall of Fame.  "With Johnson, it was brute force,"
Mack said.  "With Mathewson, it was knowledge and judgment, perfect control,
and form."
     Mathewson was famous for his "fadeaway," a screwball.  With it, Matty won
30 three years in a row (1903-1905).  He won 37 in 1908 and had nine other
seasons with 20 or more wins.  He brought the Giants five pennants.  Matty's
78 shutouts are surpassed only by Walter Johnson and Grover Alexander.  In the
1905 World Series, Matty pitched three shutouts in six days, giving up just 14
hits--and only one walk!
     Mathewson had great control.  In 1908 he had 391 innings pitched, 259
strikeouts, and only 42 walks.  In 1913 he averaged only 0.6 walks per nine
innings; he went 68 straight innings without a walk.  He once won a game with
67 pitches.
     Yet he wasn't out for records and always held something in reserve in
those pre-relief days.
     Before the Perrys and Niekros, Christy and his brother Henry held the
record for wins by brothers--372 by Christy, none by Henry, whose big league
career produced only one decision.  Christy joined the Army in World War One
and was the victim of poison gas.  He suffered pulmonary tuberculosis brought
on by the gas, and died in 1925 at the age of forty-five.


Carl Mays
Pitcher, Bos (A) 1915-19, NY (A) 1919-23, Cin (N) 1924-28, NY (N) 1929

Mays, of course, is the man whose submarine pitch killed Cleveland shortstop
Ray Chapman in 1920.  That tragic incident has obscured the fact that he was
one of the best pitchers of his day.
     Mays had a reputation for throwing at batters--and once he threw at a
fan--but he denied intent to hit Chapman, and the game situation--leadoff
batter, start of the inning--argues strongly that it was an accident.
Actually, Mays hit only seven batters that year, far from the league high.
Still, at least two teams threatened not to play against him after that.  But
Carl calmly won his next start 8-0.  He was 26-11 for the Yankees that year,
and 27-9 the next season when the Yanks won their first pennant.
     A morose loner, Mays was unpopular with teammates and extremely so with
fans after the Chapman tragedy.  Mays "has no friends and doesn't want any,"
one player said of him.  Mays' response:  That's what made him a great
pitcher.  In addition to his two great Yankee years, he earlier won 21 and 22
with the Red Sox, and in the mid-1920s won 20 and 19 for the Reds.  He played
on six pennant winners at Boston and New York.


Willie Mays
Outfielder, Negro League, 1948-50, Birmingham Black Barons, NY (N) 1951-52,
1954-57, SF (N) 1958-72, NY (N) 1972-73

The most exciting player of the 1960s, Mays hit 660 home runs, raced around
the bases or into deepest center field, his hat flying off behind him.  "The
only man who could have caught that ball," one announcer said, "just hit it."
     His catch off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series is sometimes cited as
the greatest ever--a long sprint, an over-the-shoulder catch near the wall 460
feet away, a spin, and a bullet throw back to the infield.  The hat flew off,
of course--Willie later admitted he wore hats a size too small to make them do
that.
     New Yorkers gloried in their three great center fielders, "Willie,
Mickey, and the Duke."  The most ebullient--and to many the best--Willie was
the "Say Hey Kid" who played stickball with the kids in Harlem and hardball in
the Polo Grounds at night.
     He won eleven straight Gold Gloves and set the record for career putouts
by an outfielder and the NL record for total chances.
     He also stole 337 bases, led the league four times, and was the first man
in the 300/300 club--300 steals, 300 homers.  He was one of the few
stolen-base kings who wasn't spinning his wheels, with a 77 percent success
ratio (anything below 66 percent is a net negative).
     Willie came up to the Giants in 1951.  He started by going 0 for 22.  But
manager Leo Durocher stuck with him, pepped him up, and both Willie and the
Giants caught fire.  The team came from 13 1/2 games behind to catch the
Dodgers and win the playoff on Bobby Thomson's home run.  "The only reason I
pitched to Thomson," Dodger manager Chuck Dressen said, "was because Willie
was the next hitter."
     After military service in 1953, Mays returned to lead the Giants to the
1954 pennant with an NL-high .345 and 41 homers.  He was named MVP.  "If he
could cook," said Leo, "I'd marry him."
     Willie led the league in homers four times, topping 50 twice.
     Moving to San Francisco in 1958 hurt his home run totals (as Aaron's move
to Atlanta helped his).  Still, Willie slugged four in one game in 1961. In
1962 he hit 49 with 141 RBIs to lead the Giants to a playoff victory over Los
Angeles.
     In 1965 he slugged 52 homers, 17 of them in August, to pass 500 and win
his second MVP.  The Sporting News named him the Player of the 1960s.
     In 1979 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.


