Bill Dahlen: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Bill Dahlen is one of ten candidates eligible for the Pre-Integration Era Hall of Fame vote that will take place during December's Winter Meetings in Nashville.  The Pre-Integration Era Committee votes on candidates who made their biggest contributions to the game between 1871 and 1946.  The Committee is a 16-member panel made up of retired Hall of Famers, major league executives, and veteran media members.  Each member of the panel can vote for up to four of the ten candidates.  A candidate must carry 75% of the vote to be elected.

Bill Dahlen (1870-1950) 2,444G 2,461H 1,590R 84HR 1,234RBI .272BA .358OBP

Career (’91-’11) 70.9WAR 39.4WAA 110OPS+ 139Rfield

Dahlen '09 White Borders Sovereign

Bill Dahlen made his major league debut in 1891 for the Chicago Colts, helmed by player/manager Cap Anson.  Initially Anson split Dahlen between third base, shortstop, and left field.  Dahlen immediately made an impact and finished among the '91 league leaders in several categories including home runs, triples, and runs scored.  Dahlen backed up his impressive rookie season with an excellent sophomore campaign, finishing with a 5.9 WAR, good enough for 5th highest among position players.  In 1894, Dahlen set a major league record when he hit safely in 42 consecutive games.  After his hitting streak ended, Dahlen immediately started another hitting streak which lasted 28 games, giving him hits in an incredible stretch of 70 of 71 games.  However, Dahlen's impressive hitting streak is largely forgotten since "Wee" Willie Keeler would eclipse Dahlen's record three years later.

Dahlen had what was probably his best season in 1896, finishing in the top-5 in several offensive categories including runs scored, doubles, triples, home runs, and Position Player WAR.  In addition to his exploits with the bat, Dahlen, who had been moved permanently to short, was also making his mark with his glove and began putting up double-digit seasons in WAR fielding runs.  Dahlen's impressive '96 campaign also marked the sixth season in a row that the shortstop scored over 100 times.  However, despite Dahlen's superb work with both the bat and glove, Chicago was unable to contend for the NL Pennant and Dahlen was, at times, criticized for both his volatility toward umpires--which led to several poorly timed ejections--as well as his commitment to the team--as others felt his interests in gambling on horse racing diverted too much of his attention away from baseball.  Yet, in spite of Dahlen's troubles in Chicago, perennial Pennant contender Baltimore was very interested in the hot-tempered shortstop's services and prior to the 1899 season, Dahlen was traded to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles had been the 1890's most dominant franchise, winning three straight NL championships from 1894 to 1896, followed by two runner-up finishes in 1897 and 1898.  However, Orioles owner Henry Von der Horst was not satisfied with dwindling attendance in Baltimore, so he bought into the Brooklyn Superbas franchise.  Before the '99 season began he transferred his best players, including Dahlen, from Baltimore to Brooklyn.  Also reassigned from Baltimore to Brooklyn were future Hall of Famers Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, and Joe Kelley.  Von der Horst's strategy worked and the Superbas took the '99 NL championship with a 101-win season.  Dahlen performed well in his first season with Brooklyn, finishing among the team's top position players with a 4.4 WAR, despite missing 27 games.  The following season proved less impressive for both Dahlen and his Superbas teammates, nevertheless, Brooklyn won their second straight NL crown.  Dahlen played for the Superbas for three more years and while his offensive numbers were never quite as strong as they were with Chicago, he was able to finish in the top-10 in NL Position Player WAR in both '02 and '03, due in large part to his increasingly strong work at short.  Dahlen helped Brooklyn stay competitive but the team failed to follow up its back-to-back NL titles and after the '03 season, Dahlen was traded across town to the New York Giants.

The '04 Giants were in their second year under fiery manager John McGraw and coming off a 2nd place finish.  The addition of Dahlen helped push the team to the next level and the Giants dominated the NL, winning 106 games and easily taking the division title.  Dahlen himself had an impressive season, finishing 3rd in NL Position Player WAR, 2nd in stolen bases, and leading the NL with 80 RBI.  Due to bad blood between McGraw and American League president Ban Johnson, the Giants chose not to play in the World Series against the AL champion Boston Americans.  New York and Dahlen followed up their excellent '04 season with an equally impressive '05 campaign.  Dahlen finished 6th in NL Position Player WAR while the Giants grabbed their second straight NL title with a 105-win season, faced the AL champion Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series and dominated Connie Mack's White Elephants, winning the best-of-seven Series in just five games.  Two years later, after a poor '07 season, Dahlen was shipped to the lowly Boston Doves.  Despite being the third oldest player in the NL, the 38-year old Dahlen rebounded with a fine season, matching a 1905 career high with 18 WAR fielding runs and finishing 6th in NL Position Player WAR.  The following season, old age finally seemed to get to the better of Dahlen, who played just 69 games for the Doves in what would be his final season as a full-time player as he opted to return to Brooklyn for 1910 as the club's manager.

