Real fame isn't fleeting - and never is forgotten

Sporting News, The, March 18, 1996 by Marty Appel

We know that Ned Hanlon must have been a great manager, because in the days when nearly every owner employed a player/manager to save a salary, Hanlon was one of the few who was hired to do his work only from the dugout or the third base coach's box.

And we know that Willie Foster was a fine lefthander because his half-brother Rube, who ran the Negro National League, also owned the Chicago American Giants. And as soon as Willie showed promise, Rube moved him from Memphis to Chicago, where he helped the Giants to three pennants.

There was a time when Hanlon and Foster were heroic figures in their leagues. Both had been long forgotten, except by historians. But now, they can wear "Hall of Fame" next to their names.

What finally got Hanlon to Cooperstown was the quality of the talent he developed and the six titles (just like Earl Weaver) he produced. In 19 seasons, he managed future Hall of Famers John McGraw, Hughey Jennings, Wilbert Robinson, Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Dan Brouthers, Joe McGinnity and Miller Huggins -- McGraw, Jennings, Robinson and Huggins all selected as managers themselves.

McGraw credited Hanlon with being among the first to discard the theory that veteran teams were better. He was not frightened by an inexperienced lineup. His young Baltimore Orioles were the class of the National League, winning four consecutive Temple Cups or finishing first (1894-97), with their well-executed hit and runs, double steals and Baltimore Chop base hits. And if there was any doubt who ran things, Owner Harry Von der Horst wore a button that read "Ask Hanlon."

He pulled off a grand larceny when he traded journeymen Willie Shindle and George Treadway to Brooklyn for Keeler and Brouthers, and earned McGraw's lasting respect as "Foxy Ned." He headed baseball's Rules Committee in 1895 when the pitching rubber was enlarged to its present 24 inches by 6 inches, (so umpires could better catch pitchers cheating). That same year, his committee wrote the infield fly rule, a centennial the U.S. Postal Service missed.

Edward Hugh Hanlon was born August 22, 1857, in Montville, Conn. After a minor league apprenticeship that began at 18, he made his way to the majors and became captain of the Detroit Wolverines. Although a career .260 hitter, he played a good outfield and averaged 66 stolen bases for the five years after tabulation of the stat began in 1887.

Hanlon managed Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Brooklyn and Cincinnati, and then left the game after the 1907 season and settled in Baltimore. He was a director of the Federal League's Baltimore Terrapins in 1914 and '15, and owned the land on which their ballpark was built. He died April 14, 1937, in Baltimore.

Foster never met his illustrious halfbrother until he was 18 and working in the Chicago stockyards. Rube was 15 years his senior (and entered the Hall of Fame 16 years ago), and both were sons of a Methodist minister from Texas. They expand the list of brothers in the Hall of Fame to three, joining the Waners (Paul and Lloyd) and the Wrights (George and Harry).

Willie Hendrick Foster (sometimes called Bill) was born June 12, 1904, in Calver, Tex., but raised in Mississippi by his grandmother after his mother died in 1908. In his days in the Negro Leagues (1923 through '37), he pitched for Memphis, Chicago, Homestead, Kansas City, Cole's American Giants, Birmingham and Pittsburgh, relying on a fastball, an overhand curve and a sidearm curve.

In 1926, he won 26 consecutive games en route to a pennant, winning both ends of a doubleheader on the final day, and in 1927 he was 32-3 as Chicago repeated its title. He had 137 Negro League victories to Satchel Paige's 129. Monte Irvin says he always heard Foster referred to as the "black Lefty Grove."

After retiring, he sold insurance and became Dean of Men as well as baseball coach at Alcorn State College in Fayette, Miss., from 1960 through '77. He died September 16, 1978, in Lorman, Miss. But he, like Hanlon, will now live forever in Cooperstown.