ACBL Hall of Fame

Class of 1947

It’s time to announce the Class of 1947 for the ACBL Hall of Fame. We had 13 managers vote this year, which means 10 votes were necessary for election. The results give us two new members of the ACBL Hall of Fame. This was the closest election in the history of the ACBL Hall of Fame. No player received a unanimous vote. One player received 12 votes, while one player received the minimum of ten votes. Another player missed out by a single vote, two were only two votes shy, while another came up short by three votes.

The drumroll please! The two inductees to the ACBL Hall of Fame are:

PAUL WANER

1930-42 Santa Barbara
1943-44 Bradenton

Played 13 years with one of the 2 remaining original ACBL franchises, the Santa Barbara Dons, before concluding his career with the Bradenton Buckeyes...Hit over .300 for 10 consecutive years, including a remarkable .404 in the first year of the league, 1930....Ranks 5th all-time in the ACBL in batting average and 2nd in 3Bs, & is also in the top 20 in numerous other batting categories, scoring over 1000 runs and finishing with 2175 hits....Reached the post-season 6 times in his illustrious career, which included a World Series appearance with Santa Barbara in 1939...Had over 200 hits in 4 seasons, reached double figures in 2Bs, 3Bs, & HRs in 4 consecutive years, 1932-35, and drew more than twice as many walks than he struck out over his career.

JOE CRONIN

1930 Troy
1931 Schutterlee Mill
1932-44 Corleone

Played his entire 15 year career with the same franchise, including his pivotal role on the 1941 World Series champion Corleone Family.....A defensive whiz at shortstop, he hit over.300 7 times and hit 26 HRs in two consecutive seasons, 1938 and 1939...finished with over 2000 hits in his career and led the Federal League in 2Bs twice.....ranks 3rd on the all-time ACBL list in 2Bs and is in the top 10 in many other categories.....reached the post-season 6 times, including his 1941 World Series championship.....extraordinarily consistent player throughout his career, with a batting average over .274 for his first 10 seasons...rebounded from an off-year in 1940 to hit .320 and score & knock in over 100 runs in the 1941 championship season.

Congratulations to Paul Waner & Joe Cronin and to the managers who had them on their teams.

The vote totals for this years’ election are below. Supporters of Al Simmons, Gabby Hartnett, Wes Ferrell, & Chuck Klein are obviously disappointed, but each will have the opportunity for election next year. All players who received at least 1 vote will return to next years’ ballot. Thanks to everyone who voted.


Paul Waner – 12*
Joe Cronin – 10*
Al Simmons – 9
Wes Ferrell – 8
Gabby Hartnett – 8
Chuck Klein – 7
Wally Berger – 6
Lloyd Waner - 3
Gus Suhr – 2
Buddy Myer - 1
Charlie Root - 1
Johnny Allen - 0
Ray Berres - 0
Johnny Cooney - 0
Frank Demaree - 0
Ival Goodman - 0
Don Heffner - 0
Rollie Hemsley - 0
Chief Hogsett - 0
Willis Hudlin - 0
Pepper Martin – 0

* – elected ACBL Hall of Fame Class of 1947