Stan Hack spent his entire MLB playing career with the Chicago Cubs. Hack plied his trade from 1932 to 1947. Over that 16-year stretch, he was arguably the top third baseman in MLB and one of the premier leadoff hitters of his day. Hack consistently classified near the top of the runs scored leaderboard, finishing among the NL top 10 eight times including as runner-up on four occasions. Additionally, he made seven trips to the NL top 10 leaderboard for hits, pacing the senior circuit in back-to-back years in 1940 and 1941. Hack was also one of the most aggressive baserunners of his era, topping the NL in stolen bases on two occasions and finishing second in three more. However, he dubiously paced the circuit in the caught stealing category a handful of times. Stolen base numbers during the 1930s and 1940s were depressed so Hack’s career total of 165 looks paltry compared to leadoff hitters from other eras. Primarily a singles hitter, Hack retired with just 57 career home runs, never reaching double digits in a season. Be that as it may, he exhibited excellent contact skills and patience at the plate as he regularly cracked the top-10 leaderboard in batting average, walks, and OBP. Well-liked by both teammates and competitors, Hack earned the nickname “Smiling Stan” for his pleasant demeanor.
During the first half of Hack’s career, the Cubs were one of the NL’s best teams, capturing pennants in 1932, 1935, and 1938. The first of those pennants came just as he was getting established as a rookie while the remaining two came when he was one of Chicago’s core players. As the 1940s got underway, the club sank into mediocrity despite Hack maintaining his status as one of the game’s top third basemen. Then in 1945, at age 35, Hack had perhaps his finest season, leading the Cubs back to the pennant while batting .323. Unfortunately for Hack, the outcome for each of the four Fall Classics he took part in ended with Chicago falling short of the World Series championship. Regardless, the onus should not be placed on Hack as he batted .348 with a .408 OBP in 18 Fall Classic games.
Hack retired at the conclusion of the 1947 campaign. Over the course of his 16-year career, he compiled a .301 batting average and .394 OBP while racking up 2,193 hits across 1,938 games. He reached triple digits in runs scored seven times during his career, including six seasons in a row from 1936 to 1941. His career total of 1,239 runs scored works out a 162 game average of 104. Hack earned a handful of All-Star selections during his career and was named the NL starting third baseman in four of those Midsummer Classics. Despite hitting for little power, he registered a career OPS of .791 that translates into a sturdy 119 OPS+. He garnered MVP support in eight different seasons with a highest finish of seventh in the 1938 election after helping Chicago capture the NL pennant. Hack’s career predated the creation of the Gold Glove Award, so we’ll never know how many times, if any, he would have achieved the honor. Modern fielding metrics view his defensive prowess as adequate but unspectacular, crediting him with a roughly average Rfield of 2. However, the further back you go, the less trustworthy these metrics are. Yet, even with his defense adding little to his sabermetric value, he is credited with a solid career WAR of 55.5.
Despite being arguably the best third baseman of his era and owning the reputation of being well-liked by both teammates and rivals, Hack has drawn little support for the Hall of Fame. He appeared on the BBWAA ballot on seven occasions between 1948 and 1960, never accruing more than 4.8% of the vote. Hack may have experienced the indignity of being a “one-and-done” candidate had his time on the ballot not preceded the advent of the 5% rule. The BBWAA electorate was more selective back then as less obvious Hall of Fame candidates often had to rely on the Veterans Committee to vote them in. Yet, Hack’s résumé as a top third baseman who spent his entire career with one franchise and played in four Fall Classics failed to persuade Veterans Committee voters as there is no evidence that he ever came close to being elected in one of the voting body’s elections. He remains eligible for the Hall of Fame through the Era Committee but has yet to make it past the screening committee to be included on the ballot.
