Image: A. I have no issues with Anson's plaque image. One odd thing I've always noticed throughout the years is how difficult it is to find a good picture of Cap Anson actually wearing a cap (I know "Cap" in this instance is not referring to headgear, instead its a shortening of Captain). Aside from probably the most widely-publicized image of Anson, very few images show him sporting a hat, and almost none include both a cap and the mustache that is displayed on his plaque. The best guess I have for the basis of his plaque image is the 1888 team photo for the Chicago White Stockings.
Name: A. It could have used "Pop" along with "Cap" under his full name, but apart from that its good.
Teams: N/A. This is sort of like George Wright or even John McGraw's plaques, as Anson had a career that preceded the National League, and one that included a lengthy managerial career. I would prefer the Hall omit all of his teams and years as both a player and manager than only include his years in Chicago, something they easily could have done.
Text: B. The text negates his National Association years, but otherwise does a fine job of touching upon both his playing and managing career. He actually only hit .300 19 times in his NL career, not 20 like his plaque claims, and a nod to him becoming the first to reach 3000 hits, NA or no NA, should have been a must.
Image: A. It's hard to determine which era of Collins' career his plaque image is supposed to depict. If I had to guess, he is representing the Chicago White Sox and not the Philadelphia Athletics here. He looks more like a grizzled vet than the young up-and-comer he was with the A's. Which team Collins' should be in the Hall for is honestly a toss-up. He had more hits, RBI and games played and a higher career WAR and on-base percentage with the White Sox, with whom he spent his age 28-39 seasons for. However, five of his six best seasons by WAR were in Philadelphia, and he was certainly at his athletic peak in his early-to-mid 20s. He also won three of his four World Series with the A's. I'd put him in the distinct cap style of the Athletics if I was crafting his plaque, but the Sox are not a bad pick either.
Name: A- Missing "Eddie," but full name is included.
Teams: C. Like Ty Cobb's plaque, Collins has his two teams grouped together on his plaque, so that you can't tell the years he played for each. It should follow the modern pattern:
Philadelphia (A.L.) 1906-1914, 1927-1930
Chicago (A.L.) 1915-1926
Text: A. Probably the most amazing thing about the text on Collins' plaque is that the three numbers mentioned (batting average, hits and games played) are actually accurate to the numbers you'd find on Baseball-Reference. Surprising, given the frequent inaccuracy in this department during this era. Can't complain about much here, although if "Field Captain" is meant to refer specifically to his time as a manager and not just captain of the team, this should have been omitted, as he managed just 174 games in parts of three seasons for the White Sox.
Image: B. The problem here lies not with the actual image used on Charles Comiskey's plaque; its a fine and realistic depiction of a young "Old Roman," though I'm not sure of the source image. The issue here is that Comiskey is in the Hall not for his playing/managing career, from which this image clearly stems from, but instead was inducted as an executive/pioneer. Comiskey was instrumental in the founding of the American League, and owned the Chicago White Sox from their inception until his death in 1931. If Comiskey was in the Hall as a manager, this image might make more sense, as he led the St. Louis Browns to four-straight American Association titles from 1885-1888. I would have gone instead with a turn-of-the-century Comiskey.
Name: A-. I don't understand the need to abbreviate his middle name here, which was Albert. Nice inclusion of his nickname, though.
Teams: N/A. I understand that it would difficult to properly display all the teams he was associated with in his variety of roles. Should it have simply read "Chicago (A.L.) 1901-1931), much like Jacob Ruppert's plaque noting his tenure as Yankees' owner? I think simply getting right into the text on the plaque does the job here, as his managerial career and famous playing days deserve mention in the body.
Text: A. Just reiterating what I said above, Comiskey is a special case with a long career in many different roles. Maybe that's why I can live with his younger-looking image, because if you memorialize him from any time frame from the 1880s to the 1920s, you could get away with it.
Image: A. Assuming this photo is the source for Cummings' plaque image, this is a fine representation of Candy.
Name: C. Again, why the Hall would feel the need to abbreviate William Arthur Cummings' full name here is beyond me.
Teams: C. The only mentions of any teams he played for come in the body paragraph of text, which we'll get to next.
Text: C. Where to begin here? First, lets get to the teams. Cummings played for two clubs in the pre-professional National Association, the Excelsior of Brooklyn and Star of Brooklyn, only one of which is mention on his plaque. And they get the year wrong, as he was not with the Stars until 1868, not 1867, when he supposedly threw the first curveball. More on that in a bit. It then says he ended his "long career" (12 years in total) with Hartford in 1876, even though he tossed 155.2 innings for Cincinnati in 1877.
Cummings is in the Hall of Fame almost solely for his claim of inventing the curveball. It might never be known if it was Cummings, Fred Goldsmith, or some other hurler who delivered the first curve. The Hall has a history of arbitrarily assigning "pioneer" monikers to figures (Tommy McCarthy for the hit and run and small ball tactics, Roger Bresnahan for shin guards, etc.), but has left out more worthy players and pioneers (Doc Adams for practically inventing the sport, Al Reach for his sporting goods company and founding of the Philadelphia Phillies, etc.).
Strictly looking at Cummings' playing career, its difficult to build a strong Hall case. His pre-1871 numbers aren't readily available, and there is where his best case lies. Once he joined the NA in 1872, he was good, placing among the top three in WAR four times from 1872-1875, but then his career ends after a poor 1877. By WAR, he is behind Albert Spalding and non-Hall of Famer Bobby Mathews from 1872-1877 among pitchers. If Cummings is in the Hall, then maybe so should Mathews, and the best position player in the NA, Ross Barnes.
Image: A. Captures the mustachioed-Ewing well. Impossible to tell what team he represents here, but Ewing is universally associated with the New York Gothams/Giants. This image may be the source.
Name: C-. The only good thing about Ewing's name on this plaque is the inclusion of his nickname "Buck," but other than that its a mess. First off, William is unnecessarily abbreviated to "WM." It's not like they couldn't fit William on the line, there was plenty of room. Like Charles Comiskey, the Hall also included a middle initial for Ewing, "B." What is the B supposed to stand for? Buckingham, a variation of the name attached to Ewing for decades. Is Buckingham his real middle name? No. From his SABR biography by David Nemec:
Teams: C. Ewing had a few stints as manager of both the Players' League and National League New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds, but he is in the Hall exclusively for his playing career. So the plaque should have easily separated the five teams he played for before the text section.
Name: C-. The only good thing about Ewing's name on this plaque is the inclusion of his nickname "Buck," but other than that its a mess. First off, William is unnecessarily abbreviated to "WM." It's not like they couldn't fit William on the line, there was plenty of room. Like Charles Comiskey, the Hall also included a middle initial for Ewing, "B." What is the B supposed to stand for? Buckingham, a variation of the name attached to Ewing for decades. Is Buckingham his real middle name? No. From his SABR biography by David Nemec:
"From the outset of his baseball career Ewing was known as Buck. The
nickname was so firmly implanted in the minds of early-day historians
that all of them bought the fiction that it was a derivation of his
middle name. He was thus listed as "William Buckingham Ewing" in
reference works until late in the twentieth century even though in his
final tribute to Ewing in the November 3, 1906, Sporting Life
after Ewing’s death Cincinnati sportswriter Ren Mulford confessed:
“’Buck’ was only a nick-name bestowed on Will Ewing in his youth. I
think I am the one who planted ‘Buckingham’ in the middle and other
writers took it up and it became as general as his baptism name.""
So the Hall abbreviated Buck's actual first name, then abbreviates the middle name that he didn't even really have.
Teams: C. Ewing had a few stints as manager of both the Players' League and National League New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds, but he is in the Hall exclusively for his playing career. So the plaque should have easily separated the five teams he played for before the text section.
Text: B. The only real issues arise at the bottom of the plaque. The text should read National League career 1880 to 1900, not 1881 to 1898, as he played 13 games for Troy in 1880, and managed the Giants for 63 games in 1900. The plaque also negates his time with the P.L. Giants in 1890.
Image: F. The Hall has never known what team to align Wee Willie Keeler with. First things first, this image does not show Keeler during his playing days. The original photo is here, from 1912, when he was a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Keeler played for four teams in his 19-year career. He spent only 40 games with the New York Giants, so the choice of primary teams is down to three.
You want to go with the Dodgers, or as they were known when Keeler played for them, the Superbas? Fine, he did hit .352 with the club over five seasons, and they would be a better choice than the team the Hall lists as his primary club on their website, the New York Highlanders/Yankees. Keeler played more games with the Highlanders, sure, but had only a 11.7 WAR for the franchise, as opposed to 15.8 with Brooklyn, and the 25.8 WAR total he put up with the best choice, the National League's Baltimore Orioles. From 1894-1898, Keeler won two batting titles, three N.L. pennants, and was the league's most valuable right fielder. A younger, striped-cap Baltimore Keeler should have graced his plaque.
