Celebrating Prewar Non-HOF players with 2000+ career hits

[brianp-beme]

It is approximately the time to celebrate those Prewar major league players who have not been named to the HOF, but were able to end up with 2000 or more hits. Sure, some of these players were compilers, but they had the skills and stamina to achieve such a long-term goal, and deserve a little spot in the headlights (I might be confusing these players with deer. Also, Rob Deer, whose career was much later and only managed 853 hits in 11 seasons, swinging the bat as if he were his last name in headlights, does not qualify for this list).

So show one or more cards from someone on this list. Bob Elliot has an asterisk by his name as he started his career in 1939 during the Prewar era, but does not appear to have any cards until the late 1940's. He is included here as a favor to all the Bobs within the hobby. I like to call these folks Hobby Bobs. (Edited to add that it appears he has a card in the amorphous 1939-46 Exhibits set, and as such, the asterisk will remain attached, despite the appearance of this enlarged amorphous item).

I will not be happy until we have card representations of everyone on the list, including some of those tougher to come by 19th century ball knockers. I will strike out (the opposite of making contact with a bat) their listed hit total when the player's cards have been posted. Feel free to post cards of any player that has already been posted as well.


PLAYER - TOTAL CAREER HITS


Doc Cramer - 2705

Lave Cross - 2645

George Van Haltren - 2539

Jimmy Ryan - 2512

Bill Dahlen - 2461

Stuffy McInnis - 2405

Joe Judge - 2352

Jake Daubert - 2326

Charlie Grimm - 2299

Jimmy Dykes - 2256

Patsy Donovan - 2253

Tommy Corcoran - 2252

Fred Tenney - 2231

Joe Kuhel - 2212

Stan Hack - 2193

Sherry Magee - 2169

Dick Bartell - 2165

Hal Chase - 2158

Ed Konetchy - 2150

Tommy Leach - 2143

Wally Moses - 2138

Buddy Myer - 2131

Herman Long - 2128

Clyde Milan - 2100

Jimmy Sheckard - 2084

Ed McKean - 2083

George J. Burns - 2077

Dixie Walker - 2064

Bobby Veach - 2063

Bob Elliott* - 2061

Bob Johnson - 2051

Dummy Hoy - 2045

Jack Glasscock - 2040

George H. Burns - 2015


I will start by getting one of the two often confused George Burns boys out of the way, this one being George H. Burns, who happens to be at the bottom of the list. This is his 1930 Zeenut card when playing with the Missions in the PCL.


Brian

[Hankphenom]

I would have thought there would be a lot more.

[GeoPoto]

Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBI's in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.



Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I would have thought there would be a lot more.

I thought the same when I was compiling the list from Wikipedia's career hit list page. They did make it easy for me by highlighting all the Hall of Famers, and it was just a process of eliminating all the Postwar players.

Brian

[stutor]

Fun (and educational) thread!

[Casey2296]

-
McInnis and Leach
_

[Jay Wolt]

Here's one of "Pebbly Jack"

[BioCRN]

George Van Haltren and Jimmy Ryan

[brianp-beme]

Nice 19th and 20th century cards on display folks...keep the hitting streak alive.


Brian

[BioCRN]

Quick note about Geo Van Haltren. The card posted notes he was a pitcher because he was a pitcher in 1887 and 1888.

Turns out he can hit better than he can pitch.

[molenick]

I have a few of these players I need to scan, but I do have Stan Hack ready to go.

[molenick]

Here are a couple more. The rest of the ones I have have already been posted.

[4815162342]

Great thread!

[collectt205]

Jimmy Sheckard
Back is a nice green American Beauty too!

[TheBig6]

[GeoPoto]

Jesse Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits, 17 home runs, and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 2-time AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922.

[SAllen2556]

Bobby Veach. I wrote this in a similar thread, but Bobby Veach is the greatest Detroit Tiger that Tiger fans never heard of.

