As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball's infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.

Class of 1983

Mike Cuellar - Can someone explain why Cuellar wasn't given a fighting chance to succeed at the major league level until he was almost thirty? Like Edgar Martinez, who lost years off his career languishing in the Mariners farm system in the early 1990s, the failure to spot Cuellar's potential earlier might well have cost him a shot at the Hall of Fame. As it is, four twenty win seasons, four All-Star appearances and a Cy Young award should have put him in the running anyway.

Larry Dierker - On my eighteenth birthday, I bought a pack of cigarettes (just because I could) and a scratch ticket. Larry Dierker got a much better present: the Houston Colt .45s tabbed him to make his major league debut. He didn't pitch well (two runs on five hits in 2.2 innings - at least he caught Willie Mays looking in the first), but at least he had a better day than Larry Yellen, the first man out of the bullpen: it was the fourteenth and final game of Yellen's major league career. In the late 1990s, the Astros surprised a lot of people when they hired Dierker out of the broadcast booth to manage the team; he returned the favor by leading Houston to four NL Central division titles in five years.

Pat Dobson - One of four Baltimore Orioles to win twenty games in 1971, Dobson only posted a winning record three times in an eleven-year career that saw him play for six different teams. He passed away in November, 2006.

Al Downing - Yeah, Al Downing was a solid major league pitcher, a twenty-game winner and 1967 All-Star. But more importantly, he is the answer to an important trivia question: who gave up Hank Aaron's record 715th homerun?

Joe Hoerner - Along with Willie Montanez and Cookie Rojas, Hoerner was one of three Bizarros involved in the famous Curt Flood trade in 1969. He made the All-Star team for Philadelphia the following year. His career numbers don't look exceptional, but he DID have four seasons with thirteen or more saves and three with a sub-2.00 ERA.

Randy Hundley - Say hello to the man who brought us Todd Hundley. The two could very well become the first father-son in the Bizarro Hall when Hot Todd becomes eligible in '09.
Carlos May - On first thought, I was very, very surprised that nobody voted for Carlos May for the Hall of Fame. Then I realized I was confusing Carlos, who had a couple of good seasons but nothing special, with his brother Lee (he of the 354 career homeruns and only three Hall of Fame votes). My bad. Carlos, however, WAS a first round draft pick.

Ken McMullen - Six teams, sixteen teams, never finished higher than 26th in MVP voting, was once part of a trade that involved Frank Robinson - guys like this are the reason the Bizarro Hall was created.

Bill Melton - Melton hit 33 homeruns in back-to-back seasons for the White Sox in 1970 and 1971, leading the league in the latter year. He bounced back from a 1972 injury with seasons of 20 and 21 homers, but his production steadily declined until the end of his career in 1977.

Gary Nolan - Nolan battled injuries for much of his career, but still had flashes of brilliance that included an 18-7 record in 1970 and two World Series rings with the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s.

Doug Rader - Thanks to my baseball card collection, I'll always remember Rader as the manager of the California Angels in the late 1980s. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found out that he had been a pretty good third baseman for the Astros a decade earlier, enjoying three seasons of 20+ homeruns and winning five consecutive Gold Gloves at the hot corner. He later played for the original Blue Jays in 1977. Ironically, the second most similar player to Rader on Baseball-Reference.com is Ken McMullen.

Cookie Rojas - Nothing stands out about Rojas' major league career at first glance - except for his FIVE All-Star appearances, four of them consecutively as a member of the Kansas City Royals. How did this happen? The Royals weren't bad during those years - on the contrary, they were actually pretty good. So...can anyone explain this? Were there no other second basemen in the American League? Was he a greater defensive player than his numbers indicate?

Diego Segui - David's dad didn't do much on the field, but his career is still full of fun little factoids. He played for the Athletics in the team's last season in Kansas City and first season in Oakland. He played for the Seattle Pilots during their only year of existence. He was a member of the original Seattle Mariners, appearing in forty games, which might make him the only man to play for both Seattle franchises. Fun stuff.

