Hank Gowdy

Gowdy was born in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Columbus North High School in 1908. He and his wife Pauline had no children. A nephew, Pat Bonaventura, is completing a book about Gowdy's life. ==Major League career==

Gowdy made his major league debut with John McGraw's New York Giants in 1910, before being traded to Boston the next year. In the 1914 World Series, he had a .545 batting average, including the only home run of the series, in the historic upset of Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. Gowdy had 50,000 fans celebrate him in a parade in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio that October. In , the Giants released him. Four years later, he made a comeback with the Braves, albeit with very limited playing time. ==Career statistics==

In a seventeen-year major league career, Gowdy played in 1,050 games, accumulating 738 hits in 2,735 at bats for a .270 career batting average along with 21 home runs and 322 runs batted in. Gowdy's reputation as a defensive stand out is enhanced because of the era in which he played. In the Deadball Era, catchers played a huge defensive role, given the large number of bunts and stolen base attempts, as well as the difficulty of handling the spitball pitchers who dominated pitching staffs. ==Coaching career==

After his playing career was over, he became a coach with the Giants, Braves, and the Reds. By 1948, he had retired from baseball. ==Unsuccessful Hall of Fame bid==

Gowdy has the record for most unsuccessful Hall of Fame induction attempts, without ever having been enshrined in the Hall. While current custom limits the times a player can appear on the ballot to 10, Gowdy received votes 17 years, never being elected to the Hall of Fame (Edd Roush has the record for most Hall attempts with 19, but he was later enshrined by the Veteran's Committee). Gowdy died at his home in Columbus, Ohio at age 76. Gowdy Field in Columbus is named in his honor as is the Columbus chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research. ==References==