- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Pittsburgh
- Team: Pirates
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Max George Carey (1890-1976) was “harder to stop than a run in a silk stocking” per Joe Williams. A superb center fielder with a fine lifetime BA of .285, it was on the base paths that he made his mark with the Pirates and Robins. Saving his best for (nearly) the last, Carey led Pittsburgh to the pennant with a .343 BA, and to the title with a .458 Series average in 1925.
- In 1922 was successful in steals 51 of 53 attempts and led the NL ten times
- Stole home 33 times, second only to Ty Cobb’s 50
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1961
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Thomas Downie
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Chicago
- Team: Cubs
- League: National 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
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Frank Chance
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: New York
- Team: Highlanders
- League: American League
Harold Homer Chase (1883-1947) may have been among the best first-basemen ever, but his “errors” place him as mediocre at best. His own words are his epitaph: “I am an outcast, and I haven’t a good name. I’m the loser, just like all gamblers are.” A star for the NY Highlanders for the first nine years of the franchise, admired by peers such as Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson, Chase even went on to out-poll dozens of later entrants into the Hall of Fame. Such was his prowess at first and plate. But his compulsion to wager, and the ease of access to illicit betting (the bookies were in the front row) consigned this great player to ignominy.
- Chase’s spiral from NY idol to deportee from Mexico evidenced his inability to stay straight in an era when the crooked path was wide and inviting
- Chase was banned from baseball for life by commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis in 1922 for his (unsubstantiated) role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal
- Despite the controversy that consumed his career, Chase received more HOF votes in 1936 than 18 future HOFers, and more votes in 1937 than 32 future HOFers, but he never appeared on the ballot again
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Hal Chase
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Boston
- Team: Red 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 in the back 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.
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Ed Cicotte
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Pittsburgh
- Team: Pirates
- League: National League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Fred Clifford Clarke (1872-1960) broke into MLB in a big way, going 5 for 5 in his 1st game (never bettered.) This Hall-of-Famer starred with the Pirates along with Honus Wagner and Vic Willis, winning 4 of the 9 titles held by the Pittsburgh franchise. Was player-mgr most of his career.
- Hit over .300 eleven times, his .390 in ’97 was bested only by Wee Willie Keeler
- Honored at Cooperstown as the “first of the successful ‘boy managers’” at age 24
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1945
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Fred Clarke
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Detroit
- Team: Tigers
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (1886-1961) swept over the baseball landscape like a tidal wave. He lived by a fierce code that drove him to greatness and others to distraction. At the end, his own words could be his epitaph: “But I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch.”
- Cobb never won a World Series and performed with mediocrity in his only three tries
- No one of his era came close to the impact, for good or ill, made by this snarling Tiger
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1936
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Ty Cobb
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Chicago
- Team: Cubs
- League: National League
Leonard Leslie Cole (1886-1916) went 20-4 with the 1910 Cubs in his second season, still the best winning % in 20th C. franchise history and led them to a pennant. After another great year in ’11 was traded to Pirates. Ill health plagued him and he missed the ’13 season, and died of TB after a very short 1915 season.
- Pitching for the Yankees in 1914, surrendered Babe Ruth’s first ML hit, a double
- Said to have been Ring Lardner’s model for “Alibi Ike,” beloved in short story and film
- Maintained a fine 3.12 ERA over his brief six-year career
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T201 Mecca Canvas: King Cole
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (AL)
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (1887-1951) was sold by Connie Mack to the White Sox in 1915 for the amazing sum of $50,000. His salary put him behind only Cobb and Speaker. He left the “$100,000 infield” of the Athletics for what would become the most notorious team in MLB history. He never believed the rumored “fix” for the Sox in 1919 and survived the scandal to lead the team in its aftermath.
- Only man to play for 2 teams for at least 12 yrs each
- Spent 15 yrs as GM for the Red Sox under his friend Tom Yawkey
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Eddie Collins
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Providence
- Team: Grays (NL)
- League: Eastern League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
James Joseph Collins (1870-1943) was the best in the NL at 3B when he jumped to the new AL in 1901. Collins led the Boston Americans to the 1st World Series championship in ’03, downing Pittsburgh in best-of-nine. Thanks to John McGraw’s stubborn refusal to play the next year’s AL winner, Boston was denied another opportunity despite its 1st place finish.
