Zack Wheat
Encyclopedia
Wheat played his first full season in . He played every game for the Superbas that season as the regular left fielder, leading the league in games played
. He batted
.284 that season, the second-lowest average of his career, which led the team, and was among the league leaders in hits
, doubles
, and triples
. It was in that his reputation as a slugger began to take hold. Along with hitting .287, he finished eighth in the league with 13 triples, and slugged five home run
s. In an era when players rarely hit double-digit home runs for a season, five was enough for people to take notice.
Wheat continued his steady and consistent climb up the batting charts in , hitting .305, and finished the season among the league leaders in home runs and slugging percentage. Over the next four seasons, he continued to be among the leaders of many offensive categories; such as home runs, batting average, slugging, hits, doubles, triples, and RBIs
. It was during the 1912 season that Wheat married Daisy Kerr Forsman, and she became his default agent, encouraging him to hold out for a better contract each season. Players in his day signed one-year contracts before every season. Each time he held out, he received more money, the club not wanting to lose one of its best players and the team's most popular player. This tactic of threatening to hold out served him well during throughout his career, including during the World War I
era, when he raised and sold mule
s to the United States Army
as pack animals. He claimed that he did so well, that he didn't need to play during the summer. The team, fearing that they migh lose a great player during the prime of his career, would succumb to his demands every year.
In , he topped off the string of seasons with a finish in the top ten in all the above categories, topping the league in total bases
and slugging. He also had a career-high hitting streak, which reached 29 games. The Brooklyn Robins won the National League pennant that season. In the World Series, they faced the Boston Red Sox
, which had the formidable pitching rotation of Ernie Shore
, Dutch Leonard
, Carl Mays
, and Babe Ruth
. The Red Sox won the series four games to one, holding the Robins to a .200 batting average, and Wheat to a paltry .211.
During the and seasons, Wheat hit well, but missed many games due to injuries. He had tiny feet, size 5, and this is believed to be the cause of the many nagging ankle injuries that caused to miss many games in his career. He did, however, lead the league in batting average for the first and only time in his career with a .335 batting average, his highest average up to that point. Interestingly, for a player known as a slugger, and consistently in the top ten in most offensive categories including home runs, he hit zero that season, and just one the season prior.
Starting in , Wheat returned to the league slugging leaders once again, as the baseball began to become livelier, proved by the offensive output by the likes of Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby
. The Robins made their second World Series appearance in , this time facing off against the Cleveland Indians
. The Robins lost this series as well, 5 games to 2, although Wheat's hitting greatly improved this time around, batting .333. Wheat's statistics climbed during this new live era of baseball, reaching double-digit home runs for the first time with 14 in , and again three more times in the next four years. Wheat hit .320 or higher every season from 1920 through , topping out with .375 in consecutive seasons. He failed to lead the league in hitting those two seasons, not getting enough at bat
s in to qualify, and Hornsby topped the league with .384, and in , his .375 finished a distant second to Hornsby's .424.
A subtle, but longstanding friction existed between Wheat and his manager
, future Hall of Famer Wilbert Robinson
. The friction reportedly stemmed from Robinson's belief that Wheat seemed to pursue the manager's job behind his back. When owner Charles Ebbets
died in , new team president Ed McKeever re-assigned Robinson into the front office and named Wheat as player-manager. Newspapers confirm that he managed the Dodgers for two weeks. McKeever caught pneumonia
at Ebbets' funeral
, and died soon afterward, and Robinson quickly returned to the managers position. As it turned out, Wheat never again managed in the majors, much to his disappointment. To add insult to injury, Wheat's 1925 managerial stint never made it into the official records. In , Steve McKeever, Ed's brother, hired Wheat as a coach
, leading to widespread speculation that Zack was being groomed for the manager's spot, threatening Robinson's job for a second time in seven years, and he treated his former star as coldly as ever.
