Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hall of Fame Teammates

Hall of Fame Teammates
by
Kenneth Matinale
July 19, 2008
Carl Hubbell struck out five future Hall of Famers in the second All-Star Game in 1934: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. I wondered if that had ever been done in a regular season game.  I found 109 teams that had at least five Hall of Fame players in the same season.
The Yankees are the only team with nine: 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1933.  Ironically, only the 1932 team finished first, also winning the World Series.  Here are the players in 1930:
First
Last
Pos
Earle
Combs
OF
Bill
Dickey
C
Lou
Gehrig
1B
Lefty
Gomez
P
Waite
Hoyt
P
Tony
Lazzeri
2B
Herb
Pennock
P
Red
Ruffing
P
Babe
Ruth
OF

As you can see, four were pitchers.  Here are the 1931-1933 HoF players:
First
Last
Pos
Earle
Combs
OF
Bill
Dickey
C
Lou
Gehrig
1B
Lefty
Gomez
P
Tony
Lazzeri
2B
Herb
Pennock
P
Red
Ruffing
P
Babe
Ruth
OF
Joe
Sewell
3B

Hoyt is replaced by Sewell, the veteran Cleveland SS who became the Yankees regular thirdbaseman in 1931-1933.
The only teams with eight HoFers: 1928 and 1934 Yankees.  The 1934 players:
First
Last
Pos
Earle
Combs
OF
Bill
Dickey
C
Lou
Gehrig
1B
Lefty
Gomez
P
Burleigh
Grimes
P
Tony
Lazzeri
2B
Red
Ruffing
P
Babe
Ruth
OF

Veteran pitcher Grimes replaced Pennock and Sewell retired.  The 1928 players:
First
Last
Pos
Earle
Combs
OF
Stan
Coveleski
P
Bill
Dickey
C
Lou
Gehrig
1B
Waite
Hoyt
P
Tony
Lazzeri
2B
Herb
Pennock
P
Babe
Ruth
OF

Maybe we should not include pitchers.  Striking out the pitcher would not be much of an accomplishment and Hubbell struck out only position players.  There were 34 seasons in which teams had at least five HoFers, excluding pitchers.  Pardon the franchise names as the New York Giants have been transposed to their west coast location.
Count
teamID
yearID
franchName 
W
L
Rank
DivWin
WCWin
LgWin
WSWin
7
NY1
1923
San Francisco Giants
95
58
1
N
N
Y
N
7
NY1
1924
San Francisco Giants
93
60
1
N
N
Y
N
7
NY1
1925
San Francisco Giants
86
66
2
N
N
N
N
7
NY1
1926
San Francisco Giants
74
77
5
N
N
N
N
7
NYA
1931
New York Yankees
94
59
2
N
N
N
N
6
NY1
1886
San Francisco Giants
75
44
3
N
N
N
N
6
NY1
1887
San Francisco Giants
68
55
4
N
N
N
N
6
NY1
1927
San Francisco Giants
92
62
3
N
N
N
N
6
NY1
1929
San Francisco Giants
84
67
3
N
N
N
N
6
NYA
1932
New York Yankees
107
47
1
N
N
Y
Y
6
NYA
1933
New York Yankees
91
59
2
N
N
N
N
6
PHA
1927
Oakland Athletics
91
63
2
N
N
N
N
6
PHA
1928
Oakland Athletics
98
55
2
N
N
N
N
5
BRO
1948
Los Angeles Dodgers
84
70
3
N
N
N
N
5
CHN
1930
Chicago Cubs
90
64
2
N
N
N
N
5
CHN
1931
Chicago Cubs
84
70
3
N
N
N
N
5
CHN
1935
Chicago Cubs
100
54
1
N
N
Y
N
5
DET
1936
Detroit Tigers
83
71
2
N
N
N
N
5
NY1
1885
San Francisco Giants
85
27
2
N
N
N
N
5
NY1
1888
San Francisco Giants
84
47
1
N
N
Y
Y
5
NY1
1893
San Francisco Giants
68
64
5
N
N
N
N
5
NY1
1922
San Francisco Giants
93
61
1
N
N
Y
Y
5
NY1
1928
San Francisco Giants
93
61
2
N
N
N
N
5
NY1
1930
San Francisco Giants
87
67
3
N
N
N
N
5
NYA
1928
New York Yankees
101
53
1
N
N
Y
Y
5
NYA
1929
New York Yankees
88
66
2
N
N
N
N
5
NYA
1930
New York Yankees
86
68
3
N
N
N
N
5
NYA
1934
New York Yankees
94
60
2
N
N
N
N
5
NYA
1951
New York Yankees
98
56
1
N
N
Y
Y
5
PIT
1926
Pittsburgh Pirates
84
69
3
N
N
N
N
5
PIT
1927
Pittsburgh Pirates
94
60
1
N
N
Y
N
5
PIT
1933
Pittsburgh Pirates
87
67
2
N
N
N
N
5
PIT
1934
Pittsburgh Pirates
74
76
5
N
N
N
N
5
PIT
1939
Pittsburgh Pirates
68
85
6
N
N
N
N

We've already seen the 1931 Yankees.  Here are the 1923 Giants:
First
Last
Pos
Dave
Bancroft
SS
Frankie
Frisch
2B
Travis
Jackson
SS
George
Kelly
1B
Bill
Terry
1B
Hack
Wilson
OF
Ross
Youngs
OF

Hack Wilson played for the Giants in 1923 (three games), 1924 (107) and 1925 (62).  Who knew?  Bancroft played SS for the Giants from 1920-1923. Jackson was the Giants SS most seasons from 1924-1934 then played third for his final two seasons, 1935-6.
1924-1925 Giants:
First
Last
Pos
Frankie
Frisch
2B
Travis
Jackson
SS
George
Kelly
1B
Freddie
Lindstrom
2B
Bill
Terry
1B
Hack
Wilson
OF
Ross
Youngs
2B

OK, not big names but Frisch got many of his teammates into the Hall.
So did any five Hall of Fame teammates ever strike out in order in one game?  Beats the heck out of me but if anyone wants to do the research ...


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