The best of the best: a look at American Legion Baseball's Hall of Famers
Virtually everyone who has ever played baseball dreams of one day being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Eighty-two of those 327 members played American Legion Baseball.
The first American Legion Baseball alumnus, Bob Feller, was inducted in 1962. And the 82nd is Ted Simmons, whose 2020 induction ceremony was moved to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
American Legion Baseball began in 1926 and has been played in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Of those 53 baseball-playing departments, 31 of them have been represented at Cooperstown.
Which state has the most members?
It's California — and it's not close.
Twenty-four former American Legion Baseball players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including the only two American Legion World Series champions who eventually were inducted in Cooperstown: George "Sparky" Anderson and Rollie Fingers.
Anderson was an infielder for Los Angeles Post 715, which downed White Plains, N.Y., Post 135 by an 11-7 score in front of 4,135 fans at then-named Briggs Stadium in Detroit.
Ironically, Anderson would later return to the same venue (it was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961) and guide the Detroit Tigers as manager for 17 seasons. That included a 1984 World Series championship.
Fingers was a pitcher-outfielder for Upland Post 73 and earned MVP honors in the 1964 American Legion World Series in Little Rock, Ark. Fingers beat runner-up Charlotte, N.C., Post 9 twice in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament that season, firing a three-hitter in a 3-1 win in their first meeting, then throwing a two-hitter in a 3-1 victory in the championship game.
In national American Legion Baseball competition that summer, Fingers had a 3-1 pitching record and .450 batting average that also earned him the Louisville Slugger Award.
Ten years later, when Fingers earned one pitching victory and two saves in four relief appearances, he earned MVP honors in the Oakland Athletics' four games to one 1974 World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fingers is the only player in baseball history to earn MVP honors in the American Legion World Series and Major League Baseball World Series.
In second place behind California in producing Hall of Fame American Legion Baseball talent is Pennsylvania with seven inductees, followed by Florida with five and Illinois with four.
Nine other eventual Hall of Famers helped their American Legion Baseball teams to state championships during their careers.
They are Bobby Doerr of Los Angeles (1932), Hal Newhouser of Detroit (1937 and 1938), Yogi Berra of St. Louis (1942), Earl Weaver of St. Louis (1947 and 1948), Harmon Killebrew of Payette, Idaho (1952), Brooks Robinson of Little Rock, Ark. (1952 and 1953), Dave Winfield (1967 and 1968) and Paul Molitor (1974) for St. Paul, Minn., and Greg Maddux of Las Vegas (1983).
Newhouser was a dominating pitcher who once won 19 straight games, had a streak of 65 scoreless innings that didn't end until his final American Legion Baseball game — the 1938 Western championship — and he struck out 20 or more batters five times in his American Legion Baseball career.
As one might expect, Newhouser was hardly the only American Legion Hall of Famer to dominate during his career.
Feller, who played for Adel, Iowa, in 1931 and 1932 and two different Des Moines, Iowa, teams in 1933 and 1934, struck out 79 batters in 40 innings in his final season of 1934 for Des Moines Valley Junction in leading that team to a district title.
Al Kaline was a unanimous 1951 Baltimore Sun All-Legion team pick after hitting .609 for Baltimore, Md., Westport.
Don Drysdale, who became a record-setting pitcher in the major leagues, hit .394 as a second baseman for Van Nuys, Calif., in 1952.
Johnny Bench, who became a 14-time All-Star catcher in the major leagues, once threw a no-hitter for Anadarko, Okla., in a 1964 game against Norman, Okla.
Tom Seaver, who threw a major league no-hitter in 1978 during a career in which he won three Cy Young Awards, fired a 28-batter, no-hitter for Fresno, Calif., in 1962 against Hanford, Calif.
Winfield, the only athlete to be drafted by three major sports (baseball, basketball and football), was named MVP of the 1968 Minnesota state tournament after hitting .500 with two home runs and eight RBIs and pitching seven scoreless innings for a pitching victory.
Ryne Sandberg of Spokane, Wash., was named his league's MVP in 1977 after hitting .457 for a District IV runner-up team.
Bruce Sutter had a 16-4 pitching record over two seasons for Mount Joy, Pa., in 1969 and 1970.
Jim Thome hit .450 for runner-up Bartonville, Ill., in the 1988 Central Plains Regional. Bartonville had qualified for the regional as the Illinois state runner-up.
Mike Mussina of Montoursville, Pa., had a 7-0 pitching record and .480 batting average in 1986.
Four others had interesting paths during their American Legion Hall of Fame careers.
Bob Gibson helped the pioneering Omaha, Neb., Y Monarchs win the city American Legion Baseball title in 1951, becoming the first African-American team to do so.
After playing basketball and baseball at Omaha's Creighton University, Gibson briefly played with the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters before signing his professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Carlton Fisk grew up living near the New Hampshire/Vermont state line and played for two Legion teams — Claremont, N.H., in 1964 and Bellows Falls, Vt., in 1965. He was MVP of the 1965 Vermont state tournament while leading Bellow Falls to a runner-up finish.
Like Gibson, Fisk was a basketball standout who played for the University of New Hampshire before giving up the sport after he was a first-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1967.
The Red Sox had to talk Jim Rice of Anderson, S.C., out of a different sport to sign him after he was a 1971 first-round draft pick.
