Dissecting the Baseball Hall of Fame's Plaques: Class of 1938

The smallest Hall of Fame class among the first four induction groups came in 1938. A lone player, Grover Cleveland Alexander, earned BBWAA election. Two pioneers, Alexander Cartwright and Henry Chadwick, joined him.

Grover Cleveland Alexander

Image: B. It looks enough like him. However, a subtle detail here is that the image used for his plaque most likely came from his days with the St. Louis Cardinals. This is apparent both from his grizzled appearance and the slight sight of vertical lines on his cap, reminiscent of the hats worn by St. Louis during his tenure. Pete only spent four seasons with the Cardinals, and while there isn't a logo on his cap that Cards fans can brag about, it should be known that his primary team is the Phillies, for whom he put together eight of his best seasons for, or at the very least the Cubs, who he pitched more seasons for than his other clubs. Based on his collar, I think this, or a similar shot, is the basis for him image.

Name: A-. Missing any reference to "Pete" or "Ol' Pete," nicknames that have been used as frequently as his full name. 

Teams: C. No mention of the years he played for each of his three teams, but at least the Phillies, Cubs and Cardinals are all named in the text.

Text: A-. No sight of  his National League record-tying 373 wins, but our focus is on the last line. It's true that Alexander struck out future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series. However, that was not the moment that won St. Louis the Series, as this plaque would appear to indicate. Alexander emerged from the bullpen in the seventh inning to relieve future Hall of Famer Jesse Haines, and promptly struck out Lazzeri to preserve the Cardinals lead. He would pitch two more scoreless innings to finally clinch the Series.

Alexander's plaque mentioning Tony Lazzeri was the first (and so far only) instance of a plaque listing the name (albeit only his surname) of an active player in Lazzeri, who played until 1939. It is also the first occurrence of a future Hall of Famer appearing on someone else's plaque. Tommy McCarthy's 1946 plaque mentions Frank Selee, who would have to wait several decades, like Lazzeri, to officially make the Hall after being on a plaque for all those years. 

Alexander Cartwright

Image: N/A. Well, this one is complicated. It can be argued that almost every single section of Alexander Cartwright's plaque is misleading or flat-out wrong, with the lone exception being his full name. 

According to the Cartwright family, the image this plaque is based on comes from this widely-published group shot of six well-dressed men, presumably in the 1850s, who apparently were members of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York. Others possibly in the photo are William Wheaton, Duncan Curry and Doc Adams, all of whom, as it turns out, had a much-better claim of the nickname bestowed upon Cartwright posthumously on this plaque. Research by SABR on multiple occasions has spread doubt as to the identification of the men in this photo, leading to the possibility that Alexander Cartwright isn't even the man on Alexander Cartwright's plaque. This really isn't the Hall's fault, as they were just going by what his family had given them. Certianlty a dangerous precedence, however. 

In retrospect, perhaps this uncontroversial photo of Cartwright should have been used. If we're going to redo his plaque, however, it might be better to remove it from the gallery entirely. 

Name: A. As I've already mentioned, this is the only thing this plaque gets completely right.

Teams: N/A. I suppose that it could have included the year's he was associated with the Knickerbockers, but as we'll see in a moment, it is the least of this plaque's problems. 

Text: F. This is what happens when you blindly accept information from a source without actually doing any real, long-term research. It's the same reason the Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown in the first place, despite it having no real claim to being the birthplace of baseball. A story told by an elderly man and wife-murderer Abner Graves is what convinced the Mills Commission in 1908 that Abner Doubleday had invented baseball in Cooperstown. A few decades later, despite the Hall already being built in the village, the Hall proceeded to elect someone for whom there was actual evidence that they were associated with baseball: Alexander Cartwright. Cartwright was indeed a member of the Knickerbockers, but his role has been largely exaggerated, thanks at least partially to the work of his grandson, Bruce, who led the charge for his grandfather's election based mostly misinformation and the forging of Alexander's diary to include fake baseball material.  

Work by most notably Major League Baseball's official historian John Thorn over the last few decades has revealed that while Cartwright was an important member of the Knickerbockers, he can not be credited with any of the innovations listed on his plaque. Thorn wrights in his Baseball in the Garden of Eden:

"Like Doubleday, Cartwright did not know he had invented baseball when he died in 1892, one year before his unwitting rival. The muscle massed behind the Doubleday story after the commission report of 1908 prompted grandson Bruce Cartwright Jr. to launch an equally propagandist plot that yielded for the Knickerbocker Cartwright a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame on which every word of substance is false. (Alex Cartwright did not set the base paths at ninety feet, the sides at nine men, or the game at nine innings.)

