BASEBALL'S DYNASTIES AND THE PLAYERS WHO BUILT THEM: Omitted Bios (Chapter 4 Philadelphia A's 1910-1914)

Greetings! For anyone just tuning in, I've decided to share some of the biographies that didn't make the final cut in my latest book release. In this installment, we'll be taking a look at the Philadelphia A's of the late-Deadball Era. My reasons for shortening the book were twofold. First and foremost, I wanted to reduce the cover price. Secondly, I was bending to the publisher's will, which was to focus more on higher profile players. There were two thumbnail bios omitted from this particular chapter and you'll find them below. These men ended up getting the axe because neither played a significant role in the A's pennant-winning seasons of 1913/'14.

 

PHILADELPHIA A'S

(1910-1914)

Best Record: 102-48 (1910)

Number of Pennants: 4

Number of Championships: 3 (1910, 1911, 1913)

Hall of Famers: Connie Mack (Mgr.), Frank "Home Run" Baker (3B), Eddie Collins (2B), Eddie Plank (P), Chief Bender (P)

OMITTED BIOS

Jack Coombs

Pitcher

            As a boy, Coombs’s family moved him from Iowa to Maine. In high school, he was a multi-sport star. He attended Colby College and played every position on the diamond while leading the team to multiple championships. He spent his summers playing semi-pro ball in various New England locations. Upon graduating in 1906, he put off further studies at MIT to play for the A’s.

            In his ’06 major league debut, Coombs twirled a 7-hit shutout. His most memorable start of the year came in September, when he ended up on the winning end of a 24-inning pitching duel with Boston’s rookie starter Joe Harris. He was plagued by arm trouble near season’s end and the malady followed him into his sophomore campaign.

            In 1908, Coombs began the season in right field. A switch-hitter, he got off to a hot start, but ended up on the bench when his average fell to .215. In the second half, he resumed pitching responsibilities, compiling a 7-5 record with a handsome 2.00 ERA. He was a mainstay in the A’s rotation during the 1909 slate, making 30 appearances while winning 12 of 22 decisions.  

            In the spring of 1910, Coombs lost his effectiveness and was briefly removed from the rotation. He returned a completely different pitcher, finishing the season with a remarkable total of 31 victories. His 13 shutouts that year are still an American League record. Polishing off one of the finest efforts of the twentieth century, he tossed three complete game victories over the Cubs in the World Series.

            Coombs’s ERA rose to 3.53 in 1911, but he still won 28 games, leading the league for the second straight season. Fittingly, he was on the mound for the A’s pennant-clinching victory in late-September. In the World Series, he prevailed against Christy Mathewson in Game 3 then came within one out of another win in Game 5 before the Giants rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth. Coombs had pulled a groin muscle in the sixth, but refused to be taken out of the game. In the top of the tenth, he aggravated the injury beating out a bunt. He was replaced by Hall of Famer Eddie Plank, who surrendered the winning run. The A’s won the Series the following day at Philadelphia.

            Coombs was still hampered by a sore groin in 1912. Though he sat out for a full month, he won 21 games anyway. The rest of his career in Philly was star-crossed. He became extremely ill with typhoid fever in 1913 and missed most of the season. He lost over fifty pounds and came close to death. His recovery was slow as he sat out all but two late-season games in 1914. On the heels of the A’s humiliating Series loss that year, Coombs was released.

            The resilient right-hander had two more good seasons for the Brooklyn Robins in 1915-’16, notching a 28-18 record in that span. He was hailed by one writer as the “greatest comeback pitcher in the history of baseball.” He served as manager of the Phillies in 1919, but resigned after an 18-44 start. In 1920, he coached for the Tigers and relieved in two games. They were the last major league appearances of his career.

            Upon retiring, he coached college baseball for several schools, most notably Duke University from 1929-1952. He authored an instructional baseball book that became a standard reference manual. In his later years, he conducted an annual baseball clinic for high school players and coaches in Palestine, Texas. He died in 1957 at age seventy-four.

