Al Simmons Marquee Hall of Fame 1953

Born Aloysius Szymanski in Milwaukee, he pulled his front foot toward third base as he swung, the kind of stride that was supposed to ruin a hitter. It did not. Simmons collected 253 hits in 1925, the fifth-highest single-season total in the game's history, and had five straight 200-hit years from 1929 through 1933.

He batted in the middle of the Philadelphia Athletics order that won three straight pennants from 1929 through 1931 and the World Series in 1929 and 1930. He led the American League in runs batted in in 1929 with 157, and in runs scored in 1930. Then Connie Mack, needing cash, sold him to the White Sox.

He played for six more clubs after that and returned to Philadelphia twice, ending with 2,927 hits, 307 home runs and 1,827 runs batted in, which left him 73 hits short of 3,000. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953 and died three years later at fifty-four.