#37 Gus Suhr

Gus Suhr was born in San Francisco in 1906, and shortly afterwards moved to Millbrae, California, where he would call home for 65 years. He was signed by the San Francisco Seals of the PCL in 1925, and quickly became one of the league top hitters. Originally a second baseman, Suhr lead the PCL with 64 doubles in 1926. In 1929, he batted .381 with 51 home runs and 177 RBI (the PCL played more games than their Major League counterparts). On the strength of this season, Suhr, now a first baseman, was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
After an outstanding rookie season in 1930, Suhr slumped in '31 and was benched. He returned to in 1932 and stayed there, embarking on a consecutive-games played streak that would reach a then-record in the NL of 822 games before his mother's death forced him to miss a game. Over this stretch, Suhr was a solid first baseman both at the plate and in the field. Possessing decent power and a good eye, Suhr's best season was 1936, when he bated .312 along with 118 RBI and 112 runs scored, being named to the National League's All-Star team. He batted .294 for Pittsburgh in 1938, and halfway through a 1939 season that saw him hit .304, Suhr was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Max Butcher. After a poor start and limited action in 1940, Suhr called it quits and returned to California. During World War 2, he joined up again with the Seals in the PCL, playing three more years. His major league totals include a .279 lifetime batting average and 1446 hits. He, at the time of this blogging, still holds the Pirate record for most games at first base.
After his playing days ended, Suhr operated a liquor store in Millbrae. He moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1990, and was a frequent attendee to spring training games there. In 2002, he appeared at a Piitsburgh Pirate game at PNC Park where the Pirates honored the surviving Pirates who were All-Stars. Suhr happily spent the day enjoying the game and signing autographs. Suhr died in 2004 just a few weeks past his 98th birthday.
The Autograph: Nothing rare about this one at all. 98 years is a long life, and he was in good health and always signed. I do like how Suhr crossed out the incorrect sentence on the back of the card.

#36 Buck Leonard

Walter "Buck" Leonard was born in 1907 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He was unable to attend high school as black were not allowed to in the South at that time. His father, John, died in the influenza epidemic, and Buck was forced to go to work to support his family. He went to work in a textile mill and later as a railroad station shoeshine boy. He played some semi-pro baseball at this time, but when he lost his railroad job, he signed with the Brooklyn Royal Giants in the Negro Leagues. From there, he moved to the legendary Homestead Grays where he became the greatest first baseman in the Negro Leagues. He was a teammate of Josh Gibson, and the two sluggers were dubbed "The Thunder Twins" and were compared to their white Yankee contemporaries, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. During World War 2, Leonard lead the Grays to four-consecutive Black World Series appearances.
In the years before Jackie Robinson's days with the Dodgers, Leonard, along with Gibson, was approached by Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith about signing with the AL team. Griffith wound up getting cold feet about being the first team to sign black players, and relented. Shortly after Robinson's debut with Brooklyn, St Louis owner Bill Veeck offered a contract to Leonard, but at 40 years of age, Leonard turned him down, claiming he was to old to play in the Major Leagues.
After the Grays disbanded, Leonard played from 1951-55 in the Mexican League, interrupted by a brief appearance with Portsmouth in the Piedmont League. This stint was Leonard's only appearance in organized baseball. (The Negro Leagues, with its haphazard scheduling and record keeping, is not recognized by professional baseball as "organized").
After Leonard's final game in Mexico at 48 years of age, he returned to Rocky Mount, where he worked as a truant officer and later a gym teacher. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1972. Leonard suffered a stroke in 1986, and he was forced to learn to write with his other hand. He was a regular fixture at Negro League events through the 1980's and 90's, and enjoyed years of recognition and adulation (including being the honorary captain for the NL in the 1994 All-Star Game) before dying in 1997 at the age of 90.
The Autograph: This is a good example of his post-stroke autograph. Pre-stroke autographs are not hard to find, but they are definitely not as common as the later versions. He did a lot of card shows over the years, and also was very generous in his through-the-mail habits.

#35 Carl Hubbell

Born in 1903 in Carthage, Missouri, Carl Hubbell came to the major leagues later than most star players, but when he arrived, he made an impact on the game the few would ever make.
Hubbell was a star pitcher in high school, as the left-hander had a good fastball and curveball. After graduation, he pitched in the Oklahoma State League for a few years, and after 1925 his contract was purchased by the Detroit Tigers. By this time, he was developing a pitch that broke the opposite way as a conventional curveball. The pitch, now known as the "screwball" but in earlier years made famous by Christy Mathewson as the "fadeaway," was thrown by twisting the wrist in the opposite direction. Ty Cobb, the player/manager for the Tigers at the time, forbid the youngster from throwing the pitch, claiming he would hurt his arm. Without his best pitch, Hubbell faltered in spring training and was shipped out by the Tigers to the minor leagues.
While pitching in Beaumont, Texas, Hubbell was permitted to throw the screwball, and he quickly became a dominant pitcher in the league, and was purchased by the New York Giants and John McGraw. Hubbell joined the Giants in mid-1928 at age 25, and quickly made an impact, winning 10 games and posting a 2.83 ERA. In the next four seasons, he won no less than 14 games in a season, and quickly became the ace of the Giants. In 1933, he won 23 games and posted a 1.66 ERA, winning the NL MVP award and leading the Giants to a World Championship. This was the first of 5 consecutive seasons of 20 wins, including 1936 when he lead the Giants to another pennant with a 26-6 record and a 2.31 ERA, winning his second MVP award. The Giants returned to the World Series in 1937 as Hubbell went 22-8. In 1938, Hubbell was slowed by arm trouble, having bone chips removed from his elbow. Now 35, his career was in decline, but still showed occasional signs of brilliance, including a few one-hitters. Hubbell's career, 16 years in all, came to an end in 1943 at the age of 40. He won 253 games with a .622 winning percentage, and a career 2.98 ERA.
After his retirement, Hubbell was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947. He became the director of the Giants farm system until a stroke in 1977. He retired to Arizona, where he lived the remainder of his life. He died in November of 1988 as the result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident. Carl Hubbell, the "Meal Ticket," was 85.
Of course, it would be tough to discuss Hubbell without mentioning the 1934 All-Star Game. King Carl turned in one of the most memorable performance in baseball history, striking out five of baseball's legendary players in succession: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. This single event is what makes Carl Hubbell's name familiar to casual fans of the game today.
In 1985, my parents dispatched me across the country from Detroit to Phoenix to visit with my best friend, whose family moved out there a few years earlier. At 14, it was fun to travel by myself. I felt very adult. While in Phoenix, me and my friend Paul tried to contact Carl Hubbell to see if we could stop by and visit (helived in nearby Mesa). I spoke to him on the phone, but he said he didn't feel up to accepting visitors. Oh well, worth a shot.
The autograph: Hubbell autographed everything. As I overheard some autograph hound claim, in jest but probably in truth as well, Hubbell "would sign toilet paper if you sent it to him."


Below, Hubbell throws out the first pitch at the 1984 All-Star Game. Below that, Hubbell stops by the locker room to talk with Juan Marichal.

A Bad Week

To this point of my blog, only two of the 34 players I featured were still alive. Then this past week those two players died. The first was Bob Feller, and then a couple days later Phil Cavarretta. Their blog entries have been updated to include their death. I do not know how to blog a moment of silence, or else I would.

#34 Babe Herman

Floyd Caves "Babe" Herman is one of long list of baseball characters, but was also one of the most feared hitters of his era. Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1903, Herman's family moved to California at an early age. As scouts caught word of the teen's hitting ability, Herman was signed to a minor league deal with Edmonton in 1921. His hitting caught the attention of Ty Cobb, who was managing the Detroit Tigers, and was invited to the club's spring training in 1922. Despite a decent showing, he could not crack into the Tigers outfield and was farmed out. In 1925, he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. He joined the Dodgers in 1926, and quickly became a fan favorite.
Herman batted .319 in his rookie year, with 11 home runs, a .500 slugging percentage and a 16th-place finish in the NL MVP voting. He played most of the season at first base, but his fielding was atrocious, committing 14 errors in 101 games. In 1927, he had over 21 errors, and Brooklyn moved him to the outfield. As Brooklyn's rightfielder, he quickly gained the reputation as the worst fielder in the game, committing over 10 errors in five of his first 6 seasons roaming the outfield. Fresco Thompson, a teammate of Babe's, said of Herman: "He wore a glove for one reason: because it was a league custom."
It was easy to forgive his defensive shortcomings, though, because the man could hit. He batted .340 in 1928, followed with a .381 and a .393 average, both of which placed him second in the NL Batting race. Aside from his .393 average in 1930, he also belted 35 home runs and batted in 130 runs. After 1931, he was sent to the Cincinnati Reds where he batted .326 and led the senior circuit in triples. He was then dealt to the Cubs where his career began to tail off. In 1935, he began the season with Pittsburgh, and was sent back to the Reds. In 1937, at 34 years of age, he hung it up after a 17 games with the Tigers. He played for Hollywood in the PCL until World War 2 came around. With major league rosters depleted as player were out fighting the war, Herman returned to the Dodgers in 1945 at 42 years of age. He played in 37 games before finally calling it a career. He finished with a .324 lifetime average, 1818 hits at 997 RBI.
Herman's legacy is not his hitting, or even his poor fielding. It was his colorful personality and amiable charisma. His most notable moment was occurred in 1926. With Hank DeBerry on third, Dazzy Vance on second and Chick Fewster on first with no one out, Herman lined one into the gap. DeBerry scored the go-ahead run easily. Vance held up a moment to see if the ball was to be caught by the fielder, but when he saw it was going to fall in, took off for third and headed home. Fewster was running on the pitch, and Herman was chugging away full speed. As Herman hit second base, he chose to try and stretch the double into a triple. Unfortunately for Herman, Fewster held up at third and Herman slid in well ahead of the throw, only to find Fewster standing on the base. To make matters even worse, also sliding into third base from home plate was Vance, who thought the throw was headed home and returned to third. Of course, the base went to the lead runner (Vance) and both Fewster and Herman were called out for passing the runner. Babe Herman became the only player in history to ever double into a double play. Despite this a numerous other gaffes in his career, Herman was the first player to hit for the cycle three times, and also hit the first home run in a night game in 1935.
After his playing days ended, Herman served as a scout for 22 years. In the mid 1980's, Babe suffered a series of strokes that limited his mobility. Finally, in November of 1987, Herman died of pneumonia at the age of 84.
The Autograph: Herman signed whenever he was physically able, but his strokes limited his abilities by the time I got this card signed, probably at most a year before his death.

In the photo below, Babe Herman and Larry French ponder a new career behind the camera.

#33 Billy Herman

William Jennings Bryan Herman was born in New Albany, Indiana in 1909, and broke in with the Chicago Cubs in 1931, where he became a fixture at second base for many years to come. He batted .314 in his first full season as the Cubs won the 1932 pennant. 1934 was the first of 8 seasons that saw Herman selected to the National League All-Star team, and he was one of the most reliable players in the senior circuit. In 1935, he had a league-best 227 hits and 57 doubles as the Cubs rolled to another pennant, but lost the World Series again.
By 1940, Herman's numbers began to wane, and he saw himself traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Charlie Gilbert and John Hudson. Aided by a depleted talent pool due to World War 2, Herman rebounded in 1943 to hit .330 (2nd in the NL) but next season, at age 34, he joined the military and missed 1944 and '45.
At 36 years of age, it was unexpected that Herman would return from the war as a player, but he played most of 1946, splitting time between Brooklyn and the Boston Braves, playing second, third and first base. He batted a respectable .298. He was traded to Pittsburgh before the 1947 season, and was named player-manager, although he played in only 15 games hitting a paltry .213. He was also relieved of managerial duties before the end of the season as the Pirates went 61-92 under his leadership. It was not his last day on the bench, but his days at the plater were over. His career totals include a lifetime .304 average and over 2300 hits.
Herman moved on to manage in the minor leagues for a few seasons, until he was brought on by the Dodgers as a coach in 1952, followed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1958. In 1960, he became the third base coach for the Boston Red Sox, and in 1964, was named the Red Sox manager for the last two games of the season as the Sox fired Johnny Pesky. The Red Sox fared no better under Herman in 1965, as they lost 100 games and the Sox finished in 9th. Herman was fired partly through the 1966 season.

Billy Herman was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975 by the Veterans Comittee. He died in 1992 of cancer.

The Autograph: Herman was a regular through-the-mail signer, as well as a frequent signer at Hall of Fame ceremonies, spring training and conventions. His autograph is very common.

Where You Been?

I am not dead, but my scanner is.

But I will return.