Joe Sewell Marquee Hall of Fame 1977

Cleveland called him up in 1920, after Ray Chapman died on August 17, struck in the head by a Carl Mays pitch the day before. Sewell played 22 games and finished the season at shortstop for a World Series winner. He held the position for a decade: 1,214 games there, and 643 more at third base.

Contact was the whole of his method. In 1932 he struck out three times in 503 at-bats; in 1925, four times in 608. He hit .312 with 2,226 hits and led the American League with 45 doubles in 1924. Three closing seasons with the Yankees brought a second championship, in 1932.

The writers were never persuaded; his best showing was 23 votes out of 269, in 1960. The Veterans Committee elected him in 1977, forty-four years after his last game. By then he had long since gone home to Alabama, where he had played his college ball and later coached the university's team.