Cooperstown Chronicles - Harry Stovey

Ryan LesterMay 5, 2008

Photo courtesy of TSN Archives/Icon SMI

I’ve decided to profile Harry Stovey. Here are my findings.

The Numbers
1486 Games
6138 At Bats
.289 Batting Average
1492 Runs (66th All-time)
1771 Hits
347 Doubles
174 Triples (21st)
122 Home Runs
908 RBI
663 Walks
509 Stolen Bases (33rd All-time)

Awards

Top Ten Finishes
Batting Average - Six Times
On-Base % - Seven Times
Slugging % - Eight Times (Led league in 1883, 1889 & 1891)
OPS -Eight Times
Games - Twice (Led league in 1885)
At-Bats - Three Times
Runs - Ten Times (Led league in 1883, 1884, 1885 & 1889)
Hits - Four Times
Total Bases - Eight Times (Led league in 1883, 1889 & 1891)
Doubles - Nine Times (Led league in 1883)
Triples - Seven Times (Led league in 1880, 1884, 1888 & 1891)
Home Runs - Eleven Times (Led league in 1880, ‘83, ‘85, ‘89 & 1891)
RBI - Five Times (Led league in 1889)
Extra-Base Hits - Ten (Led league in 1880, ‘83, ‘84, ‘89 & 1891)
Walks - Eight Times
Stolen Bases - Five Times (Led league in 1886 & 1890)

TOP NEWS

Harry is one of the forgotten players of the Dead Ball Era. He played for the Worcester Ruby Legs, Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Reds, Boston Beaneaters, Baltimore Orioles, and the Brooklyn Grooms. He was consistently one of the best sluggers in the game. He was alos one of the games best basestealers. His real last name was Stowe, but he used the alternative surname to keep his family from finding out. He strung together nine straight 110+ run seasons. He had 509 career stolen bases despite not having any recorded until he was 29 and six years into his playing career. He was the first player to hit 100 career Home Runs. His Black Ink and Gray Ink ratings are all above what you typically need to be enshrined. I don’t know why he was overlooked, but to me clearly he is deserving of enshrinement into the Hall of Fame.

References
Baseball-reference.com
Baseball Library

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