108: Zack Wheat-MLB
Zack Wheat was overlooked by the baseball Hall of Fame for years. In 1959, after a unanimous vote, Wheat was elected to the Hall – an honor long overdue, but an honor he was able to enjoy in person. When you look back at the history of the great Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers teams, their all-time team reads like a who’s who of baseball history. Names like Koufax, Campanella, Hodges, Robinson, Reese, Snider, Garvey, Cey, Lopes, are all names that fans of the Dodgers from coast-to-coast love to recall and reminisce about. But one name that is usually omitted from that all-time great’s list is that of Zack Wheat. A star for the Dodgers from 1909 through 1926, Wheat was a career .317 hitter and as late as 1925 when he was 37, playing a full season, Wheat hit .359! He was a hitting machine. On this episode of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes, author Joe Niese returns to the podcast for a wonderful conversation about a guy who challenged the system, won … and lost … and was named one of the 100 greatest to ever play the game. Niese, who has been on SFH previously to talk about Gus Dorais, Burleigh Grimes and Andy Pafko, just released a new book, “Zack Wheat”, brings his passion and knowledge about Wheat to make for another terrific discussion about one of the greats – Zack Wheat. Links: Sports' Forgotten Heroes website Sports' Forgotten Heroes twitter © 2021 Sports' Forgotten Heroes
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Zack Wheat was once named one of baseball’s 100 greatest. A career .317 hitter, Wheat is a name often overlooked by many, including Dodgers’ fans. But he was a star. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1959, his name is often overlooked by Dodgers’ fans coast-to-coast, and it shouldn’t be. In fact, when talking about the greatest Dodgers of all time, Zack Wheat should be at the top of almost every list and on this episode of SFH, author Joe Niese joins to talk about this great, but forgotten star.
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