Cartwright's contemporaries Wheaton, Adams, Curry, Louis F. Wadsworth and William H. Tucker all have better arguments to warrant Hall of Fame election, as most of them were the true innovators of Cartwright's supposed creations. They had no supporters by the 1930s, however, no descendants to brag about their accomplishments. 

Even the plaque's closing line of Cartwright spreading baseball a-la manifest destiny across the United States to Hawaii can't be backed up by any real facts

Henry Chadwick

Image: A. Moving away from the controversial, Chadwick's plaque is pretty straightforward. The first bearded Hall of Famer is also the only person elected due to their service as a baseball writer. This is a fine image of Chadwick. Only a few images of him exist, so his likeness here is probably mirrored from this photo.

Name: A. Hard to mess this one up, but if I want to reach for something here, it could have mentioned his well-known nickname of "Father" Chadwick. 

Teams: N/A. The first, and so far only, Hall of Famer to never be associated with a team or league, as he was never a player, manager, umpire, front office executive, or league official. 

Text: A. Chadwick's bio tells you that he was one of the driving forces behind the spread of professional baseball, which is certainly true. I have no real issues with his plaque. 

Dissecting the Baseball Hall of Fame's Plaques: Class of 1937

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:

Morgan Bulkeley

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. 

Ban Johnson

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.

Nap Lajoie

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. 

Connie Mack

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.

John McGraw

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. 

Tris Speaker

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.

Tris Speaker's death certificate, listing Edgar as his middle name. (Ancestry.com).

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. 

George Wright

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.

Cy Young 

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. 

Dissecting the Baseball Hall of Fame's Plaques: Class of 1936

When you think of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, many things come to mind. Perhaps no physical aspect of the Hall symbolizes the Hall and the inductees themselves as the plaques forever mounted on the walls of the plaque gallery.

Plaques of the Class of 2014 (Photo by the author).

Crafted for each of the Hall's 323 members (as of 2018), Hall of Fame plaques have achieved legendary status among baseball fans and historians. Their basic design has remained the same since the first group of electees of the late-1930s. Two baseball bats rest behind the honorees bust, joined by a laurel leaf in the bottom-left corner. Four screws plated with baseball-like stitching adorn each of the plaque's four corners. Below their image is the Hall of Famer's name, sometimes combined with a well-known nickname or additional moniker. This is followed by a list of the team's they played for, managed for, or were associated with. With only a few lines of text used to properly sum-up an inductees entire baseball career, this singular portrait of the honoree is meant to give future generations and accurate representation of the individual and make a solid case as to why they deserved their spot in the Hall.

While at first glance each of the plaques appear to be basically the same, following a decades-old template, there instead exists varying levels of complexity and continuity, accuracy and erroneousness, and subtle differences among the plaques aside from the obvious factors like different names, dates, teams and achievements of each of the inductees.

More simply put, each of the plaques are both beautiful works of art, and flawed representations of the humans who crafted the designs and the institution that houses them. I will attempt to evaluate and grade each of the 323 Baseball Hall of Fame plaques, shining light on the faults and perfections of the plates, a task which has never been seriously attempted before.

Part I: The 1930s.

The plaques of the first five members of the Hall of Fame. (Wikimedia Commons/User:Friejose).

While the Baseball Writers Association of America announced its first class for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, the museum itself did not open its doors until June 12, 1939, welcoming with it members of the classes of 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939. 25 players, managers and pioneering executives made up the Hall's first four classes, plus Lou Gehrig who was elected in a special election on December 7, 1939.

Looking back at the plaques from this era, it is a bit obvious that this was the Hall's first attempt at issuing them. Most plaques have just a few sentences of text, a far cry from the modern, novel-length paragraphs of today's plaques. It is also here that we run into the first of the plaques really obvious problems, incorrect information, specifically statistics. This is to be expected, as there was no readily available baseball encyclopedia or Baseball-Reference.com for fans and researchers to go off of. The first real attempt to create an encyclopedia came in 1951 with the The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball, which had only a limited number of stats. The numbers which were included in books of this period were often inaccurate, thanks to poor record keeping and differences in official numbers gathered by leagues, newspapers, and other official sources. 

That is why most of the plaques from the Hall's first few decades include data which does not correspond with the numbers you might look up online. RBI totals, win-loss records, strikeout numbers and even a person's full name have to taken with a grain of salt, with a lack of accurate information making it difficult to etch something like this in history. At some point decades later, the Hall placed a small plaque in the gallery, warning visitors that the information on plaques was gathered from the best available sources of the time, squashing any plans for the hall to tear down dozens of old plaques and edit the mistakes as new information comes about. This has happened a few times, however, which we will get to down the road.