Dahlen took the helm as manager for a franchise that had fallen on hard times since their 1899 and 1900 Championship days.  In fact, Brooklyn hadn't had a winning season since 1903 and had become accustomed to finishing in the bottom half of the eight-team NL.  Unfortunately, in Dahlen's four years as manager he was unable to change the franchise's fortunes as the team finished either 6th or 7th each year with sub-.500 winning percentages of between .379 and .436.  After the 1913 season, Dahlen was replaced by Wilbert Robinson.  Robinson restored the club to its winning ways, led them to Pennants in 1916 and 1920, was so popular that the club was briefly nicknamed the Robins in honor of him, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945.  Conversely, the most notable thing about Dahlen's managerial career was the large number of ejections, which only seems to reinforce the negative stories about his foul disposition as a player.  Dahlen's unsuccessful four year stint as manager of Brooklyn was his only foray into management at the major league level.

Since 1937, the Veterans Committee and its predecessors, the Centennial and Old Timers Committee have elected over 100 players to the Hall of Fame, yet have never chosen to honor Dahlen.  While he was a very talented player, his volatile on the field temperament and off the field gambling habits may have caused many voters to pass on his candidacy based on character.  Dahlen last appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot in December 2008 when the Veterans Committee voted on players who started their careers prior to 1943.  Despite his strong career, Dahlen was a non-factor on the ballot, picking up less than 25% of the vote.  However, since that election, several sabermetric statistics have come to the forefront as popular ways to evaluate Hall of Fame candidacies.  No statistic does a better job of backing up Dahlen's candidacy than his 70.9 career WAR.  Based on his impressive career WAR, Dahlen should have been elected to the Hall of Fame a long time ago as the mercurial shortstop has a higher career WAR than many Hall of Famers who were voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA on their first ballot including Reggie Jackson, Tony Gwynn, Eddie Murray, Ernie Banks, and Willie McCovey.  Moreover, Dahlen has more than double the career WAR of several Hall of Famers voted into the Hall by the Veterans Committee including George Kell, Pie Traynor, Jim Bottomley, Bill Mazeroski, and Ray Schalk.

Bill Dahlen's lengthy career started in the high scoring 1890's and stretched well into the pitcher dominated 1900's, a time that is often referred to as the "Deadball Era."  Honus Wagner, Hughie Jennings, Bobby Wallace, and George Davis, each contemporaries of Dahlen's at short, have all been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.  Aside from the dominant Wagner--who was one of the five original Hall of Famers elected by the BBWAA--Dahlen matches up very well in both sabermetric as well as traditional statistics when measured against his peers:

	From	To	WAR	dWAR	WAA	Rfield	OPS+
Dahlen	1891	1911	70.9	28.5	39.4	139	110
Davis	1890	1909	79.8	24.1	47.9	146	121
Jennings	1891	1918	39.7	9.0	23.2	60	118
Wallace	1894	1918	71.6	28.7	37.7	133	105
Wagner	1897	1917	126.1	21.3	91.6	85	151
	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SB	BB
Dahlen	2444	10405	1590	2461	413	163	84	1234	0.272	0.358	548	1064
Davis	2372	10178	1545	2665	453	163	73	1440	0.295	0.362	619	874
Jennings	1284	5648	992	1526	232	88	18	840	0.312	0.391	359	347
Wallace	2383	9612	1057	2309	391	143	34	1121	0.268	0.332	201	774
Wagner	2794	11748	1739	3420	643	252	101	1733	0.328	0.391	723	963

And, when you compare his stats to the average Hall of Fame shortstop, Dahlen is on par in traditional stats and stands tall in sabermetric stats:

	WAR	dWAR	WAA	Rfield	OPS+	G	R	H	HR	RBI	BA	OBP
Dahlen	70.9	28.5	39.4	139	110	2444	1590	2461	84	1234	0.272	0.358
HOF SS	62.8	22.5	36.1	97	109	2191	1219	2335	102	1036	0.288	0.359

An impressive blend of power, speed, technique, and durability, at the time of his retirement, Dahlen was 13th all-time with 84 home runs, 10th with 548 stolen bases, 1st with 4,856 putouts at short, and 2nd with 2,444 games played.  Strong with the glove and more than adequate with the bat, Dahlen retired with 139 WAR fielding runs and a 110 OPS+, both excellent totals for a shortstop.

