Monday
On this date in 1953, third baseman Bob Elliott played his final major league game. He was with the White Sox at the time, but was best known for his All-Star years with the Pirates and Braves.
Elliott isn’t mentioned very often now, but he was a pretty good player for about a dozen years. Never a remarkable hitter, he nevertheless was a very good one, and quite consistent. Apparently he was rejected for military service during World War II due to a head injury suffered when hit by a line drive, so he worked a job in the defense industry during the war instead and consequently had the advantage of not missing several seasons of his career like many ballplayers of that era.
The only major offense category in which he ever led the league was when he had 131 walks in 1948, but he exceeded 100 RBI six times, and had 20 more homers three times, and batted .300 three times, too. His OPS+ was a solid 124 for his career, and it only dipped below 100 twice in his 15 big league seasons (to 99 in 1946, and 92 in 1952).
For 12 of those years he was a regular in the lineup, most of them at third base after starting as a right fielder, and he had a very respectable run in those dozen years. He made 7 All-Star teams, finished in the top-10 in MVP voting four times, won the National League MVP in 1947, and averaged a .292/.378/.444 batting line, 127 OPS+, and 4.0 WAR. In 1948 he led the Braves to an unexpected pennant, and then hit .333/.392/.619 in the World Series loss to the Indians. He did that despite being distracted by the fact that his father was critically ill back in California, and died shortly after the series.
That ability to set aside his own concerns for the team’s was very much in keeping with Elliott’s personality. Having already changed positions to help the Pirates early in his career, he became known for his hustle and team-first style, and was nicknamed “Mr. Team” while with the Braves. With that sort of reputation in the game, it’s no wonder that he was able to work as a minor league manager after his playing days, and even got one shot to manage in the majors with the 1960 Kansas City A’s. Even Mr. Team couldn’t turn that squad around.
Sadly, Bob Elliott died from a ruptured windpipe in 1966 when he was just 49 years old. He never got much support for the Hall of Fame, and probably shouldn’t have, but there have been far worse players than him honored. A 7-time All-Star, one-time MVP, and 50+ WAR guy known as Mr. Team certainly wouldn’t be out of place in Cooperstown.
Tuesday
Andrew “Rube” Foster was born on this date in 1879. If you know anything about the Negro Leagues, then you know they wouldn’t have existed without Foster. He was a remarkable two-way player, and a manger, and an owner and GM, and finally a league founder and president, and could have been put in the Hall of Fame for any one of those careers. He performed most of them simultaneously.
Let me try to give you a sense of what he was to Black baseball.
As a pitcher, he was Charles Bender, how made the Hall of Fame on the strength of winning 18 games per 162-game season, winning over 62% of his decisions, and having a 2.45 career ERA that was 12% better than the leagues he pitched in during the Dead Ball era. Foster’s stats in the Seamheads database show him winning 20 games per 162-game season, 68% of his decisions, with a career ERA of 2.32 that was 11% better than the leagues he pitched in.
As a hitter, he was Bill Bradley of the old Cleveland Naps, a guy who batted .271/.317/.371 back in the same Dead Ball era, good for a career OPS+ of 108. He ran a bit, stealing as many as 23 bases in a season, and bunted a lot, and played good defense, and had years in which he batted as high as .340. Foster batted .277/.311/.373 in the Dead Ball days, good for a career OPS+ of 113. He didn’t run as much, but that was his preferred style of play, and played food defense, and had years in which he batted as high as .400. Bradley was a good player who totaled 36.4 career WAR. He isn’t in the Hall of Fame, but then again he didn’t put up those numbers while also being Charles Bender on the mound, like Foster did.
As a manager, he was Joe McCarthy, the Yankee and Red Sox skipper whose teams had a combined .615 winning percentage in 24 seasons, made the postseason 9 times, and won 7 World Series. Foster’s teams in the organized Negro Leagues had a .633 winning percentage and won 3 pennants in his 7 seasons as manager. But Foster actually managed the Chicago American Giants for 16 years, and the Chicago Leland Giants for many years before that. In 21 total seasons as a manager Foster’s teams had a .644 winning percentage and made some kind of postseason play in 8 of them.
As an executive, he was Branch Rickey in his years with the Cardinals and Dodgers. Rickey, of course, developed St. Louis’ innovative farm system, then moved on to Brooklyn where he did the same, also integrated baseball, and achieved great success again. In his 18 years in the Cardinals’ front office the team won 6 pennants and 4 World Series, then the Dodgers won two more pennants in his 8 years there while being co-owner of the team. Like Rickey, Foster also owned the American Giants, and ran the entire front office, on top of serving as player/manager for much of that time.
