Mel Ott

Sport: Baseball

Induction Year: 1963

Induction Year: 1963

The kid from New Orleans was on a major league roster at the age of 16. When he was 24, he led the New York Giants to a World Series victory over the Washington Senators by leading both teams with seven hits. Two of them were homers, including the tenth inning shot that wrapped up the final game.

By that time, Melvin Thomas Ott was well on his way to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.

When he retired after 22 years of as a player and seven as the Giants’ manager, Ott held National League records for home runs (511), runs (1,859), runs batted in (1,860), extra-base hits (1,071), base on balls (1,708) and total bases (5,041). But a generation later, he would be the answer to a trivia question regarding a comment by Leo Durocher.

Before a July 5, 1946, game at the Polo Grounds, broadcaster Red Barber was needling Durocher – the Dodgers’ fiery manager – about his reputation as a hothead.

“Why don’t you be a nice guy for a change, Leo?” asked Barber.

Durocher stood up. “A nice guy!” he yelled, waving his arms. “A nice guy!” Then, pointing to Ott in the Giants’ dugout, he said, “You ever see a nicer guy than Mel Ott? And where is he? In last place! Me, I’m not a nice guy. But I’m in first!”

Later, his comment would be changed to “Nice guys finish last.” But that isn’t what Durocher said, and that isn’t what he meant. His point was that nice guys didn’t enjoy any more success than jerks.

Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Pete Rose and a few others have passed Ott on the various National League career lists, but he is still the only player who has received 100 or more bases on balls in seven consecutive seasons.

It all started with a post card that Ott didn’t take seriously. When he was 16 years old, Ott was playing for a semi-pro team called the Patterson Grays during the summer before his senior year at Gretna High. When he received a post card reading, “Report to McGraw, Polo Grounds New York,” he thought it was a practical joke.

It wasn’t.

He reported to the Giants as a catcher, but Ott’s size (5-9, 170 pounds) didn’t measure up to John McGraw’s standards at that position. When he saw the kid hit, however, McGraw knew he would have to find a spot for the youngster who would finish his career third on the major league home run list behind Babe Ruth and Jimmy Foxx.

“I’m keeping him under wraps until I decide what to do with him,” said McGraw. He ordered the youngster to sit beside him on the bench. “You just watch what’s going on and listen to everything I say,” the manager told Ott. McGraw moved his prodigy to the outfield, but he didn’t foot with his unique hitting style (Ott lifted his lead foot about a foot off the ground as he stepped into the pitch) and he didn’t allow any minor league managers to change it, either.

In his first full season with the Giants, Ott played in 35 games. His first base hit in professional baseball, at the age of 17, was against Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander. By his third season, he was a regular fixture in the starting lineup as a 19-year-old – hitting .322 as the Giants won 25 games in September but fell two games short of the pace-setting Cardinals.

The next year, he hit .328 and set club records with 42 home runs and 151 runs batted in – and he still wasn’t old enough to vote. Chuck Klein of the Phillies beat him out for the home run title with a bit of help from his teammates. In a doubleheader the day before the final day of the season, Philadelphia pitchers walked Ott five times – once with the bases loaded – rather than give him a chance to hit one more homer and match Klein’s league record total 43. Ott never matched those numbers again, but he held or shared the league lead in home runs five times.

That was the first of eight consecutive seasons in which Ott drove in more than 100 runs, but he led the league only once in that category.

Despite his “nice guy” label, Ott had his share of run-ins with umpires. In the 1946 season, he had the dubious distinction of becoming the first manager to be thrown out of both games in a doubleheader.

With the Giants still struggling two years later, Ott knew his days with the club were numbered. When owner Horace Stoneham asked him what was needed to get the club back on track, Ott said, “Maybe what we need is a new manager.”

“Who, for example?” asked Stoneham.

“I’d suggest you to try to get Leo Durocher,” said Ott.

That’s exactly what they did. And three years later, thanks to Mays and Bobby Thomson’s dramatic home run, the Giant were back in the World Series.

An automobile accident in November of 1958 claimed Ott’s life. Durocher was crying when he called New York restaurant owner Toots Shor with the sad news. “Toots,” he said, “he was the nicest guy that ever put on a shoe.”