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Cy Young

Pitcher
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: Cleveland
  • Team: Naps
  • League: American League
  • Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Denton True Young (1867-1955) embodied excellence among ML pitchers. Baseball waited one year after his death to establish the award for annual greatness in his honor. Young’s 511 wins are still the hallmark. In 19 of his 21 seasons, he was in the top 10 in innings pitched. With Nap Lajoie, Young gave the upstart AL credibility when he jumped to the new circuit in 1901.

  • In his 30s & 40s, led Boston’s Red Sox to 192 victories
  • Pitched the 1st perfect game from 60’6”, beating Rube Waddell on May 5, 1904
  • Elected to Hall of Fame: 1937

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Orville Woodruff

Joe Wood

Pitcher
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: Boston
  • Team: Red Sox
  • League: American League

Howard Ellsworth “Smoky Joe” Wood (1889-1985) was honored at age 95 with a doctorate from Yale, the institution for whom he coached for 20 years following his ML career. In 1912 for the Red Sox, Wood joined an elite list of 30-game winners, going 34-5. In one of the most dramatic duels ever, Wood defeated Walter Johnson 1-0, himself fresh off a 16-game win streak, gaining his 14th straight and would go on to tie Johnson’s AL record string. Wood then climaxed his phenomenal year by leading the Sox over McGraw’s Giants in a Series for the ages at brand-new Fenway Park.

  • A broken thumb in ’13 left Wood impaired, but he went on to a fine OF role for the Indians
  • Said Walter Johnson: “No man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood.”

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Tommy Clarke

Doc White

Pitcher
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: Chicago
  • Team: White Sox
  • League: American League

Guy Harris White (1879-1969) lived a long life and, at the end of it, had the grace to congratulate the Dodger pitcher who finally exceeded his shut-out record that had stood for 68 years. Doc White began his adult life as a dental surgeon and ended it as an itinerant evangelist. He was a gifted musician and songwriter, a minor league owner, a prize-winning horticulturalist, a college coach and mentor to young athletes. And to the end, he bemoaned the lack of discipline among major league pitchers who couldn’t go a few innings without issuing a walk. And he knew something about that: for 13 seasons Doc pitched for the Phillies and White Sox (the “No-Hit Wonders”) winning 189 games with a 2.39 ERA and better control than most pitchers in history. He threw 24 1-0 games, winning 13. He dueled Walter Johnson, besting him in 11 innings and, 5 days later, grinding to a 1-1 tie after 17 more.

  • Helped the Sox to their first World Series championship in 1906 going 18-6
  • The following year he won 27, and was always at or near the top in walks per game

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Ed Killian

Ed Walsh

Pitcher
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: Chicago
  • Team: White Sox
  • League: American League
  • Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Edward Augustine Walsh (1881-1959) still holds the ML record for ERA with 1.82 lifetime and hurled himself into the Hall of Fame as one of the most dominant and durable pitchers of the early 20th century. He needed a year off in 1913 but felt the White Sox needed him more. He ruined his arm and effectively ended his career demanding more of that right arm than it could give after 195 wins and 1,736 SOs.

  • Reputed to have guided the owner’s architect into shaping the AL park to Walsh’s liking, making Comiskey Park a “pitcher’s park” for 80 years
  • Earned “workhorse” status with an average of 395 innings per season 1907-1912
  • Elected to Hall of Fame: 1946

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Ed Walsh

Bobby Wallace

Shortstop
  • Series: Pilgrims
  • City: St. Louis
  • Team: Browns (AL)
  • League: American League
  • Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Rhoderick John Wallace (1873-1960) had a Hall of Fame career as a premier shortstop for 24 years before going on to one of the longest tenures in MLB as coach, manager, scout & even a short stint as an umpire. Playing primarily in St. Louis for the Cardinals & Browns, Wallace set records, including a mournful one: longest career by a player to never make the World Series.

  • Too good a fielder to stay on the mound, became the premier defensive SS of his era
  • In 1911, Pirates’ owner declared Wallace the one player in the AL he desired above all others
  • Elected to Hall of Fame: 1953

Auction History

Cartophilia

T201 Mecca Canvas: Bobby Wallace