Wheat was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics
after his release from Brooklyn in . After the season, he was released again; this time he signed and played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers
of the American Association
. He played very little that season due to a heel injury, and retired from playing for good following the season. He still holds the Dodger franchise records for hits, doubles, triples and total bases.
, until the Great Depression
forced him to sell it in 1932. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri
, where he operated a bowling alley and later became a police officer
. It was during his duties as an officer in 1936, that he was chasing a fleeing felon in his vehicle, when he crashed and nearly died. Wheat spent five months in hospital after the accident, and after he was discharged, he moved his family to Sunrise Beach, Missouri
, a resort town on the Lake of the Ozarks
, to recuperate. It was here that he opened a 46 acres (186,155.6 m²) hunting and fishing resort.
Wheat was first voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
in , but could not be inducted, due to the fact that he had not been officially retired for the required 30 years. In , the committee unanimously elected him. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
and Donald Honig
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. In 2006, the stretch of Route 13 that runs through Caldwell County, Missouri
was named the Zach Wheat Memorial Highway. Due to his Cherokee ancestry, Wheat was featured in “Baseball’s League of Nations: A Tribute to Native Americans in Baseball,” a 2008 exhibit at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y.
Games played
Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...
. He batted
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.284 that season, the second-lowest average of his career, which led the team, and was among the league leaders in hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
, doubles
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
, and triples
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
. It was in that his reputation as a slugger began to take hold. Along with hitting .287, he finished eighth in the league with 13 triples, and slugged five home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s. In an era when players rarely hit double-digit home runs for a season, five was enough for people to take notice.
Wheat continued his steady and consistent climb up the batting charts in , hitting .305, and finished the season among the league leaders in home runs and slugging percentage. Over the next four seasons, he continued to be among the leaders of many offensive categories; such as home runs, batting average, slugging, hits, doubles, triples, and RBIs
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
. It was during the 1912 season that Wheat married Daisy Kerr Forsman, and she became his default agent, encouraging him to hold out for a better contract each season. Players in his day signed one-year contracts before every season. Each time he held out, he received more money, the club not wanting to lose one of its best players and the team's most popular player. This tactic of threatening to hold out served him well during throughout his career, including during the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
era, when he raised and sold mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s to the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
as pack animals. He claimed that he did so well, that he didn't need to play during the summer. The team, fearing that they migh lose a great player during the prime of his career, would succumb to his demands every year.
Total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i.e., the sum of his hits weighted by 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.Only bases attained from hits count toward this total....
and slugging. He also had a career-high hitting streak, which reached 29 games. The Brooklyn Robins won the National League pennant that season. In the World Series, they faced the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, which had the formidable pitching rotation of Ernie Shore
Ernie Shore
Ernest Grady Shore was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox during some of their best years in the 1910s....
, Dutch Leonard
Dutch Leonard (left-handed pitcher)
Hubert Benjamin "Dutch" Leonard, was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who had an 11-year career from 1913–1921, 1924-1925. He played for the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, and holds the major league modern-era record for the lowest single-season ERA of all time — 0.96...
, Carl Mays
Carl Mays
Carl William Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman one of two people to die...
, and Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
. The Red Sox won the series four games to one, holding the Robins to a .200 batting average, and Wheat to a paltry .211.
During the and seasons, Wheat hit well, but missed many games due to injuries. He had tiny feet, size 5, and this is believed to be the cause of the many nagging ankle injuries that caused to miss many games in his career. He did, however, lead the league in batting average for the first and only time in his career with a .335 batting average, his highest average up to that point. Interestingly, for a player known as a slugger, and consistently in the top ten in most offensive categories including home runs, he hit zero that season, and just one the season prior.
Starting in , Wheat returned to the league slugging leaders once again, as the baseball began to become livelier, proved by the offensive output by the likes of Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby, Sr. , nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Boston Braves , Chicago Cubs , and St. Louis Browns...
