Shoeless Joe Who?

To celebrate the White Sox' first World Championship since 1917, Rox Populi salutes the Chicago outfield of 1919---Jackson, Felsch, and Nemo Leibold.

Nemo Leibold.  Talk about great baseball names.

Rox acknowledges that this wasn't the best outfield ever, but they were pretty darn good.  Shoeless Joe was, of course, Shoeless Joe.  Leibold led the league in errors with 19, but he had 26 assists and hit .302.  Hap Felsch led the league in assists and drove in 86 runs, which was a lot in those days.  Jackson himself drove in 96.  The league leader was some kid in Boston who had 114 RBI.  But then he hit 29 home runs while he was at it and back then home runs were considered uncouth, a word that rhymes with...?

Leibold, by the way, apparently kept his Sox white during the 1919 Series.  He played six more seasons and was in two more World Series, in '24 and '25, with the Washington Senators.  The real Washington Senators.

But in the 1919 Series Leibold had one hit.  Batted .056.  Jackson batted .375, with 12 hits, including a home run.  He drove in 6 runs and scored 5 himself.

So if Jackson, Felsch, and Leibold weren't the best outfield ever, Rox wants to know, Who was?

She doesn't say what she means by best.  Best as in best all around players?  Best as in if you hit a fly ball you'd better have hit it out of the park or you were on your way right back to the dugout?  Or best as in it didn't matter what they did out there with their gloves, they could play barehanded with their backs to the infield, if they wanted to, they were going to kill you when they came to the plate?

Since she doesn't limit it, you can answer any or all three ways.  And fair's fair, folks.  Her question, you should answer on her page.

Right now an outfield line-up of Dye, Rowand, and Podsednik looks awfully good.

Comments

[Greg]

I know this is slightly off topic, but as a life-long Sox fan I can't resist.

I was 8 when the Sox were last in a World Series. When they clinched the pennant in 1959, the Fire Commissioner set off the air-raid sirens in the city, scaring the bejesus out of most people. This was around the time that most school kids were practicing hiding under their desks in case of a nuclear attack by the Russians.

I knew after Spring training that the Sox could win the AL Central due to a weakened Twins infield and too-thin Cleveland pitching. The question marks were sPod and Iguchi.

After a great April, I knew the WOULD win the division. The rest of the season was spent enjoying thrilling baseball, but know this:

It was never "smart" ball, "small" ball, or anything other than "team" ball. There was nobody in the lineup that took selfish at-bats or cared about his own stats more than he cared about the team. There were numerous examples, but the best one was probably Mark Buehrle:

He had some ungodly number of consecutive starts in which he pitched at least 6 innings. He was cruising along one game when a Sox batter was hit by a pitch, apparently intentionally. Both benches were officially warned, but Buehrle, one out from continuing his streak, hit an opposing batter in retaliation/defense/support of his teammate. He knew he'd be ejected and lose his chance at a record, but it was TEAM FIRST.

Now that the season is finally over, I don't have words to describe how I feel. Relief, joy, awe, and shock come to mind. But I suspect it'll take the entire winter for this to sink in.

Thanks for your indulgence...

[Alan]

Thanks to Greg for that comment. I am very happy for the Sox and their fans tonight. If I were in the States this season, I think I would have enjoyed following them.

It is late at night here in Tokyo at the end of a very long day, so I don't want to make the effort for an argument or a justification for these guys as the greatest(I can never decide on the "objective measures of comparison). But here's an outfield I'd be happy with any day: the Expos Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Warren Cromartie.

[Domoni]

A lifelong Sox fan and a man who picks an Expos trio? Lance, you attract all the best readers.

And to pick a Nat...in '24 and '25 the Washington team was the Nationals. Actually, they were officially the Senators only from '56 to '60, then they moved to Minnesota and the first of the DC pretender teams moved in.

[The Heretik]

Briefly . . .

Earle Combs hit .356 with 231 hits, Bob Meusel hit .337 with 103 RBIs, and the slacker of the bunch G.H. Ruth hit .356 with 192 hits, 164 RBIs and um 60 home runs

Their team won 110 games in a 154 game season, was in first place from opening day to last, and won the World Series in a sweep. This team is of course the 1927 Yankees, the team known as Murderers Row.

[Lance]

Mr Heretik, sir,

Definitely.

See my answer over at Roxanne's? Posted early this morning? I may be a Yankee hater, but I give the devil his due. They were great.

[Lance]

Dom,

Shirley Povich, the great sportswriter and Maury's dad, was notorious for calling the Senators the Nats in all his stories, insisting that that was their official name. But everbody else called them the Senators. And Walter Johnson's in the Hall of Fame as a Washington Senator not a National. You can look it up.

[Domoni]

The plaques just list the city name, not the team designation. That Senators line on the HOF page was written by some HOF librarian. I'll take Shirley Povich over some wet behind the ears HOF cataloger. Besides, even the HOF doesn't know what to call the team. In one timeline entry they're the Nationals while in another entry they're the Senators.

And then they have a trivia answer which states: "From 1901-1958, Washington's official team nickname was Nationals. However, the team was commonly called the "Senators," though some newspapers did use the abbreviation NATS for NATIONALS. Not until 1959 did the team change their official nickname and place SENATORS on the chest of their uniforms. The name NATIONALS came from the old Washington team, which played in the National League in the 1880s."

Thw whole Nationals/Senators thing bugs me because I believe Nationals was chosen for the Ex-'Spos in some attempt to lend respectability to the theft of the Montreal team.

[Mike Schilling]

Leibold is the only Black Sox starter that isn't either famous or infamous. Eddie Collins (2nd) and Ray Schalk (C) are in the Hall of Fame. Gandil (1B), Risberg (SS), Weaver (3B), Jackson, and Felsch are five of the Eight Men Out.