Bill Mazeroski
Second Baseman, Pit (N) 1956-72

Possibly the greatest-fielding second baseman who ever lived, Maz's 1,706
double plays is the all-time record for second-sackers.  Around Pittsburgh,
they called him "no-hands"--the ball seemed to go from the shortstop's shovel
pass and ricochet to first with him hardly touching it.  He led the league in
assists nine times, double plays eight, putouts five, and fielding average
three.
     Bill also hit the most dramatic World Series homer ever struck, a
sayonara blow in the ninth to win the seventh game of the 1960 Series and make
the Pirates world champions.
     Generally he wasn't too bad at bat, and in a friendlier park he would
have been even better.  He had a respectable .260 career batting average,
with fair home run power.  His Series-ending homer in 1960 was his second
round-tripper of the Series:  his two-run blast provided the margin of
victory in Game One.


Joe McCarthy
Manager, Chi (N) 1926-30, NY (A) 1931-46, Bos (A) 1948-50

If McCarthy was a "push-button manager," as rival skipper Jimmy Dykes once
said, no manager ever pushed them more effectively.  In twenty-four years as a
major league manager, his teams won seven world championships, nine pennants,
and never finished out of the first division.  His .614 winning percentage for
nearly 3,500 games is the record, as is his .698 for nine World Series.
     A minor league second baseman who never played a game in the majors,
McCarthy won American Association pennants at Louisville and was hired by the
Cubs in 1926.  He instituted discipline on the free-spirited club and in 1929
led them to the NL pennant.  They lost the World Series to the A's.  The
following year McCarthy resigned in September with the Cubs in second place
     The Yankees hired him for the 1931 season expressly to bring the team
back to the heights it had enjoyed in the 1920s.  Despite some resentment by
some of the older Yankee players, including Babe Ruth, who had expected to be
named manager, McCarthy brought the team home second in his first season and
won the pennant and his first world championship in 1932.
     He kept them in second place for the next three years while retooling the
team.  By 1936, with the arrival of rookie Joe DiMaggio, he had a dynasty. His
Yankees won four straight world championships, slipped to third in 1940, then
rebounded for three more pennants and two World Series wins.  He resigned in
1945 because of ill health and a personality clash with new Yankee owner Larry
MacPhail.
     McCarthy accepted the job as manager of the Red Sox in 1948.  The team
had an awesome lineup of hitters but lacked pitching.  Nevertheless he
finished second two years in a row, losing the pennant in a playoff in 1948
and on the last day of the season in 1949.  He retired during the 1950 season
for health reasons.
     Nicknamed "Marse Joe," McCarthy was a strict disciplinarian as a manager,
but a warm, friendly man in his off-field moments.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957.


Tommy McCarthy
Outfielder, Bos (U) 1884, Bos (N) 1885, 1892-95, Phi (N) 1886-87, StL (AA)
1888-91, Bkn (N) 1896.  Manager, StL (AA) 1890

McCarthy broke in with the Union Association in 1884, but did not really
establish himself until he joined the American Association's St. Louis Browns
in 1888.  He helped the Browns win the '88 pennant and gained a reputation as
an outstanding defensive player.  He stole 93 bases in 1888 and led the AA in
stolen bases in 1890.
     His greatest years were with Boston's pennant-winning teams of the early
1890s.  He and Hugh Duffy became known as the "Heavenly Twins" for their
defensive plays in the outfield.  Although McCarthy hit .346 in 1893 and .349
the following year, he was not a great hitter; he averaged .292 for his
career.  His strengths were his speed, his powerful throwing arm, and his
scientific approach.  He was an excellent bunter, and he and Duffy were
brilliant hit-and-run artists and deadly on the double steal.  McCarthy also
popularized the practice of trapping fly balls and throwing runners out at
second, sometimes starting double plays.
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1946.