I will evaluate each plaque based on four primary elements:

Image: What is the quality of the Hall of Famer's portrait? Was the logo on his cap appropriate, if there is a logo at all?

Name: What route did the Hall go with when displaying the person's name? Did they use their full name, or did they include any nicknames?

Teams: How well did the Hall do at accurately recording their teams played/managed/worked for? Are their any errors?

Text: Probably the most complicated to judge, based on the lengths of the text on each plaque. The room for error on many older plaques was so large. Do any obvious mistakes jump out? Did they tell enough about the Hall of Famer, or did they reveal too much pointless information?

Let's start simple, with the first class of 1936:

Ty Cobb 

(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/User:RasputinAXP)

Image: A+. We're starting strong with the man with the highest vote total of the first class. Ty Cobb's plaque image is among my favorite of all-time. Featuring a clear Detroit Tigers' cap logo and a highly-detailed bust of Cobb's smiling face, this should have set the standard for every plaque image going forward.

Name: A-. Tyrus Raymond Cobb was indeed his name. However, not only is the plaque missing his famous nickname, "The Georgia Peach," but his primary name of "Ty" isn't present anywhere. This is probably a matter of preference for some, but the Hall's lack of consistency when it comes to including shortened versions of inductee's names is troublesome. Ty Cobb is only referred to as "Tyrus Raymond Cobb," Joe DiMaggio is solely listed as "Joseph Paul DiMaggio," and Ernie Banks only has "Ernest Banks, 'Mr. Cub,'" on his plaque. Now, almost every baseball fan alive today knows that these three went by Ty, Joe and Ernie, and not Tyrus, Joseph and Ernest, but what if this is not the case in a few hundred years? This is why I always prefer to have the inductees primary name somewhere on the plaque. See Hank Aaron, Mike Piazza and Joe Torre as examples. Or what if they are not that well known? How would someone who knows nothing about baseball history who finds themself in the plaque gallery know that James Collins went by "Jimmy" and not "James" or "Jim," or that Thomas F. McCarthy was "Tommy," and not "Tom?"

Teams: C. Both of Cobb's teams, the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics, are mentioned right below his name. However, they appear in a different format than the one used on modern plaques. The team's cities, league and years Cobb played are all on one line, separated by bullet points, and the years played (1905-1928) are group together so that you have no idea when he played for each team. The modern template is usually as follows:

Team city, League abbreviation, Years played with that team  

This often isn't the setup for plaques from the first few decades, but it should have been. I hate the layout on Cobb's team list. He only played two seasons with the Athletics, but his plaque certainly doesn't tell you that. Solely looking at the plaque, even though a Tigers' logo is on his cap, that doesn't necessarily mean Detroit was home to the majority of his exploits. Now, in reality, that is certainly the case, but the plaque doesn't separate the teams and years played to let people know that.

Text: B+. I'm not going to rehash every biographical detail on everyone's plaque, but I will point out the major points on each one. Let's start with Cobb. Here's the main things mentioned on his plaque:

1. 12 American League batting titles 
2. Holder of more major league records than anyone in history (as of the late-1930s)
3. 4191 career hits.

That is the only information given about one of the top handful of MLB players in history, nowhere near the lengthy praise listed on plaques of today. It is enough to tell you immediately, however, that this guy was amazing. Cobb does have 12 batting titles, despite the controversial finish to the 1910 batting race between he and Nap Lajoie. So that checks out. The second point is extremely vague, but its certainly true. At the time of his retirement, he was the all-time leader in hits, batting average, batting titles, games played, stolen bases and more, and still claims many these marks. His career .366 (or .367 depending on the source) batting average should have been mentioned on the plaque, as it is a record that will likely last forever, unlike the third bullet point mentioned, his 4191 hits. In fact, later research revealed that Cobb's likely hit total was only 4189, but official sources like MLB.com still list the former as his number. Cobb had the luxury of having so many accolades that listing only three for his plaque was tough. All in all, not a bad start for the text entry, but it could have had a little more info.

Babe Ruth

(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/User:WTCA)

Note: Ruth's plaque is actually one of a few to have actually been replaced over the course of history (See Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Pete Hill for their plaque stories). Ruth's original plaque had his career beginning in 1915, not 1914, and was apparently changed, along with Warren Spahn's hardware, at some point around 2005 (See this New York Times article on Hall of Fame plaques). 