As a league founder and president, he was Ban Johnson, who founded the American League and served as its first president until failing health led to his removal. Foster founded the Negro National League, and served as its first president until failing health led to his removal as well.
Bender is in the Hall of Fame, and would have been an even easier selection if he’d also been Bill Bradley as a hitter when he wasn’t pitching. Joe McCarthy is also in the Hall of Fame as a manager, just as Rickey is as an executive, and Johnson is as a league founder and president.
Andrew “Rube” Foster filled each of those roles just as well, and he did it simultaneously. There’s never been any one figure in baseball history quite like him.
Wednesday
Both Hank Greenberg and Frank Robinson played their final major league games on this date, in 1947 for Greenberg and in 1976 for Robinson. If we looked at their career numbers side by side, Robinson’s would dwarf most of Greenberg’s.
Not much of a contest considering Robinson played more than twice as many major league games. Still, it might be a fun exercise to compare them if Robinson had the same sort of interruptions to his career that plagued Greenberg. For instance:
Greenberg actually reached the big leagues earlier than Robinson, but for just one game at the age of 19 before being farmed back out to the minor leagues. He was never called back up in those two years despite hitting a combined .302 with 54 homers, and wasn’t back in the big leagues until he was 22. Robinson, on the other hand, never played another day in the minors after being handed an everyday job with the Reds at the age of 20.
Greenberg missed most of the 1936 season with a wrist injury.
Greenberg missed most of the 1941 season, all of the 1942-44 seasons, and half of the 1945 season while serving in the Army during World War II.
Let’s do something similar to Robinson. Let’s take away his age 20 and 21 seasons as if he was kept in the minor leagues like Greenberg. And let’s chop off his 1961 season after just the first 12 games as if he injured his wrist. And then let’s give him just the first 19 games he played during the 1966 season, and the final 78 he played in the 1970 season, and take away his entire 1967-69 seasons as if he was serving in the Army during the Vietnam War the same way Greenberg served in World War II. What do we get then?
Those are Greenberg’s actual career totals and Robinson’s through age 36, the same age Greenberg was when he retired, and Greenberg pretty thoroughly dominates in every single category besides stolen bases. Robinson, of course, went on to play four more years after that, but even if we credited him with those years he still wouldn’t have caught Greenberg’s totals in RBI, doubles, or triples, and would have barely caught him in homers, runs, and walks.
None of this is intended to denigrate Frank Robinson, who was an elite player, one of the top 20-25 players in the history of baseball. It’s not his fault that he didn’t have the sort of career interruptions Greenberg had, and he deserves full credit for all of his actual accomplishments.
But I hope this does illustrate exactly how badly Greenberg’s career was impacted by dumb luck with injuries, bad management decisions about playing time, and uncontrollable international events. Because all of those things combined to stifle his career numbers, I think many people fail to recognize exactly how great he was. In Joe Posnanski’s The Baseball 100, he ranks Robinson 20th in baseball history. That seems about right. But he ranks Greenberg just 67th, and I doubt that would be the case if not for events beyond Greenberg’s control.
Thursday
Since this was Duke Snider’s 98th birthday here’s a link to my recent edition about him, and the dumb luck he had to be one of the top 10 center fielders ever but only be 3rd-best in his own city for most of his career.
Friday
Finally, Harry Stovey, outfielder and first baseman mostly for the Athletics back in the 1880s, died on this date in 1937. One of the earliest sluggers in major league history, he once held both the single-season and career record for most home runs, and led the league in homers five times. He also led the league in runs scored and triples four times each, in slugging percentage three times, and in stolen bases twice, including a career-high 97 in 1890.
Players from the 19th Century are probably overrepresented in the Hall of Fame, so I don’t necessarily advocate putting any more in from that period. But if we were going to do that anyway, Stovey would be on a very short list for consideration. He was as good or better than several of his peers who are already in Cooperstown. I mean, is there really anything to separate these guys?
Everyone but Stovey in that graphic is in the Hall of Fame, and while White and Ewing are there mostly because they played catcher a lot, Thompson and Kelly were both primarily outfielders like Stovey, and he appears to be at least as qualified as them.
Again, I’m not starting a Harry Stovey campaign or anything. But putting his career in perspective with his Hall of Fame peers seems like the fair thing to do almost 90 years after his death.
This Week’s Editions
Monday: Decisions, Decisions: Standing Pat in a Pennant Race
Tuesday: Baseball Remembers: Al Oliver
Wednesday: First Gloves: Bill Buckner
Thursday: Educating Twitter: Painting Silvio García
Great edition of this. Something to ponder in each section. Thanks!