Name: B. Leaves out his full name of William Henry Keeler, and instead of noting his incredibly common nickname "Wee Willie," they went with"Hit 'em Where They Ain't," a famous saying associated with Keeler, sure, but not really a nickname. It would be as if Ernie Banks' plaque said "Let's Play Two," instead of "Mr. Cub."
Teams: C. No acknowledgment of the years he played for each of his four teams, and an odd shortening of New York for both the New York Giants and Highlanders in the text.
Text: A-. Its impossible to know if Keeler was indeed the best place-hitter and bunter of his time, but he was certainly known for those aspects of the game. Every other word is true, but they could have mentioned his five NL championships.
While the final member of the Class of 1939 was not actually inducted with the rest of the classes of 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939 in the summer of '39, he was elected by the BBWAA in December of that year, for a special reason. Lou Gehrig retired during the 1939 season, and due to his battle with ALS, it was known that he would never play again. So the BBWAA promptly elected him to the Hall, as he would die during the 1941 season.
You want to go with the Dodgers, or as they were known when Keeler played for them, the Superbas? Fine, he did hit .352 with the club over five seasons, and they would be a better choice than the team the Hall lists as his primary club on their website, the New York Highlanders/Yankees. Keeler played more games with the Highlanders, sure, but had only a 11.7 WAR for the franchise, as opposed to 15.8 with Brooklyn, and the 25.8 WAR total he put up with the best choice, the National League's Baltimore Orioles. From 1894-1898, Keeler won two batting titles, three N.L. pennants, and was the league's most valuable right fielder. A younger, striped-cap Baltimore Keeler should have graced his plaque.
Name: B. Leaves out his full name of William Henry Keeler, and instead of noting his incredibly common nickname "Wee Willie," they went with"Hit 'em Where They Ain't," a famous saying associated with Keeler, sure, but not really a nickname. It would be as if Ernie Banks' plaque said "Let's Play Two," instead of "Mr. Cub."
Teams: C. No acknowledgment of the years he played for each of his four teams, and an odd shortening of New York for both the New York Giants and Highlanders in the text.
Text: A-. Its impossible to know if Keeler was indeed the best place-hitter and bunter of his time, but he was certainly known for those aspects of the game. Every other word is true, but they could have mentioned his five NL championships.
Image: C. For the life of me, I have never been able to find a possible model photograph used for Old Hoss Radbourn's plaque. I guess it looks like him, but something just looks a bit off. I don't think I've ever seen an image with Radbourn's mustached coming up at the ends, as it usually just dragged down. This 1888 shot is probably the closest match, mustache wise. Something about this image just has never sat right with me, as I imagine this is how a cartoonist would draw Old Hoss.
Name: F. I have to give this an F. If we're being honest, this plaque does not include the real first or last name of the famous 19th century moundsman from Rochester, New York. His name was Charles, not Charlie, and Radbourn, not Radbourne, despite what both his Hall plaque and gravestone state. At least they recognize his famous nickname.
Teams: C-. Missing is not only the years he played for the NL's Providence, Boston and Cincinnati clubs, but absent entirely are his 1890 tenure with the Players' League Boston Reds, and his six-game stint with the 1880 Buffalo Bisons as not a pitcher, but a second baseman and outfielder.
Teams: C-. Missing is not only the years he played for the NL's Providence, Boston and Cincinnati clubs, but absent entirely are his 1890 tenure with the Players' League Boston Reds, and his six-game stint with the 1880 Buffalo Bisons as not a pitcher, but a second baseman and outfielder.
Text:"Greatest of all 19th century pitchers," isn't a verifiable claim, but given that Old Hoss was the only 19th century hurler (not counting Candy Cummings) who pitched the majority of their career in the game's first century until Kid Nichols was elected in 1949, its not unsurprising. Radbourn's 1884 season is the stuff of legend, but the inaccuracy of statistics from that era resulted in his plaque not even giving his total number of wins for that year. It has been accepted that he won 59 contests, but the total has been recorded as high as 62. His three wins against the New York Metropolitans in that years World's Championship series also get a much-appreciated mention. Hoss won over 300 games, which needed to be recorded here.
Image: B-. Not a fan of cap-less plaque images for players, and this is the first one we see from anyone elected solely for their role as a player. It appears to be based off of this photo, but I can't place where or when it was taken.
Name: A. Gets everything right here. Includes his middle name, and doesn't leave out any glaring nickname, as he really didn't have one that stuck.
