Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0004/00040.txt

Text File | 1994-02-16 | 63KB | 1,089 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00040}
$Title{Lives of the Players:  W-Z}
$Author{}
$Subject{Waddell Wagner Wallace Walsh Walters Waner Ward Warneke Weaver Weiss
Welch Wells Wheat White Wilhelm Wilkinson Williams Willis Wills Wilson
Winfield Wright Wynn Yastrzemski Yawkey York Young Youngs Yount}
$Log{
Rube Waddell*0059501.scf
Honus Wagner*0059601.scf
Ed Walsh*0060201.scf
Bucky Walters*0060301.scf
Monte Ward*0060601.scf
Lon Warneke*0060801.scf
Earl Weaver*0061201.scf
Mickey Welch*0061401.scf
Zack Wheat*0061601.scf
Frank White*0061801.scf
Sol White*0062001.scf
Hoyt Wilhelm*0062101.scf
Billy Williams*0062201.scf
Ted Williams*0062501.scf
Maury Wills*0062801.scf
Dave Winfield*0063001.scf
George Wright*0063401.scf
Harry Wright*0063501.scf
Early Wynn (center), Larry Doby, and Bob Kennedy*0018301.scf
Carl Yastrzemski*0063901.scf
Cy Young*0064101.scf
Ross Youngs*0064201.scf
Robin Yount*0064301.scf}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Lives of the Players:  W-Z


George "Rube" Waddell
Pitcher, Lou (N) 1897, 1899, Pit (N) 1900-1901, Chi (N) 1901, Phi (A) 1902-07,
StL (N) 1908-10

Lefthander Waddell had a terrific fastball, a biting curve, and exceptional
control of his pitches.  His life was fast, veered wildly, and had no control
whatsoever.  He is usually called eccentric, or erratic, or flaky, or
unstable, or capricious.  He was nutty.  Completely uneducated, he fits the
old line "If he had a brain, he would be dangerous."
     He missed games because he was fishing, or helping the local firemen, or
playing marbles, or drunk, or because he just forgot.  He missed a World
Series because he hurt his arm wrestling.  He once dived into a river to save
a drowning man--who turned out to be a log.
     Everybody liked Rube, even all the managers who fired him, because they
never knew if he'd show up or what he'd do if he got there.  He was likable--a
big, overgrown six-year-old.
     People told all kinds of stories about him.  He was so fast he poured ice
water on his arm to slow himself down; he hit birds on the wing by throwing
stones; he told his fielders to sit down while he struck out the side; and he
did cartwheels off the mound after whipping Cy Young in a twenty-inning
showdown.  Actually, he did beat Young, 4-2, in twenty innings, and he may
have done the outfield stunt a couple of times in exhibition games.
     The only manager ever to have the patience to put up with him for an
extended period was Connie Mack, who would have probably called the Mad Hatter
"a little odd."  Especially if he could pitch.
     In truth, Waddell was a heckuva pitcher for Mack for four seasons, and a
good pitcher for a couple more years after that.  He led in strikeouts for six
straight seasons, with 349 in 1904, a record that would stand until 1973.  He
won 97 games from 1902 through 1905 (but he lost 52 and the A's had strong
teams).  He got his ERA down to 1.48 in 1905 (but five other pitchers were
under 2.00).
     Finally, even Mack couldn't take it any longer, and he traded Waddell to
the Browns in 1908.  The fact that Waddell's pitching was slipping probably
made it a little easier.  Yet in his first game against the A's, Waddell
struck out sixteen batters.
     By 1910 Rube was back in the minors.  A year or so after that, he was
visiting in Kentucky when a flood hit.  In an act that recalls how he used to
help firemen, Waddell stood for hours armpit deep in freezing water, passing
sandbags to repair a dike.  He contracted tuberculosis and died in 1914.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946.


John "Honus" Wagner
Shortstop, Lou (N) 1897-99, Pit (N) 1900-17.  Manager, Pit (N) 1917

Some say Wagner was the best player of all time.  He was voted into
Cooperstown in 1936 right behind Cobb and ahead of Ruth.  The argument goes
that a great shortstop is inherently more valuable than a great outfielder.
Certainly that's true in the field.  What might be more to the point is to
rank Wagner against Cobb and Ruth as a hitter.  Even allowing for the
differences in liveliness of the baseballs each batted against in his prime,
Cobb and Ruth were probably more dangerous at bat.
     Nevertheless Honus hit .300 seventeen years in a row and won eight
batting titles in twelve years, 1900-1911.  He had a career mark of .327, with
3,415 hits, 640 doubles, 252 triples (third best all-time), 101 homers, 1,736
runs, and 1,732 RBIs.  He led the NL in stolen bases five times.  He finished
with 722, fifth best all-time.  He reputedly stole second, third, and home
three times in his career.
     In Wagner's only showdown against Cobb, in the 1909 World Series, Ty
called to him from first base, "Watch out, Krauthead, I'm coming down."  The
two-hundred-pound Honus knocked Ty's teeth loose with the tag.  Wagner batted
.333 to Cobb's .200, and stole six bases to Ty's two, as Pittsburgh beat
Detroit in seven. (Wagner's stolen base mark stood until Lou Brock broke it in
1967.)
     Wagner was so long-armed and bowlegged, they said he could tie his shoes
without bending down.  His batting stance, says writer Bob Broeg, resembled a
man sitting on a bar stool.  He used the hands-apart grip and swung at
anything near the plate.
     Whether Wagner was the best-fielding shortstop of all time, which you
hear sometimes, or just one of the best of his day is hard to tell from
fielding stats.  He didn't become a full-time shortstop until his seventh NL
season.  He seems to have been a little rough at first, but he had great
range. After he'd been at it for a few years, he led NL shortstops a couple of
times in fielding average.
     They say that when he fielded a grounder, his big hands scooped up dirt,
ball, and all, and that he'd let everything fly, showering the first baseman
in pebbles.  Honus, who could embroider a story like Aunt Tillie could a seat
cushion, said a dog once ran onto the field and snatched the ball; he said he
threw both dog and ball to first for the out.
     If his stories were incredible, at least you could tell them to your
mother, he said.  One estimate puts him as the most beloved man in baseball
during the time between King Kelly and Babe Ruth.  If so, he deserved the
adoration.  He always had time for a friend; he helped rookies; he had a drink
now and then, but he was never a drunk; he was brighter than most but suffered
fools with patience; and he never, never, acted the star.  He also refused to
let a cigarette company put his picture in their packs because he didn't want
to encourage kids to smoke.  He made them stop distributing one print, making
the few in circulation the most valuable baseball cards in the world.


