Who are some of your favorite "forgotten" players?
 

I know there are a few Tommy Bridges and Cecil Travis fans here. I've been thinking about this for a while. Who are some of your favorite players that you wish history or hobbyists were kinder to? I don't mean HOFers, but generally good players who you wish were talked about more. If you got a card, please show it off.

I'll start:

Riggs Stephenson - career 336 hitter. I don't know what his story was or why he played in so few games, but man, could he hit.

Babe Herman - hit 381 in 1929 only to follow it up by hitting 393 in 1930. Career 324 hitter but all you usually hear about the guy was how horrible a fielder he was.

Joe Sewell....anybody who can go an entire career striking out once every 60+ at bats, and can go an amazing 115 straight games iwthout a strikeout, to me has more bat control than should be humanly possible. Ergo, he has been and will always be, my avatar.

In 1932, he had 503 at bats, and struck out only 3 times. In 1925, 1929 and 1933, he only had 4 strikeouts. Better put, from 1925-1933, he struck out 4,6,7,9,4,3,8,3, and 4 times. That's 9 seasons with a total of 48 strikeouts. That's the same as a poor road series for Ryan Howard. ;)

If you thought that was amazing, here's the kicker. He had 7,132 career at bats.....and he used the exact same bat in all of them. A single bat for one full career....AMAZING!

I was well aware of the Sewell's lack of strike outs. I don't recall ever hearing about him using only one bat. That's great!

Wow. Same bat his whole career? Incredible.

Injuries that I believe went all the way back to his college football days. He couldn't throw, and I don't think he was a good enough fielder to play the infield. But man could he hit...it's too bad that he got hurt early on because with his hitting he would have been a sure hall of famer.

One of my favorites is Ned Williamson. He batted .278 with 84 RBI's and an incredible 27 home runs in 1884. he never hit more than 9 in the 5 seasons he played after that.

One bat for an entire career?
 

The only way players in todays' game could do that is to use an aluminum bat. Geez, I hope that never happens!

You already named him. Tommy Bridges.

I could go on for hours about what he could have done without war service and the resulting alcoholism. But I'll keep it simple.

Mickey Cochrane - "A hundred and fifty pounds of courage. If there ever is a payoff on courage this little 150- pound pitcher is the greatest World Series hero."

Ossie Bluege - "[He] had a heart of gold. He had the courage when the chips were down, and you had to hit him and hit him hard to beat him."

Virgil Trucks - "Primarily, I was a fastball pitcher, and nobody could teach me to throw a fastball because nobody on that ballclub could throw any harder than I could. But, I did watch Tommy Bridges to learn how to throw a curveball; I think he had the greatest curveball I've ever seen."

http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/f...ey/bridges.jpg

Clarence Mitchell...he had an unspectacular career in the majors and is probably mostly remembered for making 5 outs in two at bats in the 1920 World Series...he is also the last legal spitballer in the majors. He was known as Mr Baseball in Nebraska though and played many years in the minor leagues in and around Nebraska.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/00newo22.jpg

I am also fond of George Johnson...he played for the Nebraska Indians ball team, then the Lincoln minor league club...finally making the major leagues..he also played in the Federal League and the Pacific Coast League. He was murdered over a dice game in Des Moines, Iowa shortly after his playing days ended.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...nlincolnpc.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...%20Team/x2.jpg

The model of consistency, Jake Daubert:

I know, truly amazing! And most people didn't even know this strange fact until it was published in his obituary.

I would believe that Sewell had a bat that he never cracked and that he used throughout his career, but I find it hard to believe that he never cracked a bat. Hillerich and Bradsby record that he orderded bats from them almost every year from 1920 through 1933. His pro-model (game used) bats are considered very rare.

Reggie Smith, from back in my era of MLB obsession. I hardly follow these days.
JimB

I was (and still am) a huge Reds fan and Johnny Bench will always be my favorite player and I think the greatest catcher.

But a catcher that I think was overlooked during that era, probably because of Bench, was Ted Simmons. He was an excellent switch-hitter, a blue collar kind of guy with a long solid career--a guy I would love to have on my team. His fielding was no where near Bench, but I thnk was adequate.

Jack Clements...no hall of fame stats (heck, barely any stats) but handled the duties behind the plate for the Phillies, as a lefty!

Sherry Magee should be a HOFer in my opinion. But I am biased towards Phillies. He had 2100 hits, 1100 RBIs, and a career .291 avg. He was a great fielder and was certainly overshadowed during his career.

Joshua

Waipahu's own Henry "Prince" Oana was my Dad's favorite ballplayer; his '32 Zeenut was one of the very first vintage baseball cards I ever acquired. His career spanned 23 seasons, mostly in the minors with a couple of brief stints in the Bigs. He is largely forgotten even in Hawaii.

