Description
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Johnny Evers
Died: March 28, 1947 (aged 65) in Albany, New York
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 125 lbs.
Positions: Second Baseman
Played For:
As player
Chicago Orphans/Cubs (1902–1913)
Boston Braves (1914–1917)
Philadelphia Phillies (1917)
Chicago White Sox (1922)
Boston Braves (1929)
As manager
Chicago Cubs (1913, 1921)
Chicago White Sox (1924)
Biography:
Known as one of the smartest ballplayers in MLB, Evers also had a surly temper that he took out on umpires. Evers was a part of a great double-play combination with Joe Tinker and Frank Chance, which was immortalized as “Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance” in the poem “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”. Evers was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946. An excellent bunter, accomplished base stealer, and pesky left-handed hitter who usually had the National League’s best walk-to-strikeout ratio after his first few seasons in the big leagues, Johnny Evers was considered one of the Deadball Era’s smartest and best all-around players. He was just as well known for his fiery disposition. The star second baseman’s nickname, “The Human Crab,” was originally bestowed on him due to his unorthodox manner of sidling over to ground balls before gobbling them up, but most baseball men considered it better suited to his temperament than his fielding. A 5’9″, 125-pound pepper-pot with a protruding jaw that came to be a symbol of the man – for he was always “jawing” about something – Evers developed a reputation as a troublemaker by squabbling regularly with teammates, opponents, and especially umpires. “They claim he is a crab, and perhaps they are right,” Cleveland Indians manager Joe Birmingham once observed. “But I would like to have 25 such crabs playing for me. If I did, I would have no doubts over the pennant. They would win hands down.”
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Evers
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/eversjo01.shtml
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/efe76f7c
