John "Jack" Bentley

[Chris Counts]

Whenever I pick up a card of a player I've never heard of, I can't resist looking him up and learning more about him. I never ceased to be amazed by what I discover about a seemingly obscure player.

This 1927 Exhibit card of Jack Bentley arrived in the mail today — courtesy of a board member — and I couldn't wait to look up his stats.

The first thing I noticed was that he was a pretty decent pitcher for the Giants for three years. But when I clicked on his minor league stats, my eyes just about popped out: In 13 seasons in the minors, he batted .354 AND had a .727 winning percentage as a pitcher (to put his winning percentage in perspective, Spud Chandler holds the major league mark at .717). Even more remarkable was his 1921 season for the Baltimore Orioles, one of the greatest of all minor league teams. That season Bentley recorded 246 hits, 57 doubles, 16 triples, 24 home runs, a .412 batting average, a 12-1 record and a 2.34 ERA. His minor league exploits were so impressive that he was dubbed, "The next Babe Ruth."

As a big leaguer, his greatest distinction was batting an off-the-charts .427 while he was a member of the 1923 Giants' starting rotation (he won 13 games). He was also on the mound when Earl McNeely hit his famous bad hop hit over third baseman Fred Lindstrom's head to win the 1924 World Series.

My discovery of Bentley's minor league greatness is just another confirmation that every baseball card has a story to tell. Who knows what great stories lurk in your collection?

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