Commenting on controversial slugger Dick Allen's Hall of Fame candidacy, Bill James wrote "As time passes, the evaluation of a player comes to rest more and more on his statistics....everything else tends to be forgotten...and eventually the statistics become the central part of the player's image."  While James' quote may have referred to Allen, it just as easily could be applied to Dahlen.  It is likely Dahlen's controversial personality colored many a Hall of Fame voter's opinion of him.  However, with WAR and other sabermetric statistics becoming more and more mainstream, the Pre-Integration Era Committee is likely to reexamine Dahlen's career from not just a character driven and traditional statistical standpoint but also from a sabermetric one as well.

----by John Tuberty

Sources:  Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, SABR, Lyle Spatz- Bad Bill Dahlen:  The Rollicking Life and Times of an Early Baseball Star (Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub), Bill James- Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame (Simon and Schuster)

Related articles:  

Wes Ferrell: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate
Deacon White: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Bucky Walters: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Deacon White: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

James "Deacon" White is one of ten candidates eligible for the Pre-Integration Era Hall of Fame vote that will take place during December's Winter Meetings in Nashville.  The Pre-Integration Era Committee votes on candidates who made their biggest contributions to the game between 1871 and 1946.  The Committee is a 16-member panel made up of retired Hall of Famers, major league executives, and veteran media members.  Each member of the panel can vote for up to four of the ten candidates.  A candidate must carry 75% of the vote to be elected.

Deacon White (1847-1939) 1,560G 2,067H 1,140R 24HR 988RBI .312BA .346OBP

Deacon White 1888

Career (’71-’90) 44.0WAR 21.4WAA 127OPS+ -19Rfield

Born in the small town of Caton, New York, James White was a star player during the early days of professional baseball, starring in both the National League as well as its predecessor, the National Association.  Nicknamed "Deacon" because he carried around a Bible and attended church regularly, White was known for his strong integrity and mild disposition.  Playing at a time when many players shortened their careers and their lives with alcohol and tobacco, White stayed away from such vices and was, at 42, the oldest active player at the time of his retirement as well as, at 91, the oldest living player at the time of his passing.

White started his career in 1868 as a catcher with the Cleveland Forest Citys.  Three years later Cleveland joined the National Association and White had the honor of getting the first hit in NA history when he laced a double off Bobby Mathews in the first inning of the inaugural game.  When the Cleveland club folded after the 1872 season, White was invited to join the defending NA champion Boston Red Stockings managed by Harry Wright.  Despite playing the grinding position of catcher, White proved he was of the caliber of established Red Stocking star players such as Ross Barnes, George Wright, and Al Spalding, leading the NA with 77 RBI and finishing third in the NA with a .392 batting average in his first season with the team.  In addition, White led the NA in both games caught as well as games played.  With White at catcher, the Red Stockings followed up their '72 NA championship with three more consecutive NA titles from '73 to '75.

In 1875 White became the first catcher to win a batting title, leading the NA with a .367 average.  In the 140-plus years of professional baseball only three other backstops--Bubbles Hargrave, Ernie Lombardi, and Joe Mauer--have won batting titles.  Looking at the chart below, White's '75 season compares very favorably to the seasons of other catchers who have won the hitting crown as White had the highest batting average, OPS+, and WAR per plate appearance.  Moreover, White caught the highest percentage of his team's games and was the only one to lead the league in games caught:

