Here were my 25:
Alexander Cartwright
Babe Ruth
Ban Johnson
Branch Rickey
Candy Cummings
Cap Anson
Charles Comiskey
Christy Mathewson
Connie Mack
Cumberland Posey
Curt Flood
Ed Barrow
Ford Frick
George Steinbrenner
Henry Chadwick
Honus Wagner
Jackie Robinson
John McGraw
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Marvin Miller
Roberto Clemente
Rube Foster
Satchel Paige
Ty Cobb
Walter O'Malley
Notes on some selections:
- Alexander Cartwright is one of numerous people to be credited with founding baseball. Most of you know that baseball wasn't invented as much as it evolved from other games (most notably rounders) but Carwright had an influential hand in starting baseball as an American game. He established the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1842, and would guide the development of "Knickerbocker Rules" which contained much of the same rules used today. They were the first rules to include foul territory, and they set up the field to be in the shape of a diamond, rather than a square which was used for rounders.
- Ban Johnson took over the Western League in 1894, and turned the struggling minor league into a major power, and eventually the American League in 1901. Anyone familiar with baseball history can tell you how many leagues failed in the late 19th century, yet one league succeeded in competing with the National League, and Johnson was the driving factor behind the league's success.
- Candy Cummings is credited with inventing the curve ball. According to Cummings, as a youth growing up in Ware, Massachusetts, he observed the way that shells curved when he threw them into water. He began to think about being able to force that curve onto a baseball. He reportadly threw the first ever curveball during a game in Worcester in 1867. Assuming that his story is true (and many baseball minds believe it is) he certainly changed baseball forever.
- Cap Anson isn't going to win any humanitarian awards, but he has to go down as one of the most important baseball people ever. During the fledgling years of the National League, many historians and contemporaries at the time believed that the league would have folded if not for the success of the Chicago franchise. From the orginal teams that formed the league, only Chicago and Boston (Braves) made it past 5 years. Anson was the first real baseball star, the leagues best player and manager, and his power within the game allowed him to make demands like refusing to take the field against black players. He was also an innovative manager, as his teams were the first to utilize such staples as having a third base coach, having fielders back up one another, using the rotation of pitchers (just two of them, of course) and the hit and run play.
- Charles Comiskey was a player-manager of the St. Louis franchise in the American Association, leading them to four straight titles in the 1880s. He also claimed to be the first 1B to play off the bag (a claim also made by Anson). As an owner, he deserves a lot of the credit, along with Ban Johnson, for founding the American League. Comiskey Park was considered one of the first truly modern baseball stadiums, and even him being a huge cheapskate greatly influenced baseball.
- I chose Mathewson and Wagner because of their influence on the game not necessarily on a talent basis, but because of their appeal. During that time period, baseball was a game for roughnecks, drunks and firebrands. Both Wagner and Mathewson, in addition to being all-time great players, brought a touch of class and proffesionalism to the game. Mathewson in particular, might have been baseball's first true superstar, and he also wrote the watershed "Pitching in a Pinch", perhaps the first real insider autobiography by a former player.
- Cumberland Posey played briefly for the Homestead Grays, beforing moving up into management and eventually owning the team in 1920. He turned the Grays into one of the most powerful negro league teams, and his team won eight out of the nine Negro National League championships. He was the most aggresive front office executive of his era, and probably the most important Negro League executive behind Rube Foster.
- Henry Chadwick was a sports writer who is pretty much the father of baseball statistics. He is credited with divising the first ever baseball box score, which appeared in 1859. He also invented the term "K" for a strikeout. He is credited with devising the metrics of batting average as well as ERA. He was also one of the first historians of the game and disputed the claim that Abner Doubleday founded the game.
One of the hard things I had coming up this list was figuring out how to attribute major events to people. While Jackie Robinson was obviously very important to the integration of the game, you can't really credit him without talking about Rickey. Same can be said for Miller and Flood. Steroids have had a profound effect on baseball, but who gets the credit for it's importance. Canseco for being the whistleblower? Selig for looking the other way? Bonds or McGwire for utilizing PED's the best?
