Here's one of those Hall of Fame players that you can easily forget
about, partly due to the fact that he played the bulk of his career in
the late-1890's, yet when you look over his stats you'll see some
SERIOUS numbers: former first baseman Jake Beckley:
Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1971 by the Veteran's Committee,
Beckley was no "questionable" pick like some of the past few I've
profiled here on my "Hall of Fame" thread.
"Eagle Eye", as he was nicknamed, was one of the best first-sackers the game ever saw in it's early years.
Over the course of 20-years in the Major Leagues between 1888 and
1907 playing for the Pirates, Giants, Reds and Cardinals, Beckley
amassed almost 3000-hits (2934), scored over 1600 runs (1604), drove in
over 1500 runs (1578), and slapped almost 250 career
triples (244)!
A career .308 hitter, Beckley also totaled 473 doubles and 315
stolen bases in 2389 games and 9538 at-bats while hitting 87 home runs,
which was a very nice number in those days.
At the time of his retirement he played more games at first than
anyone, and STILL ranks second all-time behind fellow Hall of Fame
player Eddie Murray (2389 to 2413)!
He's also #1 in career putouts at first base to this day with 23,731 and led his league in the category six times.
Like I said, some serious baseball numbers for the guy.