White's 1875 compared to seasons of other catchers who led their league in batting average
	Year	G/Team G %	GC/Rank	BA	OPS+	WAR	WAR Pos	PA	WAR/PA
White	1875	80/82 98%	75~1st	0.367	178	4.9	3rd	374	0.0131
Hargrave	1926	105/157 67%	93~4th	0.353	152	3.9	9th	366	0.0107
Lombardi	1938	129/151 85%	123~2nd	0.342	152	5.3	5th	529	0.0100
Lombardi	1942	105/150 70%	85~7th	0.330	162	3.8	13th	347	0.0110
Mauer	2006	140/162 86%	120~8th	0.347	144	5.6	4th	608	0.0092
Mauer	2008	146/163 90%	139~3rd	0.328	134	5.3	7th	633	0.0084
Mauer	2009	138/163 85%	109~6th	0.365	171	7.6	2nd	606	0.0125
G/Team G%=Games Played In/Games Played By Team, GC/Rank=Number of Games Caught and Ranking in the league
WAR Pos=rank in Position Player WAR, WAR/PA=WAR per Plate Appearance

What makes White's batting title even more impressive was that unlike Hargrave, Lombardi, and Mauer, he won the hitting crown while catching without a mask, shin guards, chest protector, or catcher's mitt.  And, while it is true that during White's '75 season pitchers threw underhand (overhand pitching was not allowed until 1884), the position of catcher was undoubtedly the sport's most demanding and notable for the injuries caused by trying to catch pitches barehanded.  In fact, White's hands were described as "gnarled and his fingers crooked and distorted, widening at the tips."  Yet, despite the injuries and wear and tear caused by years of catching, White was able to lead the league in batting average in 1875 and remain a productive hitter throughout his career.

Prior to the reserve clause, which went into effect after the 1879 season, player movement from one franchise to another was quite common.  After helping Boston win their fourth straight NA championship, White along with Red Stocking teammates Barnes, Spalding, and Cal McVey signed with the Chicago White Stockings for the 1876 season--a move which helped lead to the dissolution of the National Association and the formation of the National League.  Not surprisingly, Chicago won the first NL championship with the Caton native leading the league in RBI.  The '76 season also marked the fifth time in six years that White led his respective league in games caught.  Following the '76 championship run with Chicago, White decided to return to the Harry Wright-led Boston team which had changed its name to the Red Caps and moved from the NA to the NL.  Wright played White mostly at first base and right field, only occasionally using him at catcher, opting to stick with Lew Brown, the man who replaced White at backstop during White's year with Chicago.  The '77 season turned out to be White's finest as he led the NL in hits, triples, RBI, batting average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, total bases, and Position Player WAR--the most impressive of which were White's potent .387 batting average and staggering 192 OPS+.  With White back on the team, Boston returned to championship form and took the NL crown--the fifth consecutive season White played for the championship team.

After his outstanding '77 season, White signed with the Cincinnati Reds and moved back behind home plate, catching for brother Will who became the Reds' top pitcher.  White spent three seasons in Cincinnati but was unable to replicate the championship-winning success he had in Boston and Chicago, though Cincinnati still managed to finish as high as second in 1878.  The 1879 season was White's last as a full-time catcher as the Reds moved him to right field for 1880.  After Cincinnati was kicked out of the NL due to a dispute over scheduling games on Sunday and allowing the sale of beer and whiskey at its games, White joined the Buffalo Bisons for the '81 season which was somewhat of a homecoming for the Caton native.

White showcased his versatility in his first year in Buffalo, splitting his time between first and second while also making the occasional start in right, third, and catcher.  The following season, Buffalo moved White to third, the position he would play for the remainder of his career, but also still played him a fair amount at backstop during the '83 and '84 seasons.  Now in his mid-thirties, White was no longer the dominant player he had been in his twenties, but was still among the best third basemen in the game.  White, along with Bison teammates Jack Rowe, Dan Brouthers, and Hardy Richardson came to be known as the "Big Four."  As he had in Cincinnati, White had some good years in Buffalo for some competitive teams but was unable to win a championship.  After five seasons in Buffalo, White, along with the rest of Buffalo's "Big Four" were sold to the Detroit Wolverines franchise.  It was with Detroit that White, now the oldest player in baseball, won his sixth championship, helping Detroit take the 1887 NL crown and beat the St. Louis Browns, league champions of the rival American Association, 10 games to 5 in a post-season exhibition series.