Bobby Wallace
Shortstop, Cle (N) 1894-98, StL (N) 1899-1901, 1917-18, StL (A) 1902-16.
Manager, StL (A) 1911-12, Cin (N) 1937

When Bobby Wallace was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953, a lot of people
asked who-in-hell he was.  More than thirty-five years later, when fans file
past his plaque at Cooperstown, most of them ask the same question.
     To answer:  Wallace was the first AL shortstop in the Hall, beating Joe
Cronin by three years.  He played in the majors for twenty-five years,
although you could only count him as a regular for about fifteen.  He hit
.300 twice, but most years he was down around .250 and a couple of years he
was lower yet.
     He started as a pitcher with the old Cleveland Spiders of the NL, then
moved to third base for a couple of seasons.  In 1899 he became a St. Louis
Cardinal and switched to shortstop.  By 1902 he was so highly regarded that
the St. Louis Browns of the new AL paid him a $6,500 advance and signed him to
a five-year contract for $32,500, thus making him the highest-paid player in
baseball.  In sum, he was the Ozzie Smith of his day.
     He was generally accepted as the best AL shortstop from 1902 until about
1910, which is a pretty good run.  The ranking was based almost entirely on
his glove.  As usual, fielding statistics don't prove a whole lot.  Wallace
led in fielding percentage and assists three times each.  Big deal!  His most
significant fielding figure is that he averaged 6.1 chances per game; only
four shortstops have ever done better.
     Naturally, playing for the Browns meant no World Series appearances and
mostly losing teams.  It's to Wallace's credit that somebody remembered him
forty years later, and it's to the Hall of Fame's credit that they elected a
shortstop (in 1953) just because he could field.  They've only done that once
or twice.


Ed Walsh
Pitcher, Chi (A) 1904-16, Bos (N) 1917

The greatest spitballer, Walsh compiled the lowest lifetime ERA in history,
1.82.  He was also one of the great ironmen of all time, four times leading
the league in innings pitched, with an AL record of 464 in 1908.  That's the
year he won 40 games and almost pitched his "Hitless Wonder" White Sox to the
flag. From 1907 through 1910, Walsh's ERAs were 1.60, 1.42, 1.41, and 1.26.
That last one came in 1910, when he lost 20 games for a sixth-place club that
hit .211 with seven home runs--for the whole team!  He's the only man to lead
the league in both ERA and losses at the same time.
     A muscular product of the coal mines, Big Ed was square-shouldered and
handsome.  And he knew it.  "He could strut sitting down," someone said.
     In 1906 he was 17-13 with a team that hit .230.  Ten of his wins were
shutouts.  In the World Series against the rival Cubs, Ed whiffed a
then-record 12 men to win the third game on a two-hitter.
     Walsh's finest season was 1908, when Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit
raced down to the wire.  His team hit only 3 homers all year, one of them by
Ed himself.  He started 49 games and relieved in 17 more.  He threw 11
shutouts, and won 40 games while losing only 15.  He also saved 6.
     Ed pitched seven games in the last nine days, including a doubleheader
win over Boston, in which he gave one run, one walk, and seven hits.  He threw
fifteen runners out himself!  The next day he pitched another nine innings,
his third complete game in two days.  In a head-to-head showdown against
Cleveland ace Addie Joss, Ed fanned 15 and gave up only four hits--but Joss
trumped him with a perfect game.
     The next day Walsh was called in to relieve with the bases loaded, two
out in the ninth, and Nap Lajoie at bat.  He fooled Larry with a fastball
instead of a spitter and got him on a called strike three.  He would call it
the greatest thrill of his career.
     Walsh continued to work hard--370 innings in 1910, 369 in 1911, 393 in
1912.  He won 27 games in each of the last two years, including a no-hitter.
His arm gave out in 1913 and several comeback tries failed.  He finished with
195 wins, 57 of them shutouts.
     He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1946.


William "Bucky" Walters
Pitcher, Bos (N) 1931-34, 1950, Phi (N) 1934-38, Cin (N) 1938-48.
Manager, Cin (N) 1948-49

For two magnificent years, 1939-1940, Walters was the premier pitcher in
baseball.  With Paul Derringer, he led the Reds to their first flags since
1919 after two decades of frustration.
     In 1939 Bucky, 27-11, led in wins, ERA, complete games, and strikeouts,
easily winning the MVP.  In 1940 he led in wins again (22-10), plus ERA and
complete games.  Walters added two wins in the World Series, holding the
Tigers to a 1.50 ERA.
     In 1944 Walters had a 23-8 mark for the third-place Reds.  He lost a
perfect game on a two-out single in the eighth.  When the 1948 season began,
Bucky needed only two more wins to reach 200 and looked like a dead-bang
cinch.  But he'd also been named as the Reds' manager that year.  He only got
around to pitching in seven games and won none of them.  Nevertheless, his
198-160 record isn't bad for a fellow who began as a third baseman and never
pitched a game until he was in his fifth major league season.


Lloyd Waner
Outfielder, Pit (N) 1927-41, 1944-45, Bos (N) 1941, Cin (N) 1941, Phi (N)
1942, Bkn (N) 1944

A good singles hitter, Lloyd rode to Cooperstown on the coattails of his big
brother Paul.  The two played next to each other for Pittsburgh from 1927
through 1940.
     Lloyd was a steady .300 hitter in an era of steady .300 hitters.  As a
rookie in 1927, he made 223 hits, a rookie record; 198 of them were singles,
still a record for anyone.  He led the NL with 133 runs scored.  He hit .355,
plus .400 in the World Series, as the Yankees crushed the Pirates in four
straight.
     He made 221 hits in 1928 and 234 in 1929, when he led the league with 20
triples.  An illness cost him most of the 1930 season, but he came back to
lead the league with 214 hits in 1931.
     Lloyd rarely struck out--only 173 times, an average of once in every 45
at-bats.  In 1941 he played in 77 games without a single strikeout.  The bad
news was that he didn't walk very often either, not nearly often enough for a
lifetime leadoff man.
     His greatest attribute was his speed.  It made him an excellent center
fielder.  Lloyd led the league in putouts four times.
     Lloyd was known as "Little Poison" and Paul as "Big Poison," which is
Dodger-fan talk for "little person" and "big person."  Lloyd didn't drink;
Paul was a toper.  The two had started out as roomies but later split up.
     Lloyd "rejoined" Paul in the Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after Paul's
death.  Certainly the fact that they formed a duo for so many years must have
had some influence on the voters, but Lloyd's 2,459 hits, .316 batting
average, and excellence in the outfield give him some good credentials on his
own.


Paul Waner
Outfield, Pit (N) 1926-40, Bkn (N) 1941, 1943-44, Bos (N) 1941-42,
NY (A) 1944-45

"Big Poison" wasn't a big man, at five-eight, 153 pounds, but he was a big
talent.  Paul hit over .300 twelve straight years.  He collected 200 hits
eight times, tying Willie Keeler's record.
     Waner won three batting titles in 1927, 1934, and 1936.  His .380 in 1927
won him the NL MVP Award.
     Paul learned to hit swinging at corncobs in Oklahoma.  He stood deep in
the box, feet together, and aimed at the top of the ball, swinging down as in
a golf shot, a theory he later taught as coach.  A line drive hitter, he led
in doubles and triples twice each.
     He wasn't a home run threat, although he hit 15 in 1929.  He recognized
that approach as a losing game in spacious Forbes Field and became adept at
lining the ball down either foul line.  The worst that could happen was a foul
ball.  If the ball hit fair, he had extra bases.  In twenty years, Paul had
3,152 hits, including 603 doubles and 190 triples.  His batting average was
.333, and he scored 1,626 runs and drove in 1,309.
     In his prime he was a fine defensive outfielder with the arm to play
right field at Forbes. Paul was notorious for his drinking.  One year manager
Pie Traynor convinced him to lay off the sauce.  When Paul's batting average
dropped .240, Traynor took him out and bought him a drink.
     But despite humorous stories about Paul's hungover hitting, the boozing
probably kept him from a couple of batting titles and left him only an
ordinary player in his last few years.
     The story is that Paul beat out a grounder off an infielder's glove one
day in 1942 for what could have been his 3,000th hit.  However, he signaled
the scorer to call it an error, preferring to wait for a clean blow for the
big one.  The infielder's comment has not survived.
     Waner was named to the Hall of Fame in 1952.


