The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum honors and celebrates the players and stories of the greatest game ever established. Within the museum in tranquil Cooperstown you’ll find legends, historic moments, and occasionally surprisingly compelling narratives.
Many baseball fans know about Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Ken Griffey Jr. They know the story of the “Shot Heard Round the World,” the “Miracle Mets,” and the famous 10-inning pitching masterpiece by Jack Morris in Game Seven of the World Series.
But even the most educated baseball nerds may be unfamiliar with the depth of Cooperstown’s ranks. There are in excess of 300 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Not all of them can be household names.
Here are nine Hall of Fame infielders you may know little about. But you should. Every one of these ballplayers earned their plaque, and deserves to have their name among the greatest to ever play baseball. Every one of these players was a legend in his own time.
Frank Chance
Talk about pressure: the Cubs named Frank Chance to replace a future Hall of Fame manager when he was only 28 years old. Chance had been a catcher and he was comfortable taking charge on the diamond. In his first season as the team’s manager and first baseman, Chance led the team to 116 wins. In his seven full seasons in the dual role, from 1906 to 1912, the Cubs never won fewer than 91 games. The Hall of Famer is one of only two men to win two World Series titles as a player-manager.
Buck Leonard
In 1999, the Sporting News placed Leonard at #47 on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in history. Most historians rate Leonard as the best first baseman in negro leagues history, and while he was called “The Black Lou Gehrig,” he may not have been quite on that level. Still, Buck was an Eddie Murray-type, renowned as a clutch hitter. Great negro league pitcher Leon Day said that he preferred to face Josh Gibson than Leonard with the game on the line.
Leonard’s halcyon days were as a member of the Homestead Grays, a team that was started by a group of black steelworkers outside Pittsburgh. The manager was Cumberland Posey, who became a second father to Buck, teaching him how to play the game, and also showing the southerner how to navigate the city life and travel that went with being a pro ballplayer. Quickly, with Leonard as the cleanup hitter, the Grays came to dominate the Negro National League.
From 1937 through 1945, the Grays won nine consecutive pennants, a record unequaled in major league baseball. Connie Mack’s Athletics never did it, John McGraw and his Giants never did it, and the Yankees never won that many flags in a row either.
The Grays biggest weapons were the bats of their 3-4 hitters, Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard, who fans dubbed “The Thunder Twins.”
In addition to his three home run titles and one batting title, Buck led the NNL in RBI three times, in triples three times, in doubles twice, and in slugging three times. His dangerous left-handed bat was a perfect counter to the powerful right-handed threat posed by Gibson.
Billy Herman
Herman was an exceptional ballplayer with no glaring weaknesses, often overshadowed by colorful teammates. He was a ten-time All-Star and received MVP votes in seven separate seasons. At his peak he was a better player than Lou Whitaker and Willie Randolph. Herman was also a smidge better than contemporary Bobby Doerr, who is better remembered because of his friendship with the irascible Ted Williams.
Billy Herman was a tinkerer: he was constantly adjusting his batting stance, sometimes several times in a single game. He had bright turquoise eyes, and by late May every season his skin was deepened in color by a tan that made him irresistible to female fans.
MORE: 100 Greatest Second Basemen of All-Time
Joe Gordon
Joe Gordon earns the right to challenge Bill Mazeroski as the greatest defensive second baseman in the history of the game, according to the best statistical tools we have at our disposal.
If you prefer witness testimony:
“Gordon is a whole infield in himself. He is the greatest second baseman…the greatest of all the infielders today.” (Connie Mack in 1942)
“The best at turning the double play is Gordon of the Yanks, and he’s the most sure-handed at second base too.” (Lou Boudreau in 1945)
“Gordon was the best, and when he was with Rizzuto, they were the best pair I ever saw. Gordon was what I call a great second baseman, and fearless.” (Eddie Stanky)
“No one could get the ball like Joe Gordon, no one.” (Ted Williams)
“He’s the best second baseman in the game.” — (Boston rival, and fellow second sacker Bobby Doerr)
Gordon was a college gymnast, a nimble and flexible athlete dubbed “Flash.” He was a commanding presence on the diamond: after only a few years in the majors, Gordon was positioning players in the Yankee infield based on the batter and situation. He earned a sort of “quarterback of the infield” distinction. He was credited with helping young shortstop Phil Rizzuto acclimate to the league. Gordon was himself originally a shortstop and he never stopped thinking of himself as a far-ranging infielder.
Luis Aparicio
“Of all the shortstops I have seen in baseball, Aparicio is the best. There might have been teams on which you would have wanted more power at the position and then you might have gone for a Joe Cronin. But, for going and getting the ball, and for doing it over a long period of time, Aparicio is on my all-star team.” — Ted Williams
Aparicio was a regular in each of his 18 seasons in the major leagues. I can’t find anyone else who did that: who came in and started, was still a starter in his last season and every one in between. Despite being the size of a horse jockey and putting himself in harm’s way around the bag at second, Little Looey was a durable fella. He led the league in steals in each of his first nine seasons. He was a plus defender and a winner. For several seasons he teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Nellie Fox as a double play tandem for the Chicago White Sox.