Bill Singer - Teams couldn't have enjoyed facing the California Angels in 1973: one day you get Nolan Ryan and his record 383 strikeouts, the next you're up against Singer and his 241 Ks. Both pitchers won 20 games that year, but Singer headed downhill after and was done as a player by 1977 (when he played for the first-year Blue Jays).

Jim Wynn - That Wynn isn't in the Hall of Fame isn't surprising. There isn't a lot of room in Cooperstown for .250 hitters with 1,400 career strikeouts. But the fact that not one writer voted for him is an absolute travesty. Overlooked, somehow, were his solid offensive numbers, which were compiled in a dreadful hitters park (the Astrodome) during a dreadful era for hitters (the late 1960s). Despite these obstacles, The Toy Cannon had three seasons with 30+ homers, four with 100+ runs scored, and two with 100+ RBI. He also stole 225 bases and walked over 1,200 times in his career (including a career-high 148 in 1969). The lack of consideration is inexcusable.

(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1982)

(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)

As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball's infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.

Class of 1984

Ron Fairly - A three-time World Series winner with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fairly was the only player to play for the original Montreal Expos in 1969 (he wasn't an original Original, joining the team via trade in June) and the original Toronto Blue Jays in 1977. His greatest individual performance came in the 1965 World Series against the Twins, when he hit .379 with two homeruns and probably would have won the Most Valuable Player award if not for a guy by the name of Koufax.

(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)

(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1983.)

Caution: this is not a blog about sports.

Last week, I profiled Eddie Grant, the U.S. Army Captain and former New York Giant who on October 5, 1918 became the first Major League Baseball player killed in time of war. At the time of his death, which came by way of a German artillery shell shortly before the end of World War I, Grant was taking part in a mission to rescue the "Lost Battalion", a group of 550 U.S. soldiers that had been cut off in the Argonne Forest and was in danger of being wiped out completely by German forces (in the end, only 194 survived).

Even while writing about Grant, I began to consider the upcoming Memorial Day and wonder if any other players, either retired or active, had given life for their country. We all know about the service records of Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg and countless other who sacrificed the best years of their careers to go to war, but had anyone besides Eddie Grant sacrificed something even greater?

The simple answer, it turned out, was yes. While Grant was the most accomplished major leaguer to be killed in combat, with ten respectable seasons under his belt, he was by no means the only one. Five others were killed in combat between 1918 and 1952, including two in the week following Grant's death. None played more than seven games at the major league level, and three only appeared in a single contest, but they were all retired veterans of Major League Baseball.

(Note: the six deaths do not include those of Ralph Sharman, who drowned in Alabama on May 24 1918, and Larry Chappell, who died of influenza on November 9, 1918. Both Sharman and Chappell had seen major league action during the 1917 season.)

Bun Troy (killed October 7, 1918 in Petit Maujouym, France) - the German-born Troy appeared in one game as a pitcher with the 1912 Detroit Tigers, making the start and allowing four runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Alex Burr (killed October 12, 1918 in Cazaux, France) - Despite some Internet sources that claim he died on his 25th birthday (November 1), Lieutenant Burr was killed nearly three weeks before that date when his burning plane crashed into a lake. According to the obituary in the Chicago Daily Tribune, his body was not immediately recovered. A cup of coffer player in the majors, Burr appeared in one game as a defensive replacement for the 1914 New York Yankees.

Elmer Gedeon (killed April 20, 1944 in St. Pol, France) - Captain Gedeon became Major League Baseball's first casualty of World War II when the bomber he was piloting was shot down over France; only his co-pilot escaped. His playing career consisted of five games as an outfielder for the 1939 Washington Senators.

Harry O'Neill (killed March 6, 1945 on Iwo Jima) - First Lieutenant Harry O'Neill, who played one game for his hometown Philadelphia Athletics in 1939, was killed just days before Iwo Jima was finally taken by the United States.