Danny Murphy

 Second Base/ Outfield

            Born in Philadelphia, Murphy joined the A’s in 1902. He was hitting .462 through 49 games in the Connecticut State League when Connie Mack signed him as a replacement for Napoleon Lajoie. In his first major league game, Murphy closely resembled his predecessor as he went 6-for-6 at the plate with an inside-the-park homer off of Cy Young at Boston. Though his numbers quickly fell back to earth, he was one of Philly’s most reliable players for many years.

            Murphy remained at second base until 1908, when Eddie Collins arrived. By then, he was tremendously popular with fans and his shift to right field was not well received by the Philly faithful. Murphy handled his new job quite well, leading the league in fielding percentage in 1909 and finishing second the following year. Collins gave Murphy a lot of credit for helping him polish his skills at second base.

            Murphy finished among the top ten in homers six times, though he didn’t have much power by today’s standards. During his ten seasons as a first-stringer in Philly, he clubbed 27 or more doubles on eight occasions, peaking at 34 in 1905. A speedster on the bases, he posted double digit stolen base totals in ten straight campaigns.

            During the A’s prime years of 1910-1914, Murphy managed a .300 average every season. He put forth his finest offensive effort in 1911, when he hit .329, scored a career-high 104 runs and collected 44 extra-base hits, 11 of which were triples. He exceeded that number three times in his career.

            Murphy had mixed success in the postseason. He flopped in the 1905 Fall Classic, but was a major contributor in 1910-‘11, scoring 10 runs and driving-in 12 more. Appointed team captain by Connie Mack after the 1911 campaign, Murphy broke his kneecap during a stolen base attempt in June of the following year. He was never the same, though he continued to hit well in a diminished role through the 1913 slate.

            In 1914, Murphy migrated to the Federal League. When the circuit folded after the 1915 slate, he was thirty-eight years old and past his prime. He finished his career with the New Haven Murlins of the Eastern League as a player/manager. He coached for the A’s from 1920-1924.

            In 1929, the Associated Press reported that Murphy had been arrested for vagrancy in Chicago. It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The vagrant being arraigned had listed his name as “Danny Murphy” and, when a member of the court erroneously recognized him as the former ballplayer, he began to spin a tall tale about having fallen on hard times after quitting baseball and losing his wife. Judge Samuel Heller was sympathetic, temporarily releasing the imposter. When the story broke, Hall of Famer Eddie Collins contacted the Judge to inform him that the real Murphy was a successful hardware dealer in Jersey City. The charlatan was taken back into police custody and the Associated Press gladly retracted the story.

BASEBALL'S DYNASTIES AND THE PLAYERS WHO BUILT THEM: Omitted Bios (Chapter 2: Pittsburgh Pirates 1901-1903)

Here's the second installment of my omitted biography series. This post features left-handed pitcher Jesse Tannehill. It was a tough decision to leave Mr. Tannehill out of my book, but he did desert the Pirates before their appearance in baseball's first official World Series. Proving they could win without him, the Pirates defeated the Red Sox in a best-of-nine format. Pitchers Sam Leever and Deacon Phillippe, (who are both featured in the book), stepped up during the 1903 regular season, gathering 49 victories between them.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES
(1901-1903)
Best Record: 103-36 (1902)
Number of Pennants: 3
Hall of Fame Players: Honus Wagner (SS), Fred Clarke (OF), Jack Chesbro (P)
Championships: 1 (Baseball's first World Series, 1903)

OMITTED BIO:

JESSE TANNEHILL

Pitcher

             

           The left-handed Tannehill was a top-notch hurler for Pittsburgh from 1898-1902. In that span, he compiled a healthy 107-49 record while keeping his ERA below the 3.00 mark every year. In all, he reached the 20-win threshold four times while wearing a Pirates uniform. Tannehill’s 2.18 earned run average in 1901 was tops in the National League. He posted a personal best of 1.95 the following year, but ended up with a rank of #3 behind Jack Taylor of the Cubs and Noodles Hahn of Cincinnati.

           

           Tannehill’s signature pitch was his curve ball, which was described by one source as “agonizingly slow.” He typically gave up a lot of hits—more than innings pitched in almost every season—and relied heavily on his team’s defense to back him up. He had pinpoint control, averaging less than 2 walks per nine frames over the course of his fifteen-year career. He never surrendered more than 63 bases on balls in any season.

