It's a Hall of Fame Day
Ten Negro Leaguers who deserve the honour, and three MLBers who received it on Tuesday.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . The first committee to review and elect worthy Negro Leagues players to the Hall of Fame was established by oft-forgotten commissioner William D. (Spike) Eckert.
. . . Between Nippon Professional Baseball and the U.S. major leagues, Ichiro Suzuki played nearly three decades of professional baseball.
. . . One week before his election to Cooperstown, Ichiro was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Leading Off
The Ten Negro Leaguers Most Worthy of the Hall of Fame
A group of of players plus one outstanding manager
By Chris Jensen
With only 28 Negro League players enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown compared to 245 MLB players, it’s past time to rectify the clear bias that has kept out so many deserving players. Strong cases can be made for at least two dozen Negro League players and managers who were the best of the best for a league that remained in the shadows of the majors due to discrimination.
What follows are my recommendations of the ten Negro League players (and one manager) most deserving to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
1. Rap Dixon— When the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City announced its Negro Leagues Centennial Team in 2020, Dixon was one of seven outfielders selected. He was the only position player not already in the Hall.
He was a five-tool player who hit for average and power, ran the bases with speed and aggression, played terrific defense in right field, and had a strong and accurate throwing arm. His career slash line of .326/.406/.540 compares favorably to that of Stan Musial (.331/.417/.559).
2. Dick (Cannonball) Redding—Redding and his overpowering fastball combined with Smokey Joe Williams to make the Lincoln Giants virtually unbeatable from 1912-14. In 1911, he won 17 straight games as a 20-year-old rookie, which he would later top by winning 20 straight in 1915.
In 1917, Redding went 14-3 with a 0.82 ERA (227 ERA+). His overall record of 346-152 produced a winning percentage of .695. Redding is credited with twelve no-hitters against Black teams and as many as thirty against all competition.
3. Dick Lundy—Nicknamed “King Richard” for his sensational play, Lundy was a deceptively powerful switch hitter with excellent speed and base-running instincts. Lundy was a better fielder than Pop Lloyd and finished with a .319 lifetime average and 125 OPS+ in documented Negro League games, ranking 15th in Negro League history with 1,119 hits.
Peers such as Ted Page expressed the opinion that Lundy was the greatest shortstop in Black baseball history, while John McGraw said he was the greatest shortstop ever after Honus Wagner.
4. Oliver Marcelle—Nicknamed “Ghost,” Marcelle was a marvelous defensive player at the hot corner. Think of Brooks Robinson with more quickness and a slightly stronger arm. He was selected as the first-team third baseman on Pittsburgh Courier’s 1952 All-Time All-Star Team.
Marcelle is credited with a .301 lifetime average in thirteen Negro League seasons and led the Cuban Winter League with a .393 average in 1923-24. He was a member of the Baltimore Black Sox’s “Million Dollar Infield” in 1929 with Jud Wilson, Frank Warfield, and Dick Lundy.
5. Charlie (Chino) Smith—In terms of hitting for average, no one did it better than Smith. His career average of .398 is the highest in Negro League history. Smith’s career WAR of 9.7 per 162 games is the highest of any Negro League outfielder.
Even including his stats from the Cuban Winter League, Smith still has the highest career average (.391) and on-base percentage (.479) in Black baseball history. Among Negro Leaguers, he also ranks first in OBP (.488) and OPS (1.163), second in slugging (.675), and third in OPS+ (183). Smith was named the second-team right fielder on the Pittsburgh Courier’s 1952 All-Time All-Star Team.
6. Newt Allen—The best second baseman in the Negro Leagues in the 1920s and early 1930s was Allen, who was without peer as a defensive player. He spent most of his 24-year career with the Kansas City Monarchs and made five All-Star teams. Allen was blessed with sure hands, great quickness and a powerful arm, and he was adept at making the pivot and ranging to either side.
Skilled with the bat, he averaged .284 and was able to bunt and get on base, where his speed was a weapon. Allen ranks seventh among Negro Leaguers in stolen bases (163), ninth in hits (1,187) and fifth in games (1,084).
7. Candy Jim Taylor—It’s outrageous that there are no Negro Leagues managers enshrined in Cooperstown. Taylor managed for thirty seasons (most as player-manager) and won more games (1,091) than any other Negro League manager. He guided his teams to eleven championships including three Negro National League titles, and he skippered the Homestead Grays to the Negro World Series championship in 1943 and 1944.
A skilled strategist, Taylor was lauded for developing and mentoring hundreds of players.
8. Sammy Hughes—Bill James ranks Hughes as the fourth-best second baseman in Negro League history and compares him to Barry Larkin and Ryne Sandberg. He was the best second baseman in the Negro National League during the 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in seven consecutive All-Star games.
Hughes lost three prime years while serving in the military during World War II, but he was a well-rounded player who excelled at everything. He is credited with a lifetime average of .318 with a .390 on-base percentage.
9. Bill Monroe— If Bill Monroe was not the greatest second baseman in Negro League history, then perhaps he was the greatest third baseman. When John McGraw saw him play early in his career with the Philadelphia Giants, he called Monroe the greatest infielder he had ever seen and lamented the fact he could not use him due to his skin color.