John Montgomery Ward
Pitcher/Shortstop, Prov (N) 1878-82, NY (N) 1883-89, 1893-94, Bkn (P) 1890,
Bkn (N) 1891-92.  Manager, NY (N) 1884, 1893-94, Bkn (P) 1890, Bkn (N) 1891-92

When Monte Ward was named to the Hall of Fame in 1964, the only question was
whether he should go in as a pitcher, a shortstop, or as an executive.  One of
the most remarkable figures in baseball history, he excelled at nearly
everything he did.
     He broke in as an eighteen-year-old pitcher with Providence in 1878 and
led the NL in ERA.  The next year he pitched his team to a pennant with a
47-19 mark.  In 1880 he pitched the second perfect game in NL history and
finished with a 39-24 record.  An arm injury ended his pitching career after
he'd won 164 games.  In 1883 he played center field despite his lame
arm--throwing lefthanded!
     Undaunted, he became the league's top shortstop, hitting .300 three
times, and glueing the infield as captain of the 1888-1889 league champion New
York Giants.  He led the NL twice in stolen bases and finished with 2,105
career hits and 1,408 runs scored.
     A handsome society lion, married to an actress, Ward studied law at night
at Columbia, graduating with honors.  In 1886 he led the formation of the
Players' Brotherhood, the first attempt to improve players' rights.  When the
Brotherhood got no satisfaction, they formed their own league, the Players
League, in 1890.  One hundred players jumped their teams in support.  Ward
played for and managed the Brooklyn club in the league.  When the owners
sought an injunction against the players, Ward argued the case in court and
won.
     He won the battles but not the war.  Even though the new league drew
better than the NL or American Association, the financial backers of the
Players League teams became nervous and many pulled out.  Ward's league folded
after one year, and the players meekly signed new reserve contracts with their
old owners.
     Ward returned to the Giants, and as player-manager took them to a Temple
Cup victory in 1894.


Lon Warneke
Pitcher, Chi (N) 1930-36, 1942-45, StL (N) 1937-42

"The Arkansas Hummingbird," Warneke was one of the top righthanders of the
1930s, winning 20 games three times and helping the Cubs to two pennants.  In
1932 he topped the NL in wins and percentage with a 22-6 mark.  He also led in
ERA and shutouts.  The Cubs won the pennant but lost the World Series to the
Yankees.  In 1935, when the Cubs won the flag again, Lon went 20-13 and won
twice in the World Series.
     Although the modest Warneke was one of Chicago's most popular players, he
was traded to the Cardinals in 1937.  He helped them win the 1942
pennant--after he had been traded back to Chicago.  He beat Brooklyn in a
crucial September game to give the Cards a slim lead.  "Now hold it," he told
his old mates, and they did.
     Warneke, who finished with a 193-121 career mark, later was a National
League umpire from 1949 to 1955.


Earl Weaver
Manager, Bal (A) 1968-82, 1985-86

Weaver presided over the Orioles' dynasty of the 1970s, leading them to six
division titles, four pennants, and one world championship.  His winning
percentage of .583 ranks in the top ten all-time.  Although it was said his
teams relied on "pitching and the three-run homer" to win, and the formula has
been copied by several teams in the 1980s, Weaver was actually a highly
innovative manager.  He schooled his players in fundamentals, pioneered the
use of computer charts, extended the use of platooning, and even wrote a
training manual used by the entire Orioles' organization.  Always open to new
ideas, his motto became the title of his autobiography:  It's What You Learn
After You Know It All That Counts.
     A minor league second baseman who never got beyond Double-A, his success
once he turned to managing won him promotion to the Orioles in 1968. Although
one of his hurlers cracked, "The only thing Earl knows about pitching is that
he couldn't hit it," he and coach George Bamberger produced twenty-two 20-game
winners and six Cy Young winners.  Several pitchers, including Mike Cuellar,
Steve Stone, and Mike Torrez came from other organizations to achieve their
best seasons with the Orioles.
     Weaver was known for his rages against umpires.  He was ejected from
ninety-one games during his career.  Once he was booted from both ends of a
doubleheader.  However, Weaver was so respected as a psychologist that some
believe that many of his tantrums were staged to arouse his team.


George Weiss
Executive

"The last of the empire builders," Weiss, more than any other man, was
responsible for the unprecedented success of the New York Yankees from the
mid-1930s until the mid-1960s:  twenty-two pennants and seventeen world
championships.
     He began with the Eastern League New Haven franchise in 1919 and advanced
to become general manager of Baltimore of the International League in 1929.
In 1932 he was made farm director of the Yankees and kept an overpowering
fountain of talent flowing to the majors for the next fifteen years.  Many of
the greatest players ever to wear Yankee pinstripes came up through Weiss'
farms.
     In 1948 he became general manager of the Yankees.  One of his first moves
was to hire Casey Stengel as manager, despite Stengel's reputation as a clown.
With Weiss supplying the players and Stengel managing them, the Yankees won
ten pennants between 1949 and 1960.
     Both he and Stengel were let go as "too old" after the 1960 season. Weiss
became president of the expansion Mets in 1961, hired Stengel as manager, and
together they laid the groundwork for the future success of that team.  In the
meantime, the Yankees that Weiss had built continued to win pennants through
1964, and then collapsed into the poorest Yankees' decade since before World
War One.
     Weiss was named to the Hall of Fame in 1971.


Mickey Welch
Pitcher, Troy (N) 1880-82, NY (N) 1883-92

"Smiling Mickey" was able to grin 307 times as the winning pitcher in games
played between 1880 and 1892.  He was the third pitcher to win 300 games,
preceded only by Pud Galvin and teammate Tim Keefe.  Although Welch was not
noted for his speed, he was effective with changes of speed on his curveball
and screwball.
     Welch led the NL in walks for three straight years, 1884-1886, but
averaged over 500 innings pitched for each of those years.  In 1885 he won 44
games (including a streak of seventeen victories in a row) for the Giants.  He
finally had a clause written into his contract that he would only pitch every
two days.
     He and Keefe combined as a one-two pitching punch for the Giants in the
late 1880s, helping the team to pennants in 1888 and 1889.
     Welch was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973.


Willie "Devil" Wells
Shortstop, Negro League, 1925-49, St. Louis Stars, Detroit Wolves, Kansas City
Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, Cole's American Giants, Newark Eagles,
Memphis Red Sox, New York Black Yankees, Baltimore Elite Giants

Wells is among the top six Negro League home run hitters of all time.  Though
not considered a slugger, Wells owns the all-time Negro League home run
record, with 27 in 1927, aided by a short left field fence in his St. Louis
home park.
     In 1930 Willie led the Negro National League with .404.
     Wells' batting average in the black big leagues was .332.  Against white
big leaguers, he was even better: .369, with 6 homers in 31 games.
     At shortstop, Wells had sure hands but did not have a strong arm.  He
compensated with an uncanny ability to play the hitters.  He is usually
considered the top shortstop in black baseball during the latter 1920s and
1930s.  He was chosen to play in the East-West All-Star Game eight times.
     A notorious target of beanball pitches, Wells created an early batting
helmet by taking a miner's hardhat and knocking off the gas jet.
     He began managing in 1936 with the Newark Eagles and is ranked as one of
the finest skippers in Negro League history.  His Eagles won the NNL pennant
in 1946.  Among his players were Ernie Banks, Don Newcombe, Larry Doby, and
Monte Irvin.