Teams: C. Needed to separate his clubs and the years he played for them.
Text: B-. Technically Sisler's career average is .340, not .341. Also, I'm not sure what measure they're using for "being one of best two fielding first basemen" in history. If it was fielding percentage, Sisler had a .987 percentage solely as a first basemen, and quickly browsing Baseball-Reference reveals that Joe Judge and Stuffy McInnis (.993), George Kelly, Joe Kuhel and Wally Pipp (.992), Jake Daubert and Lou Gehrig (.991), Ed Konetchy (.990) and Jim Bottomley (.988) all had higher marks at the time of Sisler's induction.
Anyway, Sisler's fame and election are almost entirely dependent on his six-year peak from 1917-1922 and his monster 1920 and 1922 campaigns. He owns a modest career WAR of 54.0, thanks in part to his overrated defensive reputation.
Image: A. Much like Charles Comiskey and George Wright, Al Spalding was elected for a variety of roles; his status as baseball's best pitcher from 1872-1876, his executive role with both the Chicago White Stockings and National League, his sporting goods company, and his now embarrassingly-inaccurate work with the Mills Commission that deemed Abner Doubleday the inventor of baseball in 1907. His plaque image seems to show a younger Spalding, perhaps even from his playing days, but my guess is this shot or one like it was the inspiration. As he's technically in the Hall as an executive/pioneer, I suppose its fine that he lacks a cap. It's worth noting that Spalding is one of the few actual Hall of Famers who were elected as non-players, but who have a legitimate argument to be in as players (John McGraw and Joe Torre come to mind).
Name: A. Full name is always a plus, but if the Hall were to abbreviate anyone's first and last names (a la Cummings and Ewing), Spalding might have been the man to do it to, as he was widely known as A.G. Spalding both then and now.
Teams: N/A. Too many roles to lists all the teams/leagues he was associated with
Text: A. Everything looks pretty good here. I would have included that he owned the Cubs franchise from William Hulbert's death in 1876 until he sold the club to Jim Hart.
While the final member of the Class of 1939 was not actually inducted with the rest of the classes of 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939 in the summer of '39, he was elected by the BBWAA in December of that year, for a special reason. Lou Gehrig retired during the 1939 season, and due to his battle with ALS, it was known that he would never play again. So the BBWAA promptly elected him to the Hall, as he would die during the 1941 season.
Lou Gehrig
Image: A+. One of the best-looking plaque images, it captures a smiling Gehrig with no parts of his face or cap obscured. Here's my guess for the original photo.
Name: B. A good example of why I think nicknames should always find their way onto a plaque. Obviously its unlikely that anyone has ever seen Lou Gehrig's plaque and thought "hmm, Henry Gehrig, never heard of him." It may well happen someday though, and has definitely happened with lesser known inductees. A simple "Lou" before his surname would have been nice, and even better would have been including "The Iron Horse."
Teams: B. Here we have a first. A player has their only team listed, in this case the New York Yankees, with proper years, too. But they spell out the entire name of the team, and don't mention their league.
So as we close out the Class of 1939, lets look at all the possibilities we've seen already for how the Hall has listed inductees teams before the body paragraph:
Team's city and league, with league abbreviated (AL) or (NL), years played for separated: Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner.
Team's city and league, with league abbreviated (A) or (N), years played for separated: Cy Young, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie.
Team's city with no league mentioned, years played for separated: Walter Johnson.
Team's city and league, years played for grouped at the end: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, George Sisler.
Team's city and nickname, with no league mentioned, years played for separated: Lou Gehrig.
Partial list of teams listed in the first line of the body paragraph: Old Hoss Radbourn.
No teams listed before the body paragraph/at all: George Wright, John McGraw, Connie Mack, Ban Johnson, Morgan Bulkeley, Henry Chadwick, Alexander Cartwright , Grover Cleveland Alexander, Al Spalding, Cap Anson, Charles Comiskey, Candy Cummings, Buck Ewing, Willie Keeler.
Why the Hall couldn't develop some pattern and stuck with it is amazing. That is SIX possible ways the Hall has listed the teams its inductees have played for, and we're only in the Class of 1939.
Text: A. Lou Gehrig held so many records and achieved such great fame that I can't blame the writers of his plaque for trying to sum most of them up by stating he held "more than a score," of records, meaning 20. They get his career batting average right, and I'm glad they didn't feel the need to label him "Babe Ruth's teammate" for all of eternity.
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