[Archive]

Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Barry, I think you're selling Turkey Mike a bit short. Keep in mind that baseball was never his main focus; he unfortunately treated it as a necessary evil as he was more interested in vaudeville, drinking and women. He even sat out a year at the peak of his skills in a contract dispute. Beause of all these things he had a very short peak of a career -- but his peak was extraordinary. He finished in the top 3 in batting in the National League for 5 years of his career and was a lifetime .333 hitter. While he wasn't on the level of Cobb he was still one of the best players in the league -- and perhaps the most flamboyant. His popularity is evidenced by the number of poses in the T206 set: 3, one less than Cobb (and two less than another very talented and popular -- albeit flawed -- player of the times, Hal Chase).

Edited to add: I've lately been focusing my collecting on a handful of unusual and flawed players from the deadball era including Cobb, Chase, Brown, Jennings and Mike Donlin.