January 20th, 1947: Negro League standout Josh Gibson, sometimes referred to as the ‘black Babe Ruth’, dies of a stroke at the of 35. The future Hall of Fame catcher will put to rest in an unmarked grave in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately, one of the best players to ever put spikes on died before the he was able to play in the Major Leagues because of the “gentlemen’s agreement” that banned non-white players from participating in the MLB. Why is Josh Gibson a significant figure in baseball history? He is important since he is probably the best player to never play Major League Baseball.

Gibson suffered a stroke and died in the same year that Jackie Robinson defied all odds and broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Unlike the MLB, the Negro Leagues felt that it was more profitable for the players to only play a few league games and having the opportunity to make extra money by barnstorming around the country, so their statistics are a little skewed, along with the fact that they didn’t compile complete statistics for games or seasons.

However, the few statistics that were kept during these barnstorming seasons were pretty impressive for Josh Gibson. For example, in 1933, Gibson played in 137 games and hit 55 home runs and compiled a .467 average. The next year, he hit 69 home runs. According to the Hall of Fame, Gibson has a .359 career batting average and approximately 800 home runs in his 17-year career; he also is rumored to have won nine home run titles and four batting titles as a player.

What was most impressive to me was a home run he hit at Yankee Stadium…he hit a ball so far that it was two feet from the top of the wall that circled the bleachers in center field, which is approximately 580 feet.

It’s unfortunate that we’ll never know exactly what Gibson did during his storied career because the Negro Leagues didn’t put together complete statistics or game summaries. Baseball is a game about numbers and statistics, and when we aren’t able to see some to evaluate a player, it puts us in a weird place. Either way, Josh Gibson was a legend during his time, and his legend will live on for many years to come.

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January 10th, 1928: The Giants trade Rogers Hornsby to the Boston Braves for Shanty Hogan and Jimmy Welsh. It’s the Rajah’s third team in three years.

Why exactly is this trade monumental? Mostly because I find it hard to believe that any team would want to trade one of the best second basemen in the history of the game, especially when he is still in the prime of his career. In 1927 for the Giants, Hornsby hit .361, slugged 25 home runs, and had 125 RBI.

Apparently, that wasn’t a good enough stat line and New York traded Hornsby within the National League to the Boston Braves. He then proceeded to hit at a .387 clip, hit 21 homers, and 94 RBI. In his 23 year MLB career, Rogers Hornsby played for five different teams. I find it odd that he switched teams that many times during his professional career. In today’s game, we see players switch teams every year due to free agency, but it didn’t always used to be like that.

Before the 1970s, the reserve clause allowed an organization to hold onto a player for as long as they wish. Due to this, it was common for a player to spend his entire career with only one or two teams. That’s why I think it’s so weird that a career .358 hitter with 301 home runs, 1,584 RBI, and almost 3,000 hits would move around to so many teams during a time when players didn’t move around after they were established.

This fact alone makes me wonder what type of player Hornsby was in the clubhouse. I haven’t read anything bad about his character, but with him moving around to so many teams, there must have been some sort of personality conflict, either with Hornsby and his fellow players, his coaching staff, or the front office; especially with Boston and New York since he only spent one year with each organization.

On the other hand, the star second baseman could have have been too expensive for either the Giants or Braves to hold onto because he was at the peak of his game. There are obviously a number of things that caused Rogers Hornsby to play for five teams during a time in which it was unprecedented. He has always been a personal favorite of mine, and one of a few Major Leaguers that I wish I had the chance to watch in person.

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August 31, 1997: In front of a crowd of 55,707, Don Mattingly’s uniform number 23 is added to the list of retired numbers on the wall at Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.

Don Mattingly will probably be one of the greatest baseball players ever not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Who is the first person to say that he won’t ever be inducted? The man, himself. I worked a charity dinner in January at Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant that was hosted by Mattingly charities and during a Q&A session, someone asked him that very question. His answer was pretty simple: he didn’t put up Hall of Fame numbers for a long enough period of time. After being drafted in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur draft, Mattingly made his debut with the Bronx Bombers in 1982, and manned first base until 1995, when he had to retire due to recurring back problems.

In his 13 years with the Yankees, he earned six All-Star appearances, nine gold glove awards, three silver slugger awards, one batting title, was in the top-20 for the MVP voting seven times, and won the AL MVP in 1985. He was the epitome of consistency both at the plate and in the field, taking every aspect of his game seriously. His lifetime batting average was .307, with 222 home runs, 1099 RBI, and over 2,100 career hits. He also had a career fielding percentage of .996. Donnie Baseball was able to amass these types of statistics while the Yankees weren’t that great of a team. Yes the late 1980s were one of the few times in Yankees history where they were not very successful. In fact, throughout Mattingly’s career, he only reached the post-season once, which was in 1995, his last season (he hit .417 with 6 RBI in a 5-game series loss to the Mariners).