Bob Neighbors (missing in action, August 8, 1952 in North Korea) - Little is available online about Neighbors, a major in the Air Force, for the fact that he was shot down over North Korea in 1952 and his body was never recovered. His major league service time (seven games with the 1939 St. Louis Browns) was minimal, but still second only to Eddie Grant among those who were killed in action.

Memorial Day doesn't have to be a sad day. There is still time for barbecues and spending time with family and celebrating the arrival of another long-awaited summer. But while you're doing all those things, take a moment to remember Eddie Grant, Bun Troy, Alex Burr, Elmer Gedeon, Harry O'Neill, Bob Neighbors, and all the other brave soldiers who left to defend our country and never came home.

(For information on NFL players who have been killed in combat, check out Cold, Hard Football Facts.)

As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball's infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.

Class of 1985

Clay Carroll - One of baseball's best relief pitchers in the early 1970s, Carroll briefly held the major league record for saves in a season when he nailed down 37 contests for the Reds in 1972 (the mark was broken by Detroit's John Hiller the following year). A two-time All-Star, he boasted a 1.39 ERA in 22 career postseason games, including 1.33 in 20 1/3 World Series innings.

Ed Kranepool - Briefly a member of the original 1962 New York Mets as a 17-year-old first baseman (he appeared in three games), Kranepool spent all of his eighteen major league seasons with the team. As a result, his formative years were spent on some of the worst teams in major league history, but he was rewarded by being a part of the 1969 World Series winning Amazin' Mets and the 1973 team that lost to Oakland.

George Scott - Although the Red Sox finished a distant ninth in the American League in 1966, there was reason for hope in Boston: in addition to Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro and Rico Petrocelli, the lineup featured Scott, a slugging 23-year-old first baseman who hit 27 homeruns while making an All-Star Game appearance and finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting. He spent five more seasons in Beantown (and was a key member of the 1967 Impossible Dream team) before being traded to Milwaukee, where he enjoyed some of his finest seasons (1972-76).

Bobby Tolan - A forgotten member of the early Big Red Machine teams, Tolan's had his best seasons for the Reds in 1969 and 1970. He missed the 1971 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon, but returned the following year to help Cincinnati to the World Series. He played all seven games in his fourth Fall Classic (he also appeared in 1967 and 1968 with the Cardinals and 1970 with the Reds), hitting .269 with five stolen bases. For his efforts, Tolan received the 1972 Hutch Award, "given to an active player who best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire to win." Previous winners included Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski, Sandy Koufax, and Pete Rose. He later spent one season as manager of the independent Atlantic League's Nashua Pride.

Roy White - Like Ed Kranepool, White was a career-long New York player (for the Yankees) who survived some dark days before finally playing for several good teams in the late 1970s. He appeared in three World Series with the Yankees, hitting .333 in a 1978 win over the Dodgers.

(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1984.)

(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)

As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball's infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.

Class of 1986

Vic Davalillo - Davalillo spent the first 5+ years of his career as a Gold Glove-winning member of the Cleveland Indians outfield, then used that glove to hang on for ten more years with five more teams. After missing the entirety of the 1975 and 1976 seasons, he emerged in Los Angeles, where he spent four years as the oldest player in the National League before finishing his career in 1980. He retired with two World Series rings and a lifetime postseason batting average of .323.

Darold Knowles - Oh, to be young and a Washington Senator: in 1969, Knowles appeared in 53 games for the Senators, posting a 2.24 ERA with thirteen saves and 59 strikeouts. His won-lost record was 9-2. The next season, he appeared in 71 games, had a 2.04 ERA with 27 saves, and struck out 71 batters. His won-lost record was 2-14. The first year, he was an All-Star; the second, he got a three day mid-season vacation. Go figure. Moot point anyway - his best season was 1971 (5-1, 11 saves, 1.37 ERA). Also, it needs to be mentioned that Knowles was a member of the 1978 Montreal Expos pitching staff that included, at one time or another, at least SEVEN Bizarro Hall of Famers.

(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1985.)

(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)