Jim McCormick
Pitcher, Ind (N) 1878, Cle (N) 1879-84, Cin (U) 1884, Prov (N) 1885,
Chi (N) 1885-87.  Manager, Cle (N) 1879-80

Way back in 1880, husky, mustachioed McCormick was probably the MVP of the
young NL.  He won 45, tops in the league, hurled 658 innings, held hitters to
a 1.85 ERA--and managed Cleveland to a third-place finish.  He was twenty-four
years old.
     For much of his career, 1878-1887, Jim suffered with losing clubs--he
lost 40 games for sixth-place Cleveland in 1879.  Still, he was ERA king
twice.  Not until 1885-1886 did he land with a flag winner, Anson's White Sox.
He rewarded them with seasons of 21-7 and 31-11.
     His totals for his ten-year career were 265-214, 2.43 ERA.


Willie McCovey
First Baseman, SF (N) 1959-73, 1977-80, SD (N) 1974-76, Oak (A) 1976

McCovey slugged 18 grand slams, an NL record, and led the league in homers
three times, but according to Willie "the hardest ball I ever hit" was an out.
The Giants were losing 1-0 in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1962
World Series, but they had the tying run on third and the winning run at
second.  Willie lined a bullet at Yankees' second baseman Bobby Richardson for
the final out.  A foot either way and the Giants would have been champs.
     In the second game of the Series, McCovey had blasted one against a
Candlestick Park light tower off the same pitcher, Ralph Terry.
     Although extremely shy in his first years, Willie became a friendly,
gregarious team leader.  He hit 521 homers and batted in 1,555 runs during his
twenty-two seasons.
     Willie broke in 1959 with a perfect 4 for 4 against Robin Roberts.  He
hit .354 that year to win the Rookie of the Year Award.
     Ten years later he was MVP with 45 homers and 126 RBIs, both
league-leading totals, and a .320 batting average.
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1986.


Joe "Iron Man" McGinnity
Pitcher, Bal (N) 1899, Bkn (N) 1900, Bal (A) 1901-02, NY (N) 1902-08

McGinnity got his nickname from working in an iron foundry in his youth, but
it just as easily could have come from winning seven games in six days in the
minors in 1896, or from pitching five doubleheaders in the majors.  Joe also
pitched a two-year record for this century of 434 innings in 1903 and 408 the
next year, and he was still hurling minor league ball at the age of
fifty-four.
     Three of those doubleheader victories came in one month--August 1, 8, and
31, 1903.  Joe won a league-leading 31 games for the second-place Giants that
year.  He pitched 44 complete games.
     McGinnity threw an underhand curveball, with a motion so low his hand
almost touched the ground.  The fastball broke down, and the curve appeared to
break up.  Joe called it "Old Sal," and it may have put less strain on his arm
than an overhand curve would have.  He pitched for twenty-six years, though
only ten in the majors.  After leaving the Giants, Joe could still win 29 and
30 in the International League.  He won 246 in the majors, but his total wins,
majors and minors, came to 471.
     McGinnity won 28 games as a rookie with Baltimore in 1899, but his
greatest seasons were with the Giants (1902-08), for whom he won 31 in 1903
and 35 in 1904.
     McGinnity had a reputation for throwing at hitters.  He scored one hit
batsman for every 19 men he faced--a record.
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1946.


