PINK HAWLEY
Hawley played over a decade in the major leagues in my sim. I began in 1894 and he was 22-20 for the Columbus Solons of the American League that first season. He won the first of two straight pitcher of the year awards in 1895 and helped the Solons beat the National League champion New York Giants to win the World Series. 1895 was his best season, going 30-16 with a 2.58 era while leading the league with 157 strikeouts.
He remained a fixture on the Solons mound through the 1890's and joined the club when it moved to Chicago and became the White Sox in 1901. That season would be his last as an MLB regular as he went 10-21 for a White Sox club that finished 7th in the American League.
The Sox released Hawley early in the 1902 season and he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates but his stay in Pittsburgh was short-lived. He finished his career with brief stops with the Phillies, Browns and Tigers but was quickly released each time.
Hawley's major league career ended in 1905 with a 186-207 record but he did get a brief stint in 1907 with the Topeka Jayhawks of the Western League. Career totals came out relatively close to real life where he pitched from 1892-1902 and was 169-182 including a 31-22 career best year with Pittsburgh in 1895.
SHOELESS JOE JACKSON
Jackson was a Hall of Famer and is one of just 23 players to reach the 3000 career hit plateau. He never played a day in the minors, joining the A's in 1908 as an 18 year old. He had a long wait for his first career hit as Jackson began his major league career going 0-for-14, primarily in pinch-hitting duties before finally getting a single off Boston's Addie Joss in his 15th major league at bat. He struggled at the plate as a rookie, batting just .244 but that would be the lowest season average in his 24 year career. In 1909 Jackson hit .352 and helped the Athletics to the first of 4 straight World Series titles and 5 pennants.
1911 was the best year of his career, when he won his only batting title by hitting .419 and claimed the first of two straight AL MVP awards. They would be the only regular season MVP awards he would receive but Jackson was also named MVP of the 1912 World Series, when he went 9-for-24 to lead the A's past the Cardinals in 5 games. In his career, Jackson appeared in 43 World Series games over 9 seasons and earned 4 World Series rings.
He started and finished his career with the Athletics and is second only to Eddie Collins in franchise games played. Late in his career he was traded to the Cubs and spent a season and a half in the Windy City before being dealt back to the Athletics were he played his final 3 seasons before retiring after the 1931 season. The A's made out well in the exchanges, netting young minor leaguer Carl Hubbell in the deal that sent Jackson to the Cubs. Hubbell would go on to win over 200 games in an Athletics uniform. When Jackson came back to Philadelphia it was in exchange for 26 year old Ernie Orsatti, who would do little in Chicago.
Jackson collected his 3000th career hit on July 4th, 1931 just over a week before his 41st birthday. That hit, a single, came off of Detroit starter Wes Ferrell in an 11-3 loss to the Tigers. He would get only 4 more hits in his career. His .355 career batting average is tied for 3rd all-time with Rogers Hornsby, trailing only Willie Keeler and Ty Cobb. Jackson is second behind only Cobb in career triples with 277. He was a first ballot hall of famer, appearing on 98.6% of the ballots in 1937.
SMOKEY JOE WOOD
Like in real life, Wood started his career as a pitcher before transitioning to becoming a position player. His great success in this universe came on the mound as he was 134-94 over 9 seasons with the New York Highlanders. Wood broke in to the major leagues in 1907 as a 17 year old and after going 8-5 his rookie season Wood would enjoy 3 straight 20+ win seasons. He finished second in Cy Young Award voting in both 1909 and 1910.
By 1915 he had been pushed out of the Highlanders/Yankees rotation and spent the entire year in the bullpen. That off-season Wood was dealt to Detroit for a pair of minor leaguers but he would never pitch for Detroit. The Tigers used him almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter (he had won a pair of silver slugger awards as a pitcher with New York) but Wood hit just .242 in 120 at bats.
He lasted just the one year in Detroit as the Tigers shipped him to Buffalo of the International League following the 1916 campaign in exchange for young infielder Jack Bentley.
Wood would play two seasons in Buffalo, pitching a little but used primarily as an outfielder. He led the Bisons to the International League title in 1917 and was named post-season MVP after batting .409 in the International Series. He hit .327 in 1918 and led the league in doubles as helped the Bisons back to the series. Despite Wood batting .385 that playoff Buffalo lost in 7 games to the Baltimore Orioles.
After a fast start to the 1919 season the New York Yankees purchased Wood's contract from the Bisons. Wood would not play much over the next two and a half seasons for New York as he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter. 1921 was his best year at the plate in the majors as Wood hit .331 in 157 at bats.
He was now 31 years old and the Yankees decided to trade him to Memphis of the Southern Association in the winter following the 1921 campaign. He started 121 games in 1922 for the Chicks, batting .361 with 12 homers and 86 rbi's. His batting average was good for 5th in the league that year, but most of the league's attention was on Turkey Stearnes hitting .401 and just dominating Southern Association pitching for first place Little Rock.
After hitting .308 but starting just 52 games the following season, Wood was released by Memphis and would retire at the age of 33.
His career major league numbers as a hitter were a .195 batting average in 1201 career plate appearances.