Mickey Vernon Marquee

He hit .353 in 1946, ahead of Ted Williams, and .337 in 1953, a point ahead of Al Rosen, who missed the Triple Crown by that point on the last day. Two years of Navy service, 1944 and 1945, sit in the middle of the record, and he came back from them at twenty-eight to have the first of those seasons.

Twenty seasons gave him 2,495 hits, 490 doubles, 1,311 runs batted in, 955 walks and a .286 average, with seven All-Star selections. He led the league in doubles three times. Almost all of it was for Washington, a club that finished above .500 twice in his fourteen years there, and he was the best thing about it.

Dwight Eisenhower said he was his favorite player and had him to the White House, which for a first baseman on a last-place club is a particular kind of fame. The writers took fifteen years to get him to 96 votes of 385, in 1980, and never further; five committees have looked at him since. He died in 2008, at ninety.