Dave Bancroft
Bancroft played his final major league game in 1930, yet he still ranks among the 45 best shortstops in history. He was a fantastic fielder, with a plus arm. He was also durable and a team leader. Every team in the National League clamored for him practically every season.
A shrewd ballplayer, when Dave Bancroft was traded to the New York Giants (for a couple players and a bank-busting sum of $100,000 in the middle of the 1920 season), he reported to John McGraw’s clubhouse and was asked to meet with a coach to learn the team signs. “Did you change them?” Bancroft asked. “Because I already know what they are.”
Like Omar Vizquel, Bancroft was a switch-hitter known for his flashy glove and ability to make quick decisions in the field. Bancroft made so many heads-up plays that he earned the nickname “Beauty.” One of his favorite ploys was to wave his arms in the air when a relay throw was coming from the outfield, as if the ball was going to miss his glove, then he would catch it, pivot toward second or third, and throw out an advancing runner who thought he had an easy extra base. He frequently led National League shortstops in fielding statistics, and like Vizquel, his defensive reputation made Bancroft one of the more notable players in the game. He was a starting shortstop on four different NL clubs: the Phillies, Giants, Braves, and Dodgers. In the early 1920s he was McGraw’s captain and helped the Giants to three consecutive pennants and a pair of titles. Bancroft spent the maximum 15 years on the Hall of Fame ballot but didn’t earn election until 1971 by a veterans committee led by old teammate Frank Frisch, one year before his death.
Pie Traynor
Traynor was famous for spearing drives that were headed down the line, and with his back to first base, firing the ball across the diamond. There are so many newspaper accounts mentioning this play that we have to assume that it was rare to see a third baseman range that far to his right in those days. Bob Broeg, who covered both leagues in St. Louis for decades, insisted Traynor was the greatest gloveman he ever saw at the hot corner. Broeg was prone to exaggeration, but the man did witness Traynor play the position with his own eyes. Rogers Hornsby sang Pie’s praises, and Casey Stengel said: “Of the third basemen, Traynor went farther to his left and made more [plays] than anyone.” In 1969, when Major League Baseball selected a team of the greatest players to celebrate their centennial, Traynor was the third baseman. Three years later, when he was running for reelection, Richard Nixon named Traynor as the greatest third baseman in the history of the National League.
Ron Santo
Santo is a top ten third baseman all-time. Yet he was grossly underrated because he played nearly the entirety of his career in baseball’s second deadball era. His offensive rate stats are better than Chipper Jones. His fielding statistics are better than Graig Nettles and Buddy Bell. The only thing Santo failed to accomplish was to play in a World Series.
Santo did not live to see his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. A year after his death, the veterans committee elected him. It’s one of the most glaring examples of stupidity by the baseball writers. Santo was not only worthy, he was the best third baseman in baseball for close to a decade, bridging the gap between Eddie Mathews and Mike Schmidt.
Was Santo better than Brooks Robinson? He was at his peak, whether measured by three-year, five-year, or seven-year increments. Whereas Robinson derived 75% of his value from his defense, Santo was closer to a 50/50 player. His defense was excellent, but he could hit the ball out of the park too. Players like Robinson, who are clearly greater at one thing, are usually overrated a bit. While players blessed with many diverse skills tend to be underrated. Another example of this phenomenon would be the comparison between Ozzie Smith and Alan Trammell.
Judy Johnson
Judy Johnson was wafer-thin: only 145-150 pounds on his heaviest day, and 5’11. He had a good arm and was credited with charging the ball well on the grass from third base. He was never a power hitter, choosing to slap the ball into the ground away from the defense. Like Pie Traynor, Johnson was a high-average right-handed batter who played in Pittsburgh. In Judy’s case, for the famous Pittsburgh Crawfords at the same time Pie was in the uniform of the Pirates. For a few seasons the two played their home games in the same ballpark.
Most biographies, including one from the Hall of Fame, claim Buck O’Neil was the first black coach in the integrated major leagues. But that’s untrue. In 1954, eight years before O’Neil was hired by the Chicago Cubs, Johnson was briefly a coach for the Kansas City A’s. Judy was also employed by the Athletics as a scout. He tried unsuccessfully to convince the franchise to sign negro leagues stars Henry Aaron and Minnie Miñoso in the early 1950s. Later, as a scout with the Braves and Phillies, Johnson unearthed All-Stars Bill Bruton and Dick Allen.
Check back here at Baseball Egg for three more articles in this series in coming days.