John McGraw
Third Baseman, Bal (AA) 1891, Bal (N) 1892-99, StL (N) 1900, Bal (A) 1901-02,
NY (N) 1902-06.  Manager, Bal (N) 1899, Bal (A) 1901-02, NY (N) 1902-32

A brawling, brilliant bully, McGraw and his Giants won ten pennants in
twenty-one years, 1904-24.  He dominated the NL for three decades as the
Giants' manager after nearly a decade as a scrappy third baseman for the old
Orioles of the 1890s.
     As a manager, his strategic cleverness and his determination to control
every aspect of his team won him the title "Little Napoleon."  In 1892 McGraw
joined the Baltimore Orioles of Keeler, Jennings, Hanlon et al.  Mac could
trip and spike with the rest of them, and he and Keeler are among those who
are credited with inventing the hit-and-run.  The O's won the flag in
1894-1896, with McGraw hitting .325 or better each year, the first of nine
straight years he would hit .300.  The O's won the Temple Cup playoffs in
1896-1897.
     In 1899 Mac served as player-manager and hit .391; most of the star
players had been sent to Brooklyn and the O's team finished fourth.  Of all
nineteenth-century players, no one had a higher on-base percentage than
McGraw's .460.
     He led Baltimore in the new AL 1901-1902, finishing fifth and seventh.
John also fought with umpires and when league president Ban Johnson backed the
umps, Mac jumped to New York in the NL, taking fellow Irishmen Joe McGinnity
and Roger Bresnahan with him.
     The Giants finished last in 1902, but leaped all the way to second in
1903 and first in 1904.  McGraw haughtily refused to play a World Series
against Johnson's AL.  Mac won again in 1905, and this time he played the
Series and demolished the AL Athletics in five games.
     He lost a pennant narrowly in 1908 after the Merkle "boner," but stoutly
defended the young first baseman from criticism.
     A master psychologist, McGraw played on superstition and in 1911 put a
Kansas lunatic, Charlie Faust, in uniform as a good luck mascot; the team
charged from third place to the flag, the first of three straight.
     By 1911 McGraw was already recognized as a managerial genius, he drove
his players hard, called pitches from the bench, and was one of the first
managers to grasp the concept of relief pitching, using Claude Elliott, George
Ferguson, and Doc Crandall in that role in the first decade of the century.
He won another pennant in 1917, though the Giants were upended in the World
Series.
     McGraw captured an unprecedented four straight pennants in 1921-1924, a
record that would stand until Casey Stengel broke it in 1953.  But though the
Giants stayed in the first division through most of his remaining years, he
had won his last flag.  Players began to rebel against his vicious, profane
tongue lashings.  In 1932 the Giants dived to eighth and he resigned after
thirty-three seasons as a manager.  His 2,784 career victories rank second
only to Connie Mack.
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1937.


Bill McKechnie
Third Baseman, Pit (N) 1907, 1910-12, 1918, 1920, Bos (N) 1913, NY (A) 1913,
Ind (F) 1914, Nwk (F) 1915, NY (N) 1916, Cin (N) 1916-17.  Manager, Nwk (F)
1915, Pit (N) 1922-26, StL (N) 1928-29, Bos (N) 1930-37, Cin (N) 1938-46

A light-hitting infielder during his playing career, McKechnie became one of
baseball's most respected managers, winning pennants with three different NL
teams.  Known as "the Deacon" because of his years singing in a church choir
and his cadaverous "parson" looks, his virtues as a skipper were his deep
knowledge of baseball, his likable personality, and his infinite patience.
     His first manager's job was with Newark in the short-lived Federal
League.  In 1922 he took over in Pittsburgh and brought them from the second
division to a pennant and World Championship in 1925.  When the team slipped
to third in 1926, he was fired.
     He was hired by the Cardinals in 1928 and immediately won the pennant.
However, the team lost the World Series in four games.  Midway through 1929 he
was fired again.
     In 1930 he was hired as skipper of the Boston Braves and stayed for eight
years.  Although Boston was the only NL team he managed that did not win a
pennant, he earned wide respect for his efforts in sometimes making "silk
purses" out of the material at hand.  When he led them to fifth place in 1937,
he was named Manager of the Year.
     McKechnie moved to Cincinnati in 1938, the scene of his greatest teams.
He won pennants in 1939 and 1940 and the World Series in the latter year.
     McKechnie was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962.


