No Number Greats: The Stars of the Game Before Numbers.

                                         Badger came up with this idea for a post, and I think it is a very good one. Numbers did not really become widely used in the majors until 1937, so a lot of really great ballplayers never wore a numbered uniform. In 1929, the Yankees and Indians had decided they would start using numbers. The Yankees were rained out on opening day, so the Indians were the first team to wear numbers in a game. 

                                        Prior to that, players were identified on the score cards at the positions they played. In 1906, the Cubs would put the players numbers on the scorecard, so in order to know which number a player was, a fan would need a scorecard. Teams adopted this and would frequently change a players number making the prior scorecard worthless. 

                                      So let us look at some of the greatest in the game who never had a number on their sleeve or their backs. The list is long, and I am using the list from Baseball References highest career WAR list.

                                      1. Walter Johnson: The Big Train. Career WAR 167.8, second only to Babe Ruth. 417 wins, 279 losses. A career ERA of 2.12. MLB career high of 110 shutouts. 21-year career, all of it spent with the Washington Senators. Johnson pitched in 2 World Series, 24-25. They won in 24 beating the New York Giants and lost in 25 to the Pirates. Johnson was 3-3 in postseason play. He struck out 3,509 batters and was the MVP in 1913 and 24. 531 complete games. He started 666. Johnson won 30 or more games twice. Considering who Johnson pitched for, his record is amazing. The Senators were the bottom of the barrel in the AL for most of his career. Member of the first Hall of Fame class.  

                                      2. Cy Young: The Cyclone. Career WAR 163.6. Young spent 22 years in the majors. He still holds most of the career pitching records in the major leagues. Young began his career in 1890 as a member of the Cleveland Spiders. He spent 9 years with the Spiders, then went to St. Louis in the National League. After two years there, he went to Boston and spent 8 years with the Sox. In 1909 he went back to Cleveland, who were then called the Naps. In 1911 he was released and signed with the Boston Beaneaters. He was 4-5 in 11 games with Boston. 1910 and 11 were the only years in his MLB career that he had a losing record. His career records that will most likely never be passed: Most wins, 511, losses, 315, games started, 815, complete games, 749, innings pitched, 7,356, hits, 7,092, earned runs, 2,147, and batters faced, 29,565. He was also a member of the first Hall of Fame class. He won 1 MVP award. 

                                     3. Ty Cobb: The Georgia Peach. Career WAR 151.4. Cobb played 24 years in the majors, starting his career with the Tigers in 1905. It would be the only time in his 24-year career that he hit under .300. In 41 games he hit just .238. Surely not a omen of things to come. Cobb held the career record for hits, 4,189 until Pete Rose passed him in 1984. The only batting record he still holds, and one that most likely will never be broken, is career BA at .366. Cobb stole 897 bases and held the single season mark of 96 until Maury Wills stole 104 in 1962. Cobb was disliked by most players. He invested wisely and was one of the richest players in the league. He was also elected to the Hall with the first class.

                                    4. Tris Speaker: The Grey Eagle. Career WAR 134.9. Speaker spent his entire 22-year career in the American League. His first 9 years were with the Red Sox, then he spent the next 11 with the Indians. He was on three series championship teams, 1912 and 15 with the Sox, and 1920 with the Indians. He won an MVP award in 1912 with the Red Sox. He was considered in his time as the best centerfielder in the game. .345 career BA with 3,514 hits. His career OPS .928. Another member of the first class inducted to the Hall in 1939. 

                                    5. Honus Wagner: The Flying Dutchman. Career WAR 131. Wagner was 5’11” 200 Lbs. He played SS and was one of the best in his era. His career started in 1897 as a member of the Louisville Coronels. In December of 1899, he was traded with 12 other players to the Pirates for Jack Chesbro, George Fox, Art Madison, John O’Brien and 25,000 dollars. I think the Pirates won that trade. The Coronels were done as a franchise after 1899.  What happened was the owner of the Coronels bought a controlling interest in the Pirates. He took 14 of his Colonels players with him to Pittsburgh, including Jack Chesbro. Wagner would win 8 batting titles with the Pirates. His career BA is .326. He played in 2 World Series winning one. His Pirates beat Cobbs Tigers in 1909. Elected to the Hall in the first class in 1936. 

                                    5. Rogers Hornsby: Rajah. Career WAR 127.1 Hornsby has the highest career BA in the National League, .358.5. He is third all-time behind Cobb and Negro League star, Oscar Charleton. Hornsby played 2nd, 3rd and SS with the bulk of his time coming at second base. His career OBP is .434. He won 7 batting titles, 2 MVP awards and hit over .400 three times. His career best was .424 in 1924. In over 8000 at bats, he struck out just 679 times. Elected to the Hall in 1942. He was a player-manager in 1926 when the Cardinals defeated Babe Ruth’s Yankees. He managed in the majors for 14 years with 12 of those being a player-manager. He also managed the Cubs team that went to the World Series in 1932. But he was replaced by Charlie Grimm after 99 games.