After finishing the '88 season in 5th place, the Wolverines' owners decided to disband the team and sell their players, sending White and Rowe to the Pittsburgh Alleghanys.  Despite his calm demeanor, White was an avid proponent of players' rights and along with Rowe, was a member of the National Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, who strongly opposed the reserve clause.  White and Rowe had no interest in playing the '89 season for Pittsburgh and purchased the Buffalo Bisons franchise with the intention of playing for them.  Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh used the reserve clause to block White and Rowe from playing with Buffalo, creating a stalemate that dragged on for several months, well into the season, until White and Rowe reluctantly agreed to join the Pittsburgh team shortly after receiving a letter from Brotherhood leader John Montgomery Ward.  It is believed that Ward's letter encouraged White and Rowe to take the best offer they could from Pittsburgh since the Brotherhood would be forming its own league, directly in competition with the NL and AA for the 1890 season.  White was able to not only negotiate himself a portion of the sale price for his services but also received a monthly salary on top of it.  White showed his personality with this memorable quote to a Buffalo reporter after joining Pittsburgh:  "We are satisfied with the money, but we ain't worth it.  Rowe's arm is gone.  I'm over 40 and my fielding ain't so good, though I can still hit some.  But I will say this, no man is going to sell my carcass unless I get half."

The Brotherhood-led Players League did indeed take the field as a third major league for the 1890 season, with White and Rowe's Buffalo Bisons among its competing franchises.  Although he was 42 years old--fifteen or more years the senior of most of his players--and struggling to hit for extra bases, White was able to offset his shrinking slugging percentage with a .381 OBP, which was thirty points higher than the league average, and play in 122 of the team's 132 games.  However, the Bisons were an uncompetitive team, scoring the lowest number of runs per game in the eight-team Players League while the pitchers' collective 6.11 team ERA was nearly two whole runs higher than the next highest team.  Unfortunately for White, the Bisons finished last and the Players League folded after just one season, bringing an end to his lengthy major league career.

Despite being one of the best players in the early years of professional baseball and playing several seasons at the difficult position of catcher, White has never drawn enough support to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee or its predecessors, the Centennial Committee and Old Timers Committee.  One reason for this may be that some of his finest seasons came in the National Association and his best years came in the 1870's when most teams only played between 60 to 80 games per season.  Another factor could be that some voters view White more as a third baseman than a catcher since he played a larger number of games at hot corner due to almost all of the seasons he played at backstop coming before the schedules expanded to over 100 games in 1884.  Nevertheless, from 1871 to 1879 when White was a full-time catcher, he was the game's most dominant backstop, owning the highest WAR (24.3) and OPS+ (151) of any regular catcher with John Clapp being the distant runner-up to White (14.4 and 119) in both categories.  And, though he wasn't as dominant a player when he was a third baseman in his mid-to-late thirties as he was at catcher in his twenties, White was still among the best third basemen in the game, having the 3rd highest WAR and OPS+ of regular third basemen from 1882 to 1890.  Moreover, White started regularly playing hot corner in his age 34 year, and the 18.2 WAR he accumulated from his age 34 year-on trails only Chipper Jones, Mike Schmidt, Wade Boggs, and Lave Cross for regular third basemen age 34 and over.

Deacon White 1888

At first glance, White's career 127 OPS+, 44.0 WAR, and .346 OBP do not appear to stand out sabermetrically.  However, White's career OPS+ is understated since his career peak came before schedules expanded to over 100 games in 1884.  For the first thirteen years of his career, from 1871 to 1883, White's OPS+ was a potent 140 in 3,740 plate appearances.  For the last seven years of his career, from 1884 to 1890, White hit at an adequate 113 OPS+ clip in 3,233 plate appearances, despite being between 36 to 42 years old--and the oldest player in baseball for the last four of those years.  In 1888, at age 40, White had an excellent season, finishing with a 128 OPS+.  In baseball history, only nine other hitters, age 40 or over, have qualified for the batting title and had an OPS+ that high.  Of those nine--Cap Anson, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Carlton Fisk, Dave Winfield, and Rickey Henderson--are in the Hall of Fame, while the other two--Darrell Evans and Edgar Martinez--had careers that make for good Hall of Fame debates.

White's 44.0 career WAR is easy to overlook when most Hall of Famers own a career WAR of over 50 or 60, but his lower WAR total can be attributed to playing during a time with shorter schedules.  Even in 1877 when he led all NL position players in WAR, his total was only 3.2 since his Red Caps team played just a 60-game schedule.  White's seemingly mediocre .346 OBP is not the best way to evaluate him compared to players from other eras since during most of his career it took between six to nine balls to draw a walk.  White finished his career with an impressive .312 batting average, won two batting titles, three RBI crowns, and eight times finished in the top ten in his respective league in batting average or OBP.

