Top 100 NFL Running Backs - #56: Cliff Battles

Cliff Battles

Teams

Boston/Washington Braves/Redskins (1932-1937)

Playoffs

Appearances - 2 (1936,1937)

Conf Champ Games - 2 (1936,1937)

Champ Games - 2 (1936,1937)

Championships - 1 (1937)

Awards and Honors

All-Pro First Team - 3 (1933,1934,1936)

Hall of Fame - 1968

All-Time Ranks

Rushing Yards per Game - #98

League Leads

Pass Completions (#9-1936)

Rushing Yards (#1-1932,1937, #2-1933, #4-1936, #10-1934)

Rushing Touchdowns (#1-1937, #2-1932, #3-1936, #6-1933,1934)

Yards per Rush (#1-1933, #3-1932, #6-1934, #8-1937)

Rushing Yards per Game (#1-1932,1937, #2-1933, #4-1936, #8-1935, #9-1934)

Receptions (#10-1933)

Receiving Touchdowns (#10-1932)

Total Touchdowns (#1-1937, #2-1936, #4-1934, #5-1932, #8-1933)

Scrimmage Yards (#1-1932,1933,1937, #4-1936, #8-1934)

Yards per Touch (#1-1933, #4-1932,1934)

After scoring 15 touchdowns as a senior at West Virginia Wesleyan, Cliff Battles receiving offers from several NFL teams, but decided to join the Boston Braves because their offer of $175 per game was the highest.

As a rookie, Battles led the league in rushing, gaining 576 yards in an 8-game season. He also had the most scrimmage yards of any player that year as well. The team changed their name to the Redskins in 1933, and that year he became the first player ever to gain 200 rushing yards in a single game, and also led the league in yards per carry and scrimmage yards, earning a spot on the All-Pro First Team.

He was voted onto the All-Pro First team twice more while playing in Boston, in 1934 and 1936. The team reached the championship game in 1936 for the first time, but Battles gained only 8 yards in a 21-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

The Redskins moved to Washington for the 1937 season, and Battles had a great season in his new surroundings. He led the league with 874 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, and gained 955 scrimmage yards, making him the leader in that category for the third time in his career.

The team reached the title game again that year, with Battles scoring the first touchdown of the game and finishing with 53 rush yards and 80 receiving yards as the Redskins defeated the Bears 28-21. After winning the championship, he requested a raise, but the owner refused, and he chose to retire rather than play at the same pay he had received since he was a rookie.

Battles played only 6 seasons, but was among the leaders in every rushing category in every season he played. He led the league in scrimmage yards 3 times, rushing yards twice, and touchdowns once, and led his team to a championship, and though he played a very long time ago, he still belongs on the list of the best to ever play the game.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #57 - Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby was one of the greatest hitters in history, and a 2-time winner of the Triple Crown, but injuries and problems with managers and teammates shortened his career.

Hornsby's career started in 1915 with the Saint Louis Cardinals at 19 years old, and it took him a few years to work his way up to his peak. In 1917 he led the league in total bases and triples while batting .327, but those stats were tame compared to what was to come.

He burst onto the scene in 1920 with his first great season, and he was the best player in the NL for most of that decade. In 1920 he led the league with 218 hits, 44 doubles, 94 RBI, a .370 batting average, .559 slugging percentage, and 329 total bases. The MVP award did not exist at the time, but he most likely would have won it based on those numbers.

In 1921 he led the league in all of those same categories, but also added triples and runs scored to his collection while playing in every single game. In 1922 he fell behind in triples, but took the home run crown with a career-high 42, which earned him his first Triple Crown. His batting average was .401 that year, making him the only player in history to hit .400 with 40 home runs in a single season.

Hornsby missed a couple months in 1923 to a knee injury, so he led the league in batting and slugging, but none of the other categories due to the time missed. He returned with a vengeance in 1924, leading the league in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, slugging, and total bases, and his batting average was .424, the highest of any player after 1900. The NL MVP award returned that year, but was given to Dazzy Vance, because one voter who did not like him left him off the ballot completely, though the Baseball Writers Association of America retroactively gave him the award in 1962, recognizing the obvious error in judgment.