Zack Wheat
Outfielder, Bkn (N) 1909-26, Phi (A) 1927

Wheat was a graceful fielder with an amazingly accurate arm and a reliable
line drive hitter.  For years there was a sign on the Ebbets Field wall:
"Zack Wheat caught 345 flies last year; Tanglefoot fly paper caught 10
million."  The only thing that had to be repainted from season to season was
the appropriate number of putouts by Wheat; he was the Brooklyn left fielder
for eighteen years.
     Although he led the NL in hitting only once--.335 in 1918--Wheat topped
.300 fourteen times and finished with a .317 career average.  He cracked 2,884
hits, scored 1,289 runs, and batted in 1,261.  His line drives were usually
smoked.  Once the lively ball was introduced, drives that had been catchable
zoomed past the fielders.  Wheat's best batting marks came when he was in his
late thirties.  In 1924 at the age of thirty-eight, he hit .375, with 14
homers and 97 RBIs.  The next year he drove in 103 runs, while hitting .359.
Noted for his ability to hit curveballs, Wheat had no weaknesses at bat or in
the field, but he did have thin, weak ankles that were often injured.
     Although he played on Dodger pennant winners in 1916 and 1920, Wheat
always maintained that his favorite game was the twenty-six-inning, 1-1 tie
between Brooklyn and Boston in 1920.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1959.


James "Deacon" White
Third Baseman/Catcher, Cle (NA) 1871-72, Bos (NA) 1873-75, Chi (N) 1876,
Bos (N) 1877, Cin (N) 1878-80, Buf (N) 1881-85, Det (N) 1886-88, Pit (N) 1889,
Buf (P) 1890.  Manager Cin (N) 1879

White was one of the most remarkable players of the nineteenth century.  His
career was long, productive, and filled with firsts.  For example, on May 4,
1871, when the Cleveland Forest Citys played the Fort Wayne Kekiongas in the
first game of the spanking new National Association, who strode up to the
plate to become the first batter ever in a recognized professional league?
White.  And a few moments later, who doubled to make the first hit and the
first extra-base hit?  White.  And a short while after that, who became the
first to be put out on a double play?  White.
     After the 1872 campaign, he left Cleveland for the Boston Red Stockings,
who then became the first team to win two consecutive pennants, then three
consecutive, and then four.  And speaking of four, White, Al Spalding, Ross
Barnes, and Cal McVey, among Boston's best players, were called "the Big Four"
(historically, the first "Big Four") when they deserted for Chicago in 1876.
The resulting ruckus brought about the formation of the National League, and
Chicago won the NL's first pennant, as White became its first RBI leader.
     Back to Boston in 1877, White became Beantown's first batting champion
(.387) as the Red Stockings won their first NL pennant.  Deacon next formed
the catching half of baseball's first brother battery with pitcher Will White,
the first player to wear glasses on the field.
     In the early 1880s at Buffalo, White became part of the second "Big
Four," along with Dan Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, and Jack Rowe.  In 1885 all
four were sold to Detroit in the first big player deal.  And in 1887 they led
Detroit to its first (and last) NL pennant.  White hit .303 at the age of
forty.
     White's nickname suited him; he never drank, smoked, or cursed, and he
carried his Bible with him when the team was on the road.


Frank White
Second Baseman, KC (A) 1973-

An often unsung hero, White has been an outstanding second baseman for all of
the Royals' better teams.  At first used as a utility man, he settled in as
the regular at second in 1976, the year the Royals won their first-division
championship.  Although he's only led AL second basemen twice in fielding
average, his range factor has been excellent.  He has won eight Gold Gloves,
symbolic of the best fielder.  His career fielding average is in the top ten
all-time.
     His career batting average is .255, but he has shown home run power.  In
both 1985 and 1986 he hit 22 homers.


Sol White
Second Baseman, Executive, Negro League, 1887-1926, Pittsburgh Keystones,
Washington Capital Citys, Wheeling (O.B.), New York Gorhams, York Monarchs
(O.B.), Cuban Giants, Genuine Cuban Giants, Fort Wayne (O.B.),
Page Fence Giants, Cuban X-Giants, Columbia Giants, Philadelphia Giants,
Lincoln Giants, Quaker Giants, Cleveland Browns, Newark Stars

If Rube Foster was the "father of black baseball," White was the grandfather.
Born in 1868, he was nineteen when major league baseball's bars clanged shut
on blacks in 1887, and he lived to see the end of sixty years of baseball
apartheid in 1947.  White played with white minor league teams in the 1880s
(once playing against Ban Johnson); then after apartheid, he played for the
Cuban Giants, the Page Fence Giants, and the Philadelphia Giants.  Finally he
joined the Cuban X-Giants, along with black pioneers Charley "Tokahoma" Grant,
Rube Foster, Home Run Johnson, Frank Grant, Pop Lloyd, etc.
     White managed the 1903 Philadelphia Giants, who beat Newark of the
International League four straight but lost the first black World Series to
Foster's X-Giants two games to three.  He hired Foster and got revenge the
following year two-to-one.
     In his History of Colored Baseball, White wrote of the financial
pressures on black teams in 1906 and of walking around towns for hours looking
for hotels which would accept them.  The average white big leaguer made $2,000
a year, he wrote; the average black, $466.
     White took Pop Lloyd, Dick Redding, Louis Santop, and Spotswood Poles to
the New York Lincoln Giants in 1911.  The Lincolns were perhaps the strongest
black team in pre-World War One days.
     After retiring, White coached at Wilberforce College and wrote a sports
column.  In his History he had urged blacks to keep up their skills so they
would be ready when the doors were opened again.  He was seventy-nine in 1947
when his prophecy came true in Brooklyn.


Hoyt Wilhelm
Pitcher, NY (N) 1952-56, StL (N) 1957, Cle (A) 1957-58, Bal (A) 1958-62,
Chi (A) 1963-68, Cal (A) 1969, Atl (N) 1969-71, Chi (N) 1970, LA (N) 1971-72

The first relief pitcher honored by Cooperstown, Hoyt used his knuckler to
pitch until he was forty-eight.  Hoyt's 1,070 games are a record for pitchers.
Although he saved 227 games, he never in any season led in saves.  He did lead
in relief wins twice, and his 123 relief victories are the all-time record.
     The way a staff's stopper is used has changed since Wilhelm's day. When
he pitched, a top reliever was often brought in when a game was close, no
matter which team was leading, a system that led to many wins but reduced the
chance for saves.  The most common modern practice is to bring in a club's
closer primarily in save situations with the team ahead.  Although saves have
increased greatly, a relief win now often means that the reliever must first
lose the lead he was sent in to protect.
     Wilhelm's top save total was 27 in 1964 with the White Sox.  He also had
12 relief wins that year.  Yet the only category he led in was relief losses
with 9.
     An infantryman in World War Two, Hoyt was wounded and received the Purple
Heart during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was twenty-eight before he reached
the majors and slugged a home run in his first at-bat.  He never hit another.
(His lifetime batting average was .088.)
     Although many pitchers had used the knuckleball before Wilhelm, perhaps
no pitcher had ever used it so much to the exclusion of other pitches.
Certainly no pitcher popularized it so.
     Hoyt baffled the batters--and catchers--with his knuckler.  Five of his
receivers set records for the most passed balls in an inning, and he gave up a
whopping total of unearned runs.
     As a rookie with the New York Giants in 1952, Wilhelm led the NL in
appearances (71), ERA (2.43), and winning percentage with a 15-3 mark.
     In late 1958 he was given an infrequent start by the Orioles and
responded with a no-hitter over the Yankees.  The next year he was used
primarily as a starter; he was 15-11 and led the AL in ERA.  But after a few
starts in 1960, he was returned to the bullpen.
     Wilhelm was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985.


