2020: The MLB Hall of Fame’s doleful year
Seven members of the MLB Hall of Fame have died this year, with Phil Niekro being the latest
The Baseball Hall of Fame has never experienced a year like 2020. And if it is very fortunate, it never will again, either.
Forget the cancelled induction ceremony and the greatly diminished crowds, both brought about by Covid-19. This weekend’s death of Phil Niekro brings to seven the number of baseball immortals who went the way of all flesh this calendar year. It marks the worst death toll since the Hall was created.
Beyond that, five of the seven were first-ballot selections, and a sixth — Whitey Ford – was elevated in his second year on the ballot.
As a group, their contributions to the game’s lore may be unmatched. They won a collective 14 World Series rings and 1,116 games, got 8,547 base hits, struck out 12,055 opposing batters, captured eight stolen base crowns, one batting title, a Rookie of The Year, three MVPs and six Cy Young Awards.
All Star Game appearances? Don’t even ask. OK, ask. There were 68 of them.
It is probable that never in the Hall’s history has so much of its history been taken from it in one year. In fact only twice in that history have as many as five inductees died in the same year. And it is a subject for strong debate whether the loss during either of those other two years was a deep and uniformly talented.
Here’s a look back at the six most dolorous years since the Hall was established in the mid-1930s.
1948 (4)
Technically only two sitting MLB Hall of Famers died in 1948. The story of the other two amounts to a pair of one of those sad accidents of timing that come along from time to time.
Herb Pennock won 241 games during his 22-season career as a left-handed ace with the Athletics, Red Sox, and Yankees. With the latter, he was a member of the 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1932 World Series winners. In five postseason appearances, he was 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA.
In retirement, Pennock served as general manager of the Red Sox. When the Hall was created, he was a frequent also-ran only once obtaining more than half the votes of the writers’ panel.
He died in January of 1948, while the voting was underway. When the results were announced later that month, Pennock had soared to 77.7 percent, two votes more than the number needed to secure his posthumous induction.
One month later, in February, former Cubs pitcher Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown died at age 71. In 1946, Brown’s Hall candidacy had peaked at 27.7 percent. He was not even included on either the 1947 or 1948 ballots.
But following Brown’s death, the Hall’s Old Timers Committee turned a fresh eye to his 2.06 career ERA, two World Series championships, and 239 victories. He was quickly elected.
Brown’s teammate, shortstop Joe Tinker, died in July. Tinker had been elected two years earlier.
Then in August, the Hall lost its biggest name. Babe Ruth succumbed to throat cancer. An original Hall member from the Class of 1936, Ruth held the record for home runs in a season (60) and career (714), and had a career .342 average. Naturally his death overwhelmed in attention those of all previous Hall of Famers.
1971 (4)
Only three of the current MLB Hall of Famers who died in 1971 had been inducted by the time of their deaths. Three – two of them former teammates once traded for one another — died within eight days of one another in May.
The first to go was Elmer Flick, a star of the first decade of the 20th Century with Cleveland and the Philadelphia Phillies. Two days short of his 95th birthday on his Jan. 9 passing, Flick was the 1908 American League batting champion. He led the National League in RBIs (100) in 1900 and had been elected by the Veterans Committee in 1963.
On May 12, 1920s and 30s American League slugger Heinie Manush died. The 1926 batting champion with Detroit, (.378), Manush batted .330 over a 17-year career with the Tigers, Browns, Senators, Dodgers, and Pirates. A member of the 1933 American League pennant winning Senators, he was a Veterans Committee selectee in 1964.
Three days later, Manush’s former teammate in the Senators outfield, Goose Goslin, died. Goslin batted .316 for 18 seasons. In June of 1930, the Senators traded Goslin to the St. Louis Browns for Manush and pitcher Alvin ‘General’ Crowder.
Five days after Goslin’s passing, former Cuban and Negro League star Martin Dihigo died in his native land of Cuba. Denied the opportunity to play in the majors by his skin color, Dihigo was posthumously inducted in 1977 by the Negro Leagues Committee.
1972 (6)
Technically only five of the six MLB Hall of Fame playrs to succumb in 1972 were inductees at the time of their deaths. The sixth was still active and thus ineligible at the time of his death.
This group also includes perhaps two of the most honored Hall inductees of all time.
The first to go was Zack Wheat, the great Dodger slugger of the World War I era. He had been elected by the Veterans Committee in 1959.
Five days later, Pirates third baseman Pie Traynor died at age 73 in Pittsburgh. The writers inducted Traynor along with Pennock in his eighth year on the ballot. One year earlier, Traynor had fallen two votes short; in 1948 he made it with two to spare.
On Oct. 9, Hall of Fame shortstop Dave Bancroft died at age 81. He had been elected a few months earlier by the Hall’s Veterans Committee, and inducted in July.
Just two weeks later, the Hall lost probably its most famous member when Jackie Robinson, who broke the game’s color barrier in 1947, died from complications of diabetes. A first-ballot inductee in 1962, Robinson had won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, and the 1949 Most Valuable Player Award.