            

In addition to his prowess on the hill, Tannehill was a pretty fair hitter. He batted .255 for his career with 83 extra-base hits in 507 games. A switch-hitter, he accrued an average of .250 or better on seven occasions including a career-high of .336 in 1900. He was so adept with a bat, in fact, that he was used as an outfielder in 87 games and was summoned to pinch-hit a total of fifty-seven times.

During the “war” between the American and National Leagues, rumors surfaced that multiple players from Pittsburgh had been negotiating with AL officials. Tannehill was accused of being a ring leader. This led to an altercation with utility man Jimmy Burke. During the scuffle, Tannehill dislocated his left shoulder. While under the influence of anesthesia, he allegedly admitted to owner Barney Dreyfuss that he had indeed been involved in conversations with AL president Ban Johnson. He offered names of other players involved though he never fingered himself as an instigator.

Tannehill eventually jumped to the American League in 1903, winning 15 games for the Highlanders (later known as the Yankees) in their inaugural season. 1911 was Tannehill’s last year in the big leagues. He continued in the minors until 1913. He later coached for the Phillies.

 

UPCOMING BOOK RELEASE: Baseball's Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them

Anyone who has read my postings over the past several years knows that I'm not very diligent about promoting my own work. I've never felt terribly comfortable as a salesman. With that having been said, I do have a book coming out in July through the Rowman and Littlefield publishing group. Entitled: Baseball's Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them, the book provides an in-depth look at the greatest teams of all time from the Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s to the San Francisco Giants of the 2010s. The project originally had a working title of: Other Guys: Unsung Heroes of Baseball's Greatest Teams.  As the name implies, my research was focused on the contributions of lesser known players. But the folks in the editorial department at Rowman weren't crazy about the idea. They felt that I would reach a wider audience by limiting my scope to profiles of superstars and Hall of Famers. For all I know, they're probably right. As I said before, I'm no marketing expert. But I thought there might be some folks out there who would enjoy reading the player profiles that were cut from the original manuscript. Over the next few months, I will be featuring them in this blog. I suppose Chapter One is as good a place as any to start. 

(By the way, the book is set for release on July 16th. Right now, you can pre-order it at Amazon for a significant discount. Once it's released, the price will go up by more than thirty percent.)

And now--Without further ado, here's a lost profile from Chapter One.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES
(1894-1898)
Best Record: 90-39 (1896)
Number of Pennants: 3
Hall of Fame Players: Wilbert Robinson (C), John McGraw (IF), Willie Keeler (OF), Joe Kelley (OF), Hughie Jennings (SS), Ned Hanlon (Mgr)
Championships: 2 (1896, 1897, Temple Cup)   

OMITTED BIO: 

HEINIE REITZ

Second Base

Born in Chicago, Reitz got his first taste of professional baseball in the California League during the 1890 slate. He bounced around the minors for three seasons before the Orioles purchased his contract. Installed as a regular second baseman, Reitz had a highly successful debut, hitting .286 in 130 games with 90 runs scored and 76 RBIs. Despite his contributions, the O’s slumped to a 60-70 record in 1893, landing them in eighth place.

During the Orioles’ Temple Cup run of ‘94-‘97, Reitz was a productive member of the club every year with batting averages ranging from .287 to .303. He drove-in more than 100 runs twice in that span. His crowning achievement came in 1894 when he collected 31 triples, tying a single-season record. The mark has been surpassed only once since then—by Chief Wilson of the Pirates in 1912.

Reitz never came close to matching his ’94 output for triples and ended up getting packaged in a six-player trade to Washington in December of ‘97. After hitting .303 in 132 games for the Senators, he was shipped to Pittsburgh after the’98 season was over. Outfielder Tom Brown commented that Reitz was “near perfection in gauging swift grounders” and added that “no finer hand-worker ever lived.” Reitz remained active in the minors through the 1908 campaign. A drinker and carouser, he allegedly went missing three times while playing for the Spokane Smoke Eaters of the Pacific Northwestern League in 1902.