J.L. Wilkinson
Executive, owner, Negro League, 1909-48, All Nations, Kansas City Monarchs

The white owner of the famous Kansas City Monarchs, Wilkinson was one of the
pioneers of night baseball who gave Satchel Paige his second chance and Jackie
Robinson his first.  His lights saved Negro baseball in the Depression and
helped to save the white minor league as well.
     Wilkinson's first club, the All Nations--a multiracial team of blacks,
whites, and orientals, plus a woman--barnstormed the prairies before World War
One.  He was one of the founders of the Negro NL in 1920.  His Monarchs were
black world champs in 1924, league champs in 1925, and reached the playoffs in
1926.
     When the Depression struck, Wilkie bought portable lights, playing his
first night game in Enid, Oklahoma, two weeks before Des Moines opened with
its lights and the same night that Independence, Kansas, played organized
baseball's first night game.  Wilkinson took his lights to St. Louis, Detroit,
Pittsburgh, and elsewhere, helping spread the idea to countless cities.
     In 1937, when Paige's career seemed dead because of a sore arm, Wilkie
took a chance on him and the arm magically healed.  Satch helped win pennants
in 1937, 1939-1942, and 1946, and brought in much needed dollars. Satch got 15
percent off the top.
     In 1945 Wilkinson also gave a job to a rookie shortstop named Robinson.
     When the white big league raids decimated the black leagues, no club lost
more than the Monarchs.  Wilkinson sold out his interest in 1948.


Billy Williams
Outfield, Chi (N) 1959-74, Oak (A) 1975-76

Williams played in 1,117 straight games, the NL record.
     The NL Rookie of the Year in 1961, Williams established himself in left
field for the Cubs and remained for fourteen seasons.  His final two years
were spent as a DH with Oakland.
     Nicknamed "Sweet Swinging" because of his batting swing, the popular
Williams slugged 426 home runs and drove in 1,475 runs, while fashioning a
.290 career batting average.  He, Ernie Banks, and Ron Santo gave the Cubs a
terrific power trio throughout the 1960s, but the Cubbies were never quite
able to win a pennant.
     Billy usually hit around 25-30 homers a year, reaching his peak, 42, in
1970.  Two years later The Sporting News named him Player of the Year, when he
led the NL in batting and slugging with .333 and .606.
     He was named to the NL All-Star team six times.  In 1987 he was elected
to the Hall of Fame.


Smokey Joe Williams
Pitcher, Negro League, 1897-1932, San Antonio Bronchos, Leland Giants,
Chicago Giants, Lincoln Giants, Chicago American Giants, Bacharach Giants,
Brooklyn Royal Giants, Homestead Grays

In a 1952 poll conducted by the Pittsburgh Courier a panel of black veterans
and sportswriters picked Williams as the best black pitcher of all time.  He
defeated Satchel Paige by a single vote.  He was considered faster than Paige.
     A big half-black, half-Commanche, Joe resembled Walter Johnson in age,
build, and style--both threw blazing fastballs and little else.  In their one
head-to-head confrontation, Joe won 1-0.
     It was one of 19 wins (and 7 losses) Joe recorded against white big
leaguers in exhibition games.  He defeated seven Hall of Famers--Johnson,
Grover Alexander, Chief Bender, Rube Marquard (twice), Waite Hoyt, and Satchel
Paige.  Two of his losses came after the age of forty; two more were 1-0
decisions.
     Joe's best game was a ten-inning, 20-strikeout no-hitter against John
McGraw's NL champion Giants in 1917.  He lost it 1-0 on an error.  Reportedly
he gained his nickname after the game when Ross Youngs remarked, "That was a
hell of a game, Smokey."  Until then Williams had been called Cyclone Joe.  In
1930 he fanned twenty-seven Kansas City Monarchs in a twelve-inning night
game.  The primitive lights and tobacco juice on the ball didn't hurt.
     Williams and Paige faced each other twice in the early 1930s.  They split
the two games.  "Smokey Joe could throw harder than all of them," Paige
declared.
     Joe's rival was Cannonball Redding.  They started as teammates on the
1911-1914 New York Lincolns, forming one of the best one-two pitching punches
in baseball history.


Ken Williams
Outfield, Cin (N) 1915-16, StL (A) 1918-27, Bos (A) 1928-29

Overshadowed by Babe Ruth and by his own teammate, George Sisler, Williams was
a good hitter who in his best season almost batted the Browns to a pennant in
1922.  They lost to the Yankees by a single game, and might have won had
Sisler not injured his shoulder just before a crucial head-to-head series in
the stretch.  Ken knocked in 155 runs and won the home run crown with 39.  (It
should be noted that Ruth missed a quarter of the season that year.)  Williams
hit thirty-two of his homers in Sportsman's Park.
     Ken played in a fine outfield alongside Jack Tobin and Baby Doll
Jacobson.  All of them were later picked as outfielders on various Browns
all-time teams.
     Although he never matched his 1922 numbers, the tall lefthanded hitter
finished second in the AL in homers in 1921, 1923, and 1925.


Ted Williams
Outfielder, 1939-42, 1946-60.  Manager, Was (A) 1969-71, Tex (A) 1972

Either Williams or Babe Ruth was the greatest hitter of all time, and you
could probably cover the difference with an ant's umbrella.  Despite losing
nearly five seasons in various wars, Williams put together a statistical
record that would stand against anyone's.  Whether that makes Williams one-two
as the greatest player of all time is another question altogether.
     First the career figures: .344 career batting average, 521 home runs,
1,798 runs, 1,839 RBIs, 2,019 walks, and a .634 slugging average.
     And what about individual seasons?  He won six AL batting championships,
including the famous .406 of 1941; four home run titles, including a personal
high of 43 in 1949; six times leading in runs scored; four times in RBIs;
eight times in walks; and nine times in slugging average.
     And how about the clutch?  Remember Williams' home run with two out in
the ninth to win the 1941 All-Star Game?  Or the 1946 All-Star homer off Rip
Sewell's blooper pitch?  Or that he could have sat down the final day in 1941
and finished with a rounded-off .400 (.3995) but insisted on playing and
lifted his average to .406?  Or that he homered in his last major league
at-bat?
     And remember he won two MVPs, in 1946 and 1949, and his fans never
stopped complaining about the ones he didn't win.  And remember The Sporting
News named him Player of the Decade for the 1950s, which raised a few eyebrows
among the fans of Musial, Mays, and Mantle, to name only the M's.
     One thing seems certain:  Williams will get better every year in our
memories as we look at his statistical record.  There was never a question
that he was the best hitter when he was playing.  He was criticized for other
things and we tend to forget those.  They said he was no better than adequate
in the field with a so-so arm, with the footnote that he played Fenway's left
field wall very well.  They complained that the Red Sox won only a single
pennant in all the Williams years, with the footnote that there were some
serious pitching problems nearly every year in Boston.  They grumbled that he
was sometimes boorish, with the footnote that he was often charming.
     Most of the gripes were about intangible things.  If you were playing a
computer baseball game and could pick your roster from players from any era,
you'd probably start with Williams if Ruth was already taken.
     Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966.


