| Hall of Fame |
Class of 1915
The new members of the BBC HOF: Elmer Flick, Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley and Rube Waddell. Elmer Flick was a top-notch hitter, winning the AL batting title in 1905, leading the league in runs in 1906, in RBI in 1900, in stolen bases twice, posting a .313 career average and 149 OPS+. Flick's career ended abruptly after his age 31 season, but before that he put up 10 seasons of all-star level performance. Wee Willie Keeler lived the mantra of "hit 'em where they ain't" and it served him well. Weighing in at just 140 pounds, Keeler hit the ball in front of, through and around fielders to reach base at a .388 clip with a .341 career batting average as the leadoff man of the 1890s Baltimore Orioles, then later Brooklyn and the New York Highlanders of the new AL. He slapped 2932 lifetime hits. Keeler won two batting titles and led the league in hits three times. Joe Kelley was the #3 hitter for the 1890s Baltimore Orioles, the power guy in the order. Kelley was the team's left fielder and then played for Brooklyn, then Cincinnati and Boston as player-manager. He posted a .317 lifetime average and .402 on-base. He did a good job defensively and posted a 133 OPS+. Rube Waddell had a fairly short career with a tremendous peak. One of the first true strikeout pitchers, Waddell was a hard-throwing lefty with a reputation for odd behavior. In a later era, he would probably have been labelled "retarded." At this supposedly less-enlightened time, he was allowed to play pro ball and live his own life and won 193 big-league games while driving manager Connie Mack to distraction. Waddell posted a 2.16 ERA and 134 ERA+ winning 20 in a season four straight times, leading the league in ERA twice and strikeouts six consecutive years. Voting Results 8 ballots cast: