Bobby Wallace Marquee Hall of Fame 1953

Cleveland brought him up as a pitcher in 1894, and he won 24 games over three seasons with 37 complete games. In 1897 the Spiders moved him to third base, where he hit .335 with 173 hits, 21 triples and 112 runs batted in. Two years later he was a shortstop, and he stayed one for nearly twenty years.

He jumped to the new American League in 1902 and played fifteen seasons for the St. Louis Browns. They finished second that first year and never higher than fourth again while he was there, losing 107 games in 1910 and 107 more in 1911. Contemporaries credited him with changing how infielders worked, fielding a grounder and throwing in one motion instead of stopping to set.

Twenty-five seasons, 2,309 hits, 1,817 games at shortstop, and almost nothing from the writers: seven votes out of 262 at his best, in 1938, and no consideration at all after 1945. The Veterans Committee elected him in 1953, seven years before he died.