From SABR: Bobby Veach was one of the truly great RBI men of the late Deadball Era, easily leading the major leagues in runs driven in over the twelve years, 1913 to 1924, that he was a full time player. Veach drove in over 100 runs in a season six times, hit 30 or more doubles eight times and smacked ten or more triples ten years in a row. In all, Veach played for 14 major league seasons and hit .300 or better ten times, finishing with a lifetime .310 batting average.

He was also a member of what Bill James called Baseball's greatest outfield ever, consisting of Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Veach.

51097915368_23c86f0328_w.jpg 51098190570_4c182c2bcd_w.jpg
Crawford,_Veach,_and_Cobb.jpg

[GeoPoto]

(Submitting this to back up the beautiful Diamond Stars Kuhel submitted by Molenick.)

Joseph A. "Joe" Kuhel (pronounced "Cool"). First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1930-1937 and 1944-1946. 2,212 hits and 131 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. He had 107 RBIs in Washington's pennant-winning 1933 season, but his best season was probably 1936 as he posted an OBP of .392 with 118 RBIs and 107 runs scored in 660 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1948-49.

[GeoPoto]

Charles S. "Buddy" Myer. Second baseman with the Washington Senators in 1925-1927 and 1929-1941. 2,131 hits and 38 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .389. 2-time All-Star. 1935 AL Batting champion. 1928 AL Stolen Base leader. His best season was 1935 for Washington as he posted a .440 OBP with 115 runs scored and 100 RBIs in 719 plate appearances. He was involved in one of baseball's most violent brawls when he was spiked and possibly racially derided by the Yankees' Ben Chapman.

[GeoPoto]

(Submitted for parental recognition only.)

Edward G. "Dixie" Walker. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1909-1912. 25 wins and 481 innings pitched in 4 MLB seasons. In 1910, he went 11-11 with a 3.30 ERA in 199.1 innings pitched. His brother Ernie played 3 MLB seasons and his sons Dixie and Harry played a combined 29 MLB seasons.

[jayshum]

Doc Cramer and Dick Bartell from the 1933 Rittenhouse set.

[jayshum]

Charlie Grimm

[jayshum]

Fred Tenney

[edhans]

Konetchy:

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by edhans

Konetchy:

Wow, Ed!

[Bill77]

George, Bob, and Bob.

[robw1959]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

(Submitting this to back up the beautiful Diamond Stars Kuhel submitted by Molenick.)

Joseph A. "Joe" Kuhel (pronounced "Cool"). First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1930-1937 and 1944-1946. 2,212 hits and 131 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. He had 107 RBIs in Washington's pennant-winning 1933 season, but his best season was probably 1936 as he posted an OBP of .392 with 118 RBIs and 107 runs scored in 660 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1948-49.

I have wondered if this guy's name was the inspiration for Charles Schultz's
Peanuts character known as "Joe Cool." It was really Snoopy with sunglasses, but the name had to come from somewhere, right? Maybe just a coincidence.

[sb1]

here are L. Cross, Patsy Donovan and Herman Long

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by sb1

here are L. Cross, Patsy Donovan and Herman Long

Thanks Scott for the uber-helpful 2K hits toughies...and great W600 cabinets!

And thanks to everyone else...with just a few remaining on the list, we are approaching the total collapse of civilization that was predictated for Y2K.

Brian

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is an image of Ed McKean that I stole from the web.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

Here is an image of Ed McKean that I stole from the web.

Quite appropriate, as Ed stole 76 bases during his rookie year in 1887.

Brian

[Jay Wolt]

Here's a Hoy that I once owned

[jayshum]

Jake Daubert

[jayshum]

Dixie Walker

[jayshum]

Wally Moses

[brianp-beme]

Doubling down on Wally Moses with his 8x the normal card size (8 x 10") 1938 Dixie Lid Premium. There are 7 players combined (Carl Hubbell is in both sets) represented in the 1937 and 1938 issues, and Wally is the only non-HOF. Before this thread, I knew that Wally was no schlub, but now I know he was 2K hit man.

