Start of New Collection- Minor League Stars
 

After going about as far as I can on my Long Branch Cubans and Trujillo collections I believe that I have found a new focus. I am starting to put together a collection of minor league stars. Guys like Buzz Arlett and Smeed Jolly who were probably some of the best players in baseball in the 1930’s but never got a real shot in the Majors for one reason or another. I am think that I would use the SABR top 15 minor leaguers list as a jumping off point but would also like some suggestions of who to collect and see what’s put there.

Below an auto picture of Arlett and a cut out from the high school year book of 1919 Black Sox Frank Shellenback. Shellenback was both the beneficiary and the victim of timing. An injury kept him off the playoff roster and might have saved him from the plot, but it also kept him off the legal spitball list. He ended up winning almost 300 games in the PCL where he was allowed to through the wet one

Good luck in the quest. I think I remember those 2 guys (Arlett and Jolley) from the scarce PCL Exhibits set of 1928....

Here's my Buzz rookie:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dfd0b247_z.jpg

Here's a guy who would fit nicely in your collection, Jack Bentley. He had a tremendous run from 1920 to 1922 while he played for the then-independent Baltimore Orioles, who were probably the greatest minor league team ever. In 1920, as a first baseman, he hit .371 with 231 hits and 20 home home runs AND as a pitcher, he was 16-3 with an 2.10 ERA. The next year batted .412 with 246 hits and 24 home runs, and was 12-1 a as a pitcher with a 2.34 ERA. His last year with the Orioles was 1922, when he hit .351 with 217 hits and 21 home runs, and had a 13-2 record with a 1.73 ERA. The card posted is his 1927 Exhibit, which isn't too hard to find ...

Defiantly one of the guys on my list. I am thinking of trying to do the whole orioles team from the 1920-22 time period. An amazing team that kept winning even after Lefty Grove was sold

Thing was, Grove (or "Groves" as he was known in Baltimore) wasn't even their best pitcher! They had Jack Ogden (seasons of 27, 31, 24 and 28 wins) and Tommy Thomas (seasons of 32 and 24 wins), Harry Frank (seasons of 24, 25 and 22), George Earnshaw (seasons of 29 and 22) and of course, my favorite "Rube," Rube Parnham (seasons of 22, 28 and 33 wins).

Loaded!