Image: A-. Ruth's image did not change when the Hall gave him a new plaque, but the new bust always looks extremely shiny in photographs compared to other plaques, even ones that were created after it. This is just an odd thing I've noticed. The image itself is rather uninteresting, especially compared to that of Cobb. Ruth isn't smiling, and isn't even looking forward, which isn't something that is necessarily a bad thing, but it could be when the photo isn't that appealing to begin with. The Babe looks uninterested, which I think is also how I feel when I try and judge this image. 

Name: A. Good. It features his full name, as well as his well-known nickname of "Babe." Ruth also had several, longer monikers, including the Sultan of Swat and the Great Bambino, and while it would have been nice to include them all, sometimes less is more when dealing with an overabundance of nicknames. 
Teams: C. Same with Cobb, the years should be separated to correspond with the teams, as you have no idea how long he spent with the Red Sox, Yankees or Boston Braves from just looking at the plaque.
Text: Minimal information, much like Cobb, but again, impactful nuggets of info appear. "Greatest drawing card in history of baseball," is probably one of the top statements made on any of the plaques. Mentioning his 714 career home runs is accurate and obviously worth mentioning, as is his World Series accomplishments, but it would of been nice to quickly reference that he began his career as one of the top left-handed pitchers in baseball.

Honus Wagner

Image: A. I like this picture of Wagner. While he's not looking dead-on like Cobb, you see enough of his highly-detailed face. 

Name: B+. We reach our first test of accuracy when it comes to a player's name. Quick, what was Honus Wagner's full name? A check of Google or reference books will likely turn up two answers: John Peter Wagner and Johannes Peter Wagner. Baseball-Reference and the Hall of Fame itself both list his first name as John. Even his grave has John on it. However, his SABR biography states that Johannes was his birth name. It is likely that he was born Johannes and this eventually evolved into John, while the majority of the population called him Honus. Either way, if they were going to take the easy way out and only call him "Honus Wagner," they could have at least included one of the top nicknames in baseball history, "The Flying Dutchman," below his name, which they saved for the text paragraph. 

Teams: A. This is part of the reason why I think this type of project is necessary. Look at how his teams are listed:

Louisville, N.L., 1897-1899

Pittsburgh, NL., 1900-1917

This is not the same template used by Cobb and Ruth, who both had their years of play combined, so that you couldn't separate which seasons they played for each team. Wagner uses the preferred method, so he gets an A here, but what is up with the inconsistency? We haven't even gotten to a new class yet, but already the Hall has used two different templates for listing teams on plaques.

Text: C+. Wagner's plaque bio begins unlike almost any other. "The greatest shortstop in baseball history," was a statement that was true in 1936, and is possibly still true today, so that's fine. It's the next sentence that is so odd. "Born Carnegie, Pa., Feb. 24, 1874." Um, why is this listed on his plaque, when birth date is absent on almost every other plaque going forward (except for our next inductee)? Some plaques will list country of origin if its important or odd, like the Dominican Republic for Juan Marichal or Canada for Ferguson Jenkins, but Pennsylvania? By 1936, an unbelievable 835 players had made their MLB debut who were born in PA. Rather than list their nicknames below his name, the Hall tried and squeezed it in the text. Also, the text mentions that he retired in 1917, which is something that you already know when you look at his team's played for. Definitely one of the weirdest plaques ever when you really look at it. 

Christy Mathewson

Image: A-. I've never really cared for this particular image of Mathewson. He looks to be at the end of his career in this one, something that I never like to see on a plaque. Using an earlier photo of him, from when he was in his prime, probably would have been better. It's certainly not a major issue, as the photo itself is fine.

Name: B+. Much like Honus Wagner, Mathewson's plaque neglects his actual first name of Christopher, and never brings up his well-known nicknames "Big Six" or "The Christian Gentleman."

Teams: A. All good here.

Text: C+. Remember when I said that Wagner's mention of his birth date and hometown was so odd, and almost never appeared on any other plaque? Well, Mathewson is the only other example of this happening. Maybe the plaque artist was from Pennsylvania, because Carnegie and Factoryville getting shout-outs for eternity is truly a mystery, as is noting both of their birth dates. Mentioning his three shutouts in the 1905 World Series was necessary, but the claim of "greatest of all the great pitchers in the 20th century's first quarter," is up for debate. Mathewson ranks third in WAR among all pitchers from 1900-1925, behind Walter Johnson and Pete Alexander, with both Mathewson and Alexander pacing far behind Johnson. Also, the "Matty Was Master Of Them All," line is odd, especially because it's given in quotes. It's like this was a well-known and often-repeated saying, which I don't think is the case. 