Related to this thread, I will point out that Wally has more career hits than these other players in the sets...Carl Hubbell (no duh), Bob Feller(no duh part two) and Gabby Hartnett (duh-huh?).

By the way, these Dixie Lid Premiums are suitable for framing...they are gorgeous! I only have Wally, but the bonus with him is that he is definitely the least expensive baseball subject.


Brian

[brianp-beme]

Down to final subject...Tommy Corcoran.

And like I mentioned previously, feel free to post any items you have/cool ones you have seen of the players already shown. It is a celebration of these individuals, and what party would be complete without some party crashers?

Brian

[molenick]

Here are some players that have already been posted.

[ValKehl]

Messrs. Hoy, Judge & Milan:

[GeoPoto]

The excerpt from Milan's (pronounced millin) SABR biography sums up how his career and life were intertwined with Walter Johnson's. And with two names and a role as Walter Johnson's wing man, of course he has a big head. Walter himself is here to put in a good word for his friend and hunting companion.

Milan began the 1906 season by hitting .356 for Shawnee (Indian Territory) of the South-Central League, but the team again disbanded before Milan received his pay. Disgusted with professional baseball, he was thinking about quitting when he received an invitation to join Wichita of the Western Association. “I felt none too sure that I could make good there, for the company was much faster,” Clyde recalled. That partial season in Wichita saw him hit just .211, but he returned in 1907 and batted .304 with 38 stolen bases in 114 games, attracting the attention of Washington manager Joe Cantillon, who had seen him in a spring exhibition. That summer Cantillon dispatched injured catcher Cliff Blankenship to Wichita with orders to purchase Milan’s contract, then go to Weiser, Idaho, to scout and possibly sign Walter Johnson. In later years Clyde loved to relate Blankenship’s remarks during his contract signing: “He told me that he was going out to Idaho to look over some young phenom. ‘It looks like a wild goose chase and probably a waste of train fare to look over that young punk,’ Blankenship said. ” Milan cost the Nats $1,000, while Johnson was secured for a $100 bonus plus train fare.

Milan and Johnson had a lot in common: They were the same age, they both hailed from rural areas – Washington outfielder Bob Ganley started calling Milan “Zeb,” a common nickname for players from small towns – and they were both quiet, reserved, and humble. Naturally, they became hunting companions and inseparable friends, and eventually they became the two best players on the Senators team. “Take Milan and his roommate, Walter Johnson, away from Washington, and the town would about shut up shop, as far as base ball is concerned,” wrote a reporter in 1911.

[milkit1]

sheckard 3x5.jpg

[GeoPoto]

After Walter Johnson, the next two pillars added by Clark Griffith, as he built the back-to-back pennant winning Washington team of 1924-25, were Joe Judge and Sam Rice. Sam insisted on joining this shindig to remind us that he and Joe were teammates for 18 seasons in Washington, which was a record for the longest pairing of two teammates until surpassed by Detroit’s Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker (1977-1995).

[brianp-beme]

Here are type cards of the 25 2000+ hit Prewar players whose careers were either entirely or mostly in the 20th century. Kuhel snuck in twice by being on the 1935 Goudey card with Myer. And the Elliot card is Postwar. And Moses is a secretarial signature. And George J. Burns is a stamp.

The world is indeed not perfect, nor should it be for the Prewar collector. Nor is it fair that two George Burns played and excelled for so long in the same era. The comedian George Burns, born in 1896, claimed he selected the stage name of George Burns because of these two (at that time) active baseball players. Then why did George J., born in 1889, and George H., born in 1893, only get to live to 76 and 84, when cigar smoking George got to live to 100? The manners of some people!

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Tommy Corcoran still is looking for his hits total to have a strike mark through it. He is the final unmarked fellow.

And as a reminder...I shall not rest until this has occurred. In the meantime, on the list I made him (em)bold(ened).


Brian (I want my nap now!)

[doug.goodman]

I present to you, Mr. Corcoran

[brianp-beme]

I just got up from my nap and noticed that Doug was able to finish off the list...thanks!

Brian