(Entry No. 14)

Can You Name This Week’s Mystery Player?

How well you do know your old-time players?

My goal with this feature is to shine our baseball spotlight on some very good players from days gone by who have been overshadowed by the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Speaker, Hornsby, Grove, Greenberg, Robinson, Paige, Gibson, and Williams, among many other superstars the game has produced. Hopefully, we can give them a little exposure before they are totally lost over the passage of time. 

As always on Baseball History Comes Alive, we can have some fun while enhancing our baseball history learning experience. Each entry will include a short description of the player and highlights from his career. Some of the entries might require you to do a little research on your own. I might even add a personal comment or two about him.

Player Identity: Wes Ferrell

So as to give everyone a chance to guess without the player’s identity being immediately revealed, send me your answer via e-mail instead of leaving your answer in the comments section. Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com.

This week’s Mystery Player:

I’m hoping to have a little fun with this week’s Mystery Player combined with next week’s. I’m calling this a two-part Mystery Player quiz, so stay tuned and you’ll soon see why.

In addition to being a very good 1930s-era player, our Mystery Player was a known “heart-throb” (as they used to say back then) to the female fans. Check out this caption from his photo in Baseball’s Golden Age, The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon:

In December 1938, the famous baseball photographer Charles Conlon made a proposal to The Sporting News: “It seems to me that a discussion among your readers on ‘Who’s the handsomest player in the majors?’ might prove interesting. Quite a number of the boys would qualify in Hollywood if good looks were the only requirement.” A poll was conducted and the winner was [this week’s Mystery Player]. Conlon later commented that he thought it was the hair that won the contest for him (see the featured photo above!).

From Wikipedia: 

He played 15 seasons in the majors from 1927 through 1941. Primarily a starting pitcher, he played for the Indians, Red Sox, Senators, Yankees,  Dodgers, and Braves.

Over his career, he went 193-128 (.601). He started 323 games, completed 227, leading the league four times in this category, and tossed 17 shutouts. He pitched 2623 innings over his career, topping 300 innings twice. He led the league three times in innings pitched, with a high of 322.1 in 1935.

He retired with the seventh-highest winning percentage (.601) among pitchers with at least 300 American League decisions (for teams that never won the pennant). In addition, he’s considered one of the best hitting pitchers of all time, with a career average of .280. A known hot-head with a short fuse, he was a fiery competitor and a brilliant player with natural talent, whose achievements may have been obscured by his irascible temperament. 

This week’s bonus questions:

1. His brother __________ in the Hall of Fame. 

2. He is the only pitcher since 1900 to win ________ games in each of his first four full major league seasons.

3. He holds the major league record for home runs hit by a pitcher with ________.

4. He also holds the single-season home run record hit by a pitcher with ________.

Extra Credit Question:

I said this week’s Mystery Player was once voted “the most handsome player in the majors.” So take a guess as to what next week’s Mystery Player was once voted? (Big Hint: He was NOT considered very good-looking!).

Good luck! 

If you’d like to take a stab at identifying these players, please send me your answers via email. But feel free to add any thoughts or personal reflections you might have about him in the comments section below. Remember you don’t have to answer everything to submit an answer. Just give it your best shot!

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com

At the end of the week, I’ll post the names of everyone who go the correct answers, including the winner, the first one to get it right. 

Last Week’s Winners:

Congratulations to: 

William Carter

William Carter gets his first win in our ongoing Mystery Player series. He was the first to identify last week’s Mystery Player correctly and also answer all the bonus questions correctly.

The Mystery Player was:

Jocko Conlan

Answers to the Bonus Questions:

Jocko’s hometown was Chicago; He played centerfield for the White Sox; he was the last National League umpire to use the outside balloon chest protector; he was known for his run-ins with Leo “The Lip” Durocher. 

The following also identified the Mystery Player and correctly answered the bonus questions:

Terry Farmer, Everett Shockley, Paul Doyle, Michael Nobel, Bob Rambo, Dennis Dillard, Mike Bresina, Bill Cunniff.

The following identified the Mystery Player correctly but not all the bonus questions:

Ed Cassidy, Rod Nelson, Bryan Hanson, Mark the Mayor, Don Stokes.

Thanks to all who have participated!

Click here to see previous Mystery Player entries