Walter Johnson

Image: A. No real complaints here.
Name: A. Could have used the "Big Train" somewhere on here, especially given the lack of text on his plaque, which I'll get to in a moment.
Teams: A-. It should have been hard to mess this one up, with Johnson only playing for the Washington Senators, but I found a problem. It does not give a league designation for Washington. It should say (A.L.), especially because Washington previously had teams in the National League (1886-1889 and 1891-1899), along with short lived clubs in the National Association, American Association and Union Association.
Text: B. If they would have given him a few more lines of text, this might have been the easiest plaque to grade. Alas, they struggled to do Johnson justice in the text portion. Here's what you get out of his plaque:

1. Threw very fast
2. Won 414 games
3. Did so while mainly playing for bad teams
4. Holds records for strikeouts and shutouts

I'll give them a pass for the incorrect win total, as it was long believed he won 414 games, not 417. The other points are valid, but really, your'e only going to give him three lines of meaningful text, with a fourth being devoted to a line about how bad his teams happened to be more often than not? Maybe mentioning his strikeout and shutout numbers and his two MVP Awards could have helped this grade.

Well, that wraps up the Class of 1936. Only about 80 more to go.

Future Candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Pre-Integration Committee, Part III

Part I and Part II of my analysis of some of the most deserving Pre-Integration candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame detailed players, umpires, executives and pioneers from baseball's early era. Part III will cover many of those same categories, abet not from Major League Baseball and its ancestral organizations. Instead, this part will explore several individuals who face the toughest clime of any worthy Hall of Fame candidates, as they spent their careers in the Negro Leagues.

Not too long ago, this would have been no problem. From Satchel Paige's election in 1971, until the mass election of 17 Negro League players and executives in 2006, Cooperstown admitted 34 men (and one woman), whose primary contributions took place in black baseball. However, since that great day in 2006, there has not been any follow up on any Negro League candidates. None have been on any Veteran's Committee ballots, and players whose careers split the black and white leagues, like Minnie Minoso have been judged solely on their Major League numbers. 

Graham Womack interviewed Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson in January for Sporting News. When asked why the Hall has any plans to consider any more Negro Leagues figures in the future, Idelson replied:

"No, because in 2006 we had a special Negro Leagues election… It was 17 contributors in the Negro Leagues who were elected in 2006, and at that time, we indicated that that would be the final election for those who performed in the Negro Leagues unless new research came out that would warrant another look. We felt that the number of candidates eligible, whether they be players, managers, umpires, or executives, had been reviewed to the point where the top echelon had earned election, and the Negro Leagues research community endorsed that at the time. That’s why you had an election of 17."

That mindset is slightly troubling. New information is discovered constantly on figures from the past, and baseball is no exception. In the past few years alone, partial or full statistics for Negro Leaguers have been added to Baseball-Reference and Seamheads, allowing for people to explore ballplayers who have completely disappeared from the public consciousness. 


It's important to note that Negro League statistics need to taken with a grain of salt. For most players, complete statistics for their careers, especially for exhibition or off-season games, will never be known. That is why it's not fair to judge numbers put up in the Negro Leagues to numbers in MLB. Batting averages and available ERA data often isn't enough to accurately tell whether someone was a Hall of Famer or not. The Negro Leagues are more complicated than that. Anecdotes, stories, first person accounts, such as interviews from former players, or polls conducted during a players' career are invaluable tools to separate great players from the good ones.

Is it possible that the committee that met for the Class of 2006, apparently meant to be the last hurrah for the Negro Leagues, missed some people? The answer is almost certainly yes. The most famous person up for consideration at that time was the still-alive and highly beloved baseball ambassador Buck O'Neil. Most accounts indicate the Buck was good first baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1930s and 1940s. He later became a manager, a scout with the Chicago Cubs, and the first African-American coach in MLB history. Made famous for his work with the Negro League Baseball Museum, and his appearance on Ken Burns' Baseball documentary in 1994, O'Neil was the living embodiment of the Negro Leagues for much of his later life. His election would have been a celebration of not just his life and career, but all those associated with the Negro Leagues. Instead, he was skipped over. While he did give a joyful speech at the 2006 induction ceremony, it never felt quite right. He should have been there, but not as a special guest speaker. He should have been an inductee. 

O'Neil is just one of many great Negro Leaguers passed over, not just in 2006 and beyond, but the years prior to that. His case has been well documented, and if the Hall ever does consider Negro Leaguers, it would be shocking if he doesn't get elected at some point.

Instead, here are a 13 other candidates who should be allowed on a Hall of Fame ballot again, either from the Pre-Integration Committee, or a new Negro Leagues committee. 

