This is a book about baseball players who performed in the major leagues before the age of 21. For years the dream of many boys has been to enter the world of professional sports. Out of millions of boys who have played baseball, more than 17,000 have appeared in major league contests. Among them were hundreds who made their debut before their 21st birthday. However, most of these appeared in only a few games. Only 284 young men have played at least one season as a regular before or during the season in which they reached the age of 21. They are the subjects of this book.
The text is divided into three parts. Part One deals with the careers of the ten prodigies who had the most productive seasons at the bat. Part Two discusses the ten young pitchers who had the most fruitful seasons on the mound. Part Three provides short sketches of the 172 players with at least five eligible seasons who do not rank among the above 20 prodigies. Data on the 92 players with at least one but fewer than five eligible seasons are given in an appendix.

The late Charles F. Faber wrote numerous books on educational administration, school law, baseball and other topics. He was a retired university professor and lived in Lexington, Kentucky.

Charles F. Faber
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 256
Bibliographic Info: 30 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7331-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1353-6
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments ix

Preface 1

Abbreviations 5

PART ONE: TEN BEST SEASONS BY HITTERS

Mel Ott 7

Pete Browning 13

Alex Rodriguez 19

Ty Cobb 25

Al Kaline 34

Ted Williams 40

Frank Robinson 46

Abner Dalrymple 51

Vada Pinson 56

Rogers Hornsby 60

Star of the Future: Mike Trout 67

PART TWO: TEN BEST SEASONS BY PITCHERS

Matt Kilroy 69

Dwight Gooden 73

Noodles Hahn 79

Bob Feller 82

Bret Saberhagen 88

Icebox Chamberlain 93

Christy Mathewson 97

CC Sabathia 103

Don Gullett 107

Willis Hudlin 114

PART THREE: OTHER PRODIGIES WITH AT LEAST FIVE ELIGIBLE SEASONS (ALPHABETICAL) 119Table of Contents


Hank Aaron

Roberto Alomar

Steve Avery

Bob Bailey

Buddy Bell

Adrian Beltre

Johnny Bench

Chief Bender

Lou Bierbauer

Bert Blyleven

Tommy Bond

Jeremy Bonderman

George Brett

Britt Burns

Oyster Burns

Bullet Joe Bush

Miguel Cabrera

Fred Carroll

Kid Carsey

Gary Carter

John Cassidy

Phil Cavarretta

Cesar Cedeno

Orlando Cepeda

Dean Chance

Roberto Clemente

Joe Coleman

Eddie Collins

Tony Conigliaro

Larry Corcoran

Del Crandall

Doc Crandall

Sam Crawford

Bill Crowley

George Davis

Willie Davis

Charlie Dexter

Larry Dierker

Bobby Doerr

Don Drysdale

Joe Dugan

Fred Dunlap

Red Ehret

Dick Ellsworth

Del Ennis

Ron Fairly

Curt Flood

Jim Fogarty

Terry Forster

Jimmie Foxx

Bob Friend

Charlie Getzien

Jack Glasscock

Zack Greinke

Ken Griffey, Jr.

Jose Guillen

Ad Gumbert

Frankie Gustine

Earl Hamilton

Granny Hamner

Mel Harder

Pink Hawley

Long John “Egyptian” Healy

Cliff Heathcote

Felix Hernandez

Dick Hoblitzell

Billy Hoeft

Ken Holtzman

Art Houtteman

Catfish Hunter

Travis Jackson

Walter Johnson

Andruw Jones

Dalton Jones

King Kelly

Bob Kennedy

Silver King

Clay Kirby

Malachi Kittridge

Ed Kranepool

Vern Law

Dutch Leonard

Buddy Lewis

Freddie Lindstrom

Greg Maddux

Sherry Magee

Les Mann

Rick Manning

Mickey Mantle

Walt Masterson

Eddie Matthews

Carlos May

Al Mays

Willie Mays

Bill Mazeroski

Barry McCormick

Willie McGill

John McGraw

Stuffy McInnis

Dave McNally

Lee Meadows

Win Mercer

Cass Michaels

Doggie Miller

Willie Mitchell

Bob Moose

Lloyd Moseby

Van Lingle Mungo

Billy Nash

Hal Newhouser

Kid Nichols

Gary Nolan

Jack O’Connor

Mickey O’Neil

Jose Oquendo

Jim Palmer

Milt Pappas

Herb Pennock

Boog Powell

Joe Quinn

Pedro Ramos

Edgar Renteria

Jerry Reuss

Jose Rijo

Brooks Robinson

Ivan Rodriguez

Red Ruffing

Amos Rusie

Babe Ruth

Ray Sadecki

Vick Saier

Ray Schalk

Pete Schneider

Jim Shaw

Jimmy Sheckard

Ruben Sierra

Curt Simmons

Ted Simmons

Sibby Sisti

Jim Slaton

Frank Snyder

Chris Speier

Rusty Staub

Ed Stein

Kurt Stillwell

Chuck Stobbs

Milt Stock

Scott Stratton

Ron Swoboda

Jack Taylor

Adonis Terry

Mike Tiernan

Joe Torre

Alan Trammell

Cecil Travis

George Uhle

Justin Upton

Fernando Valenzuela

Arky Vaughan

Monte Ward

Claudell Washington

Mickey Welch

Gus Weyhing

Lou Whitaker

Ned Williamson

Whitey Witt

Chicken Wolf

Joe Wood

Kerry Wood

Butch Wynegar

Eddie Yost

Robin Yount

Appendix: Major League Prodigies with One to Four Eligible Seasons 235

Notes 238

Bibliography 241

Index 243