The best infielders in the league this year were Heinie Groh and Charlie
Hollocher. Groh's career fits nicely between the careers of Frank Baker
and Pie Traynor; for several years, Heinie was the best third baseman in
baseball. He played for 16 years in total, and had his best seasons with
the Reds. These were his prime years, and he would lead the Reds to the World
Series in 1919.
At his best, Groh was a good defensive player who hit for
average, drew walks, and hit a bunch of doubles. Groh's career was probably
too short to be Hall Of Fame calibre, but he was a better player than some
guys who have been inducted (i.e. Fred Lindstrom, George Kell), and I think
he was the MVP this year (he also took over as Cincinnati's manager for the
last ten games this year, and won seven of them. He never again managed in
the majors).
Charlie Hollocher was a very talented player
as well. This was his rookie year, at age 22. Hollocher was a
talented player, and played brilliantly at times. Unfortunately,
Hollocher was plagued by, um, mental problems. Apparently, he was
some sort of super-acute hypochondriac (it would be interesting to
get a modern diagnosis, just to know what the problem was). Anyway,
he was out of the game a couple of years later, and eventually
killed himself.
Edd Roush was a teammate of Groh's in Cincinnati. Unlike Heinie, Roush
was inducted into the Hall Of Fame. His career was longer (18 years), and
he was a career .323 hitter, amassing over 2300 hits lifetime. He began his
career with the White Sox in 1913, then jumped to the Federal League. After
the FL folded, Roush joined the Reds, and had a number of fine seasons. Though
he was a very fine player, he is among the weaker members of the Hall; he
had no power, and never scored nor drove in 100 runs in a season. He also drew few walks, and was rarely among the very best outfielders in the league.