John Beckwith: Starting off with John Beckwith, who played a variety of positions during his career, but mostly patrolled shortstop and third base. Known for his outstanding power, Beckwith was known for his tape-measure shots. His playing ability may have been overshadowed by his hot-temper and willingness to fight. He compares favorably to Hall of Famer among Negro League third basemen according to Win Shares leaderboards on Seamheads, tied with another member of this list, Candy Jim Taylor. Playing for a variety of teams from 1916 to 1938, as many players did in the Negro Leagues, he spent several years with the Chicago Giants and Baltimore Black Sox. Regarded by Hall of Famer Pete Hill as a "Demon at bat," his stats look impressive in any context.

William Bell during the 1924 Colored World Series (Wikimedia Commons)

William Bell: I'm a little higher on William Bell than historian James A. Riley is. Riley's work with the Negro Leagues is vast, and his book The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues is one of my favorite reference works. In ESPN's 20006 Baseball Encyclopedia, Riley ranked his top 100 Negro League players, separating them into five categories-Titans, Elites, All-Time Greats, Long and Distinguished Careers, and Short but Brilliant Careers. All those in the "Titans" category are in the Hall of Fame, with Biz Mackey finally joining his contemporaries in 2006. Most of the "Elites" are in Cooperstown, with many names who fell short of election winding up on my list.

William Bell falls down into the "Long and Distinguished Careers" section, among many names which didn't even make the second stage of the Hall's Negro Leagues screening process in 2005.

Maybe Riley's right, but I'm a big Hall guy. I don't even believe it would be the end of the world if the Hall elected all 94 of those names on that preliminary ballot, or at least the 39 names on the final ballot. Why that might be a tad rash, I can't imagine too many of those candidates are more unqualified than actual Hall of Famers Tommy McCarthy, Jesse Haines, and George Kelly, to just name a few.

But back to Bell, who was known as a winning pitcher for some of the league's best teams. Spending the bulk of his career with the Kansas City Monarchs, he possessed great control and a good fastball and curveball. Bell, along with Hall of Famers Jose Mendez and Bullet Joe Rogan, helped to lead the Monarchs to the 1924 Colored World Series title. Bell pitched in Cuba in the offseason, and later managed for several years, winding down his two-decade plus career with the Newark Eagles in 1948. Known for his skill at helping to teach younger players, he ranks among the all-time best in wins in the Negro Leagues.

Would he be the first name I'd put in the Hall if I had supreme control over the election process? No. But he's a perfect example of a player who had a great career, but was unable to show the world what he was truly capable of. I like William Bell.

Ed Bolden: Ed Bolden is one of favorite obscure Hall of Fame candidates. I believe I first became aware of Bolden from an article by John B. Holway titled "What if Effa Manley Had Been an Ugly Man?" Effa Manley, the part-owner of the Newark Eagles with her husband Abe, was elected to the Hall in 2006, becoming the first woman admitted to Cooperstown. Manley was probably elected more so because she was a rare woman in a position of power in a sport and culture dominated by men and her works for better scheduling, pay, and accommodations for players than her team's actual baseball accomplishments. I don't really have any problem with her election, but she's not in my own personal Hall. Maybe I'll come around to her, but this isn't supposed to be an anti-Effa Manley post. 

Instead, I bring up Manley because I just don't see how she is more qualified than Ed Bolden. I'm glad other Negro League executives like Rube Foster, J. L. Wilkinson, and recent electee to the Basketball Hall of Fame Cumberland Posey have received their due. To me, Bolden is in that category. Starting in 1910, he helped to build the Hilldale club from a semipro unit to a professional ball club. He also helped to found the Eastern Colored League, with Hilldale claiming the league's first three championships in 1923-1925. He later formed the Philadelphia Stars, who captured the Negro National League title in 1934. He was a champion of the cause for Negro League clubs to be fairly compensated when their best players were plucked for the Major Leagues, and was known as a shy, quiet, gentlemen.

John Donaldson: John Wesley Donaldson has a greater online presence than most Negro League players, with a collection of researchers referring to themselves as the "Donaldson Network," advocating for his election to Cooperstown. Donaldson became famous in the early 1910s thanks to his masterfully pitched games, including several no-hitters, and his huge strikeout totals against professional and semipro ball clubs. Countless newspaper clippings have showcased her exploits as one of the best left-handed pitchers, black or white, of his era. Pitching many years with J.L. Wilkinson's All-Nations team and the Kansas City Monarchs, before eventually transition to the outfield before his career ended. He also became the first full-time African-American scout in the majors, working with the Chicago White Sox in the 1940s and 1950s. Donaldson certainty has his supporters, and it should be no surprise.

