The Class of 1937 was comprised of the top-three vote-getters among players who did not earn election in the inaugural class of 1936, along with two managers and three executives/pioneers. We will start with perhaps the least qualified person in the Hall of Fame:
Image: A. A fine depiction of the National League's first present. Great mustache, too, one of the first to grace a Hall plaque.
Name: B. While it's missing his full middle name, Gardner, the addition of the Honorable prefix is the only such occurrence of a title like this on a plaque. Bulkeley earned his distinction thanks to a successful post-baseball political career during which he served as both a Senator and Governor of Connecticut. In my opinion, especially since these occurred after his baseball career, this prefix was not necessary
Teams: N/A. Here we have our first case of a non-player who has earned Hall of Fame status. In most cases, executives and pioneers do not have a list of teams or leagues that they were associated with below their name. I think this is the correct format, especially with pioneers of the game's first few decades. It would become difficult to display both a list of teams/leagues and a paragraph of text. Think of someone like
Charles Comiskey or
Clark Griffith, who were associated with several different teams as players, managers and executives.
Text: A. I may disagree completely with Bulkeley's election, but his plaque does do a great job of making him sound pretty important, despite there not being much to include. The Hall's only Civil War veteran, Bulkeley was the principle owner of the Hardford Dark Blues of the National Association in 1874 and 1875. The next year, he was named the first president of the National League, serving for one year before he left the baseball world. He made no earth-shattering decisions, and the league's founder William Hulbert took over as the rightful league president for 1877. Bulkeley was likely named president simply for PR reasons, providing a well-known, politically connected figurehead from the East Coast for the fledgling league.
"Laid the Foundation of the National Game for Posterity" is mostly a nonsensical sentence at the end of his plaque, which probably should have been reserved for Hulbert. Too bad it took him until 1995 to earn the honor that instead went to Bulkeley 58 years earlier. I'm also glad the plaque negates any mention of Bulkeley's only other notable involvement with baseball, when he was a part of the Mills Commission in 1905 which erroneously declared that baseball was invented in Cooperstown, NY by Abner Doubleday.
Image: A. Not bad. Our first bespectacled Hall of Famer, too. This is also the first instance were I can confidently pinpoint the actual photograph that was likely the inspiration for a plaque image.
See it here.
Name: A. Good use of the full name, but it could have used "Ban."
Teams. N/A. See Bulkeley. Johnson was solely associated with the American League, although for a much longer period than Bulkeley's NL ties.
Text: B. Including the reason for his resignation as "Ill Health" is a bit misleading. Johnson was being pressured by AL owners to either resign or be ousted due to growing tensions between Johnson, the owners and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
Image: A-. I don't know what it is, but I always thought this didn't look quite enough like Lajoie. I just might be crazy, but something always seemed off to me.
Name: A-. Like Ban Johnson before him, it could have used "Nap," but at least it had "Larry," a nickname which was used much more prominently in Lajoie's lifetime than in modern day, when he is almost exclusively referred to as "Nap."
Teams: C. Okay, well I guess I asked for this? Unlike Cobb or Ruth, Lajoie has his teams separated in different lines, with the years all separated as well. However, I have one huge problem with the way they worked Lajoie's plaque. They separated his tenure with the Philadelphia Athletics into two separate lines, the first for his stint with the club, and again two lines later for his two-year tenure with the A's in 1915 and 1916. These should have both been combined into one line, looking like this:
Philadelphia (A) 1901-1902, 1915-1916.
Notice I added 1902 in there, which the plaque is missing. Lajoie did indeed play for the A's in 1902, but for only one game. He was sold to Cleveland during the year amidst a controversy surrounding his jump to the A.L. in 1901. It was ruled that he could not play baseball for any team in Pennsylvania that wasn't the Phillies, his former team, so he worked around this by becoming a fixture in Cleveland and avoiding road games against the A's.
Also, I must note another inconsistency. While the other players from 1936 had their leagues abbrevated A.L. and N.L., Lajoie and his classmates Tris Speaker and Cy Young instead had the leagues shorted to simply "A" and "N." I prefer "A.L." and "N.L.," especially when other leagues existed previously which began with the letters A and N, the American Association and National Association, both of which would appear on plaques in the future.
