Tommy McCarthy Marquee Hall of Fame 1946

He began as a pitcher and lost his first seven decisions in 1884; he never won a game on the mound. Moved to the outfield, he turned into a good hitter and a serious base stealer, taking 83 in 1890 to lead the American Association and 468 in his career. He finished at .292 with 1,493 hits in 1,273 games.

In Boston he and Hugh Duffy were the Heavenly Twins, and the pair won pennants in 1892 and 1893. Fielders were then allowed to juggle a fly ball while runners waited, and McCarthy is credited with turning that into a deliberate trick, along with bench signals and the hit-and-run. The trapped-ball play was legislated out of the game.

Whether he invented any of it is unsettled, and much of the claim traces back to Duffy, who outlived him by thirty-two years. The one ballot on which he ever drew a vote gave him a single one, out of 78 cast in 1936. An old-timers committee put him in the Hall in 1946.