James Robert "
Loafer"
McAleer (July 10, 1864 – April 29, 1931) was an American
center fielder,
manager, and
stockholder in
Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the
American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the
Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the
Cleveland Blues,
St. Louis Browns, and
Washington Senators. Shortly before his retirement, he became a major shareholder in the
Boston Red Sox. His career ended abruptly. During his brief tenure as co-owner of the Red Sox, McAleer quarreled with longtime friend and colleague
Ban Johnson, president of the American League. In the wake of this disagreement, he sold off his shares in the Red Sox and broke off his relationship with Major League Baseball. (
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Frederick Leonard Clark (March 19, 1914 – December 5, 1968) was an American film and television
character actor, often cast in authoritative roles. (
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Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in
Major League Baseball who later served as a spy for the
Office of Strategic Services during
World War II. He played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four
American League teams, though he was never more than an average player and was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball."
Casey Stengel once described Berg as "the strangest man ever to play baseball." (
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Nicholas James Adenhart (August 24, 1986 – April 9, 2009) was an American
right-handed baseball
starting pitcher who played parts of two seasons in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In just four career games, Adenhart pitched 18 innings and posted a win-loss record of 1–0. (
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James Francis Thorpe (
Sac and Fox (Sauk):
Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the
Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in the
1912 Summer Olympics (one in
classic pentathlon and the other in
decathlon). He also played
football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and professional basketball. (
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Dennis Joseph "
Dan"
Brouthers (; May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American
first baseman in
Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from
1879 to
1896, with a brief return in
1904. Nicknamed "
Big Dan" for his size, he was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and weighed 207 pounds (94 kg), which was large by 19th-century standards. (
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Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 – April 19, 2020), nicknamed
Dalko, was an American left-handed
pitcher. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in
baseball history and had a
fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h). Some experts believed it went as fast as 110 mph (180 km/h), others that his pitches traveled at less than that speed. As no
radar gun or other device was available at games to measure the speed of his pitches precisely, the actual top speed of his pitches remains unknown. Regardless of its actual speed, his fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". Such was his reputation that despite his never reaching the major leagues, and finishing his minor league years in class-B ball, the 1966
Sporting News item about the end of his career was headlined "
Living Legend Released." (
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Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955, ), nicknamed "
the Old Fox", was an American
Major League Baseball (MLB)
pitcher,
manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the
St. Louis Browns (1891),
Boston Reds (1891), and
Chicago Colts/Orphans (1893–1900). He then served as
player-manager for the
Chicago White Stockings (1901–1902) and
New York Highlanders (1903–1907). (
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Sanford Koufax (; né
Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "
the Left Arm of God", is an American former
baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in
Major League Baseball for the
Brooklyn/
Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, as well as the first major sports star on the
West Coast, Koufax was the first three-time winner of the
Cy Young Award, each time winning unanimously and the only pitcher to do so when a single award was given for both the leagues; he was also named the
National League Most Valuable Player in 1963. Retiring at the age of 30 due to
chronic pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in
1972 at the age of 36, the youngest player ever elected. (
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George Edward Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American
pitcher in
Major League Baseball (MLB). A
left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the
Louisville Colonels,
Pittsburgh Pirates, and
Chicago Orphans in the
National League, as well as the
Philadelphia Athletics and
St. Louis Browns in the
American League. Born in
Bradford, Pennsylvania, and raised in Prospect, Pennsylvania, Waddell was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1946. (
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Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the
Brooklyn /
Los Angeles Dodgers team in
Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to the
West Coast, moving the Dodgers from
Brooklyn to Los Angeles despite the Dodgers being the second most profitable team in baseball from 1946 to 1956, and coordinating the move of the
New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of
Kansas City, Missouri. In 2008, O'Malley was elected to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball. (
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Lee Arthur Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional
baseball pitcher who played 18 years in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a
relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant
closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400
saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when
Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of
2019 by the
Today's Game Era Committee. (
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Orval Leroy Grove (August 29, 1919 – April 20, 1992) was an American
pitcher in
Major League Baseball who played for ten seasons in the
American League with the
Chicago White Sox. In 207 career games, Grove pitched 1,176
innings and posted a
win–loss record of 63–73, with 66
complete games, 11
shutouts, and a 3.78
earned run average (ERA). (
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Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American
baseball left and
right fielder who played in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the
New York Yankees. He was best known as a member of the Yankees' championship teams of the 1920s, nicknamed "
Murderers' Row", during which time the team won its first six
American League (AL) pennants and first three
World Series titles. (
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James Rodney Richard (March 7, 1950 – August 4, 2021) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire career in
Major League Baseball as a right-handed
starting pitcher for the
Houston Astros from 1971 to 1980. Richard led the
National League (NL) twice in
strikeouts and was named an NL
All-Star player in
1980. (
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Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional
baseball player. Nicknamed "
The Wizard of Oz", Smith played
shortstop for the
San Diego Padres and
St. Louis Cardinals in
Major League Baseball, winning the
National League Gold Glove Award for defensive play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons. A 15-time
All-Star, Smith accumulated 2,460
hits and 580
stolen bases during his career, and won the National League
Silver Slugger Award as the best hitter at shortstop in 1987. He was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2002. He was also elected to the
St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2014. (
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Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a
Panamanian-American former professional
baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for the
New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "
Mo" and "
Sandman", he spent most of his career as a
relief pitcher and served as the Yankees'
closer for 17 seasons. A thirteen-time
All-Star and five-time
World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in
saves (652) and
games finished (952). Rivera won five
American League (AL)
Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three
Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL
Cy Young Award four times. He was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its
class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and is to date the only player ever to be elected unanimously by the
Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). (
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Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional
baseball player who became the first African American to play in
Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the
color line when he started at
first base for the
Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson heralded the end of
racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated
black players to the
Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1962. (
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Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (July 7, 1902 – August 11, 2005) was a professional baseball player in the
Negro leagues. An accomplished
two-way player, he played as a
pitcher and a
catcher, became a manager, and in his old age became a popular ambassador for the game. He is one of only a handful of professional baseball players who lived past their 100th birthdays, next to
Red Hoff (who lived to 107) and fellow Negro leaguer
Silas Simmons (who lived to age 111). (
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Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional
baseball player who became the first African American to play in
Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the
color line when he started at
first base for the
Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson heralded the end of
racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated
black players to the
Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1962. (
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Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional
baseball outfielder and
manager in
Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the
Cincinnati Reds (1956–1965),
Baltimore Orioles (1966–1971),
Los Angeles Dodgers (1972),
California Angels (1973–1974), and
Cleveland Indians (1974–1976). In 1975, Robinson became the first
Black manager in big-league history, as the
player-manager of the Indians. (
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Leroy Robert "
Satchel"
Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American
professional baseball pitcher who played in
Negro league baseball and
Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame. (
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Saturnino Orestes "Minnie" Armas Arrieta Miñoso (,
Spanish: [miˈɲoso]; November 29, 1924 – March 1, 2015), nicknamed "
the Cuban Comet", was a Cuban
professional baseball player. He began his baseball career in the
Negro leagues in 1946 and became an
All-Star third baseman with the
New York Cubans. He was signed by the
Cleveland Indians of
Major League Baseball (MLB) after the 1948 season as
baseball's color line fell. Miñoso went on to become an
All-Star left fielder with the Indians and
Chicago White Sox. The first
Afro-Latino in the major leagues and the
first black player in White Sox history, as a 1951
rookie he was one of the first Latin Americans to play in an MLB All-Star Game. (
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