Previously, we looked at 1934's most promising rookies. The following is a partial list of big name stars for whom 1934 was their swan song, and who also made significant contributions to their team in 1934.
One name not on this list is the Babe's. 1934 would be his last in a Yankees uniform, but he would play one season in 1935 for the Boston Braves.
Sparky Adams - Cincinnati was the 4th NL stop on Adams' career, which began in 1922. He broke into the league with Chicago, and also played for St. Louis (the 1930 NL champs and 1931 world champs) and Pittsburgh. He played all positions in the infied except first, and played the occassional outfield as well. Although his .286 life time batting average seems respectable, in no season did Adams hit the league average for OPS. Still, he played most games in most seasons, and seems to have been considered an adequate infielder during an era less was expected from them at the plate. His best attribute was his speed on the basepaths.
Johnny Frederick - Frederick had a relatively brief (6 year) pro career, all with Brooklyn. He was a good hitter, and was above average in OPS every year except 1931 when he was right at par. He played a single game at first, the rest in the outfield. Until 2000, he was the answer to the trivia question "who hit the most pinch hit home runs in a season?"
Burliegh Grimes - Grimes had a long, varied pitching career in the big leagues, all but 10 games in the NL. It began in 1916 in Pittsburgh. He would be traded to the Dodgers, Giants, back to Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, and back to St. Louis. In 1934 alone, he would play for the Cardinals, the Yankees, and then return to end his career where it began in Pittsburgh. Contrary to common wisdom, the spitball was never strictly "banned" in 1920 but restricted to those pitchers using them at the time and thought to have the spitter as a key in their repetoire. Grimes had the distinction of being the last of 17 legal spitballers when he retired in 1934.
Don Hurst - Hurst had 5 solid seasons for the Phillies from 1928 through 1932. He slipped in 1933, and would only play 40 games for the Phillies in 1934 before being traded to the Cubs, where he would play 51. On neither team did Hurst make an impact in 1934, however, and he retired at the end of the season. The Chicago Cubs Enclyclopedia lists the trade of Dolph Camili to the Phillies for Hurst as the fifth worst trade in Cubs history (the worst being Lou Brock et al for Ernie Broglio et al in 1964).
Marty McManus - McManus was an American Leaguer for most of his career. He started with St. Louis in 1920, and stopped in Detroit for several seasons and then Boston. He swtiched leagues for one final season with the Braves in 1934. He played every position in the infield, including most during every season he played. He also managed the Red Sox in 1932 and 1933 before being traded.
Ed Morgan - Morgan had a 7 year AL career, the first six spent with Cleveland. Of course, in 1934, his last year, he's with the Red Sox. 1930 and 1931 were superb years for Morgan. By 1933, he had slowed down considerably. His OPS (on base percentage plus slugging expressed) for 1934 was only .719. He's well ahead of his pace this year, however, which is one reason the Red Sox are in the hunt for the pennant in our replay, unlike the real 1934.
Lefty O'Doul - O'Doul began his career as a pitcher with the Yankees, but after pitching several years began to develop arm problems. He left the major leagues after 1923, but reemerged as a big hitting outfielder in 1928 (he was said to be one model for Roy Hobbs in The Natural), and posted monster years from 1929 through 1933. He is 4th in all time BA, but played at a time of inflated averages. After finishing his playing career, he was a long time manager of the San Francisco Seals, where he managed Joe DiMaggio (claiming that his sole contribution to the latter's development was to "leave him alone"). The bridge over McCovey's Cove in San Francisco is named for him.
Herb Pennock - we've already seen a great deal about Pennock, the dominant Yankees' starter of the 1920s, and Bill James's best AL pitcher of that decade. Although the dominant Yankees teams of the mid to late 20's were best known for their hitters ("murderers row"), Pennock, along with Urban Shocker and Waite Hoyt comprised one of the very best rotations in baseball. Pennock is now back with the Red Sox, where he's provided "lights out" spot relief, one of the keys to their so far successful season. Pennock was known for the calm, breezy manner on the mound, pitching a game as if it were batting practice. His SABR bio can be found here. He started his major league career in 1912 as an Athletic, moved to Boston, and then New York before returning to Boston for one last season. 
Sam Rice - Rice played for the Washington Nationals from 1915 to 1933, playing one final season in Cleveland in 1934. He was consistently, significantly above average as a hitter, atlhough he only had a couple of really outstanding seasons. Rice was inducted into the HOF in 1963. It's unclear whether he'd make it in today because he was never the very best at any point (his best year hitting, he was sixth in BA).
Hack Wilson -It's very possible you've not heard of Wilson, although more likely you know the name but little more. Wilson was one of the great hitters in the NL during the 1920s. He started with the Giants, played most of his career as a Cub, and the last few seasons in the early 30s with Brooklyn (he'll be traded to Philly at the close of the season and play 7 games there before retirement). He was among the slugging leaders 6 of his 12 seasons and holds the major league RBI record for a single season (191).
No comments:
Post a Comment