An all-state football kick returner, defensive back and wide receiver at T.L. Hanna High School, Rice was a member of South Carolina's 1970 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas high school All-Star team that featured future two-time Super Bowl winner Freddie Solomon (Sumter, S.C., San Francisco 49ers). And Rice was considered a talented enough football prospect to receive college scholarship offers from Clemson, Nebraska and North Carolina before he chose baseball.
Rice hit .425 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs in 1970 as he led Anderson to a state runner-up finish.
Finally, one of North Carolina's three Hall of Famers, Gaylord Perry of Williamston, ended up coaching American Legion Baseball for Shelby Post 82 at the very stadium where the American Legion World Series is currently held. Perry coached Post 82 in 1987 — or shortly after he helped start the baseball program at Limestone College (now University) in nearby Gaffney, S.C.
Perry, who chose a professional baseball career after receiving several offers to play college basketball, coached at Limestone from 1987 to 1991.
American Legion Baseball Hall of Famers
(listed by state, year of induction and American Legion team)
Alabama
1972 — Early Wynn, Hartford
Arizona
1990 — Jim Palmer, Scottsdale
Arkansas
1983 — George Kell, Swifton
1983 — Brooks Robinson, Little Rock
California
1966 — Ted Williams, San Diego
1975 — Ralph Kiner, Alhambra
1976 — Bob Lemon, San Bernadino
1978 — Eddie Mathews, Sacramento
1982 — Frank Robinson, Oakland
1984 — Don Drysdale, Van Nuys
1986 — Bobby Doerr, Los Angeles
1988 — Willie Stargell, Alameda
1990 — Joe Morgan, Oakland
1992 — Rollie Fingers, Upland
1992 — Tom Seaver, Fresno
1999 — George Brett, El Segundo
1999 — Robin Yount, Woodland Hills
2000 — George "Sparky" Anderson, Los Angeles
2003 — Gary Carter, Fullerton
2003 — Eddie Murray, Los Angeles
2007 — Tony Gwynn, Long Beach
2008 — Dick Williams, Pasadena
2010 — Doug Harvey, San Diego
2011 — Bert Blyleven, Garden Grove
2011 — Pat Gillick, Chico
2014 — Bobby Cox, Selma
2018 — Trevor Hoffman, Anaheim
2018 — Alan Trammell, San Diego
Colorado
2019 — Roy Halladay, Arvada
Connecticut
2017 — Jeff Bagwell, Middletown
Florida
1994 — Steve Carlton, Miami
2005 — Wade Boggs, Tampa
2014 — Tony LaRussa, West Tampa
2017 — Tim Raines, Sanford
2018 — Chipper Jones, Deland
Idaho
1984 — Harmon Killebrew, Payette
Illinois
1970 — Lou Boudreau, Harvey
1976 — Robin Roberts, Springfield
2010 — Whitey Herzog, New Athens
2018 — Jim Thome, Bartonville
Iowa
1962 — Bob Feller, Adel and Des Moines
Kentucky
1984 — Pee Wee Reese, Louisville
Louisiana
2019 — Lee Smith, Natchitoches
Maryland
1980 — Al Kaline, Baltimore Westport
2017 — John Schuerholz, Baltimore
2019 — Harold Baines, Talbot
Massachusetts
2014 — Tom Glavine, Billerica
Michigan
1992 — Hal Newhouser, Detroit
2020 — Ted Simmons, Southfield
Minnesota
2001 — Dave Winfield, St. Paul
2004 — Paul Molitor, St. Paul
2018 — Jack Morris, St. Paul
Missouri
1972 — Yogi Berra, St. Louis
1996 — Earl Weaver, St. Louis
Nebraska
1981 — Bob Gibson, Omaha
1995 — Richie Ashburn, Neligh
Nevada
2014 — Greg Maddux, Las Vegas
New Hampshire
2000 — Carlton Fisk, Claremont
New Jersey
1968 — Joe Medwick, Carteret
New York
1973 — Warren Spahn, Buffalo
1989 — Carl Yastrzemski, Bridgehampton
2014 — Joe Torre, Brooklyn
North Carolina
1985 — Hoyt Wilhelm, Mecklenburg County
1987 — Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Ahoskie
1991 — Gaylord Perry, Williamston
Ohio
1996 — Jim Bunning, Cincinnati
1997 — Phil Niekro, Bridgeport
2012 — Barry Larkin, Cincinnati
Oklahoma
1989 — Johnny Bench, Anadarko
Oregon
2009 — Joe Gordon, Portland
Pennsylvania
1969 — Stan Musial, Donora
1969 — Roy Campanella, Philadelphia
1993 — Reggie Jackson, Cheltenham
1997 — Nellie Fox, St. Thomas
2006 — Bruce Sutter, Mount Joy
2016 — Mike Piazza, Phoenixville
2019 — Mike Mussina, Montoursville
Puerto Rico
2011 — Roberto Alomar, Salinas
2017 — Ivan Rodriguez, Vega Baja
South Carolina
2009 — Jim Rice, Anderson
Vermont
2000 — Carlton Fisk, Bellows Falls
Washington
2005 — Ryne Sandberg, Spokane
2012 — Ron Santo, Seattle