John "Bid" McPhee
Second Baseman, Cin (AA) 1882-89, Cin (N) 1890-99.  Manager, Cin (N) 1901-02

McPhee was utterly boring.  He played eighteen seasons before 1900, every one
at the same position, second base; every one for the same team, Cincinnati
(the team changed leagues in 1890 or McPhee would have stayed in the same
one).  He played hard but clean.  In all of his eighteen seasons he was never
fined.  He was never even thrown out of a game!  At a time when rough and
rowdy baseballers were providing a wealth of wicked anecdotes, McPhee showed
up every day in shape, stayed sober, did his job, and went home to a good
night's sleep.  The only thing remotely interesting about him was that he
refused to wear a glove until 1897, more than a decade after they'd become
common.
     Oh yes, he was an excellent leadoff man, walked a lot, and scored 1,678
runs on his .271 batting average.  He led the AA in triples in 1887 and
totaled 188 for his career.  But except for an obvious ability to score runs
and an assumption that such an ability might lead to a number of victories, he
really wasn't anything special with a bat.  See?  Boring.
     He was at his most monotonous at second base.  Game after game, season
after season, batters would knock balls his way, and he just kept plucking
them from the ground or the air and putting the batters out.  He did this with
such tedious regularity that he led his league's second basemen in fielding
ten times, finished second four seasons, and was never lower than fourth.  He
was the leader in double plays eleven years, in putouts eight, and in assists
six.  He set the record for fielding average with .978 in 1896, the year
before he started wearing a glove.  That might be slightly interesting except
that someone broke his record after a mere twenty-three years.  True, in more
than one hundred years, no second baseman has exceeded his 1886 total of 529
putouts.  And true, he also holds the career mark in putouts with 6,545, ranks
fourth in assists with 6,905, and second in total chances with 14,241.  But
what are those things compared to stories of droll nights on the town or a few
hundred home runs?  What a yawn!  No wonder he's not in the Hall of Fame.


Hal McRae
DH/Outfielder, Cin (N) 1968, 1970-72, KC (A) 1973-87

McRae became a star with the Kansas City Royals as a designated hitter.  He
was named the top DH in the AL five times.  Perhaps only Don Baylor rivals him
at that job.  McRae, a disciple of the Charlie Lau school of hitting, managed
to combine good home run power (191 career homers) with a good batting average
(.290 lifetime).  His 133 RBIs in 1982 were the most ever by a DH and won him
the nickname of "Mr. Ribbie" among teammates.
     He hit a career-high .332 in 1976 but was narrowly nosed out for the
batting title by teammate George Brett.  An inside-the-park home run gave
Brett the title; McRae later asserted that the ball might have been caught and
suggested that Brett had received favorable treatment through the season to
keep the batting title in white hands.  He was offered the manager's job at
Kansas City in midseason of 1987 but declined because there was no assurance
that he would be rehired for a full season.


Joe Medwick
Outfielder, StL (N) 1932-40, 1947-48, Bkn (N) 1940-43, 1946, NY (N) 1943-45,
Bos (N) 1945

A rough-house, tough guy from the Cardinals' Gashouse Gang, Medwick was one of
the top sluggers of the 1930s.  A notorious bad-ball hitter, he led the NL in
RBIs three straight years, 1936-38, and won the batting Triple Crown in 1937
(.374, 31, 154).  He was named MVP that year.
     He picked up the odd nickname "Ducky Wucky" in the minors because of his
unusual waddle.
     In the seventh game of the 1934 World Series, he slid hard into the
Tigers' third baseman--too hard, thought Tiger fans, who pelted him with
garbage until Commissioner Landis ordered him out of the game.
     Sold to the Dodgers for $125,000 in 1940, he helped them win the 1941
pennant but suffered a near-fatal beaning by former teammate Bob Bowman.
Though he recovered and played until 1948, he was never the same hitter he had
been.
     His career totals include a .324 batting average, 202 home runs, and
1,383 RBIs.
     In 1968 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.


Jose Mendez
Pitcher, Negro League, 1908-26, Cuban Stars, Stars of Cuba, All Nations,
Los Angeles White Sox, Chicago American Giants, Detroit Stars,
Kansas City Monarchs

Baseball's troubadour of the tropics, Mendez was an outstanding Cuban pitcher
in the early twentieth century.  His success against touring major league
clubs made him a national hero.  Among others, he won games against Eddie
Plank in 1910 and Christy Mathewson in 1911.  In 1908 he beat the Cincinnati
Reds three times, without allowing a run in twenty-five innings.  In the
summers, Mendez played with the U.S. multiracial All Nations club, the
forerunner of the Kansas City Monarchs.  Late in his career, as manager of the
Monarchs, he put himself in to pitch the final game of the 1924 Black World
Series and won, 5-0.  Musically talented, Mendez played the cornet for dances
after games and later traveled the Caribbean, playing the guitar and teaching
baseball.


