Чарльз Уэсли Беннетт – американдық бейсболшының өмірі мен мансабы

American baseball player (1854–1927)

Charles Wesley Bennett (November 21, 1854 – February 24, 1927) was an American professional baseball player from 1875 or 1876 through the 1893 season. He played 15 years in Major League Baseball, principally as a catcher, with the Milwaukee Grays (49 games, 1878), Worcester Ruby Legs (51 games, 1880), Detroit Wolverines (625 games, 1881–1888) and Boston Beaneaters (337 games, 1889–1893). He played on four pennant winning teams, one in Detroit and three in Boston, and is one of only two players (the other being Ned Hanlon) to play with the Detroit Wolverines during all eight seasons of the club's existence. Bennett compiled a .256 batting average and a .340 on base percentage during his major league career with 549 runs scored, 203 doubles, 67 triples, 55 home runs and 533 runs batted in (RBIs). His greatest value, however, was as one of the greatest defensive players of his era. Between 1880 and 1891, he ranked among the National League leaders 10 times in Defensive Wins Above Replacement (Defensive WAR) at all positions and led the league's catchers seven times in fielding percentage and three times in double plays and putouts. His father, Silas Bennett (1815–1887), was a native of Connecticut. His mother, Catherine (Nichols) Bennett, was a native of Pennsylvania. Charlie was the eighth of their 11 children.

Bennett began his career in organized baseball as the catcher for the Neshannock team in the Pennsylvania League. Sources are in conflict as to how long Bennett played for Neshannock, one account indicating he was on the Neshannocks' "pay roll for two seasons", and others stating that he played for the Neshannocks in 1874, 1875 and 1876. While playing for Neshannock, Bennett was the catcher for Cal Hawk, one of the pitching stars of the early 1870s.

At the end of the 1876 season, at age 22, Bennett signed with the Detroit Aetnas. The Aetnas were originally an amateur baseball team, but the club signed several professional players at the end of the 1876 season to aid in a rivalry with the Cass Club of Detroit. The professional players signed by the Aetnas included three members of the Neshannock team—Bennett, George Creamer and Ned Williamson. Bennett's first appearance for the Aetnas was on September 21, 1876, against the Boston Red Stockings at the Woodward Avenue grounds in Detroit. Bennett played third base in the game and, in the first inning, hit a "hot one" that glanced off the pitcher and continued into center field for a triple that drove in a run. The Aetnas' professional players, including Bennett, remained until the end of the season and were "stranded" in Detroit "without a dollar", until a "benefit was given and enough money realized to pay their way home." The following year, the Milwaukee club was admitted to the National League and became the Milwaukee Grays. Bennett made his major league debut on May 1, 1878, and appeared in 49 games, 35 as a catcher and 20 in the outfield. He compiled a .245 batting average for the Grays with 16 runs scored and 12 RBIs.

During Bennett's era, catchers lacked the protective equipment present in 20th century baseball. It was not until 1888 that specialized catcher's mitts began to be used on the non throwing hand. As a result, catchers' hands, fingers, legs, and bodies took a beating in Bennett's time. For this reason, catchers in the era were not every day players, needing time to recuperate after catching a game. When Bennett began his major league career, the major league record for games caught in a season was 63 games. and (3) Deacon White eventually moved to third base as his regular position, finishing his career with only 458 of 1,622 games (28%) as a catcher. Bennett, on the other hand, played 954 of his 1,084 games (88%) at the catcher position. Bennett's durability came not from avoiding injuries, but from playing through them. When he broke another finger during the 1887 World Series, The New York Times reported:It did not seem anything unusual to Bennett or his fingers. When he held up that battered right hand, with its fingers swollen and spread like a boxing glove, with rags tied around three of them, and a general appearance of having been run over by a freight car about the entire hand, it did not seem as though there were room to split it in any new place. Accounts of Bennett's mangled or gnarled hands and fingers are common. In his book, Catcher: The Evolution of an American Folk Hero, Peter Morris cited one such account:Bennett 'declared that only a sissy would use a padded glove with the fingers and thumb cut off. During one of the games in which he figured a foul ball split the left thumb of Bennett's hand from the tip right down to the palm. The flesh was laid open right to the bone. A doctor who examined it immediately told Bennett that it would be necessary for him to quit the game until such time as the thumb healed sufficiently. The physician pointed out that blood poisoning might set in which would cause him the loss not only of the thumb but perhaps a hand or an arm. But despite all the doctor's caution Bennett remained in the game catching day after day with his horribly mangled finger. He kept a bottle of antiseptic and a wad of cotton batting on the bench and between innings would devote his time to washing out the wound.' Another account arises out of the 1889 pennant race. That year, Bennett played for the Boston Beaneaters in a close pennant race with the New York Giants. Bennett's hands had taken a beating while catching for John Clarkson, who won 49 games and pitched five games a week during the season. On the last day of the season, Boston had to win, and New York had to lose for Boston to finish in first place. By the sixth inning, second baseman Hardy Richardson told the manager, Jim Hart, that the ball was coming to him in a bloody state due to the condition of Bennett's hands. Bennett did not want to come out of the game, but Hart removed him over Bennett's protest, and Bennett "had to keep his hands in plasters for two weeks." Despite the physical battering and breaking every finger on both hands, Bennett was able to continue catching for 20 years (1874–1893). That year, Bennett appeared in 82 games, all at catcher. His batting average dropped to .231, his lowest tally since he was a part time player in 1880. However, he continued to show his value defensively. Despite being the sixth oldest player in the National League, Bennett finished fifth among all players at all positions with a Defensive WAR of 1.4. He also led the league's catchers with a .955 fielding percentage, ranked second among the league's catchers with 419 putouts and third with nine double plays turned. In 1890, Bennett remained with the Beaneaters even though he had in 1886 joined the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the union that represented the players and organized the Players' League in response to unfair treatment by team owners. As a member of the Brotherhood, his refusal to play in the Players' League was criticized by many of his fellow Brotherhood members. Hardy Richardson, a Brotherhood representative and former teammate of Bennett, stated that Bennett offered to sign with the Brotherhood only if he was given a three year contract guaranteed by two responsible men. Bennett later described his ambivalence about the Players' League: "I was a Brotherhood man from the first. Mrs. Bennett was strongly opposed to my going into it and before the season opened I told my friends that I could not join them, so I remained with the Boston Club. When I went into the Brotherhood it was a protective order and I had no idea that they intended organizing an association of their own." Offensively, Bennett's production continued to decline, as he finished the 1890 season with a .214 batting average. Though he had only 60 hits, he also drew 72 bases on balls, boosting his on base percentage to .377. Already the third oldest player in the league, Bennett nevertheless also continued to rank among the best defensive catchers. He led the league's catchers with a .959 fielding percentage and ranked fourth in putouts and double plays and fifth in assists and runners caught stealing. Bennett's batting average remained low at .215, but his .332 on base percentage was significantly higher. Moreover, he led the National League in fielding percentage by a catcher for the seventh time in his career. He also led the league with 10 double plays turned by a catcher. In 1893, Bennett returned to his role as the team's number one catcher, appearing in 60 games at the position. In that role, he helped Boston win its third consecutive National League pennant with an 86–43 record. Bennett compiled a .209 batting average and .352 on base percentage and appeared in what proved to be his final baseball game on September 30, 1893. Bennett stepped off the train to talk to an old friend who lived in Kansas and whom Bennett had arranged to greet when the train stopped at Wellsville. It was raining, and the platform was wet. When the train started moving, Bennett "swung around to catch the railing", but his foot slipped, and his left foot went over the rail. Bennett pushed his right leg against the rail to push himself back, but it also slipped and went over the track. The train's wheels ran over his left foot and right leg at the knee. That evening, doctors at the North Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Kansas, amputated Bennett's left leg just above the ankle and his right leg just above the knee. In August 1894, a benefit to raise money for Bennett was held at Boston's South End Grounds; the event included a baseball game between the Boston team and a team of collegiate players as well as foot races and other attractions. The boxing champion Gentleman Jim Corbett attended and briefly played in left field with the Boston team. The benefit was attended by nearly 9,000 people and raised $6,000 for Bennett. Bennett walked to home plate during the event, aided by crutches and artificial limbs, and bowed to the crowd "until the grounds fairly shook with cheers."

