All-Region Team: Centerfielder
Add another Hall of Famer to the All-Region Team: Zach Wheat has won the internet vote for leftfielder. As we move across the outfield to centerfield, the plot thickens. That’s because our Hall of Fame nominee doesn’t have any major-league statistics, and he’s up against a player who captained two Cardinal World Championship teams (1942 and 1946).
| Player | WS | WARP3 | RC |
| Cool Papa Bell | na | na | na |
| Sam Jethroe | 61 | 15.2 | 244 |
| Terry Moore | 152 | 45.7 | 635 |
| Pete Reiser | 125 | 36.7 | 451 |
| Del Unser | 138 | 40.4 | 608 |
Cool Papa Bell: Considered one of the fastest men ever to play the game, Cool is the source of many great baseball tales, some true and some apochryphal, including our favorite, Satchel Paige’s anecdote that Bell was "so fast he can turn off the light and be in bed before the room gets dark!" Among the former kind, Bell was was an outstanding hitter and pitcher with the St. Louis Stars (Negro National League). He also won a Triple Crown in the Mexican League (including OBP by 65 points over his closest competition). If you’re ever in St. Louis, you can even drive down James ‘Cool Papa’ Bell Avenue.
Sam Jethroe: Born in East St. Louis, Jet followed Jackie Robinson to the majors and, at age 32, won Rookie of the Year in 1950 with the Boston Braves and remains the oldest player to win the award. The fleet-footed Lincoln H.s. product had world-class speed.
Terry Moore: The popular and classy centerfielder was one of the cogs of the Cardinals 1940s dynasty, placing in the MVP voting five times, though never winning. The speedy gloveman once hit two inside-the-park home runs in a single game. That tires us out just thinking about it.
Pete Reiser: The St. Louis-born Reiser was signed by the Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1937 but broke into the majors — with a bang — in 1940 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pistol Pete piled up 125 Win Shares over a mere 861 games. somewhat of a Darin Erstad/Jim Edmonds primogenitor, Reiser had a reputation for hustle and crashing into outfield walls, which resulted in head injuries and recurring dizziness and hastened the end of his career. Retired with a .380 OBP and a .284 GPA.
Del Unser: The Decatur, Ill., native was one of the finest-fielding centerfielders in the majorsduring the late ‘60 and early ’70s, as evidenced by his career 105 Rate2 (Jim Edmonds: 107). He lost his starting role shortly after being traded to the Mets, and later became a pinch-hitting specialist, once tying the record for three consecutive pinch-hit home runs.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I recall reading an essay about Cool Papa Bell in one of those reading comprehension tests you take in elementary school that claimed he was the inventor of flip-up sunglasses.
My reading comprehension may have been questionable—although a pair of sunglasses are included in his hall of fame exhibit, I don’t see that claim being made in the ‘tubes anywhere. It was close to twenty years ago that I read that, though.