In 1914, Reitz became the first major league ballplayer to die in a car accident. He was only forty-seven years old. At the time of his passing, sportswriter John Gruber of The Washington Evening Star wrote: “Henry P. Reitz was soon accounted one of the brightest among the galaxy of luminaries. Besides being a first class fielder, he was a safe batter and a skillful base runner.”

 

Hidden Talents of Major Leaguers (Concluded--Maddux, Ferrell, Dinneen and Blyleven)

GREG MADDUX

There are so many things that Maddux has been recognized for--355 lifetime wins, four ERA titles, 3,000-plus strikeouts. But the most remarkable aspect of his game ended up buried beneath all the other tacky stats year after year. Simply put, Maddux was the greatest defensive pitcher the game has ever seen. Only one hurler has come close to matching Maddux's eighteen Gold Gloves (Jim Kaat--winner of sixteen). And in Maddux's case, the trophies were well-deserved. The former Cubs/Braves ace led NL pitchers in putouts nine times and assists on twelve occasions. In regard to those stats, he compiled the highest range factor (avg. # of putouts and assists) per nine innings than any hurler in the history of the game. Dwight Gooden once remarked: "He makes it look easy. You wish there was another league he could get called up to." Had Maddux been able to hit a little better, he could possibly have been considered the most complete player ever to grace the diamond. 

WES FERRELL

Brother of Hall of Fame backstop Rick Ferrell, Wes was a major star during the offensive renaissance of  the 1920s and '30s. After winning 20 games in four consecutive seasons with Cleveland, he assembled back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the Red Sox. Beset by arm trouble in the late-'30s, he relied on off-speed junk to prolong his career. He has long been considered one of the best pitchers outside the Hall of Fame. Though his lifetime ERA was a bit unwieldy at 4.04, it was actually fifty points below the league average. And his power at the plate went uncelebrated for many years. Ferrell holds all time records for home runs (38) and slugging percentage (.451) among pitchers. Additionally, his lifetime .280 batting average is the third highest among right-handed hitting hurlers with a minimum of 500 at-bats. Ferrell was so adept at the plate, he was called upon to pinch-hit 123 times. He wasn't terribly successful in the role, compiling a .187 average. But he did hit an even-.300 with runners in scoring position during his fifteen years in the majors.     

BILL DINNEEN

Dinneen's name doesn't get tossed around too much nowadays. That's because he spent his entire career in baseball's Deadball Era. Between 1900 and 1904, the sturdily built right-hander won at least 20 games and worked no fewer than 300 innings on four occasions. He threw the first shutout in World Series history for Boston in 1903. Following his retirement, he moved on to a long career as an American League umpire, becoming the only man in history to throw a no-hitter and call balls-and-strikes in another. During his playing days, Dinneen's baserunning skills were vastly underrated. He retired with 29 lifetime steals, which seems rather unimpressive until you compare the stat to other pitchers of the era. There are two pitchers ahead of Dinneen on the stolen base list, but both spent ample time at other positions during their careers. Cy Young tied Dinneen's total, but played in twice as many games. In the post-Deadball Era, no pitcher has come close to matching Dinneen's numbers (likely due to the scarcity of managers foolish enough to risk an injury). According to one researcher, there were only 869 pitcher steals between 1918 and 2013. In 1969, Bob Gibson stole 5 bases just to prove he could. The thefts represented nearly forty percent of his lifetime totals.

BERT BLYLEVEN

Blyleven was vastly underappreciated until 2011, when he finally made the Hall of Fame on his fourteenth try. Undoubtedly the most famous player to hail from the Netherlands, the durable right-hander used his signature curveball to win 287 games over twenty-two seasons. That totally is highly remarkable considering the fact that he spent most of his career on sub-par teams. Before he was surpassed by Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson, Blyleven held a ranking of #3 on the all-time strikeout list. But he had better control than all four of the players currently ahead of him. With high strikeout totals come high walk totals--a side-effect of nibbling at the corners and baiting players to swing and miss. Baseball's all time strikeout king, Nolan Ryan, averaged 4.7 walks per nine frames. Randy Johnson--the leader among lefties--averaged more than 3. Steve Carlton, author of 4,136 strikeouts, allowed 3.2 free passes per nine innings and steroids enthusiast Roger Clemens (third on the all time list with 4,672 K's) averaged 2.9. Blyleven has them all beat with an average of just 2.4 walks per 9 innings. 