Vic Harris with the Homestead Grays

Vic Harris: There has never been a Negro Leaguer ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame based primarily on their managerial career. Vic Harris has one of the best candidacies. A mainstay of the Homestead Grays, Harris started out as a infielder in 1923. By 1925 he was an outfielder with the Grays, known for his speed and slap hitting. By 1935, he became player-manager, and led Homestead to six straight Negro National League pennants. He captured another in 1945, and one last pennant in 1948, before his last season as skipper of the Birmingham Black Barons in 1950. This PDF from the Center for Negro League Baseball Research demonstrates Harris' managerial success. Vastly unappreciated by history, I think Harris is at or near the top of worthy Cooperstown candidates.

Grant Johnson: Coming back to Riley's list of greatest Negro Leaguers, Grant "Home Run" Johnson makes his "Elites" category, thanks to his stature as the first great shortstop in black baseball. Him spending much of his post-playing career in my hometown-area of Buffalo, NY doesn't hurt his standing with me, either. He apparently earned his nickname "Home Run" after smashing 60 homers with the semipro Findlay Sluggers. He helped form the Page Fence Giants in 1895, serving a captain. By 1905, he helped lead the Philadelphia Giants to two championships, before captaining the Brooklyn Royal Giants to a title in 1909. Impressive batting numbers highlight Johnson's available statistics, and place him on this list.

Dick Lundy: Next up is another shortstop, Dick Lundy. Lundy ranks in with the "Elites" in Riley's all-time list, just ahead of nine Hall of Famers in a row. Riley calls Lundy "the Negro Leagues' top shortstop of the 1920s." He ranks Lundy right up with John Henry Lloyd and Willie Wells as the three greatest at that position among Negro Leaguers. Seamheads ranks him as the 17th best player by Win Shares based on available numbers from 1896 to 1940. He spent a dozen seasons with the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, also spending significant time with the Baltimore Black Sox. John McGraw once apparently said that he wished he "could paint that Lundy white," while declaring him the best shortstop in history, excluding Honus Wagner. He also managed during and after his playing career.

Alejandro Oms

Alejandro Oms: Outfielder Alejandro Oms was a star in two countries, both in his native Cuba and the United States. A member of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, José Méndez's induction in 2006 helps Oms case. Much of Mendez's career took place in Cuba, and it must have played a significant role in his election. Cuban League statistics have been lumped in with those of the Negro Leagues on Seamheads and Baseball-Reference, and black and dark skinned Latinos often split part of the year between the island and the mainland U.S. Mendez spent 14 years in the Cuban Winter League, and Cristóbal Torriente played played in parts of 12 seasons there. Between 1922 and 1946, Oms played in parts of 16 Cuban Winter League seasons. 

Regarded as a flashy and colorful player, his hitting was tremendous, and he was a key member of four Cuban championship clubs. One of the best handful of Cuban baseball players in history, while in the United States, he played for New York City's Cuban Stars East throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. His career in two countries easily places Oms in the discussion of overlooked Hall of Fame candidates. 

Spot Poles A stellar athlete with legendary speed, Spottswood "Spot" Poles drew comparisons to Ty Cobb and Cool Papa Bell. Racking up great numbers for some of the country's best black teams, including the New York Lincoln Giants and the Hilldale club, Poles also spent time in the Cuban Winter League. John McGraw listed Poles, John Henry Lloyd, Dick Redding and Cyclone Joe Williams as the four black players he would sign if he could. A prototypical leadoff hitter, Oms racked up steals and high batting averages throughout his career. 

George Scales: Scales spent his long career with countless clubs, including notable stints with the Lincoln Giants and Baltimore Elite Giants. Ranked among the greatest second basemen in Negro Leagues history. He made up for a lack in speed with a strong arm and ability to crush curveballs while at the plate. A middle of the order hitter with the Lincoln Giants, he later shared a lineup with the Homestead Grays that included Hall of Famers Joe Williams, Josh Gibson, Jud Wilson, and Oscar Charleston. By 1932, he organized and managed the New York Black Yankees, skippering them for parts of nine seasons.

His greatest managerial success came in the Puerto Rican Winter League, managing the Ponce Leones and Santurce clubs to seven pennants. It is unknown how much this work in Puerto Rice would play into Scales' Hall of Fame case, but I think it's certainly worth mentioning.

Candy Jim Taylor and C.I. Taylor: Brothers James Allen and Charles Isham Taylor were passed over by Cooperstown, while their talented younger brother Benjamin Harrison Taylor was honored in 2006. If both of the Taylor brothers someday join Ben in the Hall, they would become the first trio of brothers elected.

