- 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: 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
John Frank Fournier (1889-1973) has been ranked by Bill James as the 35th-best first baseman of all-time. Yet, his inability to play the position competently left the managers of his five major league teams in a constant quandary. He got his ranking at the plate, not afield. Always a good hitter, as his career progressed, Jack put up numbers with the best of the era. His career BA was .313 in 15 ML seasons and he really soared when the Cardinals dealt him to Zack Wheat's Brooklyn Robins. From 1923-26 Fournier averaged .337 and slugged 82 homers. His performance with the bat only improved as he aged. A recent ranking of hitters in their Age 34 to 36 seasons shows Fournier among twenty of the best ever. In fact, only he and Gavvy Cravath failed to make the Hall after achieving what he did in his mid-thirties. And he was no slouch in his twenties. Jack began his professional endeavors with Seattle in the Northwestern League in 1908. The teenager knocked around the west coast until the White Sox came calling in 1912. In two years he was hitting .300 and rarely dipped below that threshold thereafter. Had his glove been as magnetic as his body, Jack may have played even more—he led the league in being hit-by-pitch three times.
- Fournier may well have been the most mis-matched player of his day. The stratagems of the Dead Ball era dictated many bunts, a particular weakness for the sturdy fielder. And one is left to imagine the hits he'd have had with a livelier ball
- Jack almost quit the game rather than report to the Robins. He relented and went on to the best years of his career, despite leading the NL in errors his first season in Brooklyn
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