There are 18 first basemen in the Hall of Fame. Lou Gehrig ranks first by a wide margin, but this is not about Lou Gehrig.
This is about the second-greatest of all first basemen, an almost forgotten player named George Sisler, whose career spanned parts of both the dead ball and lively ball eras.
Whether one evaluates Sisler based on statistics or by how he was viewed by his peers and baseball writers, Sisler ranks ahead of Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg and even the great Albert Pujols, who will become a Hall of Famer five years after he retires.
Sisler played for 15 seasons. He batted .340, had a .379 on-base average and slugged .468. Sisler was not a home run hitter, but he was more than a singles hitter, averaging 34 doubles and 13 triples over a 162-game season. He hit 18 triples three consecutive seasons from 1920-22.
Suffering from a sinus infection that resulted in double vision, Sisler missed the entire 1923 season.
In 1922, he batted .420, led the American League with 51 stolen bases and won the American League Trophy, which was the first MVP award. He also hit in 41 consecutive games. Remarkably, he didn’t consider it his best season.
In 1920, he had batted .407, setting a record with 257 hits in a season. Sisler had 49 doubles, 18 triples, 19 home runs and 42 stolen bases. Only Babe Ruth, with 54, hit more home runs.
Although he remained a dangerous hitter after he returned for the 1924 season, his accomplishments from 1917-22, before his eye problems, are close to amazing.
He hit .377, had an on-base average of .420, slugged .541 and averaged 40 stolen bases a season.
From 1924-30, Sisler hit .320 with a .354 on-base average. He slugged .426 and played his usual flawless first base.
In today’s offensive game (and in many ways, baseball today is quite offensive), defense is valued too little. Sisler was one of the two greatest defensive first basemen in baseball history. Only the great Hal Chase might have been his superior. Yes, both were better defensively than Keith Hernandez.
Sisler was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939, getting named on 235 of the 274 ballots. He was the first first baseman elected to the Hall.
Ty Cobb, who is considered the greatest player of all time by many, considered Sisler “the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer.”
Baseball writer Leonard Koppett, author of the acclaimed A Thinking Man’s Guide to Baseball, wrote that Sisler is ranked with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker and Grover Cleveland Alexander among the all-time greats.
Cobb, Ruth and Hornsby were quoted as saying that Sisler was their equal.
Christy Mathewson, possibly the greatest pitcher of all time, wrote the following:
“He is every bit as valuable as Ruth, some people think more valuable. But he has another temperament. When he makes a great hit or a great play and the crowd is ready to idolize him, he modestly touches his cap and fades out of sight.”
The Sporting News, which used to be referred to as “Baseball’s Bible,” quoted a New York writer who covered the New York Yankees and saw Sisler and the St. Louis Browns 22 times a season.
“If there is anything he cannot do in the national pastime I would like to see it. Whether it is hitting the ball, playing first base, sliding into a bag or beating out a throw, it makes no difference. He can do one just as well as the other. I rate him the greatest player we have ever had in the baseball sport.”
This was from a writer whose hometown team included Babe Ruth.
It was the same in St. Louis. Bob Broeg, the great baseball writer who covered baseball for 40 years, wrote that the man he called “The Sizzler” was just about the least appreciated and maybe the best player in baseball history.
George Sisler has the statistics. His career was as lengthy as that of Lou Gehrig, and he was a fantastic defensive player. Sisler was universally praised by those who saw him play. Only Gehrig was better.
References
Huhn, Rick. The Sizzler. Missouri: University of Missouri Press. 2004.
Warburton, Paul. Fifteen Signature Seasons. McFarland Publishing. 2010.
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