The sixth MLB Hall of Famer to die in 1972 was not a Hall of Famer at the time of his death because he remained an active player. On New Year’s Eve, Pirate legend Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash while ferrying emergency supplies to earthquake ravaged residents of Nicaragua. Clemente, a member of the 3,000 hit club, was inducted following a special election a few months later.
A seventh Hall of Famer died in 1972, but he was not a player. In August, former Yankee general manager George Weiss died. Weiss led the Yankees to annual pennants between 1949 and 1953, then again from 1955 through 1958 and finally in 1960. His 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956 and 1958 teams won the World Series.
Forced to retire following the 1960 World Series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Weiss signed as general manager of the expansion New York Mets. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971.
1984 (5)
This was the second year in which five seated MLB Hall of Famers passed in the same 12-month calendar. As a group, however, the class is less distinguished than either the 1972 or 2020 groups.
The first to go was Stanley Coveleski, a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in the 1920s. The Veterans Committee had elected Coveleski in 1969 in recognition of his 215 career victories and 2.89 career ERA.
Coveleski was one of two Veterans Committee honorees that year. The other, former Yankee pitching great Waite Hoyt, died Aug. 25. Hoyt was 237-182 pitching mostly for New York, including in a starring role during the Babe Ruth years.
On Sept. 7, former American League President Joe Cronin died. Probably the greatest shortstop in the history of the Washington Senators, Cronin had been elected in 1956, his 10th year on the ballot. He was also a manager with the Senators and Boston Red Sox, where he also did a stint as general manager. Cronin’s 1933 Senators and 1946 red Sox both won pennants.
Walter Alston died Oct. 1. A player for part of one season, Alston won fame as manager of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1954 through 1976. His Dodger teams won 2,040 games along with seven pennants and the 1955, 1959, 1963, and 1965 World Series.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 13, George ‘High Pockets’ Kelly died at age 89. A long-time first baseman for the John McGraw New York Giants, Kelly batted .297, but won the sympathies of the Veterans Committee in 1973. His nickname came from his height: Kelly stood 6-4.
1999 (4)
Although four MLB Hall of Famers died in 1999, only one of them ranks among the game’s true elite. That one is Joe DiMaggio, who died March 8 at the age of 84.
Many are surprised to learn that DiMaggio was not a first-ballot selectee. He was actually elected by the writers in 1955, his fourth year on the ballot. DiMaggio won the 1939 and 1940 batting titles, was a three-time most Valuable Player and had a role in nine Yankee World Series winners.
One month later, long-time pitcher Early Wynn died. He was 79. A 300-game winner on the number, Wynn watched for the Senators, Indians, and White Sox. He is best recalled for his leadership role on pennant winning staffs in Cleveland (1948 and 1954) and Chicago (1959). The writers elected him in 1972.
That August, Dodger shortstop great Pee Wee Reese died at age 81 in Louisville, his lifetime home town. Inducted by the Veterans Committee in 1984, Reese was a career .269 hitter, prompting criticism of diminishing Hall standards from those who felt an immortal should have a higher batting average.
Then on Sept. 14, former Oakland and Yankee pitcher Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter died of ALS. Elected in 1987 in his third year on the ballot, Hunter had won 224 games and played a leading role on World Series winning Oakland teams from 1972 through 1974. He was also a member of Yankee World Series winners in 1978 and 1979.
2020 (7)
The toll taken on the MLB Hall of Fame during 2020 begins on April 6 when Tiger legend Al Kaline died at age 85. A first-ballot inductee in 1980, Kaline had been named on 88 percent of the ballots. An 18-time All Star, he was the American League batting champion in 1955 (.340) at the tender age of 20 years, 280 days. That was 12 days younger than Ty Cobb had been won he won his first batting title in 1907.
Within a five-week span, the baseball world has lost four more greats. Tom Seaver died on Aug. 31. A 311-game winner and 1966 Rookie of the Year, Seaver was the ace of the 1969 World Series winners. When he became a first-ballot inductee in 1992, it was with 425 of the 430 votes, a record for any selectee at the time.
Only a week after Seaver’s passing, the baseball world was saddened again when Cardinal outfielder Lou Brock died. An eight-time stolen base champion, Brock set the record in 1974 with 118 steals. He was a force on Cardinal World Series winning teams in 1964 and 1967.
Brock’s teammate on those great Cardinal teams, Bob Gibson, died less than a month later on Oct. 2. A 251-game winner for St. Louis, Gibson was almost literally unbeatable in World Series play. He won seven of nine decisions, averaged 10 strikeouts per start, and had a career 1.89 World Series ERA.
Gibson was elected by the writers in his first year of eligibility in 1981.
Whitey Ford, who died in October, won 236 games and played a role in seven Yankee World Series winners: 1950, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1962. He won the 1961 Cy Young Award with a 25-4 record.
Morgan died Oct. 12, marking the first time that the Hall had lost six sitting members in the same year. A two-time World Series winner with the 1975-76 Reds, he had 2,517 base hits. In both of those World Championship seasons, Morgan was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 with 82 percent of the vote.