Andy Messersmith
Pitcher, Cal (A) 1968-72, LA (N) 1973-75, 1979, Atl (N) 1976-77, NY (A) 1978

Every player today should say a prayer of thanks to Messersmith.  It was he,
along with Dave McNally, who overturned the sacrosanct reserve clause,
leading to the present six-year re-entry draft that has made millionaires of
.240 hitters.
     He was an excellent pitcher when healthy, winning 20 games for the Angels
in 1971.  He was traded to the Dodgers after the 1972 season and had a
brilliant 20-6 mark in 1974.  It was then that he and McNally challenged the
reserve clause in their contracts that forced them to re-sign the next year
with the same team.  Five years earlier Curt Flood had filed suit in an
attempt to overturn the clause but had lost in the Supreme Court by a narrow
vote.  This time the players won on a split decision.  The ruling was that by
playing the 1975 season without signing contracts, they had fulfilled their
"option year."  Although McNally chose to retire, Messersmith signed with
Atlanta in 1976 for a huge salary increase.  Unfortunately a sore arm limited
his effectiveness with the Braves, but he had opened the door to free agentry
for all players.


Marvin Miller
Labor Negotiator

Miller, "the players' commissioner," was the enemy of the owners and the real
commissioner, but fewer than half a dozen men have turned the baseball world
upside down as he did.  In 1981 he led the first extended players' strike in
history, ushering in a new era in baseball negotiations.  A labor economist
with the steelworkers' union, Miller was chosen by the players to head their
union in 1966, in the most serious challenge to the owners' control since the
Players League in 1890.
     Miller negotiated five labor contracts with the owners.  In the first the
owners increased their contribution to the pension fund, increased the minimum
major league salary, and agreed to reconsider the reserve clause.  The second
recognized the Major League Players Association as the official bargaining
agent for players (except with regard to salaries), allowed players to be
represented by agents when negotiating salaries, and permitted arbitration in
disputes that could not be otherwise settled.
     In 1972 Miller led a brief strike to force the negotiation of a third
contract.  This one extended arbitration and resulted in a further increase in
salaries.
     In 1975, when Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally were declared free agents
by a federal court (by having played out the option years of their contracts),
the reserve clause was dead.  Miller's fourth contract compromised by limiting
free agency to six-year veterans, who would become available through re-entry
drafts.
     Again salaries soared.  Owners demanded compensation for players lost to
free agency, and this led to the 1981 strike of fifty days.  Again Miller
reached a compromise; owners were to receive some compensation in the form of
established players from a general pool, but the union had proved its
strength.  Miller retired in 1984.


Minnie Minoso
Third base, Negro League, 1946-48, New York Cubans, outfielder,
Cle (A) 1949-51, 1958-59, Chi (A) 1951-57, 1960-61, 1964, 1976, 1980,
StL (N) 1962, Was (A) 1963

Minoso didn't have a full season in the majors until he was twenty-eight, but
when he burst on the scene with the Go-Go White Sox in 1951, he immediately
became one of the most exciting players in the AL.  He led in stolen bases,
1951-53, in triples three times, in doubles once, and once in hits.  He
compiled a career batting average of .298, lashed out 1,963 hits, and had
1,023 RBIs, most of it crammed into eleven exciting seasons.
     Of the seventeen seasons he is credited with playing, one was a nine-game
"cup of coffee" in 1949, two were fan-pleasing, end-of-season returns in 1976
and 1980, and three were as a reserve in the early 1960s, when he was over
forty years old.