During his 15 years in the major leagues, Bennett set numerous fielding records. Several of those records are set forth below. Fielding percentage. In 1882, Bennett set a major league record with a .962 fielding percentage as a catcher. He broke his own major league record in 1888 with a .966 fielding percentage. Bennett's career fielding percentage of .942 stood until 1896 as the major league career record. Bennett also led all major league catchers in fielding percentage six times; no other catcher has accomplished this feat more than four times. Putouts. In 1886, Bennett set a major league, single season record with 445 putouts by a catcher. His career total of 5,123 putouts was also a major league record that stood until 1901. Double plays. In 1887, Bennett broke the career record for most double plays turned as a catcher. His final career total of 114 double plays was the major league record until 1900. Games played. Bennett's career total of 954 games at catcher stood as the major league record until 1897. Sports writer Tim Murnane in 1894 declared Bennett "unquestionably the greatest back stop the game ever produced, taking his throwing and batting into consideration Year after year Bennett led the catchers of the League and country until it seemed impossible to get a player to head him off. It made no difference to him who pitched the ball, he was there to catch it, and always with big hands. Who can remember Bennett dropping a pitched ball? Passed balls were a lost art when this man was behind the stick, and he was the ideal back stop. [Kid] Nichols always insisted on having him do his catching, saying that Bennett knew every batsman's weak points, and made easy work for the pitcher." Pitcher Lee Richmond, whose perfect game Bennett caught in 1880, later stated that, among the catchers he had worked with, "my favorite was Charley Bennett, the best backstop that ever lived in the world. He went after everything, he knew no fear, he kept his pitcher from going into the air." In The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, sports historian Bill James wrote that Bennett was perhaps the best defensive catcher of the era. In comparing Bennett to Buck Ewing, James noted: "Buck Ewing was supposedly a brilliant catcher, but Bennett caught 50% more innings than Ewing, with a lot fewer mistakes: per 1000 defensive innings, Ewing was charged with 59 errors and 66 passed balls, while Bennett was charged with 46 errors and 43 passed balls." Although James ranked Ewing ahead of Bennett as an overall player, he chose Bennett as the catcher on his Gold Glove Team for the 1880s. On the offensive side, Ewing compiled a .303 career batting average, 47 points higher than Bennett. However, with Bennett's talent for drawing walks, Ewing's career on base percentage (.351) was only 11 points higher than Bennett (.340).

In 1882, Bennett was married to his wife, Alice, a Vermont native. They met while Bennett was playing for Worcester. They had no children, and later at 1313 Delaware Avenue in Detroit. One writer wrote that the art of china painting was "the last thing one would expect in the world from a man whose hands have been battered out of shape and whose every finger has been broken." He had been ill for several months before the surgery and never fully recovered afterward, as the poison from the abscess reportedly spread through Bennett's system. Bennett died in February 1927 at age 72 at his home in Detroit. He was buried at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.