BOBBY VEACH

"Surely one of the least remembered of the truly fine hitters." - Robert Creamer

The wiry, good-natured Kentuckian's stats bear witness to Cramer's observations: 2,063 hits, a .310 batting average, 953 runs scored, 1166 RBIs, a .442 slugging average, 393 doubles and 147 triples. All but two of his fourteen years in the majors were with Detroit, where he played in left, with Cobb in center, and Sam Crawford, then Harry Heilmann, in right. Besides playing on the eternal Detroit team (good hitting, average fielding and mediocre pitching) that never made the World Series during his tenure, he was in the shadows of three outfielders who won 16 batting titles and went to the Hall of Fame. In 1919, he was second to Cobb with a .355 average, and had more hits (191) than his cranky teammate. He led the AL in rbis three times, topped the century mark six, had 10 or more triples and 20 or more doubles 10 times, as well as hitting.300 10 times. A dependable, reliable hitter.

The best known Bobby Veach story occurs in 1921 when the fire-breathing Cobb assumes managership of the Tigers. Long convinced that the laid-back country boy wasn't giving his all, Cobb decides to light a fire under Veach, who even commits the cardinal sin (to Cobb) of joking with opposing pitchers. Knowing Veach already dislikes him, Cobb connives the gentle Harry Heillmann, who follows Veach in the batting order, to holler at Veach from the on-deck circle, to goad him on. Although Veach had one of his best years in '21, Cobb (typically) never made good on his promise to tell Veach that it was he, not Heilmann, who was behind the insults. Veach thought Heilmann's explanations were lame and never forgave him.