Johnny Mize
First Baseman, StL (N) 1936-41, NY (N) 1942, 1946-49, NY (A) 1949-53

Mize won four home run crowns, three RBI titles, a batting championship, and
finished among the top three in various offensive categories a total of
fifty-four times.  His 51 homers with the Giants in 1947 are an NL record for
lefthanded hitters.  The burly first baseman slugged 359 career home runs,
hitting three in a game six different times.  His .312 batting average and
1,337 RBIs mark him as one of baseball's great sluggers.
     In both 1939 and 1940 he finished second in the voting for the NL MVP.
In 1939 he led in homers (28) and batting average (.349); the next year he
topped in homers (43) and RBIs (137).
     After a long career with the Cardinals and Giants, "the Big Cat" joined
the Yankees in mid-1949 as a part-time first baseman and full-time pinch
hitter.  In 1952 he became the second man in World Series history to pinch-hit
a home run.  For the entire Series he batted .400, with 3 homers and a
slugging average of 1.067.
     Mize was named to the Hall of Fame in 1981.


Joe Morgan
Second Baseman, Hou (N) 1963-71, 1980, Cin (N) 1972-79, SF (N) 1981-82,
Phi (N) 1983, Oak (A) 1984

Little Joe stood only five-seven but he played more games at second base than
any man but Eddie Collins and won back-to-back MVPs in 1975-1976.
     Morgan began his career with Houston, where he twice scored over 100 runs
and developed an ability to draw walks.  Traded to Cincinnati in 1972, he came
into his own as an offensive star with the Big Red Machine.  In 1975 he won
his first MVP with a .327 batting average, 17 homers, 107 runs scored, 94
RBIs, and 67 stolen bases.  The next year he hit .320, with 27 homers, 113
runs scored, 111 RBIs, and 60 stolen bases.
     For his career, he hit 268 home runs, scored 1,651 runs, and batted in
1,134.  He stole 689 bases and is third all-time in walks with 1,865.
     In the field, Morgan won five Gold Gloves, and in 1977-1978 put together
a string of 91 straight games without an error.  Still, the stubborn fact is
that Joe was not a great fielder.  Apparently the writers went on form and not
substance in voting him those Gold Gloves.  For instance, he led the league in
assists only once, a sign that he didn't cover a great deal of ground.
     But above all, Morgan was a winner.  He led the Reds to five division
titles and three World Series.  After signing with Houston in 1980, he took
them to a division title.  And in 1983 he was one of several veterans (they
were called "the Wheeze Kids") who brought the Phillies a pennant.
     Morgan was named to the Hall of Fame in 1990.


Jack Morris
Pitcher, Det (A) 1977-90, Min (A) 1991, Tor (A) 1992-

Jack was the workhorse of two Tiger champions, 1984 and 1987. Always near the
top in innings pitched, he won 20 games twice--20-13 in 1983 and 21-8 in 1986.
He also led the AL in victories in the strike-shortened 1981 season, going
14-7. In the 1980s, no AL pitcher won more games.
     Morris' ERAs were not spectacular, but he was a master at preventing
unearned runs, especially in the postseason. After a couple of slow years, he
helped first the Twins in 1991 and then the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993 to
world championships. His 21 wins for Toronto in 1992 led the league.
     A convert to the split-fingered fastball, Morris had a no-hitter going
into the ninth inning in Chicago in 1984. A fan tried to jinx him by yelling
about the no-hitter. "I know, I'm working on it," Jack shot back, "and I'm
going to get it too."  And he did.


Thurman Munson
Catcher, NY (A) 1969-79

A fiery plane crash on August 2, 1979, cut short Munson's career after
slightly less than ten full seasons and knocked the bottom out of the Yankees'
team.  The Yankees' captain was an outstanding catcher in the tradition of
Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, and Elston Howard.
     He led New York to three straight pennants, 1976-1978, and was voted the
AL MVP in 1976, when he batted .302, hit 17 homers, and drove in 105 runs.
     A basketball star in college, Munson was fast enough to bat second in the
lineup.  He packed a home run punch in his bat, but was primarily a line drive
hitter.
     Munson hit .302 and was AL Rookie of the Year in 1970.  He was named to
the AL All-Star team in 1971 and then every year from 1973 to '78.  A durable
backstop, he played at least 125 games a year from his rookie season until his
death; his total of 1,423 games exceeds those of several excellent catchers
who played far longer.  His career batting average was .292.
     At the close of the memorable pennant race of 1978, in the playoff versus
Kansas City, he trumped Brett's three homers with a two-run shot of his own in
the eighth to win the third game.
     In the World Series a year earlier, Munson had nearly matched Bench's
.533 with a .529 of his own in a battle of super catchers.
     He was a proud man with a venomous tongue, and he bridled in 1977, when
Reggie Jackson joined the team at a higher salary.  The angry energy that
flared between the two men nevertheless spurred the dissension-ridden Yanks to
two flags.


