Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame Debut Post

Syracuse baseball has (largely) been associated with the International League since 1877 with team names the Stars, Chiefs, SkyChiefs, and now the Mets. The Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame was established in 1998, reportedly in conjunction with the 140th anniversary of the first organized baseball team in Syracuse, New York.

Throughout Syracuse baseball history, several players have gone on to National Baseball Hall of Fame careers, World Series titles, and numerous other achievements. Since 1963, Syracuse has been affiliated with the Tigers, Yankees, Blue Jays, Nationals, and the Mets.

Similar to my National Baseball Hall of Fame (HoF) collection, my goal for the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame (WoF) collection is to collect at least one card of each member. This goal may not be achievable because the membership includes sports writers, executives, politicians, and other non-players. Plus, some of the players were from the early baseball days, and may never have even had a card created of them. For those with no cards, I try to collect a copy of their WoF plaque. However, those are not readily available to the public, so I guess I'll have to go to other lengths to achieve this (i.e., contact the team management).

I don't collect duplicate cards of members of both the National Baseball HoF and the Syracuse Baseball WoF, so what I keep in my Syracuse WoF album of the National HoFers is a copy of their plaque. This includes: Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander, "Sunny" Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey, Bobby Cox, Pat Gillick, Roy Halladay, and Vic Willis. I intend to post my cards of these folks at a later date. Meanwhile, here are some representative cards:

2000 Grandstand (Awesome pic!)

2015 Panini Cooperstown No. 71 09/10

1982 TCMA (Love this photo)

1998 Grandstand

1988 CCC Reprint

Out of approximately 121 Syracuse Baseball WoF inductees, I don't have cards for about 38 of them. As I noted, several aren't players, and some players may never have had a card made of them. I don't have cards for about 21 of the player inductees. I'll have to create a cards needed list in a sidebar so that those interested in helping me whittle that list down can help.

One piece of cool trivia (to me), is that Syracuse baseball has seen the likes of several notable two-sport stars. For football, this includes: Deion Sanders (2001 SkyChiefs), and Heisman Trophy Winners Chris Weinke (95 & 96 Chiefs) and Tim Tebow (2019 and current). Weinke never made it to the majors, and Tebow hasn't made it - yet. For basketball: Danny Ainge (78 - 80 Chiefs) and 6'-9" Mark Hendrickson (2001 - 2003 SkyChiefs). None of these amazing athletes are in the Syracuse Baseball WoF. I hope to post about this separately someday soon too.

2001 Choice

1991 Classic

2019 Choice

1980 TCMA

2001 Choice

Another piece of cool trivia - of the 18 players in the history of the game that have hit four home runs in one game, three of them played for the Syracuse Chiefs. They are Mark Whiten (93 Cardinals), Shawn Green (2002 Dodgers), and Carlos Delgado (2003 Blue Jays). Two others did this feat when they were a member of the Chiefs. They are Gene Locklear (77) and Michael Aubrey (2011). Of these, only Whiten and Aubrey are not in the Syracuse Baseball WoF.

1993 Pinnacle/Score Gold Rush

2002 Topps eTopps eVent Series

1998 Grandstand

1975 Topps

2001 Choice

Other notable Syracuse baseball players include (* denotes member of the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame):

Moses Fleetwood Walker - In 1884, Walker was the first African-American to play MLB, and last, until Jackie Robinson in 1947.

*Hank Sauer - Hit 50 Hrs with 141 RBIs and a .336 Avg for the Chiefs in 1947 (only his RBIs led the league).

*Pepper Martin - Famed member of the St. Louis Cardinals "Gas House Gang." Batted .300 with 29 SBs for the 1926 Syracuse Stars.

*Thurman Munson - Played in 28 games for the Syracuse Chiefs in 1969 batting .363 in 102 at-bats before his call up to the New York Yankees. Won the Rookie of the Year Award, three Gold Glove Awards, seven All-Star Game selections, and the Most Valuable Player Award (1976) before his untimely death death in the middle of the 1979 season.

*Ron Guidry - Louisiana Lightening (aka Gator) Played for the Chiefs in 75 & 76. Went 5-1 with a 0.68 ERA in 22 games for the 76 Chiefs before his call-up. Gator won five Gold Glove Awards, four All-Star Game selections, and the Cy Young Award (going 25-3 with a 1.78 ERA in 1978), in his 14 seasons with the Yankees.

*Fred McGriff - Crime Dog played for Syracuse in parts of the 84 - 86 seasons. He went on to a fabulous career spanning 19 years, amassing 493 home runs and 1550 RBIs (12 seasons with 90 or more).

Denny McLain - The major league's last 30-game winner (31-6 in 1968). McLain was 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA in 8 games with the 1964 Chiefs.

Stephen Strasburg - Strasburg pitched in 6 games for Syracuse in 2010, going 4-1 with a 1.08 ERA before being called-up. When he was on the mound, the attendance at Alliance Bank Stadium swelled from an average of 5,824 per game (cough cough) to over 15,000 per game (legit)! He since has gone on to a record of  112-58 with a 3.17 ERA (through 2019) with the Nationals. And after posting a 5-0 record (first time ever done) with a 1.98 ERA in the 2019 post season, he won the World Series MVP trophy with 2 wins against the Astros!

2010 Choice

Bryce Harper - Harper played in 21 games with the 2012 Chiefs before being called up to Washington where he has won the Rookie if the Year Award, MVP (in 2015), and selected to 6 All-Star games in his 8 seasons (to date). Similar to Strasburg, attendance swelled to impressive numbers when Harper played at home.

2012 Choice

I picked up the black & white photo Syracuse Chiefs at a flea market. It looks like it was taken at old MacArthur Stadium (Originally named Municipal Stadium, it was re-named in honor of General Douglas MacArthur in 1942). On the back someone wrote in "1969." The Chiefs were affiliated with the Yankees back then. It doesn't include any info on who is who, but that team included WoFers Alan Closter, Rob Gardner, Thurman Munson, and Frank Tepedino.

The color photo is a Stevenson Studios photo of the 1971 Chiefs, also presumably taken at old "Big Mac,"and the back included photo information. This team included WoFers Rick Bladt (top row, 6th from left), Len Boehmer (1st row, far right), Alan Closter (not shown), Rob Gardner (2nd row, 2nd from left), GM Tex Simone (top row, far right), and Frank Tepedino (not shown). Also not shown, but the team included former Yankee Ron Blomberg. "Boomer" was the first major leaguer to play a game as a designated hitter (then briefly referred to as "Designated Pinch Hitter")! On April 6, 1973, at Fenway Park, he was walked by Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant with the bases loaded in his first plate appearance of the game.