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Hack’s inability to draw meaningful Hall of Fame support is surprising considering the Veterans Committee voted in a pair of seemingly inferior third basemen in Freddie Lindstrom and George Kell, electing the former in 1976 and the latter in 1983. Lindstrom’s career spanned only 13 years, from 1924 to 1936, the final five of which overlapped with Hack’s. Lindstrom spent nine of those seasons with the New York Giants before bouncing to three other franchises as a veteran. Lindstrom and Hack played alongside each other on the pennant-winning 1935 Cubs where Lindstrom backed up Hack at the hot corner while also splitting time in center field with Kiki Cuyler and Frank Demaree. Lindstrom retired with just 1,438 games played—exactly 500 fewer than Hack—and one of the lowest totals among Hall of Famers. Modern metrics judge Hack to be the far superior player as his 55.5 WAR is nearly double that of Lindstrom’s 28.5 figure. Like Hack, Lindstrom floundered on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot, peaking at just 4.4% in his sixth and final appearance in 1962. However, Lindstrom spent the prime years of his playing career with the Giants where he was teammates with future Hall of Famers Frankie Frisch and Bill Terry. During the early 1970s, Frisch and Terry drew accusations of cronyism while the pair were part of the Veterans Committee electorate. With Frisch and Terry as members of the voting body, the Veterans Committee elected several former players who had been teammates with either Frisch or Terry, despite these candidates having at best marginal Hall of Fame cases. Although Frisch passed away in 1973, Terry remained on the committee in 1976 when their former Giants teammate Lindstrom earned the call to Cooperstown.
A less controversial Hall of Fame election in comparison to Lindstrom, George Kell played from 1943 to 1957, suiting up for five different franchises, spending his peak years with the Detroit Tigers for whom he won the 1949 AL batting title. Kell took the field for 1,795 career games, over which he posted a .306 batting average that was slightly higher than Hack’s .301. However, Kell did not exhibit Hack’s patience in the batter’s box and thus crossed home plate at a far less frequent rate, registering a .367 career OBP while racking up a 162 game average of just 79 runs scored. Like Hack, Kell twice led his respective league in hits in back-to-back years in 1950 and 1951. Yet, despite never playing for a first-place club, Kell became a perennial All-Star, earning 10 selections to the Midsummer Classic with six as the AL’s starter at third base. Kell garnered MVP support in eight different seasons, cracking the top five twice with a fourth-place finish in 1950 and fifth-place classification in 1947. Kell’s career wrapped in 1957, the same year as the introduction of the Gold Glove Award. Modern metrics view Kell’s defense as slightly superior to Hack’s, crediting him with a Rfield of 15. But, even with Kell’s edge on defense, Hack owns a comfortable advantage in WAR with his 55.5 mark well above Kell’s 37.6 figure. Kell fared much better in BBWAA Hall of Fame voting, lasting the maximum 15 years on the ballot, reaching his zenith with 36.8% on his final appearance in 1977. In addition to the perennial All-Star recognition, Kell’s Hall of Fame candidacy may have benefited from the visibility of his post-playing career job as a broadcaster for the Tigers—a position which he held almost continuously from 1959 through 1996. Hack held his own visible position after hanging up the glove, albeit much more briefly, returning to manage the Cubs from 1954 to 1956. Hack experienced little success, posting a 196-265 record, as Chicago was in the midst of 16-year stretch in which the franchise failed to produce a record over .500.
Based on the full-time third basemen who have been elected to Cooperstown, I definitely believe Hack should have received more consideration for the Hall of Fame. While I do not view his exclusion from Cooperstown as a glaring omission, I feel his career is more Hall of Fame worthy than Lindstrom’s or Kell’s. Hack’s failure to gain momentum on the BBWAA and Veterans Committee Hall of Fame ballots highlights how some players like Lindstrom or Kell are lucky to be elected while other potentially more deserving candidates, such as Hack, wind up on the outside of Cooperstown looking in.
----by Sven Emerson
Stat links to main players mentioned: Stan Hack, Freddie Lindstrom, George Kell, Frankie Frisch, Bill Terry, Kiki Cuyler, Frank Demaree
Sources:
All statistics are drawn from Baseball Reference and Stathead
Eric Hanauer, “Stan Hack,” SABR Biography Project
Matt Bohn, “George Kell,” SABR Biography Project
Cards: Stan Hack 1942 Cubs Team Issue Picture Pack, Stan Hack 1991 The Sporting News Conlon Collection, Freddie Lindstrom 1980-87 SSPC Baseball Immortals, George Kell 1987 Hygrade Baseball’s All-Time Greats
