Cooperstown Chronicles - Bobby Veach

Ryan LesterMay 3, 2008

Photo courtesy of TSN Archives/Icon SMI

I’ve decided to profile Bobby Veach. Here are my findings.

The Numbers
1821 Games
6656 At Bats
.310 Batting Average
953 Runs
2063 Hits
393 Doubles
147 Triples (56th All-time)
64 Home Runs
1166 RBI
571 Walks
195 Stolen Bases
271 Sacrifice Hits (24th All-time)

TOP NEWS

Awards

Top Ten Finishes
Batting Average - Six Times
On-Base % - Four Times
Slugging % - Five Times
OPS -Five Times
Games - Five Times (Led league in 1920 & 1922)
At-Bats - Eight Times
Runs - Four Times
Hits - Eight Times (Led league in 1919)
Total Bases - Eight Times
Doubles - Eight Times (Led league in 1915 & 1919)
Triples - Eight Times (Led league in 1919)
Home Runs - Four Times
RBI - Ten Times (Led league in 1915, 1917 & 1918)
Walks - Once
Extra-Base Hits - Seven Times
Hit By Pitch - Three Times (Led league in 1917)

Bobby Veach is one of the only players with 200+ hits and a .310+ batting average that isn’t in the Hall of Fame. He was an RBI machine in a time when scoring wasn’t at a premium. He put up incredible numbers in the Dead Ball Era and had his two finest seasons following it in 1921 & 1922 when he averaged 204.5 hits, 38.5 Doubles, 13 Triples, 12.5 HRs, 127 RBI, and a .333 Batting Average. Unfortunately for Veach he was 34 in 1922. He had one more fine year for the Red Sox in 1924 when he drove in 99 runs. One of the most impressive stats he produced was ten straight seasons of double-digit triples. He has more than enough points based on the Grey-Ink Scoring for Hall of Fame entry. It may have been easy to overlook Veach because he played with the likes of Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann, and Heinie Manush, but any guy who is good enough to pinch hit for Babe Ruth is good enough for me. OK, that’s not the only reason I say he’s Hall of Fame worthy, but it is an interesting tidbit.

References
Baseball-reference.com
BR Bullpen

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Bert Byleven
Andre Dawson
Dale Murphy
Mark McGwire
Bobby Matthews
Tommy John
Buck O’Neill & Minnie Minoso
Jim Rice
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Jack Morris
Al Oliver
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Jim Kaat
Pete Ro$e
Shoeless Joe Jackson
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Lou Whitaker
Alan Trammell
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Tony Mullane
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Harold Baines
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Rusty Staub
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Jimmy Ryan
George Van Haltren
Roger Maris
Lance Parrish
Mo Vaughn
Mark Grace
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Chuck Finley
Fred McGriff
Wes Parker
Steve Finley
Orlando Cepeda*
Albert Belle
Willie Randolph
Graig Nettles
Luis Gonzalez
Lefty O’Doul
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Boog Powell
Jerry Koosman
Mike Cuellar
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Brooks Robinson*
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John Franco
Maury Wills
Sherry Magee
Phil Rizzuto*
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