- Series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
- City: Washington, D.C.
- Team: Senators
- League: National League
Albert Wagner (1871-1928) followed his kid brother Johannes (Honus) into the big leagues in 1898. The Pittsburgh native got his professional start in Steubenville of the Interstate League in 1895 when he was already 23. He moved to the Warren, PA entry in the Iron and Oil League the same season and later played infield and some outfield for the Canton Deubers and Wheeling Nailers back in the Interstate League. Butts then moved up to the Eastern League's Toronto Canadians/Canucks for the 1896-97 campaigns before getting his shot in MLB with the NL's Senators. His best game came after Washington dealt him to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms later in the '98 season. Wagner hit his only home run, doubled and scored three times in a 9-5 win on July 4. Honus, two years Butts' junior, had begun with the same Steubenville squad in 1895 after Al urged the manager to give him a tryout. Both Wagner boys had been barbers. Honus and Butts parted company the same year when the shortstop-for-the-ages moved on to the Michigan State League and a call-up in '97 to the Louisville Colonels and a National League career in baseball's stratosphere. Al returned to Pittsburgh and his barber chair.
- Butts' “career” stats included a .226 average in 74 MLB games
- However modest Butts' numbers, he can be rightly regarded as an all-time great scout
- Series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
- City: New York
- Team: Giants
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Smiling Tim, Sir Timothy (1857-1933). A dominant pitcher for 5 teams over 14 seasons, Keefe’s 1st season was the last in which pitchers threw from 45′ & his last season was the 1st in which they threw from 60’6″. In an extraordinary career, Keefe won 20+ gms 7x; 30+ gms 6x; 40+ gms 2x; 200+ Ks 6x; 300+ Ks 2x; & posted lowest ERA in history: 0.86 in 1880.
- Won Triple Crown: 1888
- ERA Champ: ’80, ’85, ’88
- 342 career Wins
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1964
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Pittsburgh
- Team: Alleghenys
- League: National League
William J. Kuehne (1858-1921) came out of the German-American semi-pro clubs of Chicago to begin his career in truly professional baseball with the Columbus Buckeyes of the American Association in 1883. After a month of dreadful play at 2nd base, his manager replaced him. Having a hole at 3rd, he gave Willie one more try. Kuehne found a home at the hot corner. What followed was a ten-year career in MLB in which the otherwise light-hitting but solidly-built (and not known for speed) Kuehne played as though every day was “triple or nothing.” His lifetime .232 average belied a penchant for three-baggers. His record for “most triples in a season without hitting a home run” (19 in 1885) lasted until another Willie--Keeler--tied it in 1897. SABR’s David Nemec has documented several other odd “firsts” set by Kuehne: “lowest slugging average with at least 100 triples,” four straight seasons with more triples than doubles, and most triples (115) in history by a player with fewer than 4500 plate appearances. One in every nine hits went for three.
- Series: Beginnings: 1880's
- City: Indianapolis
- Team: Hoosiers (NL)
- League: National League
George Walter Burnham (1860-1902) was lured from the ranks of National League umpires to become the first manager of the new Indianapolis Hoosiers franchise when John Brush brought the beleaguered St Louis Maroons to a joyous community. “Watch” thus became a key figure in the sad saga of major league baseball in Indiana. The club lost every one of its arduous 22-game road trip and floundered all of the 1887 inaugural year. Burnham thought fining all the players might improve morale but captain Jack Glasscock mutinied. The Chicago Tribune reported the fear that “someday the men will decline to go on the field.” Days later Brush replaced Watch with another manager with no playing or managing experience and would try yet another neophyte, a sportswriter, before that dismal season mercifully ended with a 37-89 record. Burnham’s reputation preceded him to the Hoosiers and gave pause. The nickname was said to have derived from George’s failed attempt at self-promotion by presenting himself with an engraved watch during a Cleveland game in ‘83 that he was umpiring.
- Watch’s total experience officiating was 107 games scattered over five seasons between ‘83 and ‘95. He called Old Hoss Radbourn’s no-hitter on July 25, 1883
- The Hoosiers’ prospect finally seemed ready to improve in 1889 with the arrival of Amos Rusie. Sadly for the city, Brush parlayed his investment into a lucrative career with the Reds and Giants by dumping the woebegone Hoosiers after their third losing season
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Boston
- Team: Braves
- League: National League
George Tweedy Stallings (1867-1929) got two hits in his 20 major league at bats. He managed the Phillies to 74 wins and 104 defeats in his first two years as pilot of a big league team. He did a bit better with Detroit and NY when he joined the American League but would end his career as field general with a mediocre sub-.500 record. So why is this fellow known as the “Miracle Man?” He left the Highlanders for Boston in 1913 and brought signs of life to Beantown’s beleaguered Braves. They rose to a fifth place finish after bottoming out each of the previous four years. But, oh what joy 1914 would bring. That season started as dismally as usual for a Stallings-led squad. On July 15 the Braves trailed the Giants by 11 ½. Suddenly the stars aligned. Boston would end that regular season by gaining 22 games on NY. They rode their 10 ½ game lead into the Series with the Athletics and swept them in four. The team would forevermore be the “Miracle Braves” and George earned the nickname he carried the rest of his life.
- Bill James credits Stallings with being the first to deploy platooning as an offensive tool rather than a cover for weakness
- The Georgia native went on to reestablish baseball in Montreal and, with his partners, built the stadium where Jackie Robinson prepped for his historic debut in Brooklyn in ‘47
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