                                   6. Eddie Collins: Cocky. Career WAR 124.3. Collins was a second baseman who started his MLB career with the Philadelphia A’s in 1906. He did not become a full-time player until 1908. But once he established himself, he was a starter for the rest of his career. Collins, like so many of the players of that era had little home run power. But he got on base and scored a lot of runs. In 1915, he was sold to the White Sox for 50,000 dollars. He was a member of the 1919 Black Sox team. He was pretty much disliked by his Sox teammates since he was a college educated player. Something unusual in that ere. He played until 1930, finishing his career with the A’s. He had a career .333 average and 3,315 career hits. Elected to the Hall in 1939.

                                  7. Grover Cleveland Alexander: Old Pete. Career WAR 119.7 As a kid I watched a movie with Ronald Reagan called The Winning Team. It was a fictionalized version of the life of Alexander. Here though are some facts. Cleveland joined the Phillies in 1911 at the age of 24. Over the next seven seasons he won 190 games. His ERA over that time was 2.18. He was traded after the 1917 season to the Cubs with Bill Killefer for Pickles Dillhoefer, Mike Pendergast and 55,000 dollars. Alexander pitched 3 games for the Cubs in 1918 and was drafted into the Army when the US entered WWI. He was sent to France and was a member of the 349th Field Artillery Regiment of the 89th Division. He was exposed to mustard gas, and also had a shell explode near him. This caused a partial hearing loss and also triggered the onset of epilepsy. 

                                   He returned to the US in April of 1919 and suffered from shell shock and was plagued with epileptic seizures which were often mistaken as a sign of drunkeness; this only increased his drinking problem. Despite all of this, Alexander had several good seasons and won the pitching triple crown in 1920. In 1926, tired of all the problems, the Cubs sold him to the Cardinals for the waiver price. One of his finest hours came in game 7 of the World Series.  After winning game six, Alexander went out and got drunk. He was in the bullpen, not expecting to pitch when Hornsby summoned him in the 7th inning after Jesse Haines developed a blister. 

                                   With the bases loaded and two outs, Cardinals up, 3-2, he faced Yankee slugger, Tony Lazzeri. Lazzeri hit a long drive foul down the left field line, and then Alexander struck him out. He held the Yankees scoreless for the next two innings and the Cardinals won the series. He stayed with the Cardinals until 1929. He won 21 games in 1927. He finished his career with 373 wins, a 2.56 ERA. He was elected to the Hall in 1938 and inducted with the first class in 1939. Just think how many wins he might have piled up had he not been drafted.

                                8. Charles Nichols: Kid. Career WAR 116.3. Nichols was a right-handed pitcher who started his career in 1890 with the National League’s Boston franchise. He pitched for 15 years winning 362 and losing 208. He won 30 or more games 7 times. He lead the league in wins three straight years, 1896-98. He is also remembered as the manager of the 1919 Black Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1949 by the Veterans committee. 

                                9. Napoleon Lajoie: Nap. Career WAR 106.9. Lajoie played second and first. He started his career with the Phillies in 1896. He would win five batting titles, 3 of them as a member of the Indians whom he played for 13 of his 21 big league seasons. He batted .426 in 1901 for the Phillies leading the NL in almost every major batting stat except triples. He never appeared in any postseason games, but his career BA was .338. He was elected to the Hall with the first class in 1937 and inducted in 1939.  

                               10. Christy Mathewson: Big Six. Career WAR 106.7. Mathewson was a right-handed starting pitcher who spent 16 years in the majors, most of it with the Giants. He joined the Giants in 1900. In his first full season, 1921, he won 20 games. He would win 373 in his career, exactly the same number as Alexander. He led the NL in wins 4 times and won 30 or more three straight years, 03-05. He won a career high 37 in 1908. He pitched in 4 World Series, winning 3 games in 1905, and finishing with a 5-5 Series record despite a o.97 ERA. His career ERA was 2.12. Mathewson effectively retired after the 1916 season and became the manager of the Reds. He served in WWI in a chemical warfare unit. After his return he contracted tuberculosis. Some blamed his service in WWI for this. Mathewson died from TB in 1925 at the age of 45. He was elected to the Hall with the first class in 1936. Matty is the last of the dead ball era players with a career WAR above 100.

                              11. Adrian Anson: Cap. Career WAR 94.3. Anson played in the majors for 27 years from 1871 to 1897. He batted .334 for his career and had 3,435 hits. He was considered the greatest player of his era. He led the Chicago franchise to six pennants in the 1880’s. He played first base and later managed. He won four batting titles. Considering the times in which he lived, it is of little surprise that Anson was totally for keeping players of color out of the game. He voiced his opinion the baseball should stay segregated loudly. As the biggest star in the game, his influence was large. Even though that decision was made by the owners, Anson had a ton of influence. Cap was elected to the Hall in 1939 by the Old Timers committee. 

                           Since no other dead-ball or players without a number has a WAR of above 90, I will do my next post on the greatest players in the Negro Leagues.