Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Bobby Wallace, and yes, this is another player who played during the Dead-Ball Era. In a career that spanned 25 seasons, Wallace played for the former Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos, St. Louis Browns, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Initially a Starting Pitcher, pitching in a rotation along Cy Young, he didn’t light the world on fire with his pitching, which led the Spiders to move him to a position. 

Career Statistics (1894-1918):

.268 BA 2,309 HITS 34 HR 1,121 RBI 1,057 RUNS .332 OBP

The reason why the Spiders decided to move him was his athleticism; being athletic also helped Wallace play for 25 years. Initially, he moved to Third Base, where he had his best offensive season in 1897. He fielded the position well having a Fielding Percentage .30 points above the league average in the span of 3,655 Innings. However, his strong arm and spectacular ranger were perfect for Shortstop. He spent 15,836 Innings at the position his lifetime .938 Fielding Percentage was multiple points above the league average. His 6,303 career Assists are 14th all-time, and his 4,142 career Putouts are 10th all-time among Shortstops. 

Offensively, Wallace had some good years, driving in 100 RBIs twice and batting over .300 twice. Wallace also finished top-10 in RBIs eight times. However, his defense is what made him great. In 1911, a year in which he batted .232, the owner of Pirates Barney Dreyfuss called him “The best player in the American League, the only man I would get if I could, plays on a tail-end team, and few people pay any attention to him. I mean Bobby Wallace of St. Louis. I wish I had him” because his defense was so good.

Historically, great defensive Catchers and Shortstops have gotten into the Hall of Fame despite not being overwhelmingly great offensively. The fact that he was so good defensively at a premier position is why he was able to play until the age of 44. His 25-year career is a record for a player who never appeared in a World Series game. In 1953, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee. Despite playing his last game well over 100 years ago, he’s still regarded as one of the greatest defensive Shortstops ever.

References:

  1. Bobby Wallace via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Wallace_(baseball)#
  2. Bobby Wallace Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wallabo01.shtml
  3. Schul, Scott. via SABR: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bobby-wallace/