- The dust-up between leagues resulted in rules beginning in 1905 making the Series the permanent premier event in Major League Baseball
- Upon his induction into the HOF Collins became the first regular third-baseman so honored
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1945
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Ernest (Johnny) Lush
- Series: Pilgrims
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Thomas Henry Connolly (1870-1961) was a young English immigrant who became so fascinated by the strange game of baseball that he resolved to learn as much as he could about it. He devoured the rule book, began umpiring in Massachusetts and was discovered by a big league ump. So began a half-century career ending with election to the Hall of Fame as one of the first two officials so honored (with Bill Klem).
- Found his niche in the American League, officiating its first game on April 24, 1901
- From 1931 to 1954 was AL supervisor of umpires, assuring integrity and consistency in the game he knew as well as any man
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1953
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Jerry Downs
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (AL)
- League: American League
John Wesley Coombs (1882-1957) pitched for the Athletics, Robins and Tigers over 13 years, but it was his magical 1910 season that made a permanent mark on MLB. 31-9, 1.30 ERA, 353 innings, 35 CG, and the still standing record of 13 shutouts. A year for the ages!
- In one 16-day stretch in 1910 he pitched 10 complete games and relieved in 2 more
- Went on to a successful college coaching career till forced to retire from Duke at age 70
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Jack Coombs
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Lancaster
- Team: Red Roses
- League: Tri-State League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Stanley Anthony Coveleski (1889-1984) was one of 17 pitchers grandfathered into the spitball fraternity when the pitch was otherwise outlawed in 1920. His skill with the loaded ball, making it dance “like a butterfly” enabled this veteran to win 20+ games five times and earn a berth in Cooperstown. Signed by Connie Mack at the end of the 1912 season, Coveleski threw a shutout in his first ML appearance. Still, Mack thought he needed development and sent him back to the minors. Came into his own with Cleveland from 1916-24, winning 3 complete games in the 1920 Series.
- Once pitched 7 innings without throwing a ball. Had 224 complete games.
- On May 24, 1918 hurled a 19-inning complete game victory over the Yankees
- Feigned the spitter on every pitch but claimed he used it only every two or three innings
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1969
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Arnold Hauser
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Phillies
- League: National League
Clifford Carlton Cravath (1881-1963) was the “home-run king of baseball” before being deposed by the Babe. His nickname derived from the seagull (gaviota in Spanish) he supposedly killed in flight during a PCL game for the Angels. Cravath labored in the obscurity of West Coast ball for 5 years before getting the call to Boston in 1908. His lack of speed offset his batting strength and he was sold to the White Sox that season and bounced back into the minors until he caught on at age 31 with the Phillies becoming the leading power hitter of the Deadball Era. Led the Phils to their first pennant in 1915 and led the NL in HRs six times.
- Ruth broke Cravath’s career HR record in 1921
- In the ’15 Series, his manager inexplicably gave him the bunt sign with the bases loaded and no outs, leading to a double-play grounder to the pitcher
- Said to have caused a rule change by intercepting the ball in a rundown, hurling it into the stands, and scoring. Baseball decided to stop allowing that
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T201 Mecca Canvas: George Graham
- Series: Pilgrims
- City: Detroit
- Team: Tigers
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Samuel Earl Crawford (1880-1968) needed a couple more weeks among his 19 ML seasons to reach 3000 hits, finishing with 2961 and the all-time record for triples. “Wahoo Sam” teamed with Ty Cobb for 3 straight Series appearances ‘07-09. Neither did well or won a title. Nevertheless, the renowned manager who made Babe Ruth an outfielder said there was never a better hitter than Crawford. This Nebraska farm kid was considered the strongest hitter of his day and consistently ranked in the top 10 in slugging.
- Playing in the big Deadball Era parks, speedy Crawford set the record for inside-the-park HRs
- Debuting with Cincinnati in 1899, Crawford hit .307 as the youngest player in the majors
- A model of moderation, he rarely struck out, walked or reacted to teammate Cobb’s tirades
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1957
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T201 Mecca Canvas: Sam Crawford
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