HIdden Talents of Major Leaguers (Part II--Slaughter, Jennings, Rice, Yost and Long)

ENOS SLAUGHTER

Elected to the Hall of  Fame via the Veterans Committee in 1985, Slaughter had a host of impressive statistics. What he didn't have was speed on the bases. In nineteen major league seasons, he stole just 71 bags--an average of less than 4 per year. He spent a majority of his career in St. Louis, where the cozy dimensions of Sportsmans Park created a power-hitter's paradise. With below average speed and a small ballpark to boot, it's a small wonder that Slaughter attained a rank of #54 on the all time list for triples. Only one player ahead of Slaughter on the list had a career stretching into the 1950s. The remainder played in baseball's dim and distant past when cavernous ballparks and stolen bases were intrinsic features of the game. Slaughter finished with double digit totals for triples in seven seasons and retired with an impressive total of 148--not bad for a slowpoke. So how did he do it? Sheer hustle. Slaughter's so-called "Mad Dash" home in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series is just one example. Stationed at first base with the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, Slaughter ran right through coach Mike Gonzalez's stop sign at third, delivering the series-clinching run on a single by Harry Walker.  It was that same determination that allowed Slaughter to rack up so many three-baggers during his career.


HUGHIE JENNINGS

Jennings was many things during his Hall of Fame playing career--daring baserunner, reliable run-producer, cheerleader and heckler extraordinaire. After helping the old Baltimore Orioles to four consecutive postseason appearances (1894-1897), Jennings took the helm of the Tigers, piloting the club to three straight pennants. He earned the nickname "Ee-Yah" for the piercing shouts and whistles he produced in the coach's box. The exclamations were often accompanied by quirky little jumps and dramatic fist-pumps. As a player, Jennings had an unfortunate talent--an unparalleled (and almost psychotic) propensity to lean into pitches. He was hit more often than any major league player for five straight seasons. In 1896, he set a single-season record with 51 beanings. His lifetime total of 287 is another painful record. Because he made such an excellent target, Jennings's skull was fractured on multiple occasions. During one particular game, he was hit in the head yet somehow managed to play all nine innings. Afterward, he collapsed and remained unconscious for three days. 


JIM RICE

Few would argue that Rice was one of the most productive Red Sox players of all time. An eight-time All-Star, he led the league in total bases for three consecutive seasons. In 1978, he was recognized as the American League's Most Valuable Player. With close to 2,500 career hits and a lifetime .298 batting average, it's hard to believe that Rice was ever a liability at the plate.  But his hidden talent was actually a major deficit. From 1982-1985, he grounded into more double plays than any of his AL counterparts every year. This was no fluke as he placed among the top ten in that category eleven times. In 1984, he set a single-season record with 36 twin killings yet still managed to drive-in 122 runs--a remarkable yet puzzling accomplishment. Rice has his Boston teammates to thank for his dubious distinction as "Mr. Double Play." They put him in double play situations more than 2,000 times during his career. He made it to the Hall of Fame nevertheless.  


DALE LONG

It's not as if Dale Long wasn't a decent hitter. Over portions of ten major league seasons, he drove 132 pitches over the fences while compiling a competent .267 batting average. But no one expected the impressive display of power put on by Long in May of 1956. From May 19 to May 28, Long was the most prolific slugger in baseball, going deep in eight consecutive games--a major league record that has stood to the present day. On the thirtieth anniversary of the streak, Long told reporters: "Somebody will break it and they'll forget about me." He was wrong about the record being broken, though he has definitely faded into the mists of time. The eight-game skein was tied by Don Mattingly in 1987 and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993. No one was terribly surprised when either man accomplished the feat.