Text: B. Aside from missing his 1910 batting title, a claim which was controversial and not even statistically proven until the 1980s, Lajoie's text isn't that bad. Mentioning his rather unremarkable managerial career wasn't necessary, but if they had to, it should say six years, not four. Rather, his Triple Crown in 1901, during which he set an A.L. record for highest batting average (.426) should have been highlighted, along with his 3000+ hits.
Image: A-. Mack earns the distinction of being the first Hall of Famer elected while he was still active in baseball, as he would manage the Philadelphia Athletics until 1950. Electing an active manager would be impossible today, but the Hall had basically no rules when it first started. That being said, I'm a little surprised that they used a photo of Mack during his advanced age for his plaque. A younger-looking Mack, maybe from somewhere between the turn of the century and the early 1910s, would have captured him at the height of his importance to baseball, as he helped found the American League while winning three World Series from 1910-1913.
Name: A-. Similar to Honus Wagner and his birth name problem, Connie Mack's real name was not Connie Mack. Born Cornelius McGillicuddy (with no middle name; despite what many reference works claim to state, Alexander was his son's middle name, not his own), Mack was even buried under his "McGillicuddy" name. However, he went by "Connie Mack" during his entire baseball career. I don't have a real problem with the Hall emitting his birth name, but a part of me would have liked to see:
Cornelius McGillicuddy
"Connie Mack"
Teams: N/A. This is a difficult case. Despite what his plaque says about his playing career, Mack is in the Hall strictly for his tenure as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics. That being said, his plaque could have said:
Pittsburgh (N.L.) - 1894-1896
Philadelphia (A.L.) 1901-
I included Pittsburgh here because if he was inducted as a manager, his three-year stint as Pirates skipper must be noted. Perhaps when Mack finally retired "1950" could have been added to his plaque, much like how gravestones are updated after a person who is already listed on the stone dies.
Text: A-. Mack was never a "star catcher," playing barely above replacement level for parts of 11 seasons from 1886 to 1896, mostly for bad or average Washington and Pittsburgh clubs in the N.L. Mack didn't win anymore World Series or pennants after his election, so the numbers on his plaque are correct for all of eternity. The last line has always puzzled me. What exactly is the Bok Award? Mack apparently won it in 1929, which was meant as a Philadelphia-based prize for service to the community, named for editor and author Edward Bok. While this seems like a neat award, adding it to his plaque when likely nobody at the time outside of Philadelphia knew what the heck it was is curious. Instead, how about a mention of his role as part, and eventually principal owner, of the Athletics, his work in constructing Shibe Park, or all the legendary players he acquired? Maybe if the Hall would have waited until his retirement, this plaque could have been a bit better.
Image: A. No issues
Name: A- Missing his full middle name, Joseph, as well as any mention of his nicknames, Mugsy or Little Napoleon.
Teams: N/A. McGraw, unlike Mack, was actually an accomplished big league player. His .466 OBP is still third all-time, and while he lacks many counting numbers that would make him an easy Hall of Famer strictly on his playing career, thanks to only five seasons of playing in 100 or more games, his 45.7 WAR would rank above several Hall of Famers if he was inducted in that role. He did, however, go on to manage the New York Giants for 31 years from 1902-1932, winning 10 pennants and three World Series. His plaque could very well have his Giants years, along with his two managerial stints with both the National and American League Orioles between 1899 and 1902, but his superb playing career makes this a tough choice. I don't fault the Hall for not listing all of his teams, as both a player and manager.
Text: A. About as perfect a text entry as you can get in this era. It mentions his playing days, which certainly deserved a nod, then states his major accomplishments with the Giants.
Image: A-. Okay, but not great. Speaker looks like a grizzled vet here, when I would have preferred a younger looking "Grey Eagle." Speaker is also the first case we have of a player whose primary team is arguable. This aspect of Hall of Fame trivia is more commonly referred to as "cap logo," which is exactly what it sounds like. Which team did Tris Speaker go into the Hall with? Simply looking at the plaque, you would probably say "no one." A close inspection of his plaque reveals a very faint "block C," but I don't think you'd notice it if you weren't looking for it. There are two realistic possibilities for his primary team, the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. The Hall's website lists the Indians as his primary club, and I would guess that the image shown above is him while he was in Cleveland, judging by his older appearance. He played more games, had more hits, and a higher batting average, OBP, SLG and WAR with the Indians than Red Sox, so this is almost certainly the right choice, despite Speaker's only MVP and his two best seasons by WAR coming in Boston.
