- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: Cubs
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
“The Reverend” (1859-1935). O’Day was a pitcher & occasional position player over 7 ML seasons for 5 teams. Hank then umpired for 30 years, interrupting his tenure twice: to manage the Cincinnati Reds in 1912 and the Chicago Cubs in 1914.
- Member of ’89 Champion Giants
- Umpired 10 World Series
- Officiated Merkle’s Boner
- Called 4 no-hitters in 4 decades
- Only person to play, manage & umpire in NL
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 2013
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: American Giants
- League: Independent
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Andrew Foster (1879-1930) was “the foremost manager and executive in history of the Negro Leagues” according to his Cooperstown plaque. He is known by many as “the Father of Negro Baseball,” a title earned by decades of playing greatness on the mound, managing championship teams, and founding the Negro NL in 1920. John McGraw recruited Foster to instruct his pitchers. Foster is said to have taught Mathewson the screwball. His nickname may derive from his defeat of Waddell in one of many exhibitions with the “real” big leaguers.
- Honus Wagner said Foster was “one of the greatest pitchers of all-time”
- But it was his brilliance as an executive that left a legacy of greatness in African-American history as the league he founded finally gave a national platform for the talents of black players
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1981
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Urban C. Faber (1888-1976) was the rare pitcher who thrived in both the Dead & Live Ball Eras, one of a handful to win 100 games in each. He was one of the 17 legal spitballers in the ‘20s. A lifelong White Sox, the 20-year ML veteran became the shining light in the gloom of the scandal-shrouded club, once winning 40% of the team’s victories (25) in 1921 while leading the AL in ERA. A smoker from age 8, Faber hated the chaw he used every time he pitched but he made the spitter dance so effectively he claimed he rarely had to use it. His skill at fooling batters was never more evident than when he shut down the Senators on 67 pitches in ‘15. No one has equaled his four WS decisions against NY in ’17, winning 3 including game 7.
- This thoroughly honorable man (dubbed by Babe Ruth “the nicest man in the world”) endured injuries and illness but survived to age 88
- Founded Baseball Anonymous to aid indigent players
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1964
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Charles Albert Comiskey (1859-1931) rose from decent first-baseman to become one of the foremost managers and owners of baseball’s early decades. “The Old Roman’s” leadership skills emerged with his first team, the newly-minted St. Louis Browns whom he piloted to four pennants. He would go on to compile an outstanding 840-541 record. His .608 winning percentage is third-highest behind Joe McCarthy and Jim Mutrie. “Commy” parlayed his ownership of the Western Association’s Dubuque Rabbits into a franchise in the American League which he helped found in 1901. He built the White Sox stadium in 1910 which would bear his name for the next 81 years and presided for the next decade over one of the most talented and troubled teams in history. While many dismiss the charge that it was Comiskey’s penurious ways that “drove” his 1919 squad to infamy, there is no doubt he was a cheapskate of the first order. He underpaid, over-promised and reneged with abandon, epitomizing the arrogance of the reserve-clause era.
- Charles is credited with revolutionizing play at first-base, innovating play off the bag
- Owned the Chicago White Sox from 1901-1931, winning two World Series
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
Edward Victor “Knuckles” Cicotte (1884-1969) won 208 games and a World Series with the White Sox in 1917. The Sporting News said in 1918 that “Perhaps no pitcher in the world has such a varied assortment of wares….” But it was Eddie’s first pitch of the 1919 Series that plunked Morrie Rath and signaled the fix was in. No one was ever convicted of the infamous Black Sox scandal but Cicotte, with seven teammates, never played ML ball after his tearful confession following the ’20 season.
- Cicotte, Shoeless Joe, and other banned Sox players went on to barnstorm under false names
- His mastery of the knuckleball led to a transformation of his career. His control improved to the point of walking only 89 in 572 innings in 1918/19 combined.
Ars Longa Store
Newsletter
