Hall of Famers

ROGER PHILIP BRESNAHAN (1945)

Born: June 11, 1879 in Toledo, OH
Died: December 4, 1944 in Toledo, OH

Bresnahan was elected in 1945 as a catcher. He debuted with the Mud Hens in 1898 as a pitcher. At Toledo he was the Owner-President from 1916-23. Bresnahan also served as Mud Hens manager from 1916-20, winning 283 and losing 362. He batted .262 in 112 games as a catcher and outfielder. He is the only native Toledoan enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Bresnahan served as a lead off man for the New York Giants, forming one of the all time great batteries with Christy Mathewson. He is also noted for introducing protective shin guards for catchers and also playing all nine positions during his career. Bresnahan also had managerial stints with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. He was nicknamed "The Duke of Tralee."

WILLIAM HAROLD "BILL" TERRY (1954)

Born: October 30, 1898 in Atlanta, GA
Died: January 9, 1989 in Jacksonville, FL

Terry was elected in 1954 as a first baseman. He was in Toledo for the 1922 and 1923 seasons. He debuted as a pitcher, winning 9 and losing 9, but moved on to first base. He batted .363 in 197 with the Mud Hens and went on to manage the club. His .341 career batting average is the highest ever for a National League left-handed hitter, and he is the last to hit .400 in the National League. He hit 154 home runs and had 1078 RBI in his major league career.

CLARENCE ARTHUR "DAZZY" VANCE (1955)

Born: March 4, 1891 in Orient, IA
Died: February 16, 1961 in Homosassa Springs, FL

Vance was elected in 1955 as a pitcher. He played ten years in the minor leagues before reaching the major leagues at age 31. He was a lackluster 2-6 at Toledo in 1917. Despite his late start, he won 197 games in the National League and was the highest paid pitcher in history at $25,000 in 1929. Vance led the National League in wins two times and ERA three times. He pitched a no-hitter in 1925 and was named the NL MVP in 1924. Vance had 2045 career strikeouts and is the only pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts seven consecutive years.

JOSEPH VINCENT "JOE" McCARTHY (1957)

Born: April 21, 1887 in Philadelphia, PA
Died: January 13, 1978 in Buffalo, NY

McCarthy was elected in 1957 as a manager. He played in Toledo from 1908-11, primarily as an infielder. During his time in Toledo, he batted .231 in 350 games. McCarthy never made it to the major leagues as a player, but managed for 24 big league seasons. McCarthy has the highest winning percentage in baseball history, winning nine pennants and finishing in second seven times, never letting any of his teams finish in the second half of the league. McCarthy is the only manager to win pennants in both the National and American League and he won 7 World Series Titles (tied for most with former Mud Hens manager and Hall of Famer Casey Stengel).

ELMER HARRISON FLICK (1963)

Born: January 11, 1876 in Bedford, OH
Died: January 9, 1971 in Bedford, OH

Flick was elected in 1963 as a right fielder. He was an outfielder for Toledo for the 1911 and 1912 seasons, batting .291 in 199 games. Flick was one of baseball's best hitters at the turn of the century, batting .315 for his career. He had good speed, leading the league in triples three years in a row and twice in steals. Flick was so highly sought of that Cleveland refused to trade him even up for Ty Cobb.

CHARLES DILLON "CASEY" STENGEL (1966)

Born: July 30, 1890 in Kansas City, MO
Died: September 29, 1975 in Glendale, CA

Stengel was elected in 1966 as a manager (also played 14 years). At Toledo, served as manager from 1926-31, winning 490, and losing 498. As a pinch hitter and outfielder he batted .322 in 155 games. He led the Mud Hens to pennant and only Junior World Series win in 1927. He batted over .284 in 14 years in the Major Leagues and accounted for both Giants victories in the 1923 World Series by hitting home runs. Stengel later guided the New York Yankees to 10 pennants and seven World Series championships in a 12-year span, highlighting a 25-year major league managing career.

WILLIAM GEORGE "BILLY" EVANS (1973)

Born: February 10, 1884 in Chicago, IL
Died: January 23, 1956 in Miami, FL

Evans was elected in 1973 as an umpire. Evans served Toledo as a General Manager in 1932 and again as President from 1949-51 while the Detroit Tigers owned the Mud Hens. At 22-years-old, before coming to Toledo, Evans was the youngest man ever to umpire in the Major Leagues and worked in blue in the American League from 1906-1927. After Toledo, he was General Manager at Detroit and Cleveland.

JOHN BERTRAND "JOCKO" CONLAN (1974)

Born: December 6, 1899 in Chicago, IL
Died: April 16, 1989 in Scottsdale, AZ

Conlan was elected in 1974 as an umpire. Jocko Conlan became an umpire by accident. When Red Ormsby was overcome by the heat while umpiring a 1935 game between the White Sox and Browns. Conlan, an outfielder with the Chisox, was asked to fill in. The following year he launched his new career. He batted .290 in 69 games for Toledo during the 1930 season. Conlan umpired 24 years in the National League. He earned respect for how he called and controlled games, and umpired five World Series and six All-Star Games.