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...nut%20Oana.jpg http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...nut%20Oana.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...0Park%20pc.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...adium%20pc.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...001%20Oana.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...ana%201931.jpg

forgotten
 

clay dalrymple---
he kept my bicycle spokes together in the 60's.

best,
barry

I always though Burleigh Grimes was the last legal spitball Pitcher in the Majors

Lefty O'Doul. The knock against him was he didn't play more than about 10 years, otherwise a HOFer. Great hitter.
RE: an earlier post, Mickey Cochran was a catcher, not a pitcher.

The reference I believe was Cochrane quoting about Bridges, not a reference to Cochrane.

Forgotten Favorite?
 

Moses Yellow Horse, considered by most historians to be the first full-blooded Native American (Pawnee) to play major league baseball. Pitched well for the Pirates in 1921-22. But never more notoriously than when, in a 1922 exhibition game, he beaned the famous peacemaker Ty Cobb, who had spent much of his only at bat hurling racist insults at him. Right between the eyes.

But hung around too much with one Walter (Rabbit) Maranville, who taught him the delights of alcohol. Became an admitted alcoholic, and was out of the majors for good the following year.

Appears on an Exhibit card (1922) and on a Zeenuts PCL (1924)

Right between the eyes
 

I should have stated "One of the last legal spitballers."

These 2 guys retired right before I started following baseball, but I always thought Bill Buckner and Al Oliver were terribly underrated.

I agree with Sherwood Magee, Joshua. I'd like to see Wildfire Schulte get a little more attention as well as Deacon Phillipe and McGuire.

Clyde Milan
 

Milan was a good enough guy that Walter Johnson roomed with him for 10 years.

He was a good enough ballplayer that he finished one position behind Johnson in voting for the 1912 Chalmers award (this was Johnson's 33-12 season). That was the year that Milan stole 88 bases.

Came up the same month in 1907 as Johnson, played with Washington through the '22 season. He managed or coached for them until he died in 1953.

Just a solid ballplayer, who retired just as Washington was getting good.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...2/Milan204.jpg

Vern Stephens.

How many other shortstops have had 159 RBIs in one season? And 144 in another?

Bill Dahlen was always one of my favorites and I believe worthy of the HOF. Bad Bill was a .272 lifetime hitter over 21 seasons (including a string of 5 years he averaged around .330), 2450+ hits, etc. According to baseball statistics, out of the 10 players with "similarity scores" closest to Dahlen, 6 are HOF'ers and one will be after his retirement.

Awesome thread!!! This is the exact kind of thing I've been looking for. Perfect for someone new into vintage who doesn't know all the players as well and who can't really afford the big HOFers.

In addition to the aforementioned Riggs Stephenson and Joe Sewell, I've always liked Hank Gowdy and Eddie Grant; the first major leaguer to enlist in the Army for WWI, and the first major leaguer to die in action in WWI. Also Gavvy Cravath, the homerun champion before Babe Ruth came along, and the first major leaguer from San Diego CA.

Steve

Mickey Vernon - One of my first Bowman cards I ever purchased at a flea market was Mickey Vernon.

A likely Hall of Famer except for missing 44 and 45 to WW2

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...ernomi01.shtml

A couple of picks:

19th Century: Paul Hines and Jersey's own Mike Tiernan

Early 20th Century: Jack Quinn (one of only two players to be in T206 and the 1933 Goudey set as players - and I'm stretching it for Eddie Collins) and Candy LaChance.

Modern(ish): Ron Perranoski (another Jersey guy) and Camilo Pascual (imagine if he played for better teams)

I kinda like the 1890's guys that didn't get their own baseball cards.

Jake Stenzel (.339 lifetime BA)--and he even produced his own pin set that is highly prized (so there is a direct link to this hobby of ours).
http://www.starsofthediamond.com/cameopepsinstenzel.JPG

also:
Jack Stivetts
Bill Lange
Nig Cuppy
Louis Sockalexis

I suppose I have to go with Wilbur Cooper.

Throwing out a few names that haven't been mentioned yet:

Harry Stovey
Sam Leever
Hooks Dauss

Dave Parker had the talent to have a Hall of Fame career and then some, but fell way short of his potential.

Caesar Tovar. In the 1967 Impossible Dream year of the Red Sox, Tovar got the only AL MVP which didn't go to Yaz. He played every position (all 9) in one game and led the team in '67 to 1st place with one game to go.

Forgotten -- overlooked -- neglected ...
 

Can't let the opportunity go by.

Gil Hodges.

Of all the guys who might come up in a clutch situation -- Duke, Campy, Furillo, Jackie, Pee Wee, the one your team did NOT want to see on deck was Gilbert Raymond.

What did he mean to the game? To quote one Terrence Mann: "This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again.

Gil Hodges was that good.