NL Player of the Week - Gabby Hartnett

NL Player of the Week

Gabby Hartnett

Note: there are no new AL games to report today. Here's another in our series of 1930s era Hall of Famers

Rounding out the three "top ten" catchers from the 1930s era is Cubs' backstop Gabby Harnett (HA9).

Hartnett purportedly developed a strong arm as the result of it having been broken. To ensure it set straight, his mother made him carry a bucket of sand around for weeks. Still, Hartnett was discounted by pro scouts, including that for John McGraw, because his hands were thought to be "too small."

Nontheless, Hartnett became a Cub in 1922 and remained the starting catcher (with some first base in 1923) until the 1941 season when he signed on for a last year as a Giant. During his career, Hartnett hit substantially better than league norm and was a strong defensive catcher as well (James estimates he would have won 8 gold gloves had they existed in his era). He won the 1935 NL MVP and had another monster year in 1937, showing that he didn't slow down later in his career.

Harnett is perhaps best remembered in baseball lore for hitting the "homer in the gloamin'." With the Pirates maintaining a half game lead over the Cubs for the NL pennant on September 28th, the two teams met at Wrigley Field. With the score tied at 5 and the sun nearly gone, Hartnett was at the plate with two outs and two strikes. Although calling the game would have necessiated a replay under the rules of the day, the umpires were prepared to call the game on account of darkness after Hartnett's at bat.

They never got the chance. Hartnett laced Mace Brown's pitch into the hazy night leading winning the game, and capping a 19-3 September comeback in which the Cubs won the pennant.

His nickname "Gabby" was ironic. A notoriously quiet man, Hartnett was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1956.