Zack Wheat
Zack Wheat | ||
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Runs batted in | 1,248 | |
Teams | ||
Career highlights and awards | ||
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Member of the National | ||
Baseball Hall of Fame | ||
Induction | 1959 | |
Election method | Veterans Committee |
Zachariah Davis Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck",[1] was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder from 1909 to 1927, most notably as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers who were known as the Robins at that time. After 18 seasons in Brooklyn, he played his final season with the Philadelphia Athletics.
Although Wheat spent the first part of his career playing in the
Wheat was unanimously elected to the
Early life
Born in Hamilton, Missouri, he was the son of Basil and Julia Wheat. His father was of English descent. For many years, it was believed that Wheat was at least partially of Cherokee descent but, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, this was likely untrue.[5]
Career
Wheat began his professional baseball career in 1906 for Enterprise in the Kansas League, followed by Wichita in 1907, the
What Lajoie was to infielders, Zach Wheat is to outfielders, the finest mechanical craftsman of them all ... Wheat is the easiest, most graceful of outfielders with no close rivals.
—Baseball Magazine, 1917[7]
Wheat played his first full season in 1910. He played every game for the Superbas that season as the regular left fielder, leading the league in games played.[4] He batted .284 that season, the second-lowest average of his career, which led the team, and was among the league leaders in hits, doubles, and triples.[7] It was in 1911 that his reputation as a slugger began to take hold. Along with hitting .287, Wheat finished eighth in the league with 13 triples and slugged five home runs. In an era when players rarely hit double-digit home runs for a season, five was enough for people to take notice.[7]
Wheat continued his steady and consistent climb up the batting charts in 1912, hitting .305 and finishing the season among the league leaders in home runs and slugging percentage.[1] Over the next four seasons, he continued to be among the leaders in many offensive categories, including home runs, batting average, slugging average, hits, doubles, triples, and RBI. It was during the 1912 season that Wheat married Daisy Kerr Forsman. His wife quickly became his de facto agent, encouraging him to hold out for a better contract each season. Each time Wheat held out, he received more money, the club not wanting to lose one of its best hitters and the team's most popular player.[7] This tactic of threatening to hold out served him well during throughout his career, including during the World War I era, when he raised and sold mules to the United States Army as pack animals. Wheat claimed that he was making so much money from his business that he wouldn't need to play baseball at all. The team, fearing that they might lose a great player during the prime of his career, succumbed to his demands every year.[7]
In 1916, Wheat topped off a string of seasons with a finish in the top ten in all the above categories, topping the league in total bases and slugging.[1] He also had a career-high hitting streak, which reached 29 games.[7] The Brooklyn Robins won the National League pennant that season. In the World Series, they faced the Boston Red Sox, who had the formidable pitching rotation of Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, Carl Mays, and Babe Ruth. The Red Sox won the series four games to one, holding the Robins to a .200 batting average and Wheat to a paltry .211.[8]
During the 1917 and 1918 seasons, Wheat hit well, but missed many games due to injuries. He had tiny feet, around size 5, and this is believed to be the cause of the many nagging ankle injuries that caused to miss many games in his career.[7] However, Wheat led the league in batting average for the only time in his career with a .335 batting average, his highest average up to that point. Despite being known as a slugger and consistently placing in the top ten in home runs, Wheat hit no home runs that season and had hit just one the season prior.[1] Not until Rod Carew in 1972 would another player win a batting title without hitting a home run during the season.
Starting in 1919, Wheat returned to the league slugging leaders once again as the
A subtle but longstanding friction existed between Wheat and his
Wheat was signed by the
Career statistics
In 2,410 games over 19 seasons, Wheat posted a .317
Post-career
After Wheat retired from baseball, he moved back to his 160-acre (0.65 km2) farm in Polo, Missouri, until the Great Depression forced him to sell it in 1932.[7] He moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he operated a bowling alley with Cotton Tierney.[7][12] Wheat later became a police officer.[6] During his duties as an officer in 1936, he crashed his vehicle while pursuing a felon, and nearly died. Following five months in hospital after the accident, he moved his family to Sunrise Beach, Missouri, a resort town on the Lake of the Ozarks, where he opened a 46-acre (190,000 m2) hunting and fishing resort.[7]
One of the grandest guys ever to wear a baseball uniform, one of the greatest batting teachers I have seen, one of the truest pals a man ever (had) and one of the kindliest men God ever created.
—Casey Stengel, 1965, speaking of Zack Wheat.[6]
Wheat was first voted into the
Due to the long-held belief about his supposed Cherokee ancestry, Wheat was featured in "Baseball's League of Nations: A Tribute to Native Americans in Baseball", a 2008 exhibit at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y.[14]
Wheat died of a heart attack on March 11, 1972.[6]
Legacy
The American Legion Post in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where Wheat lived following his retirement, is named "Zachariah (Zack) Davis Wheat Post 624 American Legion, Sunrise Beach, Missouri" in his honor.[15]
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
References
- ^ a b c d e "Zack Wheat's Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ a b c d "Zach Wheat profile at the Baseball Hall of Fame". baseballhall.org. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
- ^ "Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers All Time Hits Leaders". mlb.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Zack Wheat's Stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ "Zack Wheat: Native American?". sabr.org. Retrieved May 22, 2001.
- ^ a b c d e f "Zack Wheat's Obit". The New York Times, Sunday, March 12, 1972. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Zack Wheat at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Eric Enders, Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ "The 1916 World Series Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ "The 1920 World Series Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ "1923 National League Stats". baseball-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ "1924 National League Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ Grayson, Harry (July 5, 1943). "Black Lightning Zack Wheat Most Popular Player Brooklyn Ever Had". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 7. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
- ^ "Missouri Revised Statutes; Chapter 227, State Highway System, Section 227.309, August 28, 2007". moga.mo.gov. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
- ^ Mallozzi, Vincent M. (June 8, 2008). "The American Indians of America's Pastime". The New York Times.
- ^ Bender, Cordon H. "History American Legion Post 624". Zack Wheat American Legion Post 624. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
External links
- Zack Wheat at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
- Zack Wheat at Find a Grave
- Zack Wheat at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Eric Enders, Retrieved 2008-04-19.