Despite spending the first half of his career as a catcher, at the time of his retirement White's 1,560 career games played and 2,067 hits trailed only Cap Anson, Jim O'Rourke, and Paul Hines--a testament to not only his longevity but also his durability and excellence.  Due to playing during a time with shorter schedules, White's lengthy 20-year professional career spanned just 6,973 plate appearances, yet 1890's slugger George Van Haltren is the only player no longer eligible on the BBWAA ballot to have that many plate appearances with a higher career batting average than White's .312 and not be elected to the Hall of Fame.  However, while Van Haltren's career .316 batting average edges White's, the Caton native has both a higher career WAR (44.0 to 40.8) and OPS+ (127 to 122) than Van Haltren.

White was major league baseball's first great catcher and was viewed as such by many of his peers.  Hall of Fame pitcher Al Spalding, White's battery-mate for four Pennant-winning seasons, called White the "greatest natural catcher that I ever saw."  In addition, Hall of Fame hurler Pud Galvin, who White caught in Buffalo, said "You can talk all you want about your great catchers, but the best man who ever worked behind the plate was Jim White.  I have seen all the good ones, but I place him first."

White last appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot in December 2008 when the Veterans Committee voted on players who started their careers prior to 1943.  White collected 41.7% of the vote, good for fourth highest among the ten nominees.  Dominant in his twenties at catcher and relevant into his early forties at third, White could see even more support on the upcoming Pre-Integration Committee vote since the only holdover from the '08 ballot who gained more votes than White was Depression Era pitcher Wes Ferrell.

----by John Tuberty

Sources:  Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, SABR, Buffalo Bisons, Peter Morris, Catcher:  How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero (Ivan R. Dee, 2009)

Photo Credit:  New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Tomilson Photography Studio Detroit, Michigan

Related articles:

Wes Ferrell: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Bill Dahlen: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate
Bucky Walters: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Bucky Walters: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

William "Bucky" Walters is one of ten candidates eligible for the Pre-Integration Era Hall of Fame vote that will take place during December's Winter Meetings in Nashville.  The Pre-Integration Era Committee votes on candidates who made their biggest contributions to the game between 1871 and 1946.  The Committee is a 16-member panel made up of retired Hall of Famers, major league executives, and veteran media members.  Each member of the panel can vote for up to four of the ten candidates.  A candidate must carry 75% of the vote to be elected.

Bucky Walters (1909-1991) 198-160 .553W/L% 3.30ERA 398GS 3,104.2IP 1,107K

Career (’31-’50) 52.0WAR 25.5WAA 116ERA+

Bucky Walters 1940 Play Ball

"Bucky" Walters started his career as a promising third baseman but a thumb injury robbed him of his potential and relegated him to being a bench player.  Philadelphia Phillies manager Jimmie Wilson and others felt that Walters, who possessed a strong throwing arm from third, might have a future as a pitcher.  Walters, though initially resistant, took his manager's advice and tried his hand at pitching.  During his three and a half years in the Phillies rotation, Walters was a league average pitcher with a 99 ERA+ but had a poor 38-53 win/loss record and high 4.48 ERA due to playing on cellar dwelling Phillies teams and pitching his home games at the Baker Bowl, an extreme hitter's park.

After being traded from the lowly Phillies to the much more competitive Cincinnati Reds early in the 1938 season, Walters' fortunes changed and he immediately became a winning pitcher, overcoming a 4-8 start with Philadelphia to go 11-6 after the trade to Cincinnati.  The 1939 season was Walters' finest as the righty went 27-11 with a 2.29 ERA, was voted the NL MVP, and won the pitching equivalent of the Triple Crown by leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.  In addition to that, Walters hit .325 with a 110 OPS+ and helped lead Cincinnati to their first pennant since 1919.  Unfortunately, the Reds were swept by the Joe DiMaggio/Bill Dickey-led New York Yankees in the World Series--with Walters taking the loss as a starter in Game 2 and a second loss in relief in Game 4.