Vic Willis
Pitcher, Bos (N) 1898-1905, Pit (N) 1906-09, StL (N) 1910

Willis holds the NL record for complete games in this century, with 45 in
1902, as well as for losses, with 29 in 1905 for the seventh-place Bostonians.
But the curveballer won 20 or more eight times, including four of his first
five years, 1898-1902.  He finished with a hefty 247-204 record.
     As a twenty-two-year-old rookie in 1898, Vic helped pitch Boston to the
flag with a 25-13 record.  In 1899 he was 27-8 with a no-hitter.
     After an off-year in 1900, Willis came back in 1901 to go 18-17 for a
fifth-place team.  The next year he was 27-19, led in innings pitched and
strikeouts, and set a modern record with 45 complete games.
     Vic had two big losing years in 1904-1905, when he was 18-25 and 12-29 as
Boston stumbled in next-to-last.  But a trade to third-place Pittsburgh in
1906 brought him back to a 22-13 record, the first of four straight 20-win
years.  In the last one, 1909, Willis was 22-11 to lead the Pirates to the
world championship.
     Willis' 247 victories appear to be some sort of Hall of Fame dividing
line.  With the exception of a couple of recent retirees, every eligible
pitcher with a career predominantly in the twentieth century who won more than
Willis has been elected to the Hall.


Maury Wills
Shortstop, LA (N) 1959-66, 1969-72, Pit (N) 1967-68, Mon (N) 1969.
Manager, Sea (A) 1980-81

Wills brought the stolen base back into baseball.  No NL player had stolen 50
bases since Max Carey in 1923 when Wills grabbed that many in 1960.  Two years
later he shattered Ty Cobb's 1915 record of 96 and became the first man to
break 100 in this century. (Nineteenth-century rules counted extra bases taken
on others' hits as steals.)  Maury's 104 steals lit the way for the Brocks,
Hendersons, and Colemans and changed the nature of the game.
     Wills was the shortstop for Los Angeles, a team long on pitching and
short on power.  His steals were of more value to the Dodgers than they might
have been to a team of greater batting proficiency.  He led the NL in stolen
bases six straight years, 1960-1965, and he finished his fourteen-year career
with 586.  In addition to the 104 in 1962, which won him the MVP Award, he
stole 94 in 1965.
     Wills spent eight years in the minors before finally being given a chance
with the Dodgers midway through the 1959 season.  Although he had no home run
power, Wills was more than a one-dimensional player.  He had a career batting
average of .281, and he twice won Gold Gloves as a shortstop.  With Wills at
short, the Dodgers won four pennants.
     His son Bump Wills played six years (1977-1982) in the majors and was
also an excellent base stealer.


Lewis "Hack" Wilson
Outfield, NY (N) 1923-25, Chi (N) 1926-31, Bkn (N) 1932-34, Phi (N) 1934

It was often said of Wilson that "he was a lowball hitter and a highball
drinker."  The line could still get a chuckle after his career went down the
tube at age thirty-four but lost its mirth when he died at forty-eight.  For
five years he was the most fearsome slugger in the NL; then, almost overnight,
he became a has-been.
     He was one of the strangest-looking men ever to play in the majors. He
stood only five-six but weighed around 210.  He had an eighteen-inch neck and
wore a size-six shoe.  Because someone thought he resembled the famous
strongman George Hackenschmidt, Wilson was tagged "Hack," but that probably
didn't do him justice.  What he really looked like was Barney Rubble with
Wilma Flintstone's feet.
     After he'd played a couple of years for the Giants and been found
wanting, the Cubs picked him up for a song--a little ditty called $5,000--in
1926.  Right away he started hitting homers and driving in runs.  From 1926
through 1930 he led the NL in homers four times, drove in over 100 runs each
year, and hit over .300.  The really big seasons were 1929, when he hit .345
and had 159 RBIs to help the Cubs to the pennant, and 1930, which made
everything else look like a preamble.  In 1930 he hit .356, he scored 146
runs, he hammered out 56 homers--still the NL record--and he drove in a grand
total of (drum roll) 191 runs!
     Hack was thirty years old and it was "top-of-the-world-ma"!  And if you
remember what happened next in the Cagney movie, just about the same thing
happened to Hack in 1931.  His boozing was at the base.  Manager Rogers
Hornsby got on his case about the cases he was consuming.  Hack sulked and
drank more. And when he hit .261, with 13 homers and 61 RBIs, they exiled him
to Brooklyn. By 1934, he was done hitting lowballs.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979.


Dave Winfield
Outfield, SD (N) 1973-80, NY (A) 1981-88, 1990, Cal (A) 1990-91,
Tor (A) 1992, Min (A) 1993-

Probably the best all-around athlete in the majors in the last quarter
century, the six-six, 220-pound Winfield was drafted to play both pro football
and pro basketball but opted instead to step directly from the University of
Minnesota into a regular job in the San Diego outfield in 1973. Although the
San Diego park was a poor one for righthanded power hitters and the Padres
team was annually awful, he established himself as one of the NL's best
players, hitting .300 twice, leading in RBIs in 1979, and earning two Gold
Gloves.
     Frustrated at playing for a losing team, he signed an estimated
$25-million contract as a free agent with the Yankees in 1981. He has seldom
been out of the news since. Discounting 1981, the strike year, he batted in
at least 100 runs every year as a Yankee except 1987, when he drove home 97.
His home run totals have been as high as 37 and as low as 19 (in 1984, when he
batted .340). He has brightened innumerable highlight films with leaping
outfield catches. He has been a team leader and has conducted himself as a
model citizen, and his Winfield Foundation is known for its charitable work
with underprivileged youth.
     There's a downside. He has also been involved in numerous verbal
skirmishes and even a lawsuit with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. The
Yankees played in only one World Series (1981) during his tenure in New York,
and he hit only .045 there. And the seagulls of Toronto will never forgive
him for his mighty outfield toss that nailed one of their number. Winfield
missed the entire 1989 season with a back injury and was traded to California
early in 1990.
     In 1992 he joined Toronto and helped them win a world championship. In
the following year he nailed down his Hall of Fame credentials by
surpasssing 3,000 hits.