Monroe was Black baseball’s greatest superstar and showman around the turn of the 20th century, a skilled batsman with excellent speed and flawless in the field.
10. John Beckwith—Strictly a pull hitter who was unfazed by defensive shifts designed to defeat him, Beckwith hit for average and power better than any third baseman who ever played in the Negro Leagues.
He was the first player to hit a ball out of Redland Field in Cincinnati and his career average of .348 (168 OPS+) is tied with Oscar Charleston and Turkey Stearnes for fifth-best in Negro League history. But he fought with and beat up teammates, was arrested for punching an umpire and had a severe drinking problem, so character issues might have derailed his Hall chances.
Chris Jensen has written for Seamheads, Start Spreading the News, Elysian Fields Quarterly and the Yankees Annual Yearbook. He is the author of the recently released Baseball’s Two-Way Greats: Pitching/Batting Stars from Ruth and Rogan to Ohtani as well as Baseball State by State: Major and Negro League Players, Ballparks, Museums and Historical Sites. Email him at chris.jensen81@hotmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Ichiro, CC, and Billy the Kid Going to Cooperstown
By Jeff Kallman
The good news: Ichiro Suzuki (RF), CC Sabathia (starting LHP), and Billy Wagner (relief LHP) are going to the Hall of Fame. (You are now free to say it regarding Billy the Kid: It’s about bloody time!) Thanks to the Baseball Writers Association of America vote, they will join two Classic Baseball Era Committee selections, the late Dick Allen plus Dave Parker, being inducted in July.
The bad news: Someone among the voting writers who has oatmeal for brains, clearly, decided Ichiro had no business becoming the first position player to enter the Hall on a unanimous vote. I’m going to be charitable and say it had nothing to do with his being Japanese.
The right fielder who has more lifetime hits than Pete Rose between Nippon Professional Baseball and the American Show has to settle for being tied with Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter in getting 99.7 percent of the vote. I’m reasonably certain that it doesn’t matter to Ichiro. A Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer is a Hall of Famer, whether with one hundred, ninety, or eighty percent.
But whomever held out on him should be horsewhipped. (Now, somebody find me a horse to whip him/her with.—Groucho Marx.) Then, he/she should be reminded Ichiro’s greatness only begins with him being one of only seven major leaguers with 3,000+ hits and 500+ stolen bases. (The other six? Some guys named Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, and Honus Wagner.)
There. I’ve gotten that out of my system. Now, a personal memory: sitting in the stands at Angel Stadium with my then-young son, 31 July 2004, when the Mariners hit town, and Ichiro standing in at the plate against Angels righthander Troy Percival leading off the top of the ninth.
Well. Ichiro drove the first pitch into the high right field bleachers to tie a game the Angels would win two innings later on a Jose Guillen home run.
Sabathia was as much courage as concentration on and off the mound. You might expect as much from a fellow whose first experience trying to pitch as a boy was throwing grapefruits at a folding chair in Grandma’s back yard.
As a pitcher, he was as tenacious a competitor as you ever saw out there. As a man, he had the guts to tell the world it was far more important for him to take alcoholism on straight up than to pitch. Such was the respect he’d earned already that not one Yankee teammate was known to have objected. They all had his back, as he’d had theirs for long enough.
Wagner deserved election long before now. Making it in his final year’s BBWAA ballot eligibility still makes him a Hall of Famer. But what do you call a group who needed a decade to spot the Hall of Famer in a relief pitcher with:
a) The lowest WHIP of any pitcher with 900+ innings in the century between Hall of Famer Addie Joss’s last game and his own.
b) The best strikeouts-per-nine rate (11.92) in baseball history.
c) The best ERA (2.31) of any lefthanded pitcher in the live ball era (1920 forward).
d) The lowest opposition OPS (.558) in the same, aforesaid hundred-year period.
e) The lowest batting average against of any Hall of Fame relief pitcher. Including The Mariano.
I can say Wagner is one more exhibit of evidence in favour of the BBWAA returning to the fifteen-maximum Hall of Fame ballot, for openers.
There. I’ve gotten most of my quibbles out of the way so I can celebrate Ichiro, Dub, and Billy the Kid. Not to mention breathing a sigh of relief that Carlos Beltrán will have to wait awhile longer. That’s what co-masterminding Astrogate deserves, alas. (Maybe he should be another one to get eleventh-hour election.)
Just one more quibble. Why is the number-one run-preventive center fielder who ever played the game, who also happened to be a Hall-level hitter for his first ten seasons (before his jaw-dropping but injury-instigated decline), still on the outside?
Andruw Jones deserves a plaque in Cooperstown. He’s halfway through his eligibility. Perhaps with the deck now cleared in the right way of Ichiro, Sabathia, and Wagner, there’ll be room for Jones at last.
Jeff Kallman now edits the Wednesday and Thursday editions of Here’s the Pitch.
Extra Innings
There was a time when I didn't even get a chance to play in the MLB. So what an honor it is for me to be here and be a Hall of Famer.—Ichiro.
From now on it’s Hall of Famer Carsten Charles Sabathia. Dream come true!!! Feeling so blessed.—CC Sabathia.
Dreams do come true.—Billy Wagner, who wept in his wife’s arms when accepting the call that he’s now a Hall of Famer.