Dale Murphy
Outfielder, Atl (N) 1976-90, Phi (N) 1990-

Nice guys may not always finish last, but Murphy, one of baseball's nicest
people, has had little luck in NL pennant races.  In eleven seasons as a
Braves' regular, the best his team has done is one appearance in the 1982
League Championship Series.  No one has blamed Murph.
     The righthanded slugger came to the Braves as a catcher but was switched
to first base in 1978, his first season as a regular.  Two years later he was
moved again, this time to center field, where he became one of the best.
     His strong suit is his powerful bat.  He won back-to-back MVP Awards in
1982-1983, leading the NL in RBIs and slugging average both years.  In
1984-1985, he led in homers.  He's paid the price for his more than 370
homers, striking out over 100 times in ten different seasons.


Eddie Murray
First Baseman, Bal (A) 1977-88, LA (N) 1989-91, NY (N) 1992-93

One of the better power hitters of the 1980s, Murray averaged over 100 RBIs
per season for his first eleven seasons, yet led the AL only once--in the
strike-shortened 1981 season. He also tied for the lead in homers that season
with 22. Probably the most powerful switch-hitter since Mickey Mantle, Murray
was the model of consistency for Baltimore until injuries cut into his homer
and RBI titles. Fans who had cheered him on with cries of "Ed-dee, Ed-dee!"
turned against him and booed. Murray demanded a trade, and generally handled
the situation poorly. After a difficult first season in the NL, Murray
rebounded to lead the Dodgers with a .330 average in 1990.
     Though he played in only two World Series (1979, 1983), he had the
Orioles in the thick of six pennant races. His batting average in those
Septembers was .318, says Sports Illustrated's Peter Gammons.
     Murray, who commands a multimillion dollar salary, donates a generous
portion of it to provide summer camps for city kids in memory of his mother.


Stan "The Man" Musial
Outfielder/First Baseman, StL (N) 1941-44, 1946-63

At one time Musial held almost every NL batting record except homers, and he
was close to that too--some fifty major league and NL marks.  His 3,630 career
hits were second only to Cobb.  Now Rose, Aaron, Mays, and others have passed
most of them.
     Popular with fans and writers alike, Stan was three times MVP, four times
coming in second.  He used an odd, "peek-a-boo" batting stance--lefthanded,
curled up, almost as if he was looking around a corner, his bat barrel held
back and straight up.  It worked for him.  Stan led the NL seven times in
batting.
     Son of a Polish immigrant miner, Stan started as a minor league pitcher
until he hurt his arm and switched to the outfield.
     After playing twelve end-of-season games for the Cardinals in 1941, he
led them to the world championship in 1942.  He specialized in doubles and
triples, and won two batting championships in his first four years (not
counting Navy service in 1945).  The Cards were NL champs all four of those
seasons and world champs three of them.
     In 1948 Stan suddenly blossomed as a home run threat.  His batting
average, doubles, and triples stayed high too.  He was slugging average
champion three times before the change and three times after it.
     Musial won his last batting title in 1957 at the age of thirty-six
(.351).
     As a forty-one-year-old grandfather in 1962, he could still hit .330,
third best in the league.
     Stan once hit five homers in a doubleheader.  His most famous home run
won the 1955 All-Star Game in the twelfth inning.  "I'll get you out of here
in a hurry," he told Yogi Berra, the AL catcher, then whacked the first pitch
over the wall.
     His career totals: .331, 475 home runs, 725 doubles, 177 triples, 1,949
runs, and 1,951 RBIs.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.