I was combing through all of my old baseball cards when I came across something I had forgotten all about.

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He is probably the only player other than Gehrig who can reasonably be considered the greatest first baseman ever in terms of peak value. The reason I say that is that the other top contenders, most notably (Jimmie) Foxx and (Willie) McCovey, were the same type of players that Gehrig was, and thus they can be directly compared to him, a comparison that they clearly lose. But the man I’m referring to was a different type of player, he didn’t have the home run pop, but he hit for a higher average, was faster and a better defensive player than Gehrig, and the comparison between the two is not easy.-Bill James, The Historical Baseball Abstract.

Who, you ask, was this great first baseman?

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In 1922 a 31-year-old seemingly washed up fireballer hit the major league scene with ten years of minor league experience under his belt and an 0-4 record and 4.09 ERA from three failed trials with major league clubs. By the end of the season he would be Brooklyn’s second best pitcher behind Dutch Ruether and would embark on a 14-year odyssey that would see him become the National League’s strikeout king for the next seven consecutive seasons, as well as its MVP in 1924. This after recovering from an inflamed elbow diagnosed in 1916 that took exactly five years to heal, just as his doctor had predicted. Who, you ask, is this unlikely hero?

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While watching last night’s game in which the Red Sox copped their second World Series title in four years, Fox flashed a graphic on the screen that showed that Red Sox rookie Jon Lester was only the third pitcher in history to win the clinching game in his first postseason start, the others being W. Ford and T. Bonham. I immediately recognized both hurlers as Whitey Ford and Tiny Bonham and though I know plenty about Ford I’m only vaguely familiar with Bonham and only because he pitched in the Seamheads.com Diamond Kings Historical Fantasy League. So out of curiosity I thought I’d look into his career and his lone start, which came in Game 5 of the 1941 World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

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In 1913 San Francisco, an 18-year-old bookkeeper would see his fate take a serendipitous turn for the better simply because he had done a friend a favor and agreed to play a game of baseball for $10. Filling in for the Hanford team’s sick third baseman, the bookkeeper slammed an eleventh-inning double, winning the game, and earning the adulation of fans and a Northwest League scout who happened to be in attendance. The scout signed the teenager to a professional contract and the Hall of Fame career of outfielder Harry Heilmann was underway.

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