Hard Coal Baseball - NEPA Hall Misses?

by Rich Lipinski

January brings the annual baseball writer’s ballot Hall of Fame voting results. The results bring much debate among many points of view. There are currently 269 former players inducted into the Hall. That number represents a little over 1% of all the players. The debate usually breaks down into three categories. The first of these arguments is the group that begins and ends every argument with a comparison to Willie Mays. This argument would have the Hall of Fame consisting of about 75 players; it’s this argument that kept Fred McGriff out of the Hall of Fame for 16 years. Out of the over 11,000 MLB Hitters, McGriff finished in the top 1% in home runs, hits, runs, runs batted in, extra base hits, and total bases. The second argument is that the size of membership is about right but there have been mistakes made in the past, so extreme care must be taken. This has led to a very low representation of players (47) who made their debut since divisional play started in 1969. The third argument eliminates some of the bias by using old and new numbers placed in a historical perspective. It’s not used often.

Historical Perspective

The Hall of Fame has one specific requirement, a 10-year playing career. The Major League Players Association states that under 2,000 of the over 22,000 players throughout 150 years of professional baseball have reached this plateau. About 1,300 of these players have been of the middle reliever, defensive infielder, or catcher and pinch hitter types. (Players like Tim Foli in the 70's and the recently retired Oliver Perez.) There have been roughly 700 significant MLB careers. When narrowing down the playing field, it is easier to make the argument that Jeff Kent is a lot closer to Joe Morgan, than he is to Neil Walker. Walker hit 149 homers and scored 611 runs over 12 seasons. According to Cooperstown expert researcher Jay Jaffe and his JAWs system Walker is the 103rd best 2nd baseman. On the other hand, there is Jeff Kent, who has been mired in 40% of the vote range heading into his final season of voting. According to JAWS he is the 20th best 2nd basemen in history and by WAR he is the 155th best player ever. It is this kind of voting that leads many people to believe that voters are going out of their way to come up with reasons not to vote for a player. There are many players whose candidacy needs a better and fuller review. There are many who played before the establishment of the Hall of Fame. Baseball had a 60-year run up to the Hall. Two World Wars, and a depression, along with no meaningful way to research a player until 25 years ago, has meant there have been many players lost to history. Jake Daubert of Shamokin and Jack Quinn of Jeansville are two such players.

Jake Daubert

Daubert was born in Shamokin 18, 1884 and used baseball as a way to escape the coal mines, which claimed his brother Calvin. Daubert played for 15 years for Brooklyn and Cincinnati; he passed away in 1924 while still an active player. According to his SABR Biography written by Jim Sandoval, Daubert was considered one of the best 1st basemen of the deadball era. During his time, he won an early version of the MVP Award in 1913. He was a two-time batting champion and was so well known he led a tour of Cuba in 1913. The Baseball Magazine All Star 8 times, the Sporting News compared him on different occasions to HOF players Hal Chase, Willie Keeler, Eddie Collins and Hal Chase. During his career he was elected President of the Baseball Players Fraternity. He was captain of both Brooklyn and Cincinnati, winning the World Series in 1919. According to Jaffe’s ranking he is the 57th best first basemen and baseball reference HOF monitor has him at 295. There is some debate over his cause of death. He was seriously beaned 8 times in his career including the 1924 season. He suffered the rest of the season and died in October of 1924. Years later, his son began to suffer from similar symptoms and it was discovered he had hereditary spleen disease. He is buried at Charles Barber cemetery in Pottsville. Daubert was elected to both the Reds and Dodgers Halls of fame after his death.

Jack Quinn

Jack Quinn was born John Quinn Picus on July 5, 1883 in Jeansville, PA. Quinn launched his major league career with the New York Yankees in 1909 when he was 24. He went on to spend 23 seasons in the major leagues with eight different teams. Jack relied mainly on his low-breaking spitball, which was a legal pitch at the time. He won 247 games and lost 218, also collecting 57 saves with a 3.27 ERA. Quinn helped the Yankees to their first pennant in 1921 and the A’s to two successive flags in 1929-30. His best season was 26 wins in 1914, but he won 18 three times, including an 18-7 mark and 2.90 ERA with the 1928 A’s at age 45.

Quinn played until he was 50 years old, with his final game being on July 7, 1933. He left the sport with several age-related records, including being the oldest major leaguer to win a game, to hit a home run, to lead his league in a major category (saves, in 1932), and to start a game in the World Series (with the Philadelphia Athletics, in 1929) and on Opening Day (with the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1931). After his MLB playing career ended, he played for a few years in the PCL.

Quinn died quietly on April 17, 1946 in Pottsville PA, and in time his baseball career was largely forgotten by all but baseball historians. According to Jaffe he is the 92nd best starting pitcher, his hall monitor rating on baseball reference is 215 and by WAR is listed at 68th among the nearly 11,000 pitchers in history. He is a member of the National Polish Sports Hall of Fame. The information on Quinn comes from Charles Faber’s SABR biography. There are other sources that dispute some of the personal details on Quinn.

The Hall of Fame is both an institution of history and a business. The business is drawing fans and a review of history will not increase attendance. Many of the people who cover the sport would probably mock the Hall if it did. Maybe someday the Hall will find a way to review the 100 or so players that have fallen through the cracks.

Please direct any comments to hardcoalbaseball@yahoo.com