Historic Photos: 1937 AL All-Stars

Described in the original caption as "a million dollar baseball flesh," the seven All-Stars in this photo represented a combined million dollars in annual salary.  Today, you might be able to buy a utility infielder with a million dollars, but in 1937 it was enough for seven future Hall of Famers.

From left to right, they were: Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg.  All seven would eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and to this day are still among the all-time greats, even when compared to other Hall of Famers.  In his New Historical Baseball Abstract (2001), Bill James ranks Gehrig, Foxx, and Greenberg first, second, and eighth respectively in his list of the all-time greatest first basemen.  He also ranks Dickey seventh at catcher, Gehringer eighth at second base, Cronin eighth at shortstop, and DiMaggio fifth in center field.  In short, every single player in the photo ranks among the top ten all-time at their position, including three of the top ten first basemen.

Historic Photos: 1918 Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox were baseball's dominant team in the first couple decades of the 20th century; they won the first ever World Series in 1903, and would go on to win again in 1912, 1915, 1916, and finally in 1918. It meant out of 15 World Series, Boston won a third of them (there was no World Series in 1904, although Boston won the AL pennant that year). But, as any baseball fan is aware, it would be the last time the team would win in the 20th century. In many ways, this was the end of an era - in just over a year, pitcher Babe Ruth would be sold to the Yankees, which changed the way the game was played and marked the end of the Dead Ball Era.  In the meantime, though, the Red Sox were baseball's best team in 1918, and they beat the Chicago Cubs in six games.

Historic Photos: 1916 Boston Red Sox

The 1916 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Brooklyn Robins 4 games to 1; to this day, the 1915 and 1916 teams are the only Red Sox teams to win back-to-back World Series titles.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Historic Photos: 1915 Boston Red Sox

The 1915 World Series champion Boston Red Sox; it was the second of four championships that the Red Sox would win between 1912 and 1918, when they beat the Phillies 4 games to 1.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Historic Photos: 1912 Boston Red Sox

The 1912 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, taken shortly before the Series, in which they defeated the New York Giants in eight games (including one tie), culminating in a walk-off sacrifice fly by Larry Gardner.

The player identification, courtesy of the Library of Congress:

Top row (left to right): Joseph Quirk (trainer), Tris Speaker, unidentified girl, Joe Wood, Hick Cady, Pinch Thomas, Buck O'Brien, Hugh Bradley, Duffy Lewis. Middle row: Harry Hooper, Bill Carrigan, Steve Yerkes, Olaf Henriksen, Clyde Engle, Les Nunamaker, Charlie Hall, Larry Gardner, Ray Collins, Jake Stahl. Front row: Heinie Wagner, Hugh Bedient, mascot, Larry Pape, Marty Krug.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Historic Photos: Babe Ruth and Teammates, c.1915-1917

Babe Ruth would eventually go on to become arguably the greatest player in baseball history, a right fielder who absolutely shattered the previous home run record, and whose single-season and career home run records stood for many years after his death.  However, in the mid 1910's, he was just another young pitcher on the Red Sox.  Here, he is seated alongside (left to right) fellow pitchers Ernie Shore and Rube Foster, and backup first baseman Del Gainer.  Like Ruth, Shore and Foster were effective pitchers who helped lead the Red Sox to back to back World Series titles in 1915 and 1916 - together, they accounted for 109 wins in those two seasons.  But, their pitching careers didn't last much longer.  Shore was ineffective after 1917 and out of the majors by 1920, and Foster was done after 1917.  Ruth's last season as a regular pitcher was in 1919, after which he was to the Yankees, with well-known ramifications for both teams.  As for Del Gainer on the far right, he was likewise done with baseball by the early 1920's.

Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore, when referred to together, are best known as having thrown one of the most unusual combined no-hitters in baseball history.  On June 23, 1917, Babe Ruth started against the Washington Senators.  He walked the first batter he faced, and then argued with the umpire over the calls.  After being ejected, he punched the umpire on his way out.  Shore came on in relief, the runner was caught stealing, and Shore pitched the remainder of the game without allowing a baserunner.

Incidentally, although their careers ended far sooner than Ruth's, Shore and Foster both outlived him by a significant margin - Ruth died in 1948 (a year after Del Gainer), but Shore died in 1980 at the age of 89, and Foster in 1976 at the age of 88.

Historic Photos: Calvin Coolidge, 1924 World Series

On October 4, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge threw out the first ball of the 1924 World Series between the Washington Senators and the New York Giants.  The series would end up as one of the most memorable in World Series history, with Washington tying the score in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 7 thanks to a 2-out, bases loaded ground ball that took a bad hop over third baseman Freddy Lindstrom.  Washington would go on to win it in the 12th inning behind the relief pitching of Walter Johnson, with the winning hit coming on another ground ball that took a bad hop on Lindstrom (Giants players named Fred seem to have problems fielding the ball in extra innings in the final game of the World Series. See Snodgrass, Fred). In the end, though, Walter Johnson, possibly the greatest pitcher in baseball history, finally had his first and only World Series title.  Things would also end well for Calvin Coolidge - exactly a month after this photo was taken, he was re-elected in a landslide.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.