George Wright
Shortstop, Bos (NA), 1871-75, Bos (N) 1876-78, 1880-81, Prov (N) 1879, 1882.
Manager, Prov (N) 1879

Baseball's Wright brothers weren't related to the airplane inventors, but they
got professional baseball off the ground in 1869 with the first completely pro
team.  George starred at shortstop for older brother Harry's pioneer pro club,
the Cincinnati Red Stockings, which went unbeaten that year while playing all
comers from east coast to west.  George hit .629, with 49 homers in the Reds'
57 counted games.
     George had been named shortstop on pioneer baseball writer Henry
Chadwick's first All-Star team in 1868.  He was the first shortstop to play
out beyond the baselines, thereby increasing his range.  He was valued even
more for his fielding than his hitting.  And small wonder!  The Red Stockings
won games by scores of 85-7, 40-0, and 103-8.  Who needed another hitter?
     The Wrights moved to Boston of the new National Association following the
1870 campaign and won four straight flags, 1872-1875.  George's batting
average ranged from .409 to .336.
     When the NL was founded in 1876, George was the first man to come to bat.
He hit a grounder to shortstop.
     His batting began dropping off, however, and with the advent of sidearm
and curveball pitching in 1877, it was down to .276, but Boston won the flag
and repeated in 1878.  In 1879 he moved to Providence as player-manager and
beat Harry's Bostonians for the flag, giving him eight pennants in nine years.
     George founded a sporting goods company in Boston.  When he took on a
partner in 1879, the company became Wright & Ditson.  An all-around athlete,
George had starred at cricket before turning full-time to baseball.  After
retiring from the diamond, he returned to cricket.  He introduced golf to the
Boston area and was instrumental in introducing hockey to the United States.
He also supported tennis, and his two sons won national championships.
     George was named to the Hall of Fame in 1937.


William "Harry" Wright
Outfielder/Pitcher, Bos (NA) 1871-75, Bos (N) 1876-77.  Manager, Bos (NA)
1871-75, Bos (N) 1876-81, Pro (N) 1882-83, Phi (N) 1884-93

Henry Chadwick, "the father of baseball," called Wright the "father of pro
baseball."
     Harry organized the game's first completely professional team, the
Cincinnati Red Stockings, paving the way for the first pro league, the
National Association.  He designed the basic uniform that is still worn today,
knee-length knickers instead of pantaloons.  And he patented the first
scorecard.
     A professional cricket player, in 1858 Harry decided to try the new
American game of baseball.  He joined the New York Knickerbockers as an
outfielder.  He occasionally pitched in relief, throwing a change-up he called
a "dew drop."
     In 1867 Harry joined the Cincinnati Red Stockings as a pitcher.  Since
1865 he had been a paid bowler for the Cincinnati Union Cricket Club.  By
1868, with several pros on the team, the Red Stockings were Midwest champions.
The next year his younger brother George, a star shortstop, joined the team,
and the Red Stockings took the field as the first fully professional baseball
team.  The Red Stockings toured the country and won every game in 1869.  The
winning streak continued until June 14, 1870, when they were finally bested by
the Atlantics of Brooklyn in an extra-inning thriller.  The publicity the Reds
generated stirred public interest in professional baseball and led to the
establishment of the National Association, the first pro baseball league, in
1871.
     With the formation of the National Association, Harry became manager of
the Boston team, called the Red Stockings since the Cincinnati team had
disbanded, with George as shortstop.  They won four pennants, in 1872-1875.
The Red Stockings joined the newly formed National League in 1876, its first
year. Harry won pennants in 1877 and 1878.
     Harry continued as a manager in the NL until 1893.  Although he won no
more pennants, several of his teams come close.  He was universally respected
for his integrity and innovative ideas.
     Among the changes he reportedly advocated that were later instituted: the
fifty-foot and then the fifty-five-foot pitching distance, six balls for a
walk instead of nine, pre-game practice, a livelier ball with a cork center,
and overhand pitching.
     One idea that was tried out but did not prevail:  a flat bat.
     Harry Wright was named to the Hall of Fame in 1953.


Early Wynn
Pitcher, Was (A) 1939, 1941-44, 1946-48, Cle (A) 1949-57, 1963,
Chi (A) 1958-62

Wynn pitched his first major league game at age nineteen, but he didn't get
any (ahem) early wins.  Throwing for the Senators in the 1940s, he was
erratic--a burly batch of talent with no clear idea of what to do.  He was
18-12 in 1943 and 8-17 the next year, 17-15 in 1947 and 8-19 in 1948, with a
5.82 ERA.  The Senators finally said the heck with him and shipped him to
Cleveland.
     Indians' pitching coach Mel Harder taught him the fine art of pitching,
sharpened his pitches, and by 1950, the new, improved model was 18-8 with the
AL's best ERA.  Cleveland had the best pitching in the world in the 1950s,
with Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia, and their equal--sometimes
better--Wynn.  As an Indian, he won 20 games four times, 18 once, 17 twice.
     In a sense, Wynn was a throwback, a 1950s pitcher with the attitude of an
old 1890s Oriole.  The plate was his.  Any batter with the audacity to dig in
could expect the next pitch to be aimed at his sinuses.  They said Wynn would
have brushed back his grandmother.  "Only if she dug in," said Early.  He
didn't so much win games as wrestle for them, earning victory by intimidation,
force of will, anger, and downright cussedness.
     He walked scads and struck out a ton, eventually leading the AL twice in
both departments.  In all, he walked 1,775, yet he wasn't really wild; he just
refused to give a batter a good pitch.
     In 1958, Al Lopez, his former Indians' manager, acquired him for the
White Sox.  His 22-10 record in 1959 helped the Sox win their first pennant in
forty years and earned the thirty-nine-year-old Wynn the Cy Young Award.
     By 1960 Early needed 29 more victories for 300.  He developed a gouty
elbow.  It took him four years and a lot of pain, but on July 13, 1963, he
became baseball's fourteenth 300-game winner.
     In 1972 he was elected to the Hall of Fame.


Jim Wynn
Outfielder, Hou (N) 1963-73, LA (N) 1974-75, Atl (N) 1976, NY (A) 1977,
Mil (A) 1977

Wynn, at five-ten and 160 pounds, was called "the Toy Cannon" because he
generated so much power for his size.  For most of his career, he played half
his games in the Astrodome, the second worst park to hit a ball out of (the
first worst is Yellowstone).  Nevertheless, he popped 37 homers in 1967 and 33
in 1969.  Joe Morgan, a pretty fair hitter, finished second on the team both
years with 10 and 15.
     Playing for the Astros in the 1960s had other disadvantages.  There
usually weren't a lot of runners for Jimmy to knock in; he topped 100 RBIs
once for Houston but was over 80 three other years.  And there was seldom
anyone to knock Wynn home when he got on; Wynn walked over 100 times in seven
different seasons, four as an Astro.  His 148 free passes in 1969 tied the NL
record.
     In 1974 Wynn was traded to the Dodgers.  Chavez Ravine is no hitter's
paradise, but finally he was with a winner.  He hit 32 homers, scored 108
runs, and batted in 104, to help the Dodgers to a pennant.  Wynn finished
fifth in the MVP voting, and everyone wondered where he'd been all these
years.
     The answer was he'd been hiding at Loop 610, Kirby and Fannin Streets,
Houston, Texas.


