Elmer Flick Marquee Hall of Fame 1963

After the 1907 season Detroit offered Ty Cobb to Cleveland for Flick, straight across, and Cleveland said no. Flick had just led the American League in triples for the third year in a row; Cobb was young, difficult, and fighting his own teammates. Cleveland's refusal is the decision the franchise has been asked about ever since.

He had jumped from the Phillies to the new American League in 1902, only for a court injunction to bar him from playing in Philadelphia; the Athletics sent him to Cleveland inside the same season. There he led the league in triples in 1905, 1906, and 1907, in stolen bases in 1904 and 1906, and in runs in 1906.

A stomach ailment struck him in spring training in 1908. He played nine games that season, 66 the next, and 24 in his last, and was 34 when he stopped. He finished with 1,752 hits, 164 triples, and a .313 average. The Hall of Fame elected him in 1963, at 87, and he lived to 94.