Pete Browning: Hall of Famer? Trivia Quiz

Answer: None of these

Wagner (.327), Musial (.331), and Carew (.328) won 22 batting titles between them, but their lifetime averages all bow before Browning's .341. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (.356 lifetime) is not eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Answer: Louisville Slugger

According to most accounts, the original "Louisville Slugger" bat was custom-made for Browning (who went by the nickname "The Louisville Slugger" along with a host of other sobriquets, including "the Gladiator" and "Old Pietro") by John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich in 1884.

As they say, the rest is history. Though the Louisville standout lent his name to the most popular bat of all time, he kept pet names for his individual bats. Browning typically named his gear after Old Testament personages, like Ezekiel and Hezzikiah.

Answer: 9

This is especially impressive considering that Browning only played 10 full seasons!

Answer: 162, just short of Mark McGwire's 163

Again, to give some idea of scale, here are the top twenty hitters of all time as measured by OPS+ (as of the end of the 2004 season):
1. Babe Ruth 207
2. Ted Williams 190
3. Barry Bonds 184
4. Lou Gehrig 179
5. Rogers Hornsby 175
6. Mickey Mantle 172
7t Dan Brouthers 170
7t Joe Jackson 170
9. Ty Cobb 167
10t Jimmie Foxx 163
10t Mark McGwire 163
12t Pete Browning 162
12t Frank Thomas 162
14. Dave Orr 161
15. Stan Musial 159
16t Hank Greenberg 158
16t Johnny Mize 158
16t Tris Speaker 158
19t Dick Allen 156
19t Willie Mays 156

The only eligible player on this list not in the Hall of Fame is Dick Allen, and if you're familiar with his reputation, you know why. (Jackson and Orr are ineligible.)

Answer: The American Association

Browning played in the American Association from 1882-1889, the Players League in 1890, and the National League from 1891-1894. The American Association is often considered to have been a "lower-class" league, largely because it catered to working-class immigrant spectators by playing on Sundays, selling beer at games, and charging lower admission prices.

However, given the great success that many Association players had in the rival National League (or in the Players League, which was mostly composed of career National Leaguers), it seems apparent that any differences in quality of play were marginal rather than substantive. On the other hand, Bill James has made the case that the Union Association, usually listed as a major league in most baseball encyclopedias, should not be considered a major league at all - but that is another quiz.

Answer: He threw in with the Brotherhood, winning the Players League batting title

It is interesting to note that the talent levels between the three major leagues were hardly comparable in 1890. Untested rookies like Amos Rusie and Kid Nichols led that National League in major pitching categories, and the American Association was so hard hit that it only played one more season. Browning shone in the unionized league of elite players, leading the circuit in batting average, OPS+, and doubles.

Recent squabbles between players and management should not be compared to the situation in 1890. National League owners had taken advantage of the absence of player leaders like Ward (who was on a world tour with many other stars in the 1889-1890 offseason) to institute a new salary structure based on deportment rather than performance - players arbitrarily found wanting could have their pay docked substantially. In other words, these guys were not haggling over the difference between millions per year and tens of millions.

On a historical note, the Players League War predates the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia by over a quarter-century. If Browning had called anyone a bolshevik in 1890, he should be in the Hall of Fame for psychic ability alone!

Answer: He was generally seen as a poor fielder, with a well-below average lifetime fielding percentage of .892

This, along with a very short career for a Hall candidate, is a major argument against his induction. Though Browning does have his anecdotal defenders, Bill James ranks him dead last in fielding among the top 300 outfielders in his ratings, and popular opinion of the time backs this up. One story goes that Browning once complained to a waiter about a fly in his soup. "Don't worry," the apocraphal waiter replied, "there's no chance of you catching it!" His fielding was at times so bad that he was once suspended for "incompetent play" - while leading the league in batting average! For the record, the designated hitter did not come to baseball until almost eighty years after Browning played his final game. Likewise, Willie Mays' lifetime fielding average was .981; Griffey's .986 - both substantially higher than Browning's.

Answer: True

In his defense, most biographers blame his drinking on the intense pain caused by a lifelong struggle with mastoiditis, an infection of the mastoid bone that caused him profound hearing loss and probably contributed to his erratic behavior. Regardless, Browning's (usually drunken) exploits and eccentricities (including his habit of staring into the sun to improve his eyesight) always made for good newspaper copy.

As an aside, though Browning's abuse of alcohol can hardly be called exemplary, it is worth noting that the Baseball Hall of Fame has already enshrined two convicted drug smugglers (Orlando Cepeda and Ferguson Jenkins). Browning's alcoholism may have diminished his overall contributions, but it should not disqualify him outright.

Answer: Profound hearing loss

Browning suffered from lifelong mastoiditis, a a bacterial infection of the skull's mastoid bone that plagued Browning for most of his life, at times causing nearly unbearable pain. By the time he reached the major leagues, he was almost completely deaf, and was known for his personal habit of shouting at everyone. Most people wrote this off as another of his eccentric personal habits rather than as a debilitating condition that was probably responsible for much of his erracticism as well as his early death in 1905. For the record, burned legs, childhood polio, and a malformed hand were obstacles overcome by distance runner Glenn Cunningham, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, and pitcher Jim Abbott, respectively.

Answer: True

For the record, the Hall of Fame's rules also stipulate that candidates "will be considered for their overall contribution to the game of Baseball" in addition to their playing records.