Could a case be made for Mattingly to get into Cooperstown? Absolutely. However, he made the right assesment about himself; he didn’t have enough longevity as a player to be able to show the Baseball Writers of America that he would have been able to keep up his statistics for 16 or 17 years, but his health just wouldn’t allow that to happen. The best part about Donnie Baseball? He’s a helluva nice guy. I’ve met him on a few occasions and had the opportunity to work for his baseball bat company in Shelton, CT and every time we cross paths (which isn’t often, mind you) he remembers who I am and asks how I’m doing. So, even though I’m a diehard Met fan, there are a handful of Yankee players I have a soft spot for, and Don Mattingly is definitely one of them.

November 2^nd, 1972: Leading the league in victories (27), ERA (1.97), starts (41), complete games (30), and strike outs (310), Steve Carlton wins the NL’s CY Young Award. ‘Lefty’s’ 27 victories nearly accounts for nearly half (45.8%) of the last-place Phillies wins.

Although it pains me to praise the work of a ballplayer that played for Philadelphia, what Steve Carlton did for the Phillies in 1972 was unbelievable. It’s remarkable when a pitcher can win their version of the Triple Crown (wins, ERA, strikeouts), but to lead the National League in six categories (the five listed above and innings pitched) is unthinkable and I don’t think any pitcher will be able to mirror what he did, especially since it was for a last place team. His CY Young performance in 1972 for such a horrible team showcases just how good Carlton was when he took the mound every fifth day.

Being on 95.6% of ballots in 1994 when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, it is fair to say that the Phillies legend had more than just one good year. His final stat line reads like this: 329-244, 3.22 ERA, 254 complete games, 55 shutouts, 5.217.2 innings pitched, and 4,136 strikeouts in his 24-year career, mostly with Philadelphia. Some of his individual accomplishments include 10 All-Star selections, four CY Young awards, and one Gold Glove. He topped the 20-win plateau on six different occasions, leading the league four of those times.

He also led the league in innings pitched five times, complete games three times, strikeouts five times, and batters faced seven times. He is one of the best left-handed pitchers in MLB history, holding the #2 spot all time for career strikeouts and wins for southpaws. There is also a testament for his durability, facing over 20,000 batters in his career and being the last pitcher to throw over 300 innings.

It was interesting to read more about Steve Carlton because I’ve only heard stories about how he dominated back in his day, but after seeing the statistics, it makes me respect what he did that much more.

October 26th, 1940:

Tigers’ slugging left fielder Hank Greenberg (.340, 41, 150) is named the American League’s Most Valuable Player with Indian hurler Bob Feller (27-11- 2.61) finishing second. Having won the award in 1935 as a first baseman, ‘Hammerin’ Hank’ becomes the first player to win another MVP playing a different position.

Like most avid baseball fans, I’m familiar with who Hank Greenberg is and that he played the majority of his career for the Detroit Tigers, but if you ask me any specifics about his career, I would have been able to tell you absolutely nothing. Researching Greenberg’s career was interesting because when he was playing, he was a beast.

The Bronx native made his MLB debut in September of 1930 and played his final game in September of 1947, yet he only played 12 seasons in the league. He only appeared for Detroit once in 1930, and then didn’t see any action with the club again until 1933, when he hit .301 with 12 home runs and 87 RBI. He, like most other baseball superstars at that time, didn’t play between 1941 and 1945 because he was serving in the military for WWII. However, for missing so many years of his prime, his career statistics are still quite impressive: .313 average, 331 home runs, 1,275 RBI, and an on-base percentage of .412.

The 1956 Hall of Fame inductee found himself leading several offensive categories on numerous occasions. He led the league in home runs, extra base hits, and RBI four times. He was included in MVP talks on seven different occasions, which just so happens to be 58% of his entire career.  He won the award twice, in 1935 and 1940, and was named to the All-Star team four times, all consecutively.

I don’t know about anyone else, but reading all of this was quite surprising to me because I have never heard anyone talk about him at length before. What didn’t help was that he was over shadowed by other superstars in that time period, players like Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Williams. Fair enough. However, now we saw just how much of an offensive force Greenberg was for Detroit and why he is held in such high regard by the Tiger faithful.