First, Candy Jim. As far as I can tell, no one man managed more years and more games in the Negro Leagues than him. Initially a catcher and third baseman, he won three championships in 1909, 1912 and 1916, before leading the St. Louis Stars in 1928 and the Homestead Grays in 1943 and 1944 to titles as a manager. Few had as long a career in baseball as Candy Jim, stretching from 1904 to 1948. Basically every season during that time, if a team needed a leader, Jim would be there. His 907-809-4 record in Negro League games, and 1094-892-10 record in all levels of competition dwarfs all other managers, including Vic Harris.

C.I. was the oldest of his baseball brothers, which includes non-Hall of Fame candidate Steel Arm Johnny. James A. Riley places C.I. with Rube Foster as one of the two greatest managers in Negro League history. Though his career was not as long as Candy Jim's, due mainly to C.I.'s early death in 1922, it was still impressive. Managing and playing with the Birmingham Giants starting in 1904, he moved to the West Baden Sprudels in 1910 before sticking with the Indianapolis ABCs until his death. His 1916 club won the Colored Championship of the West, thanks to the play of his brother Ben, Bingo DeMoss, Oscar Charleston, and Dizzy Dismukes. During World War I, when many of the ABCs best were drafted, Taylor took his new servicemen to Washington, D.C., showing them around the capital. This sense of country was likely instilled in the elder Taylor during to his service in the Spanish-American War.

Taylor was known for his reluctance to curse, and dressed well on and off the field. His business acumen helped him serve as the vice president of the new Negro National League in 1920. Every year, the Negro League Baseball Museum honors the best MLB manager in both leagues with the "Charles Isham 'C. I.' Taylor Legacy Award."

A 1923 Nip Winters card

Nip Winters: Many names could have made the last spot on this list. Dick Redding might be the most famous name missing. Newt Allen, Oliver Marcelle, Bingo DeMoss, Sammy T. Hughes, Bill Byrd, and executive Gus Greenlee deserve consideration as well, just to name a few. Another name, Bud Fowler, is almost certainly the greatest black ballplayer of the 19th century whose not in the Hall of Fame already. I've yet to really study him, so I held off on including him in this list.

I went with Winters, despite his relativity short career, which was only 13 years. He dominated the Eastern Colored League with the Hilldale club in the 1920s, thanks to a great curveball and good fastball. Winters' led Hilldale to three straight pennants, including a World Championship in 1925. Though the club would lose to the Monarchs in the 1924 championship, Winters pitched four complete games, winning three, in the series. Among the best lefties in Negro League history, Winters excessive drinking, along with a loss of control and diminishing fastball, led to his early departure from the game in 1933.


One last note concerns the Cuban League. Alejandro Oms made his way onto this list based partially on his success in Cuba, and José Méndez and Cristóbal Torriente might not have made Cooperstown had their careers there been judged. Jorge S. Figueredo's book Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961 is fascinating, and holds many names completely unknown by even the most ardent of baseball fans and historians. A couple names stick out with the Cuban League. I am almost certainly leaving out many names, but I thought I would share just a few:

Al Cabrera with Almendares

Alfredo Cabrera: The only player mentioned who actually played in the Major Leagues, Al Cabrera played in one game for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1913. His real career, however, was in his native Cuba. As both a shortstop and manager, mostly with the Almendares club, Cabrera piloted the club to four championships. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942.  A great Buzzfeed article by Erik Malinowski explores Cabrera is much greater detail. 

Antonio María García: García was considered the best player in the early history of the Cuban League, and was among the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1939. He played from 1882 to 1905, and in the middle of his career was eyeballed by John McGraw, who hoped to bring the star catcher and outfielder to America.  

Tinti Molina: A catcher and first basemen beginning in 1894, Molina became a longtime manager, leading the Cuban Stars, Club Fé, Habana, and Santa Clara Leopards. His 1923-1924 Sanata Clara club is considered the greatest in Cuban League history, featuring Hall of Famers Oscar Charleston, José Méndez, with the club finishing with a .766 winning percentage. He was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame along with Al Cabrera in 1942.

Eustaquio Pedroso: Pedroso sticks out on the Seamheads' Win Shares leaderboard, with his 197.1 placing him seventh based on available statistics. He is surrounded by Hall of Famers, and everyone in the top 13 are in Cooperstown besides him. He spent over 20 seasons in both Cuba and the U.S., primarily pitching with the Cuban Stars (West). While he was primarily a pitcher, he led the Cuban League in hitting in 1915-1916. He tossed a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers in 1909, and also defeated the New York Giants on two occasions in the winter of 1911. 

The Baseball Hall of Fame is my favorite place in the world, and it will continue to be. However, for the institution to completely cease to consider an entire era of baseball as long and complex and the Negro Leagues isn't fair to history. I hope they someday reconsider.