Beauty at Short

by Tom Alesia

Dave Brancroft the Most Unlikely Hall of Famer and His Wild Times in Baseball’s First Century

Dave Bancroft’s brilliant, bumpy and boisterous six decades in pro baseball linked the sport’s primitive origins to its early 1970s charisma. Along the way, he quit the game in 1912 after three seasons in the lowest-level minor leagues. “I can’t hit”, he said. Urged to stay, thenks to his fielding prowess at shortstop, Bancroft began his remarkable ascent to New York and Philadelphia hero. He also managed teams from the Boston Braves to the all-female Battle Creek Belles; earned the nickname Beauty; snapped the bost outlandish Babe Ruth photos; experienced the sport during world wars and through racial strife; and played in 17 countries. He met royalty, presidents, film stars and boxing champs. A year before his 1972 death, he became a shocking and controversial selection to the Hall of Fame.