Baseball Remembers: Pee Wee Butts

There aren’t many guys in the Hall of Fame just because of their defense. Bill Mazeroski is, though he also had that dramatic homer to win the World Series. Ray Schalk is. Ozzie Smith, of course, though he was also a fabulous base runner. The same goes for Luis Aparicio. It’s a small group.

The group of Negro Leaguers honored by the Hall of Fame primarily for their defense has even fewer members.

Zero.

Here are the career OPS+ marks for every player from the Negro Leagues who made it to Cooperstown primarily as a position player.

• Josh Gibson - 214

• Oscar Charleston - 184

• Buck Leonard - 180

• Willard Brown - 178

• Turkey Stearnes - 177

• Mule Suttles - 172

• Cristóbal Torriente - 158

• Jud Wilson - 154

• Willie Wells - 152

• Martín Dihigo - 138

• Monte Irvin - 135

• Pete Hill - 134

• Ben Taylor - 133

• John Henry Lloyd - 131

• Biz Mackey - 131

• Cool Papa Bell - 126

• Louis Santop - 126

• Ray Dandridge - 110

• Judy Johnson - 104