OSCAR McKINLEY CHARLESTON (1976)

Negro League Player Born: October 14, 1896 in Indianapolis, IN
Died: October 5, 1954 in Philadelphia, PA

Charleston was elected in 1976 as a center fielder, first baseman, and manager. He managed and played first base for the 1939 Toledo Crawfords, which played in both the Negro National League and the Negro American League. In 60 league games in 1921, he batted .434 while leading the Negro National League in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases. He is commonly regarded as the finest all-around player in Negro Leagues history.

FREDERICK CHARLES "FREDDIE" LINDSTROM (1976)

Born: November 21, 1905 in Chicago, IL
Died: October 4, 1981 in Chicago, IL

Lindstrom was elected in 1976 as a third baseman. He started as a 16-year-old third baseman for Toledo in 1922. He was also a Mud Hen in 1923, batting .272 in 165 games for those two seasons. He went on to be a fixture at third base for the great John McGraw led New York Giant teams, and became the youngest player to ever win a World Series in 1924 at age 18. Lindstrom had seven .300 seasons and twice garnered 231 hits. He had lifetime batting mark was an impressive .311 and recorded 1747 hits, 103 home runs and 779 RBI in his career.

ADRIAN "ADDIE" JOSS (1978)

Born: April 12, 1880 in Woodland, WI
Died: April 14, 1911 in Toledo, OH

Joss was elected in 1978 as a pitcher. He was on the mound in Toledo for the 1900 and 1901 seasons winning 46 games. Joss made his home in Toledo and was a local sports writer. His major league career, all spent with the Cleveland Indians, was tremendous, but cut short by death due to tubercular meningitis at age 31. His career earned run average of 1.88 is second all time. He won a total of 160 games in nine major league seasons, including 45 shutouts and one perfect game. Joss won 20 or more games four seasons in a row for the Cleveland Blues and Naps, while never experiencing a losing season during his entire career. Forty-five of his 160 career victories were shutouts, and he hurled a perfect game in 1908 and a second no-hitter in 1910.

LEWIS ROBERT "HACK" WILSON (1979)

Born: April 26, 1900 in Ellwood City, PA
Died: November 23, 1948 in Baltimore, MD

Wilson was elected in 1979 as a center fielder. He played in 55 games for Toledo in 1925, batting .343. In his 12-year major league career, he won four home run titles, topped by his 1930 season when he averaged .356, hit 56 home runs, and drove in a still-record 191 runs. Wilson compiled 244 home runs and 1,063 RBI and also totaled an impressive .307 career batting average over 12 major league seasons.

JAMES PAUL DAVID "JIM" BUNNING (1996)

Born: October 23, 1931 in Southgate, KY

Bunning was elected in 1996 as a pitcher. He managed the Mud Hens during the 1974 and 1975 season for the Phillies organization, winning 132 and losing 152. He won more than 100 games and struck out more than 1,000 in both Major Leagues. He threw no-hitters in both leagues, including a perfect game on Father's Day 1964. Bunning became the first pitcher to record 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts in both the American and National leagues. He accumulated 224 career wins as a seven-time All-Star selection. Bunning was also a leading figure in the founding of the player's union.

NORMAN THOMAS "TURKEY" STEARNES (2000)

Negro League Player Born: May 8, 1901 in Nashville, TN
Died: September 4, 1979 in Detroit, MI

Stearnes was elected in 2000 as a center fielder. He captained the 1945 Toledo Cubs of the United States Baseball League. Stearnes was a prolific homerun hitter and led the Negro National League in homers six times with the Detroit Stars and reportedly hit at least 140 round-trippers in 585 career games.

KIRBY PUCKETT (2001)

Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, AZ

Puckett was elected in 2001 as a right fielder. He played in Toledo during the 1984 season. As a Mud Hen, he batted .263 in 21 games. In the Major Leagues, he was an all star 10 of his 12 seasons and also earned six Gold Gloves while batting .318 for his career. Puckett was named to 10 consecutive All-Star teams from 1986 to 1995 and finished among the top 10 in MVP voting seven times. Puckett led the Minnesota Twins to two World Series titles before his career was cut short by glaucoma.

WILLIAM "BILLY" HAROLD SOUTHWORTH (2008)

Born: March 9, 1893 in Harvard, NE
Died: November 15, 1969 in Columbus, OH

Southworth was elected in 2008 as a manager. He appeared in 37 games with the Mud Hens as an outfielder in 1913. He won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals on three simple tenets that made him one of the greatest managers in baseball history: be patient, platoon players and bunt all the time. Overall, Southworth, who also captured the 1948 pennant with the Boston Braves, compiled a brilliant resume in a 13-year managerial career. He finished with a 1044-704 record and fashioned a .597 winning percentage, fifth on the all-time list and third best among managers with 1,000 wins, trailing only Hall-of-Famers Joe McCarthy and Frank Selee.