Next up on the Hall of Fame Inductee hit parade is former New York
Giants player Ross Youngs, who was inducted into the Hall by the
Veteran's Committee in 1972, and not without controversy.
Take a look at my card design card first:
Now while the man had a very productive, yet short and tragic
career, baseball historians such as Bill James cite Youngs as one of the
"questionable" inductees selected by his cronies Bill Terry and
Frankie Frisch who led the committee then.
Along with other inductees around this time (Jesse Haines, George
Kelly, Chick Hafey, Dave Bancroft), Youngs does indeed seem like he
falls a bit short of true Hall of Fame standards.
Granted, if not for the tragic fact that Youngs died at the age of
30 of "Bright's Disease", he may have well put up some serious
Hall-worthy numbers.
But as it stands, in his abbreviated ten-year career, he batted
.322 while collecting 1491 hits, 812 runs scored and 592 runs batted in,
with 153 stolen bases over 1211 games and 4627 at-bats.
He posted two 200-hit seasons, scored 100+ runs twice, drove in
100+ once and batted .350+ twice before his illness ended his career in
1926.
While the numbers he put up season to season were above average, it
does leave you scratching your head compared to the careers of some
other guys.
Nevertheless, his former manager John McGraw considered him one of
his favorite players, and even opposing player and fellow Hall of Famer
Burleigh Grimes commented that Youngs was the best player he ever saw.
