Who is your favorite pre-1930 player and why?

[tesitzes24]

I just started reading the book Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy, and it is a pretty good read so far.

So, who is your favorite pre-1930 player and why? What have you read/heard about them that made them stick out to you?

[PolarBear]

Mordecai Peter Centennial Three Finger Brown.

The name alone sets him apart.

At his peak from 1906-1909, he was one of the best, if not the best, pitcher in baseball.

He owned the head to head match ups with Christy Mathewson. There's a newspaper article quote in Crazy '08 that sums it up. "The only way the Giants could beat the Cubs is if they find a pitcher with two fingers" (paraphrase)


He seems like a humble down to earth regular guy. Definitely one of the most underrated HOFers in my opinion.

[Robextend]

My favorite all time pre-war ballplayer is Rube Waddell.

Besides being one of, if not the most eccentric figure of his day, he was also one of the best pitchers of all time.

[Bicem]

Originally Posted by Robextend

My favorite all time pre-war ballplayer is Rube Waddell.

Besides being one of, if not the most eccentric figure of his day, he was also one of the best pitchers of all time.

+1

"He began that year (1903) sleeping in a firehouse in Cadmen, New Jersey and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events he won 22 games for the Philadelphia Athletics, played left end for the Business Men's Rugby Football Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan, toured the nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt, courted, married and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts, saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion." -baseball historian Lee Allen

[bbcard1]

Good choices all. I am a Laughing Larry Doyle guy myself, secondbaseman for the Giants. Just an interesting guy and one who history for some fickle reason diminished. Very good leader, recognized as a superstar during his day. Late in life contracted TB and entered a sanitorium. He was the last person to move out once an effective treatment had been developed. Lived 20 years after that.

[Zach Wheat]

Lichtman -

Wow nice Cobby. I have never seen that card before.

Troey - Cobb would have to be my favorite. I wonder what made the guy tick....some of the stories I've read about him make him a one-of-a-kind odd ball. I've walked the same streets Cobb walked in downtown Detroit past some of his favorite hang outs and often wondered what motivated the guy.

Zach Wheat

[brett]

Napoleon Lajoie. Aside from being underrated because of Cobb's presence he was a dignified, classy player and they named the team after him for Christ's sake!

[fkw]

I like these 2

[jbsports33]

I would have to go with Buck Weaver, mostly because of the unknown and would have like to see numbers from him after 1919. He was a great all around player from what I read and he has some great history of just the average guy getting by in the majors.

Jimmy

[ethicsprof]

i,too, have been drawn to the notorious Buck Weaver lately.
i'm even having the Thompson Type 1 of weaver, sliding by Art Fletcher
in game 3 of the 1917 World Series, framed for a central place in my office.
i guess he's wooing me like the Joe Jackson has always done.

best,
barry

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Mordecai Peter Centennial Three Finger Brown.

The name alone sets him apart.

At his peak from 1906-1909, he was one of the best, if not the best, pitcher in baseball.

He owned the head to head match ups with Christy Mathewson. There's a newspaper article quote in Crazy '08 that sums it up. "The only way the Giants could beat the Cubs is if they find a pitcher with two fingers" (paraphrase)


He seems like a humble down to earth regular guy. Definitely one of the most underrated HOFers in my opinion.

Don, good choice.



My choices, both sociopaths:

[Republicaninmass]

Hughie Jennings, very sad end to his life. Crazy on the field with his poses captured in history

[pitchernut]

I know this might be a little clicheish but even considering just as a pitcher alone got to give the nod to George Herman Ruth.

[JasonL]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Don, good choice.
My choices, both sociopaths:

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by tesitzes24

I just started reading the book Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy, and it is a pretty good read so far.

So, who is your favorite pre-1930 player and why? What have you read/heard about them that made them stick out to you?

I absolutely loved that book ....and I hate reading, as a rule.

I love Mathewson - everything about him. My first T206 was a Matty White cap; my best condition T206 is my SGC 80 Matty portrait; I named my second son Mathewson and we all call him Matty; and there's always this song lyric.....

There's only one Christy that I know at all
One Christy that I ever saw
He's the one who discovered the fadeaway ball
And he pitches for Muggsy McGraw

Baseball... Baseball
Ain't it a wonderful game?
Old Christy Colum'
Found this country, by gum
But the extras don't carry his name.
If old man Columbus
Had sat in the stand
Had seen Matty pitching that
"Fader" so grand
He'd have said,
"Boys, I'm glad I discovered this land."
Gee! it's a wonderful game.

[ghostmarcelle]

I have long been enamored with Charleston who earned contemporary comparisons to Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and was also said to be the athletic equal of Jim Thorpe.



The following poem was written to eulogize Oscar Charleston by his former teammate Gentleman Dave Malarcher:

OSCAR CHARLESTON by David J. Malarcher, third baseman, Indianapolis ABCs

Sleep, Charlie! Thou, the great, the strong!
Within the depths of mud and mire!
While high above the diamond throng
The sterling statue in retire
Proclaims the splendor of thy game,
Thy paramount, unequaled fame!

Thou were the best who roamed the field!
Thy stalwart fingers never failed
The batters’ erring fate to seal,
The pitcher’s powers wrought too frail!
Oh! Would thy skill could live always
To stir the sportsman happy praise!

Sleep, Charlie! I, who knew thee well,
Do here declare to Earth and time
In Heaven’s language, thus to tell,
In poignant poetry divine,
The glory of thy destiny
Thus this undying rhyme to thee!

Sleep, Charlie! Now in holy dust!
(As mighty Cobb and Petway rest)
Bearing the praise of all of us,
The diamond’s greatest and the less
Here honor we on thee bestow,
That ages will thy greatness know.

[MacDice]

My favorite pre-1930 player is Earl Averill (he made his debut in 1929 so I think he qualifies for your question). The reason is easy, I am from Washington State and he was the first player from our state to be elected into the Hall of Fame. I now live around 20 minutes from the town that he lived in and have become friends with his son who has shared many stories and family photos of him.