Carl Yastrzemski
Outfielder/First Baseman, Bos (A) 1961-83

For one month--September 1967--Ted Williams said, Yaz was the greatest player
who ever lived.  Almost single-handedly the Boston left fielder lifted the Red
Sox from ninth in 1966 to the flag.  In a final doubleheader victory over
pursuing Minnesota, Carl got 7-for-8 to sink the Twins.  He won the Triple
Crown and played a sensational left field with his glove and arm.  Naturally
he was MVP.  He hit .400 in the World Series against St. Louis, with three
homers.
     Yaz won three batting titles, including .301 in 1968, the lowest ever to
win.  But that was the Year of the Pitcher, when the average American Leaguer
hit .230.  In a normal year Carl would have hit .331; in the 1930 NL, .388.
     Carl began as a line drive hitter.  Then at age twenty-seven he began
lifting weights and came out slugging in 1967, the "Impossible Dream" season,
with 44 homers.  He had two more 40-homer seasons and finished with 452.  His
career .285 batting average is more impressive in light of his 1,844 RBIs,
1,816 runs scored, and 1,845 walks.
     He led the league in assists six times, more than any other outfielder in
AL history, and he got 190 intentional walks, more than any other AL hitter
since such records were kept starting in 1955.  Yaz was elected to the Hall of
Fame in 1989.


Tom Yawkey
Owner, Bos (A) 1933-77

A wealthy lumberman and mine owner, Yawkey was the adopted son of onetime
Detroit owner William Yawkey.  He bought the moribund Red Sox in 1933 and set
out to buy a pennant by acquiring star players such as Joe Cronin, Lefty
Grove, Jimmie Foxx, and Wes Ferrell.  It didn't work, mostly because the
Yankees were in the league, but he did revive fan interest that had all but
disappeared in the years that the Sox spent scraping the bottom of the AL.
Yawkey finally won pennants in 1946, 1967, and 1975.  He never saw them win a
World Series though--they lost in seven games every time.
     Generous and popular with his players, Yawkey often worked out with them
before games and was interested in their affairs.  Critics said that he
overpaid and pampered his stars, thus diminishing their desire to win.  He was
also accused of bucking racial integration; the Sox were the last team to have
a black player, and that was not until 1959.
     He served as AL vice president in 1956-1973.
     Yawkey was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980.


Rudy York
First Baseman, Det (A) 1934, 1937-45, Bos (A) 1946-47, Chi (A) 1947,
Phi (A) 1948.  Manager, Bos (A) 1959

As a rookie catcher in 1937, the scarfaced part-Cherokee smashed 18 home runs
for Detroit in August alone, the record for one month.  In all, he slugged 35
in only 375 at-bats.
     In 1940, with the Tigers well-stocked with catchers and needing York's
big bat in the lineup, slugger Hank Greenberg was moved to left field and York
was installed at first base.  The change did nothing for the Tiger defense
("Rudy York is part Indian and part first baseman" was a popular line), but it
gave them a pennant-winning attack.  Greenberg was named MVP; York hit 33
homers, drove in 134 runs, and batted .316.
     He led the AL in homers and RBIs in 1943, and helped the Tigers win
another flag in 1945.  Traded to the Red Sox in 1946, he again found himself
on a pennant winner.  In thirteen seasons, York hit 277 home runs and had
1,152 RBIs.


Denton "Cy" Young
Pitcher, Cle (N) 1890-98, StL (N) 1899-1900, Bos (A) 1901-08, Cle (A) 1909-11,
Bos (N) 1911.  Manager, Bos (A) 1907

Young's career record looks like a misprint:  511-313.  Surely there must be a
couple of decimal points missing!  If nothing else, it prepares you to
gosh-and-golly through some of the other high points:  Young was number one in
innings pitched with 7,357 and in complete games with 749.  He had 15 seasons
of 20 or more wins, five seasons of winning 30 or more; 76 shutouts; a 2.63
career ERA; three no-hitters, with the one in 1904 a perfect game.
Ridiculous!
     They called him Cy either because he threw baseballs against a fence
until it looked like a cyclone had hit it or because he showed up at the
Cleveland Spiders' park in 1890 carrying a cardboard suitcase, wearing a
cheap, too-small suit, and looking like what you'd get if you mail-ordered for
a hick.  But from his first pitch, he was the Spiders' best pitcher, and he
continued being the staff ace for whatever team he played for during the next
twenty years.  His last two seasons he slipped, but there was nothing wrong
with his arm; he just got too fat to field bunts.
     Young's arm was a wonder.  He never had a sore arm, even though he
pitched over 400 innings five times and over 300 eleven other seasons.  He'd
go home to his Ohio farm in October, do chores all winter, and show up ready
for another 400 innings the next spring.
     Cy threw twelve pitches before each game and was ready to go.  On the
mound he wheeled away from the hitter to hide the ball, then uncorked one of
four deliveries, including an overhand curve, a sidearm curve, and a "tobacco
ball."  Young was a great control pitcher, averaging 1.5 walks per game.  He
once went twenty innings in a game without giving a walk.  Eleven times he led
the league in fewest walks and most strikeouts.
     If they'd had a Cy Young Award when he pitched, he probably would have
won only a couple at most.  There was usually somebody having a more
phenomenal individual season--Kid Nichols, Amos Rusie, Joe McGinnity, Christy
Mathewson, Three-Finger Brown, Addie Joss, or Ed Walsh.  A few pitchers in
history have been terrific for enough seasons that they might actually rank
ahead of Young on the all-time scale.  Maybe Lefty Grove, Walter Johnson, Bob
Feller, Tom Seaver, Matty, or Alexander.  Cy had some advantages over most of
them.  He was almost always on winning teams.  He didn't have to fret a lively
ball.  In its first years, the AL he jumped to in 1901 was definitely weaker
than the NL.  If you could choose any pitcher who has ever played to pitch for
you in a big game, you probably wouldn't pick Young.  But if your opponent
picked him, he might beat you.  After all, Cy was the winning pitcher 511
times.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937.


Ross Youngs
Outfielder, NY (N) 1917-26

Virtually John McGraw's "son"--Mac called him "the greatest outfielder I ever
had"--Youngs played on the Giants' four straight pennant winners in 1921
through 1924.  When he hit .375 in the 1922 Series to Ruth's .118, Mac said he
wouldn't trade him for the Babe.  It got a big laugh over at the Yankee
office.  Hyperbole aside, Youngs was a splendid right fielder--a fast runner,
fearless, with excellent judgment and a fine arm.  A smart baserunner, too.
At bat, the stocky lefthanded hitter had double and triple power and hit .300
from the moment he first came to bat in the Polo Grounds.
     In 1924 he hit .356.  If he wasn't Ruth, he was definitely one of the
best players in the NL.  Then, in 1925, something was wrong.  He struggled at
bat all season and finished at .264.  In the off-season, he was diagnosed as
suffering from Bright's Disease.  He played through 1926 on guts, teaching
young Mel Ott everything he knew about playing right field.  By will alone he
hit .302.  By 1927 he was bedridden, and in October he died at the age of
thirty.
     He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.


Robin Yount
Shortstop/Outfielder, Mil (A) 1974-

Yount became the Brewers' regular shortstop in 1974 at age eighteen and held
the job with his glove for a few years until his bat caught up. By the 1980s
he was hitting for average and power.
     The tousle-headed Yount was the best player in the AL in 1982. Robin
smacked two home runs off Jim Palmer to clinch the flag for Milwaukee on the
final day, to end with 29 homers, .331, and the best slugging average in the
league. He won the MVP by a landslide. Yount stayed hot in the World Series,
hitting .414 with a record-setting two four-hit games, as the Brewers lost to
the Cardinals in seven games.
     After 1,479 games at shortstop, a shoulder injury in 1984 finally sent
Yount to center field, where he has continued to rank among the AL's best
players. A .318 average and 103 RBIs led Yount to a second MVP in 1989. In
1992 he moved into select company with 3,000 career hits.