. The Robins made their second World Series appearance in , this time facing off against the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
. The Robins lost this series as well, 5 games to 2, although Wheat's hitting greatly improved this time around, batting .333. Wheat's statistics climbed during this new live era of baseball, reaching double-digit home runs for the first time with 14 in , and again three more times in the next four years. Wheat hit .320 or higher every season from 1920 through , topping out with .375 in consecutive seasons. He failed to lead the league in hitting those two seasons, not getting enough at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
s in to qualify, and Hornsby topped the league with .384, and in , his .375 finished a distant second to Hornsby's .424.
A subtle, but longstanding friction existed between Wheat and his manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
, future Hall of Famer Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson , nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball...
. The friction reportedly stemmed from Robinson's belief that Wheat seemed to pursue the manager's job behind his back. When owner Charles Ebbets
Charles Ebbets
Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1902 to 1925.-Biography:...
died in , new team president Ed McKeever re-assigned Robinson into the front office and named Wheat as player-manager. Newspapers confirm that he managed the Dodgers for two weeks. McKeever caught pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
at Ebbets' funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
, and died soon afterward, and Robinson quickly returned to the managers position. As it turned out, Wheat never again managed in the majors, much to his disappointment. To add insult to injury, Wheat's 1925 managerial stint never made it into the official records. In , Steve McKeever, Ed's brother, hired Wheat as a coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, leading to widespread speculation that Zack was being groomed for the manager's spot, threatening Robinson's job for a second time in seven years, and he treated his former star as coldly as ever.
Wheat was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
after his release from Brooklyn in . After the season, he was released again; this time he signed and played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers
Minneapolis Millers
The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, until 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League.The team played first in Athletic Park and later Nicollet Park.The name Minneapolis...
of the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
. He played very little that season due to a heel injury, and retired from playing for good following the season. He still holds the Dodger franchise records for hits, doubles, triples and total bases.
Post-career
After Wheat retired from baseball, he moved back to his 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) farm in Polo, MissouriPolo, Missouri
Polo is a city in Caldwell County, Missouri, United States. The population was 582 at the 2000 census. Polo was founded by Abraham Stith in 1832.-Geography:Polo is located at ....
, until the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
forced him to sell it in 1932. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, where he operated a bowling alley and later became a police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
. It was during his duties as an officer in 1936, that he was chasing a fleeing felon in his vehicle, when he crashed and nearly died. Wheat spent five months in hospital after the accident, and after he was discharged, he moved his family to Sunrise Beach, Missouri
Sunrise Beach, Missouri
Sunrise Beach is a village in Camden and Morgan counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 368 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:Sunrise Beach is located at ....
, a resort town on the Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...
, to recuperate. It was here that he opened a 46 acres (186,155.6 m²) hunting and fishing resort.
Wheat was first voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players, a committee of the U.S...
in , but could not be inducted, due to the fact that he had not been officially retired for the required 30 years. In , the committee unanimously elected him. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence S. Ritter was an American writer whose specialties were economics and baseball.Ritter was a professor of economics and finance, and chairman of the Department of Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration of New York University. He also edited the academic periodical...
and Donald Honig
Donald Honig
Donald Martin Honig is a novelist, historian and editor who mostly writes about baseball.While a member of the Bobo Newsom Memorial Society, an informal group of writers, Honig attempted to get Lawrence Ritter to write a sequel to The Glory of their Times. Ritter declined but gave Honig his blessing...
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. In 2006, the stretch of Route 13 that runs through Caldwell County, Missouri
Caldwell County, Missouri
Caldwell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. , the population was 8,969. Its county seat is Kingston. The county was organized in 1836 as a haven for the Mormons, who had been previously driven from Jackson County, Missouri in November of 1833 and had been refugees in...
was named the Zach Wheat Memorial Highway. Due to his Cherokee ancestry, Wheat was featured in “Baseball’s League of Nations: A Tribute to Native Americans in Baseball,” a 2008 exhibit at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y.
See also
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions