Sports History

Born July 21, 1881, in Troy, New York, was Baseball Hall of Fame Second Baseman Johnny Evers. Evers was part of the World Series Champion teams of 1907, 08 as a member of the Chicago Orphans/Cubs. In 1914 Johnny won the National League and the World Series MVP honors with the Boston Braves. He later served as the manager of the Chicago Cubs and went again tho the World Series. Evers was a smart ball player but he also had a salty temperment that he sometimes took out on umpires. Evers was a part of a great double-play combination with Joe Tinker and Frank Chance, which was immortalized as "Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance" in the poem "Baseball's Sad Lexicon". Evers was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946.

Born July 1, 1888, in Anderson, South Carolina was Baseball Hall of Fame First Baseman, Ben Taylor. He was a star on the Indianapolis ABCs and managed the Washington Potomacs, and Baltimore Black Sox in the Negro Leagues. Taylor also played for the Birmingham Giants, Habana,New York Lincoln Giants, Chicago American Giants, St. Louis Giants, Bacharach Giants, and Harrisburg Giants. Most famously following a 1915 season in which he hit .308, he set Cuba ablaze, hitting .500 in winter league play. He took that hot bat into the 1916 championship season. Ben went 11-for-18 in the World Series, stealing three bases in five games.

Born August 7, 1886, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, was Baseball Hall of Fame Manager Bill McKechnie. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman during the dead-ball era. McKechnie was the first manager to win World Series titles with two teams. This man led the 1925 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, and the 1940 Cincinnati Reds and then was a coach in the 1948 World Series on the Cleveland Indians staff. remains one of only two managers to win pennants with three teams, also capturing the National League title in 1928 with the St. Louis Cardinals. His 1,892 career victories ranked fourth in major league history when he ended his managing career in 1946, and trailed only John McGraw's NL total of 2,669 in league history.

Born August 3, 1894, in San Francisco, California, was Baseball Hall of Fame Outfielder Harry Heilmann. This legend was the American League batting champion four different seasons as a member of the Detroit Tigers. Slug, as he was known,played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers (1914, 1916–1929) and Cincinnati Reds (1930, 1932). He was a play-by-play announcer for the Tigers for 17 years from 1934 to 1950. Heilmann held a .380 batting average, .452 on-base percentage, .583 slugging percentage, and averaged 116 RBI, 41 doubles, 11 triples, and 104 runs scored per season. From 1919 through 1930, Harry also hit over .300 for 12 consecutive seasons.

Born July 17, 1917, in Harvey, Illinois, was Baseball Hall of Fame Shortstop, Lou Boudreau. Lou was known by many nicknames: "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", were all part of the identity of this great ball player. The MLB legend was an eight-time All-Star, a World Series, and American League MVP in 1948 for the Cleveland Indians. He won the 1944 American League (AL) batting title (.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. Lou was served as the manager for Cleveland, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Athletics's.

Born November 11, 1898, in Framington, Massachusetts, was Baseball Hall of Fame Third Baseman Pie Traynor. This legend was a two-time MLB All-Star and a member of the 1925 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Traynor spent his entire 17-year career with the Pirates batting a respectable .320 with 58 career home runs and 1273 RBIs. Pie was the National League leading third basemen in putouts seven times, in double plays four times, and in assists three times. He even managed the Pittsburgh club for six seasons in the late 1930s.

How does one get a nickname like "Pie." For Traynor, it was because, as a child, every time he entered the local grocer with his mother, the youngster would ask for a piece of pie.

Born August 27, 1970, in Peoria, Illinois, Baseball Hall of Fame infielder Jim Thome. The big man played in Major League Baseball for 22 seasons (1991–2012). Jim played for six different teams throughout his career, most notably the Cleveland Indians. A prolific power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the eighth-most all time—along with 2,328 hits, 1,699 runs batted in, and a .276 batting average. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1996. Thome won the Roberto Clemente Award in 2002 as a roster member of the Cleveland Indians and was the 2003 National League HR leader 2003 while part of of the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Born November 8, 1896, in Port Jervis, New York, was Baseball Hall of Fame Second Baseman and Manager Bucky Harris. This legend played for the Washington Senators for ten seasons, even helping them to claim the 1924 World Series crown as a player/manager, and then spent his final two years as a member of the Detroit Tigers. His career batting average was .274, and he batted in 508 runs in the MLB. Harris stayed in baseball as a manager, and it was this part of his career that got him into the Hall of Fame after 29 productive years on the job as he not only won World Series glory in '24 but also helped the New York Yankees to the title in 1947 as their skipper.

Born December 7, 1947, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Johnny Bench was a Baseball Hall of Fame catcher. This legend was a fourteen-time MLB All-Star. He was voted as the NL MVP, and he was on the roster of two Cincinnati Reds World Series Championship teams, where he has the Series MVP in one of them. Bench was also the Sporting News Player of the Year, and to compliment his hitting, he won ten Gold Gloves from behind the plate. As a well-rounded player, Johnny twice led the National League in home runs and thrice in RBIs. At the time of his retirement in 1983, he held the major league record for most home runs hit by a catcher.

Born November 18, 1975, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was Baseball Hall of Fame Designated Hitter David Ortiz. This legend was a ten-time MLB All-Star and won three World Series Championships. Ortiz was also a Silver Slugger winner and a Home Run Derby Champion. His explosive power with a bat in his hand helped elevate the Boston Red Sox to the top spot in the MLB rankings for much of his career. 541 Career Home Runs with 2472 hits and a .286 Batting Average make David Ortiz a great player in the game's history. Ortiz played for the Minnesota Twins and the Red Sox during his 20-year career in the Bigs.