Despite coming up short against New York, Walters and Cincinnati came back strong in 1940 with the righty leading the NL with 22 wins as well as topping the Senior Circuit with a 2.48 ERA.  Meanwhile, the Reds returned to the World Series, this time taking on the Hank Greenberg/Charlie Gehringer-led Detroit Tigers.  Unlike the previous season's Fall Classic, Walters was at his best against the Tigers.  Down 1-0 in the Series, Walters took the mound in Game 2 and overcame a tough first inning to hurl a complete game victory and draw Cincinnati even with Detroit.  Facing potential elimination, Walters forced a Game 7 by spinning a five-hit shutout in Game 6.  Cincinnati went on to beat Detroit in Game 7 and win the Series--due in large part to Walters' two wins and 1.50 Series ERA.  Walters also put his hitting prowess on display in the Fall Classic, slugging a solo home run in Game 6.  Coincidentally, Cincinnati coach Jimmie Wilson, Walters' former manager who converted him from third baseman to pitcher, served as the Reds catcher in place of the injured Ernie Lombardi during the Series.

Walters continued to pitch well in the seasons after the Series win, the most notable being a 23-win 1944 campaign in which he led the NL in victories for a third time.  However, in the latter half of the decade, injuries started to keep Walters off the mound while the team itself fell from being a perennial contender to a second division team.  Towards the end of the 1948 season, the Reds hired Walters to manage the team but his year and a half at the helm failed to turn around the franchise's fortunes.  In 1950, Walters joined the Boston Braves as a pitching coach and made one final appearance as a player, a four inning relief outing.

Walters finished his career with just under 200 wins, a record of 198-160 and a 3.30 ERA.  Despite his World Series heroics and MVP Award, Walters never picked up more than 23.7% of the vote when he was on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot.  Unfortunately for Walters, the BBWAA did not begin awarding the Cy Young until several years after he retired.  Had the Cy Young been awarded during Walters' career he certainly would have won it during his Triple Crown MVP 1939 season, likely would have won it the following year when he had more NL MVP votes then any other pitcher, and may have even won a third Cy Young in 1944 when he tied Bill Voiselle for the most NL MVP votes by a pitcher.  As a converted third baseman, it is no surprise that Walters was a highly regarded fielder, but like the Cy Young, Gold Gloves were still several years away from being awarded.  Had Walters won multiple Cy Young and Gold Glove Awards, in addition to his MVP, it is likely he would have been a stronger candidate for the Hall of Fame.  Another factor that no doubt hindered Walters’ Hall of Fame candidacy was his inability to cross the 200-win threshold.  Historically, the BBWAA and the Veterans Committee alike have rarely elected pitchers with less than 200 career victories.

Walters appeared on the December 2008 Veterans Committee Hall of Fame ballot for players who started their careers before 1943.  Walters picked up 33.3% of the vote, finishing sixth highest out of the ten nominees, three spots behind Wes Ferrell, who grabbed 50% of the vote.  Walters' and Ferrell's careers will once again be reexamined as candidates on the Pre-Integration Era Committee's Hall of Fame ballot.  Ferrell was an AL pitcher whose career was wrapping up in the late '30's just as Walters' was reaching its peak over in the NL.  Comparing their career numbers using traditional metrics, Walters has a significant advantage over Ferrell in ERA (3.30 to 4.04) and narrowly edges him in wins (198 to 193), while Ferrell trumps the former Reds ace in win/loss percentage (.601 to .553) and 20-win seasons (6 to 3).  Sabermetrically, Ferrell has a slight edge over Walters in pitching WAR (45.1 to 44.3) and when their ERAs are adjusted, Walters' and Ferrell's ERA+ are dead even at 116 since in comparison to Walters, Ferrell pitched at tougher home ballparks in the more offensive-minded AL, and spent a greater portion of his career in the hitter-friendly '30's.  Even though Walters was originally converted from a third baseman into a pitcher, Ferrell--who is arguably the greatest hitting pitcher in baseball history--widens the gap in career WAR (57.2 to 52.0) when you factor in batting WAR.  Walters helped lead Cincinnati to the 1939 Pennant and 1940 Championship, while Ferrell starred for some competitive Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox teams but never pitched in the World Series.  With the ability to cast up to four votes, some Pre-Integration Era panel members may select both Walters and Ferrell, while for others it may come down to the combination of Walters' postseason success and lower ERA versus the sum of Ferrell's accomplishments, both on the mound and in the batter's box.

----by John Tuberty

Sources:  Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, Cincinnati.Reds.MLB.Com, The Hardball Times, SABR

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