The Hall of Famer who broke into the bigs at 17

Lots of the good ones begin early. Many of baseball’s most iconic Hall of Famers, from Mickey Mantle to Ken Griffey Jr., have performed the primary video games of their careers as youngsters.

And Mel Ott began the earliest of all.

Ott had simply turned 17 when he made his Major League debut for the New York Giants on April 27, 1926. Born on March 2, 1909, he wasn’t even two months previous his seventeenth birthday.

That day, with the Giants going through the Phillies on the Baker Bowl, Ott struck out as a pinch-hitter in his solely at-bat. But that was the start of a 22-year MLB profession during which Ott grew to become one of many best proper fielders of all time. He amassed 511 house runs, 2,876 hits and a .304 lifetime batting common for New York, was a 12-time All-Star and received the 1933 World Series.

Ott is considered one of 5 Hall of Famers to make his AL/NL debut on the age of 17. Jimmie Foxx, Bob Feller, Amos Rusie and Harmon Killebrew did, too. But Ott was the youngest.

Youngest Hall of Famers to make AL/NL debut
Mel Ott — 17 years, 56 days
Jimmie Foxx — 17 years, 191 days
Bob Feller — 17 years, 259 days
Amos Rusie — 17 years, 344 days
Harmon Killebrew — 17 years, 359 days

Here’s the story of the way it occurred.

Ott was 16 years outdated and enjoying catcher for a semi-pro lumber firm crew in Patterson, La., when he acquired his large break: a tryout with legendary Giants supervisor John McGraw.

Ott had been denied a spot on his native Minor League crew, the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association — whose alumni embrace Dazzy Vance, Joe Sewell, Bob Lemon, Earl Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson — as a result of he was too small. (Ott, at the same time as a Major Leaguer, stood 5-foot-9 and 170 kilos.)

But he grew to become such a star for the lumber crew that the corporate’s proprietor, Henry Williams, really helpful Ott to McGraw for a tryout throughout a visit to New York. Williams purchased Ott a prepare ticket to the large metropolis and, in September 1925, Ott arrived to check out for the Giants.

The younger Ott made a direct impression.

As Ott biographer Fred Stein chronicles, Hall of Fame second baseman Frankie Frisch attentively watched Ott take batting observe. He took discover of how Ott first sprayed the ball by means of the infield, then drove a number of pitches off the promoting indicators on the right-field wall.

But it was McGraw who instantly noticed one thing particular in Ott.

“He’s got the most natural swing I’ve seen in years,” McGraw advised a reporter on the tryout. “This lad is going to be one of the greatest left-handed hitters the National League has seen.”

McGraw knew the Giants needed to have Ott. In January 1926, he gave the still-16-year-old a contract and a $400 bonus.

Ott was moved from catcher to the outfield due to his dimension, and he realized the place from the most effective: McGraw, Giants Hall of Fame proper fielder Ross Youngs and coach Roger Bresnahan — himself a Hall of Fame catcher and outfielder.

McGraw did not need to ship Ott off to a Minor League crew when he might oversee Ott’s improvement himself. So he saved Ott with the large league membership.

Two weeks into the 1926 season, Ott — who had turned 17 slightly over a month earlier than Opening Day — acquired right into a recreation for the primary time.

Ott’s MLB debut wasn’t essentially the most memorable, however he rapidly proved McGraw to be prescient.

He notched his first profession hit a number of days later on the Polo Grounds and went on to bat .383 in 35 video games in his first season.

Ott did not hit his first house run till the following 12 months, on the ripe age of 18, an inside-the-parker towards the Cubs in New York. There could be a lot extra after that.

After two seasons being groomed as an outfielder, the still-19-year-old Ott took over because the Giants’ full-time proper fielder in 1928 — and put collectively one of many prime seasons ever by an adolescent. But the following 12 months was his true breakout: Ott batted .328 with 42 homers and 151 RBIs at age 20 in 1929.

Over the following 20 years, Ott did certainly develop into one of many best left-handed hitters the National League has ever seen … and Major League Baseball has ever seen.

Ott’s 5-foot-9 stature did not cease him from main the league in house runs six instances, or from turning into the third member of the 500-home-run membership alongside Babe Ruth and Foxx in 1945, his twentieth season within the large leagues.

And in 1951, the fourth 12 months after his retirement, Ott was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 87.2% of the vote, finishing the legendary profession arc that started 25 years earlier, as a 17-year-old lefty that the Giants knew could be their subsequent nice hitter.