Bobby Wallace (baseball)

Bobby Wallace
Bobby Wallace
	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
	Died: November 3, 1960 (aged 86); Torrance, California, U.S.
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
	September 15, 1894, for the Cleveland Spiders
Last MLB appearance
	September 2, 1918, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Batting average	.268
Hits	2,309
Home runs	34
Runs batted in	1,121
Managerial record	62–154
Winning %	.287
Teams
	As player 1898); 1899–1901); St. Louis Browns (1902–1916); St. Louis Cardinals (1917–1918); As manager St. Louis Browns (1911–1912); Cincinnati Reds (1937);
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1953
Election method	Veterans Committee

Roderick John "Bobby" Wallace (November 4, 1873 – November 3, 1960) was an American Major League Baseball infielder, pitcher, manager, umpire, and scout. Wallace claimed to have invented the continuous throwing motion as a shortstop.^[1]

Career

Wallace was born in

drove in

112 runs.

In 1899, Wallace moved to the St. Louis Perfectos (renamed the Cardinals in 1900) and changed position to shortstop. He hit .295 with 108 RBI and 12 home runs (second in the league behind Buck Freeman's 25). Wallace changed teams again in 1902, when he joined the St. Louis Browns.

His playing time began decreasing a decade later, with his last season as a regular coming in 1912. Wallace played in just 55 games in 1913, and never played that much again for the rest of his career. In July 1917, he returned to the National League and the Cardinals, and played in just eight games that season. After batting .153 in 32 games in 1918, Wallace retired with a .268 career batting average, 1059 runs, 34 home runs, 1121 RBI and 201 stolen bases. He played his last game on September 2, 1918, at the age of 44 years and 312 days, making him the oldest shortstop to play in a regular-season game.^[2] The record was broken by Omar Vizquel on May 7, 2012.

Wallace was generally recognized as the AL's best shortstop from 1902 to 1911,^[3] when he served briefly as Browns player-manager. After moving from third to short, Wallace felt he'd found his place in the infield earning the nickname "Mr. Shortstop". He would also claim to have invented the continuous throwing motion, “As more speed afoot was constantly demanded for big league ball, I noticed the many infield bounders which the runner beat to first only by the thinnest fractions of a second.. I also noted that the old-time three-phase movement, fielding a ball, coming erect for a toss and throwing to first wouldn’t do on certain hits with fast men…it was plain that the stop and toss had to be combined into a continuous movement.”^[1]

He played for 25 seasons, and holds the record for the longest career by a player who never played in a World Series.

When his playing time diminished, Wallace managed and umpired. He managed the St. Louis Browns in

Wichita Witches in 1917. He umpired in the American League

in 1915, working 111 games. Upon retiring, he also became a scout.

Later life

Wallace was inducted into the

Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953

.

Wallace died on November 3, 1960, in Torrance, California, one day shy of his 87th birthday.

Managerial record

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
Team	Year	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
SLB	1911	154	47	107	.305	8th in AL	–	–	–	–
SLB	1912	37	10	27	.270	Fired	–	–	–	–
SLB total		191	57	134	.298		0	0	–
CIN	1937	25	5	20	.200	8th in NL	–	–	–	–
CIN total		25	5	20	.200		0	0	–
Total		216	62	154	.287		0	0	–

References

^ ^a ^b Schul, Scott. "Bobby Wallace". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
^ "Omar Vizquel turns 45 with a chance to become the all-time elder statesman among shortstops". Yahoo! Sports. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ "Bobby Wallace". Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2021-03-02.

External links

Bobby Wallace at the Baseball Hall of Fame
Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
Retrosheet.org
The Deadball Era
Bobby Wallace at Find a Grave

[:0-1] Schul, Scott. "Bobby Wallace". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2021-01-14.

[2] "Omar Vizquel turns 45 with a chance to become the all-time elder statesman among shortstops". Yahoo! Sports. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

[3] "Bobby Wallace". Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2021-03-02.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1953
BBWAA Vote	Dizzy Dean (79.2%) Al Simmons (75.4%)
Veterans Committee	Ed Barrow Chief Bender Tom Connolly Bill Klem Bobby Wallace Harry Wright

v t e Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Halladay Hoffman Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Kaat Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard P. Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Morris Mussina Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rivera Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith L. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young
Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Mauer Piazza Rodríguez Santop Schalk T. Simmons
First basemen	Anson Bagwell Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg Helton Hodges G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey McGriff Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas Thome
Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst
Third basemen	Baker Beltré Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Jones Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Rolen Santo Schmidt Traynor D. White J. Wilson
Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Jeter Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Jr. Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Trammell Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount
Left fielders	Brock Burkett Clarke Delahanty Goslin Hafey Henderson Irvin Kelley Kiner Manush Medwick Miñoso Musial O'Rourke Raines J. Rice A. Simmons Stargell Wheat B. Williams T. Williams Yastrzemski
Center fielders	Ashburn Averill Bell W. Brown Carey Charleston Cobb Combs DiMaggio Doby Duffy Griffey Jr. Hamilton Hill Mantle Mays Puckett Roush Snider Speaker Stearnes Torriente L. Waner H. Wilson
Right fielders	Aaron Clemente Crawford Cuyler Dawson Flick Guerrero Gwynn Heilmann Hooper R. Jackson Kaline Keeler K. Kelly Klein T. McCarthy Oliva Ott S. Rice F. Robinson Ruth Slaughter Thompson Walker P. Waner Winfield Youngs
Designated hitters	Baines E. Martínez Ortiz
Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher R. Foster Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda Leyland López Mack J. McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams
Executives and pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Cummings Dreyfuss Fowler Frick Giles Gillick Grant Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley Miller O'Malley O'Neil Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Schuerholz Selig Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey
Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day
Italics denote members who have been elected, but not yet inducted.

v t e St. Louis Cardinals in the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted as a Cardinal	Jim Bottomley Lou Brock Dizzy Dean Frankie Frisch Bob Gibson Chick Hafey Jesse Haines Rogers Hornsby Whitey Herzog Joe Medwick Johnny Mize Stan Musial Scott Rolen Red Schoendienst Ted Simmons Enos Slaughter Ozzie Smith Billy Southworth Bruce Sutter
Inductees who played for the Cardinals	Grover Cleveland Alexander Walter Alston Jake Beckley Roger Bresnahan Mordecai Brown Jesse Burkett Steve Carlton Orlando Cepeda Charles Comiskey Leo Durocher Dennis Eckersley Burleigh Grimes Miller Huggins Rabbit Maranville John McGraw Kid Nichols Wilbert Robinson Lee Smith Joe Torre Dazzy Vance Larry Walker Bobby Wallace Hoyt Wilhelm Vic Willis Cy Young
Cardinals managers	Roger Bresnahan Charles Comiskey Frankie Frisch Whitey Herzog Miller Huggins Tony La Russa Bill McKechnie Kid Nichols Branch Rickey Red Schoendienst Billy Southworth Joe Torre
Cardinals executives	Stan Musial Branch Rickey
Ford C. Frick Award	Jack Buck Harry Caray Joe Garagiola
BBWAA Career Excellence Award	Bob Broeg (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Sporting News ) J. Roy Stockton (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Career

Later life

Managerial record

See also

References

External links