EDDIE YOST

Yost didn't impress too many people with his hitting. Over seventy percent of his lifetime hits were singles. And he compiled a batting average below the .250 mark on ten occasions. What impressed Yost's legions of supporters most was his uncanny ability to keep the bat on his shoulder. He drew so many bases on balls, he earned the nickname "The Walking Man." He led the league six times in that category and averaged one free pass for every 5.7 plate appearances during his career. It wasn't as if teams were afraid to pitch to him. Despite his 28 leadoff homers, he wasn't much of a power threat. But in 1953, Senators owner Clark Griffith referred to his table-setter as "the most sought after .233 hitter in the American League." Yost crouched slightly at the plate and had a habit of dropping his right shoulder, making the strike zone even smaller. "Once I got a reputation for walking a lot, it seemed like the umpires began to give me the calls on the close ones," he once said. They certainly did, granting him first base more than 1,600 times over eighteen seasons. 

Hidden Talents of Major Leaguers (Part I--Beltran, Matsui, Abreu, Brown and Webb)

CARLOS BELTRAN

Known more for his power and ability to deliver in the clutch (especially during the postseason), Beltran is actually a prolific base-stealer. He demonstrated this dramatically in 2001 with the Royals, when he swiped 31 bags while getting caught just once. In 2004, when he reached a career-high of 42 thefts, he was nabbed just three times. His lifetime stolen base percentage of 86.39 was fifth on the all time list at the time of this writing. By way of comparison, stolen base kings Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson had lifetime success rates of 75.34 and 80.75 respectively. Entering his nineteenth major league season, Beltran had over 300 steals.

HIDEKI MATSUI

Matsui beame a national hero in Japan when he clubbed 332 homers during his ten-year career with the Yomiuri Giants. Though his major league totals were not as impressive, he did prove himself to be one of the game's great "Iron Men." Beginning on Apr. 31, 2003, when he made his big league debut with the Yankees, he appeared in 518 consecutive games. He would have stretched that mark to at least 519 had he not fractured his wrist diving for a ball hit by Mark Loretta on May 12, 2006. The 518 game streak from the beginning of his major league career is the longest of its kind. Including Japanese Central League play, Matsui appeared in 1,768 consecutive games--a mark that would have placed him third behind Cal Ripken Jr. and Lou Gehrig had he played his entire career in the majors.


BOBBY ABREU

Abreu is one of those players who never seemed to get the attention he deserved. Playing for six different clubs, he reached the 100 RBI mark eight times, was a 30/30 man twice and finished among the top twenty-five of all time in doubles. Yet he only appeared on two All-Star teams. Abreu's most unheralded skill was his ability to draw walks. During his prime, which stretched from 1998 through 2011, he averaged 99.7 bases on balls per year, reaching the century mark in eight consecutive seasons--a record he shares with Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Abreu's on-base percentage was .390 or better in ten campaigns. And though he most often hit third in the lineup, he was intentionally walked 115 times. This means that pitchers were avoiding him regularly to face clean-up hitters. Abreu can only hope he gets as much respect from the panel of voters at Cooperstown when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame three years from now.

GATES BROWN

To look at Gates Brown's stats, you wouldn't think he was a statistical leader in any category. Most people outside of Detroit have never heard of him. During his thirteen years in the majors, spent entirely with the Tigers, he appeared in 100 or more games just three times. He fielded his outfield position below the league average and was a liability on the base paths at 5-foot-11, 220 pounds. Additionally, he failed to raise his average above the "Mendoza Line" twice in his career (He barely cleared that hurdle in 1969, finishing with a .204 mark). The reason the Tigers kept him around for so long was his ability to come off the bench and hit. The trend was set in 1963 when he delivered a pinch home run in his first major league at-bat. He added 15 more over the course of his career for an all time ranking of #5 in that category. He currently resides among the top ten in pinch-hits with 107. His .462 pinch-hit average in 1968 was the third highest in history behind Ed Kranepool and Frenchy Bordagaray. During one particular game in '68, Brown admitted to being in the process of secretly eating a pair of hot dogs on the bench when he was summoned by manager Mayo Smith to pinch hit. He stuffed one of the franks under his jersey and the ketchup seeped through as he stood on first base after hitting safely.

EARL WEBB

The record books are full of "one year wonders" and Webb is perhaps the most wondrous of all. Discarded by four major league teams, the lefty-swinging right fielder was thirty-two years old when he arrived in Boston for the 1930 slate. Soft-spoken and shy, he was known to duck inside buildings to avoid being noticed on the street. This wasn't really a problem for him until 1931, when he set the all time record for doubles in a season with 67. To date, only five other players have collected as many as 60 in a season. All of them are dead. And Webb's record has not been challenged since 2000, when Todd Helton of the Rockies ended up with 59. Sportswriters in Boston sarcastically referred to Webb as "The Earl of Dublin" and complained that he deliberately "stretched triples into doubles." In Webb's defense, he was painfully slow afoot, stealing just 8 bases over portions of seven seasons. In 1931, Fenway Park in Boston was even quirkier than it is today with a ten-foot embankment in front of the left field wall (known as "Duffy's Cliff") and a 550-foot expanse from home plate to deepest center field. According to one historian, at least 10 or 15 of Webb's doubles that year were a result of misplays by visiting outfielders on the treacherous left field embankment. "Outfielders would come tumbling down the cliff and [Webb would] be jogging into second when he could have been on third," commented one scribe. Whatever the case, at least one writer referred to Webb's record as a "stunt" and he received little acclaim for it. He managed just 28 doubles the following year and his shaky defense ended his career after the 1933 campaign. Webb once referred to himself as "The All American Stumbler" in the outfield. He has since faded into relative obscurity.

Island of Lost Teams (Part IV--The Montreal Expos)

Pro baseball was being played in Montreal as early as 1890 with entries in the International Association. The Montreal Royals of the Eastern League lasted for twenty seasons and were later revived as a Dodger farm club in 1939. The team was sold and relocated in 1960, prompting city officials to rally for a major league franchise. A bid was placed at the 1967 winter meetings. Dodger owner Walter O'Malley, who was chairman of the expansion committee, endorsed the proposal and convinced his peers to do the same. In May of '68, it was officially announced that teams would be added in San Diego and Montreal for the '69 campaign. The Expos' team name was derived from the Expo 67 World's Fair, which had been held in Montreal. Under pressure from league officials, club owners settled on Jarry Park as a home. The 30,000 seat venue would remain the site of home games until 1977, when the club moved into Olympic Stadium.

The Expos finished below .500 in each of their first ten seasons. Fan interest reached an all time low in 1976, when the club ended up 46 games behind the Phillies and averaged less than 8,000 paying customers per game. Things began to turn around in the late-'70s with the addition of several future Hall of Famers--outfielder Andre Dawson, catcher Gary Carter and first baseman Tony Perez. Tim Raines--a borderline Hall of Famer--made his debut in 1980 as the Expos finished among the top three teams in the division for five straight years.

In 1981, a players strike caused the season to be split into halves. Montreal won the NL East in the second half, earning the first postseason berth in franchise history. They faced the Dodgers in the NLCS and held a 2 games to 1 advantage before losing the last two meetings. Game 5 was decided on a two-out ninth inning homer by Rick Monday. The Expos never made it back to the postseason though they came close. In 1994, they had the best record in the majors at 74-40 when another strike wiped out the rest of the campaign.

Over the years, the Expos developed a reputation for being unable to hang onto their best players. Among the prominent stars to depart were Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Andres Galarraga (to name just a few). The '94 players strike angered fans in Montreal and attendance slumped mightily. When Jeffrey Loria took over as managing general partner, he made an earnest attempt to revitalize the club, even going so far as to lay plans for a new stadium. As Loria increased his share of the revenue, the other minority owners failed to follow suit. Despite Loria's efforts, the Expos posted the lowest attendance figures in decades during the 2001 slate. Major League baseball sought to oust the Twins and Expos after the season was over and owners voted 28-2 in favor of the move. But both teams survived through legal means.

The Expos played their last season in 2004. With the loss of fan favorite Vladimir Guerrero to free agency, there were few stars left on the roster. The club got off to a horrific 5-19 start then never got back on track, finishing at 67-95. In late-September, MLB officials announced that the club would be moving to Washington in 2005. The last home game was played on September 29 and resulted in a humbling 9-1 loss. The club ended its tenure in Montreal with a sub-.500 record.