Why I love this game V...
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:14 pmJimmy Archer
As a catcher, he could remain squatting and still throw out runners attempting to steal second base due to his unique arm strength, which became his trademark, acquired from the healing of burns that shortened his muscles after an industrial accident in which Archer fell into a vat of boiling sap at the age of 19.
Otto Miller
Miller was also a participant in World Series history in the fifth inning of game 5 of the 1920 World Series. He was tagged by Cleveland Indians 2B Bill Wambsganss for the third out in the only unassisted triple play in World Series history. Miller died in Brooklyn, New York at the age of 72, when he fell from a hospital window after eye surgery.
Nig Clarke
On June 15, 1902, while playing for the Corsicana Oil Citys of the Texas League, Nig allegedly hit eight home runs against the Texarkana Casketmakers in a game that Corsicana won by the remarkable score of 51–3. The home runs were said to be helped by the stadium they played in that day because Corsicana's blue laws forbade Sunday baseball in Oil City Park, the regular home of Corsicana. Clarke's other claim to fame was as the catcher of a perfect game on October 2, 1908 for Addie Joss. It was only the fourth perfect game in Major League Baseball history, and Nig Clarke later remarked, "I wish it would have been the last." In the first half of the 20th Century, before the game was integrated, ball players with a dark complexion were sometimes nicknamed "Nig." In addition to Clarke, the following other major league players bore the nickname: Johnny Beazley (1941–49), Joe Berry (1921–22), Bobby Bragan (1940–48), Nig Cuppy (1892–1901), Nig Fuller (1902), Johnny Grabowski (1923–31), Nig Lipscomb (1937), Charlie Niebergall (1921–24), Nig Perrine (1907), and Frank Smith (1904–15).
Earle Coombs
Nicknamed "the Kentucky Colonel", Combs was known as a great gentleman on and off the field. Miller Huggins once said: "If you had men like Combs on your ballclub, you could go to bed every night and sleep like a baby." Joe McCarthy (another longtime Yankee manager) said: "They wouldn't pay baseball managers much a salary if they all presented as few problems as did Earle Combs." Said Babe Ruth: "Combs was more than a good ballplayer. He was always a first-class gentleman." American sportswriter and baseball historian Fred Lieb wrote of Combs, "If a vote were taken of the sportswriters as to who their favorite ballplayer on the Yankees would be, Combs would have been their choice." Combs' induction into the Hall of Fame in 1970 was by the Veterans Committee. Upon his induction he said, "I thought the Hall of Fame was for superstars, not just average players like me."
As a catcher, he could remain squatting and still throw out runners attempting to steal second base due to his unique arm strength, which became his trademark, acquired from the healing of burns that shortened his muscles after an industrial accident in which Archer fell into a vat of boiling sap at the age of 19.
Otto Miller
Miller was also a participant in World Series history in the fifth inning of game 5 of the 1920 World Series. He was tagged by Cleveland Indians 2B Bill Wambsganss for the third out in the only unassisted triple play in World Series history. Miller died in Brooklyn, New York at the age of 72, when he fell from a hospital window after eye surgery.
Nig Clarke
On June 15, 1902, while playing for the Corsicana Oil Citys of the Texas League, Nig allegedly hit eight home runs against the Texarkana Casketmakers in a game that Corsicana won by the remarkable score of 51–3. The home runs were said to be helped by the stadium they played in that day because Corsicana's blue laws forbade Sunday baseball in Oil City Park, the regular home of Corsicana. Clarke's other claim to fame was as the catcher of a perfect game on October 2, 1908 for Addie Joss. It was only the fourth perfect game in Major League Baseball history, and Nig Clarke later remarked, "I wish it would have been the last." In the first half of the 20th Century, before the game was integrated, ball players with a dark complexion were sometimes nicknamed "Nig." In addition to Clarke, the following other major league players bore the nickname: Johnny Beazley (1941–49), Joe Berry (1921–22), Bobby Bragan (1940–48), Nig Cuppy (1892–1901), Nig Fuller (1902), Johnny Grabowski (1923–31), Nig Lipscomb (1937), Charlie Niebergall (1921–24), Nig Perrine (1907), and Frank Smith (1904–15).
Earle Coombs
Nicknamed "the Kentucky Colonel", Combs was known as a great gentleman on and off the field. Miller Huggins once said: "If you had men like Combs on your ballclub, you could go to bed every night and sleep like a baby." Joe McCarthy (another longtime Yankee manager) said: "They wouldn't pay baseball managers much a salary if they all presented as few problems as did Earle Combs." Said Babe Ruth: "Combs was more than a good ballplayer. He was always a first-class gentleman." American sportswriter and baseball historian Fred Lieb wrote of Combs, "If a vote were taken of the sportswriters as to who their favorite ballplayer on the Yankees would be, Combs would have been their choice." Combs' induction into the Hall of Fame in 1970 was by the Veterans Committee. Upon his induction he said, "I thought the Hall of Fame was for superstars, not just average players like me."