Rabbit Maranville Marquee Hall of Fame 1954

He stood five feet five and weighed 155 pounds, and he built his reputation on catching fly balls at his belt buckle and clowning for the crowd. The playing record is less whimsical: 2,670 games, 2,153 of them at shortstop, more than anyone had played there when he finished in 1935.

Boston won the pennant and the World Series in 1914, his third season, with him at short. His drinking became well known and he changed clubs three years running: the Cubs in 1925, Brooklyn in 1926, then St. Louis, where the 1928 Cardinals won a pennant. He went back to the Braves in 1929 for five more full seasons.

A broken leg in spring training cost him all of 1934. He came back at 43 for 23 games in 1935 and stopped. Fifteen times the writers passed over him. He died on January 5, 1954, and was elected posthumously that year with 209 votes of 252.