Wallace's association with baseball spanned more than 60 years. He came to the major leagues as a pitcher with the Cleveland Spiders in 1894. Though he won ten games and hurled two shutouts in 1896, he moved to third base in 1897. With the Cardinals in 1899, he shifted to shortstop, remaining a regular at that position for 14 years.
Though known primarily for his fielding skills, Wallace batted better than .300 in 1897, 1899, and 1901 and finished second in the NL with a career-high 12 home runs in 1899. In 1897 and 1899 he drove in more than 100 runs. He became a highly coveted player. In 1902, the Browns lured him away from the Cardinals with a five-year, no-trade contract worth more than $32,000 - a fortune at the time. That June 10, he set a still-standing AL record with 17 chances accepted at shortstop in a nine-inning game. He often led the league in one fielding category or another and stands ninth among shortstops in career chances, putouts, and assists. Though his hitting dropped off in the AL, he continued to show good speed, collecting 153 career triples and stealing 201 bases.
As his career wound down, Wallace's time on the diamond was curtailed by a broken hand in 1912 and serious burns in 1914, and was interrupted by a stint as an AL umpire from June 1915 until August 1916. He finished his ML playing days with the Cardinals in 1918 at age forty-four. He managed in the minors, coached briefly for Cincinnati, and scouted for them for 33 years until his death. He compiled the worst record in history for a manager with 200 or more ML games - 62-154 - with the Browns in 1911-12 and the Reds in September 1937. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1953. (FJO)
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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»October 20, 1901: Seven Cardinals, including the three top hitters-Jesse Burkett, Emmet Heidrick, and Bobby Wallace-and half the pitching staff, jump to the new St. Louis AL team.
»June 10, 1902: Bobby Wallace, slick-fielding St. Louis SS, handles an AL record 17 chances in a 9-inning game while losing 5-4 to Boston. Wallace, whose 25-year career will place him in the Hall of Fame, has 11 assists and six putouts, but makes two errors.
»August 16, 1907: The Washington Post reports that Browns SS Bobby Wallace is the highest paid player in either league at a salary of $6,500.
»October 9, 1910: The battle for the AL batting title is decided on the final day, when Detroit's Ty Cobb edges Cleveland's Nap Lajoie .3850687 to .3840947. Neither man covers himself with glory. Lajoie goes 8-for-8 in a doubleheader with the Browns, accepting six "gift" hits on bunt singles on which Browns rookie 3B Red Corriden is apparently purposely stationed at the edge of the OF grass. The prejudiced St. Louis scorer also credits popular Nap with a "hit" on the Brownie SS Bobby Wallace's wild throw to 1B. In Lajoie's last at bat, he is safe at first on an error call, but is credited with a sac bunt since a man was on. The St. Louis Post is just one of the papers to be openly critical of the move against Cobb. "All St. Louis is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle, conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy." The Browns win the opener, 5–4, and Cleveland takes the nitecap, 3–0 with both managers, Jack O'Connor and Deacon McGuire catching. O'Connor is behind the plate for just an inning, but Maguire goes all the way.
»January 14, 1911: Bobby Wallace, the era's outstanding American League SS, is named manager of the Browns. But St. Louis will finish last, and he will be an infielder again by June 1912.
»September 13, 1937:
Manager Charlie Dressen presses Reds GM Warren Giles
for a contract renewal and is fired. Chief scout
Bobby Wallace takes over the last-place team.
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