Name:
A. While I normally have a problem with a plaque negating or shortening a Hall of Famer's full name, Speaker is a special case. He is almost exclusively listed with only a middle initial "E." and only
MLB.com credits his middle name as Edgar. His death certificate, shown below, confirms this, so I guess his plaque could have had it as well.
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| Tris Speaker's death certificate, listing Edgar as his middle name. (Ancestry.com). |
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Also, Speaker's "Grey Eagle" nickname would have been a nice sight to see, or his alternative moniker "Spoke."
Teams: C. This grade is so low for two reasons. The first is more of a nit-pick, with the same inconsistency I noted with Lajoie concerning the league abbreviations. However, I cannot excuse quite possibly the worst error I've seen up to this point. Tris Speaker did not begin his MLB career in 1909, like the plaque claims. He made his big league debut on September 12, 1907 with Boston, played six more games down the stretch that season, then played in 31 more games in 1908. How was this mistake made?
Text: A. Nothing outrageous here. Speaker was the greatest center fielder (note the odd spelling of "centrefielder" on his plaque) of his day. His career average has been adjusted to +1 of the .344 shown on his plaque, and his all-time record 792 doubles and 3514 hits (still fifth-most in history) could have been included.
Image: C. Here we have my first real problem with an image. This indeed appears to be George Wright, the pioneering shortstop of the Cincinnati and Boston Red Stockings of the 1860s and 1870s. However, it seems to show Wright far removed from his baseball days, probably in the 1920s or 1930s. Why would the Hall use a photo of him from a time where he had nothing to do with baseball? Imagine if when Jack Morris or Alan Trammell enter the Hall this July, they use a picture from 2010 to base their plaque images. That would be silly. So is George Wright's plaque.
Plenty of images from Wright's playing career exist. George did get to tie Morgan Bulkeley for the immaginary title of "first Hall of Fame plaque to feature a mustache."
Name: A. No middle names or nicknames missing.
Teams:
N/A. George Wright played for baseball's first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869 and 1870, then for the Boston Red Stockings franchise of both the N.A. and N.L. for a combined 10 seasons. He spent two additional years with the Providence Grays. Maybe if he was inducted in 2018 his plaque would list all of these teams, but no plaque lists pre-National Association clubs like Cincinnati along with the rest of an inductee's teams.
Deacon White's 2013 plaque neglects the ball he played before 1871, so I'm not going to complain too much about Wright's lack of teams.
Text: A. Wright was indeed a star shortstop during his peak, and I have no real issues with his text. Most of his fame comes from his mere name and role (along with his brother Harry) in popularizing professional baseball. This plaque did not need to be bogged down by statistics, which were mostly unreliable and incomparable during the 1860s and early 1870s.
Image:
B. We come to the end of the Class of 1937, finally catching up with the man who should have been elected with the rest of the first class. The story goes that the voters weren't sure if Young, who split the 19th and 20th centuries, should be voted in via the regular BBWAA ballot or the veteran's voting, so he received 49.1% of the vote in the former and 41.7% in the latter. While he finally got in in 1937, right off the bat I see a problem with his plaque. The "block C." This image is clearly based off a picture of Young with the Cleveland Naps, for whom he played a grand total of 63 games for from 1909-1911. Young instead should be depicted with the Cleveland Spiders, who did not have a plaque logo, or at the very least wearing a cap of the Boston Red Sox, which was adorned with a
distinctive stripe at the turn of the century.
Name: A. T stands for True, despite some older sources listing it as Tecumseh.
Teams: A. Follows the same, shortened league abbreviation as Lajoie and Speaker.
Text: A. Reading this in 2018, the first line is kind of comical. "Only pitcher in the first hundred years of baseball to win 500 games." While he won 511 to be exact, the fact that it had to be clarified that Young's accomplishments were not matched during the first 100 years of baseball tells me that whoever wrote the plaque assumed that his record could possibly be matched one day, maybe a century from that time. Now, its almost impossible to win 300 games, let alone more than 511. This is the safest record in the history of baseball, and if the plaque was written in the 21st century, there would be no shame in stating that. I don't like how the last line reads, as of course no opposing batsmen reached first base in a perfect game. Calling it a perfect game should have been enough.
