Dave Bancroft Marquee Hall of Fame 1971

He reached the World Series in his first season, with the 1915 Phillies, and stayed in the majors sixteen years. He played 1,913 games, 1,873 of them at shortstop, hit .279 with 2,004 hits and scored 1,048 runs. His best year was 1922: 651 at-bats, 209 hits, 41 doubles.

He moved from the Phillies to the Giants in the middle of 1920 and became the shortstop of a team that won the World Series in 1921 and 1922 and the pennant again in 1923. Contemporaries rated him the best defensive shortstop in the league and credited him with running the infield, work that no column in the record keeps.

The writers never came close to electing him; his best showing was 43 votes of 266. The Veterans Committee put him in the Hall in 1971, and the committees of that period were criticized for favoring the Giants of his day. Whether his record belongs there is still argued.