- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Cleveland
- Team: Naps
- League: American League
Raymond Johnson Chapman (1891-1920) is the only big leaguer to be killed by a baseball. He was beaned on a late Cleveland afternoon, probably blinded by the setting sun and the earth-colored ball so carefully doctored by the pitchers of that era. Indeed, MLB responded to Chapman’s tragic death with rules against spitters and all manner of doctored balls. Chapman had played only for Cleveland, anchoring the infield at short and setting some team and league records that still stand. And he was truly loved, a cheerful bundle of energy befriended by the greats of his day (Al Jolson, Will Rogers) and by the nearly friendless Ty Cobb. The newlywed Chapman had wanted to retire before the 1920 season but stayed on out of loyalty to new manager Tris Speaker, his best man.
- Averaging a solid .278 for his nine year career, Chapman was hitting .304 at his death
- Led the AL in walks and runs (84 each) in the war-shortened ’18 season
- Still ranks sixth all-time in sacrifices
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: New York
- Team: Yankees
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Frank Leroy Chance (1876-1924) was a tenacious and fiercely competitive MLB player-manager for the Cubs and Yankees and manager of the Red Sox. John L. Sullivan called him the “greatest amateur brawler of all time.” Chance brought that pugilistic spirit to the diamond, giving unruly fans and players as good as he got.
- Joined the fraternity of the immortals in Cooperstown with the teammates with whom he is forever linked: Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker
- Cubs’ owner gave Chance a 10% stake in the club as reward for stealing home from 2nd in a tied game
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1946
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (AL)
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Charles Albert Bender (1884-1954) won 212 games en route to a Hall of Fame career. He began life amid the abject poverty of a Minnesota reservation, was mentored by Pop Warner at the Carlisle Indian School and hit the majors with a bang for the Athletics in 1903. “Albert” as Connie Mack called him, beat future Hall members Cy Young and Clark Griffith compiling 17 wins in his rookie season. He led the league 3x in win percentage but was at his best under pressure. In 5 World Series, Bender won 6 games with a 2.44 ERA and completed 9 of his 10 starts.
- Connie Mack said that of all his players he would most trust Bender to win in the clutch
- Admired for his brilliance, Ty Cobb dubbed him the most intelligent pitcher he ever faced
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1953
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (AL)
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
John Franklin Baker (1886-1963) was released by his minor league mgr who declared he “could not hit.” Connie Mack needed a 3rd baseman and gave Baker a try at the end of the 1908 season. Baker played 13 years exclusively at 3rd. He wielded his 52-oz bat like no other in the dead ball era.
- Led the AL in HRs 4 straight years for the Athletics
- Helped Connie Mack’s team to 3 Series victories, closed his career with Babe Ruth’s Yankees
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1955
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Senators
- League: American League
- Hall: Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame
Baldomero Pedro Acosta Fernandez (1896-1963) began playing winter ball in his native Cuba in 1913 and debuted the same year with the Washington Senators as one of the first of his countrymen to play in MLB. As a sixteen-year-old that spring, The Sporting Life had heralded the young Cuban as “a second Ty Cobb.” That lofty promise went unfilled in American ball, as Merito played part time in the outfield, only making 200+ plate appearances twice with Washington. He finished his major league career in 1918 with the Philadelphia Athletics where he logged his best year at bat, hitting .302. Acosta was part of two remarkable feats in his career: in 1915 he and Chick Gandil walked, were sacrificed along and Gandil scored on a sac fly to record a rare run without an official at-bat in the inning. In 1919 with Havana, the fleet-footed center fielder accomplished an unassisted triple-play, racing to second after the catch to tag the bag and the runner coming from first. Acosta found a new home with the Louisville Colonels of the minor league American Association from 1919-28.
- In 1922/23 Acosta was named manager of a new Cuban franchise in Marianao and led them to the championship
- Elected to Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame: 1955
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