In 1925 he won his second Triple Crown, with 29 homers, 143 RBI, and an average of .403, the third time he surpassed .400, becoming the first to do it twice, and one of only two to achieve the feat to this day (the other is Ted Williams).

He had his worst offensive year of the decade in 1926, but the Cardinals won the pennant and advanced to the World Series. He only hit .250 in the Series, but the Cardinals beat the Yankees in 7 games, with Hornsby recording the final out by tagging out Babe Ruth on a steal attempt.

A contract dispute after the championship led to him being traded to the Giants, and though he had a solid season, he didn't get along well with the team owner, who traded him again after the season to the Boston Braves. He led the league in batting for the 7th time during his season in Boston, but the Braves couldn't afford his contract and traded him to the Cubs after the season, his third time being traded in just over 2 years.

He led the league in hits in his first season in Chicago, and won the MVP for the second time after leading the Cubs to the pennant. He struggled again in the World Series, batting .238 and setting a record with 8 strikeouts in a 5-game loss to the Philadelphia Athletics. He broke his ankle early in the 1930 season, and for the rest of his career was used mainly as a pinch hitter.

Hornsby's domination of the 1920's was extremely rare. In fact, he led the NL in homers, RBI's, and batting average for the decade, making him one of only 4 players in history to win a decade Triple Crown, along with Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols.

Hornsby's career batting average of .358 is #2 all-time behind Ty Cobb, and is the best among right-handed hitters. Only Cobb, Wagner, and Tony Gwynn won more batting titles than Hornsby's 7, and he was the first NL player to reach 300 home runs. He only reached the postseason twice, and struggled both times, but he still ended up as a world champion, and is definitely deserving of recognition as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #58 - Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn is one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time, and he was able to change up his game enough over his long career that he was still a star players in his 40's.

Spahn first pitched for the Boston Braves in 1942, but didn't perform well in 4 appearances and was sent back to the minors. At the conclusion of the season, he joined the Army and was shipped out to Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Purple Heart.

When he returned from war in 1946, he joined the Braves again and finished the season off solidly. Many feel that he lost precious years from his career by fighting in World War II, but he felt that the war helped prolong his career, by allowing him to come back more mature and stronger.

He pitched his first full season in 1947, and he led the league with 7 shutouts and a 2.33 ERA while also winning 21 games, the first of 13 times he would reach the 20-win plateau. The following season the Braves reached the World Series, and Spahn pitched well, striking out 12 in 12 innings of work while giving up only 4 runs, but the Braves lost the Series to the Indians.

Over the next 2 seasons he led the league in both wins and strikeouts, falling just one category short of the Triple Crown. He would lead the league in strikeouts in the next 2 seasons as well, making it 4 in a row. The next year, he led the league in wins and ERA, but not in strikeouts, missing one category for the Triple Crown for the third time in 5 years.

After a couple of down seasons, Spahn experienced a career renaissance in 1957, when he won his only Cy Young. That season also started a streak of 5 straight seasons leading the league in wins and 7 straight seasons leading in complete games, a streak that was still active when he was 42. He finally earned his World Series title in 1957, although he struggled in that season's Series.

The Braves returned to the World Series in 1958 to face the Yankees again, and this time Spahn pitched very well, pitching 2 complete game wins and recording 18 strikeouts, but the Yankees got revenge on the Braves that year. It would be his best and final postseason.

Spahn threw his first no-hitter in 1960, at the age of 39, becoming the oldest ever first-time no-hit pitcher, and he repeated the feat again the next season. He also won his only 2 Player of the Month awards in those two seasons, both coming in August, and both times after amassing a 6-0 record for the month. Spahn truly got better with age.

His most famous pitching performance came at age 42, when he and 25-year-old Juan Marichal each pitched a complete 16-inning game that was scoreless until Willie Mays hit a home run in the bottom of the 16th. At one point late in Spahn's career, Stan Musial said that Spahn would never reach the Hall of Fame, because he would never stop pitching.

Spahn did eventually retire, and when he did, he was #6 on the all-time wins list, a position he still holds. He is also the winningest left-handed pitcher of all time, and holds the NL record for home runs hit by a pitcher, with 35 in his career, and at least one in 17 straight seasons. He had two different long stretches as one of the top pitchers in the league, and is an obvious choice to appear on the list of the top players of all time.