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The lone inductee in the 1927 MLB Hall of Fame class was George Lacey, getting in on his fourth try at 69.4%. First baseman Chad Tepp on his fourth attempt was at 63.7%, just shy of the 2/3s threshold. Third baseman Rick Montgomery also was above 60% on his third try.

In the CABA voting, Brian Kendall became the third CABA Hall of Famer on his third go on the ballot at 71.3%. First baseman Manny Arroyo had a solid debut in his first go at 61.0%.



George Lacey - Starting Pitcher – Houston Hornets – 69.4% - 4^th Ballot

George Lacey was a 5’9’’, 200 pound right handed pitcher who was born in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. Lacey’s pitching velocity was in the upper 90s and he relied on an excellent fastball, while using a curveball and forkball (and rarely a changeup) as the alternate. He was known for reliable control and movement as well and was generally considered to be a great team captain and leader.

Lacey was 24 years old when the inaugural MLB Draft came around in 1901, but already thought of as a solid pitcher in baseball circles despite being from a relatively remote area. The San Francisco Gold Rush used their first round pick, the 43^rd overall, to select Lacey.

Lacey immediately became a quality top-end starter for the Gold Rush and in 1904 at age 27, he won the American Association Pitcher of the Year, leading the AA in ERA at 2.58. This was a contract year for Lacey and he cashed in, signing a seven-year, $24,480 contract with Houston beginning with the 1905 season.

He became an important part of the first Hornets dynasty, which won the World Series four times and made it six times between 1905 and 1912. Lacey settled into the middle of their rotation and actually struggled a bit in the postseasons. But he was old reliable, not missing a start, rarely having a bad start, over his seven years with Houston. He collected three rings but was gone before he could get the fourth as they didn’t re-sign the then 35-year old Lacey after the 1911 season.

Lacey signed a four-year, $13,840 contract with Detroit, who Houston had defeated in the 1911 World Series. The Tigers wouldn’t get to the playoffs in his three years there though, where he was mostly an innings-eater. The Tigers traded him in 1915 to Montreal for his final MLB season at age 38.
After that, he spent two seasons in CABA between Juarez and Ecatepec, then came back for 27 innings as a 41-year old relief with Atlanta in 1918.

His final MLB line was 244-175, 3.65 ERA, 292 quality starts out of 499 with 2541 strikeouts and a 73.7 WAR. He was a reliable arm for nearly two decades and was well-liked enough by his contemporaries to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame.



Brian Kendall – Starting Pitcher – Tijuana Toros – 72.3% - 3^rd Ballot

Kendall had one of the stranger careers of the 1910s and is a surprising third member of the CABA Hall of Fame, considering he’s an American guy from Massachusetts. Kendall was a 6’0’’, 190 pound left hander who became known for having some of the best stuff of all-time, making up for at times weak control. At his peak, he’d hit 100 miles per hour with his fastball, while getting whiffs with a quick slider and splitter.

Kendall played college baseball for Texas Tech and excelled, leading to him being picked fifth overall in the 1907 MLB draft by Oakland. By his third year with the Owls at age 22, he led the American Association in strikeouts and earned All-Star honors in 1910 and 1911. In 1911, he was second in Pitcher of the Year voting.

Despite his talent, Kendall was a jerk. Contemporaries said he was greedy, selfish, and lazy. This led Oakland to sell his contract midway through the 1912 to Santiago back in the early days of CABA when teams bought and sold players from within the leagues. He pitched well in two and a half years in the Dominican Republic, but wasn’t a cultural fit. In the 1915 offseason, Santiago traded him to Tijuana for prospects.

He’d only be with the Toros for five years, but this was his signature run. In 1915, he earned the Triple Crown with a 23-8, 1.44 ERA, and 441 strikeouts. The strikeout tally, .151 batting average against and his 4.67 hits allowed per nine innings stand as all-time single season CABA records more than a century later. He twice had a 20-strikeout, one-hit shutout performance. Unsurprisingly, he earned Pitcher of the Year honors.

Kendall missed parts of 1916 and 1918 to injury, but when healthy still was a top tier pitcher during Tijuana’s dynasty. The Toros won four straight Mexican League titles from 1916-1919, taking the overall CABA crown in 1918 and 1919. In just five seasons with Tijuana, Kendall had 1514 strikeouts with 42.1 WAR. He again won Pitcher of the Year in 1918 and tossed a no-hitter in 1919.

When his contract with the Toros was up, he returned to America at age 32 by signing with Houston, who had missed the postseason in five straight seasons after their first dynasty ended. Kendall never pitched a full season again due to lingering issues, but earned two more World Series rings for being on the 1920 and 1922 Hornet rosters as their second dynasty began. He only briefly was on the 1922 squad, cutting released in April. He signed and was later released by Portland. After more injuries and some time in the minors, Kendall retired at age 35.

Between MLB and CABA, Kendall had 3993 strikeouts and 101.5 career WAR. His final CABA line was 117-61, 2.02 ERA, 2331 strikeouts and 59.8 WAR. It was a short burst, but his dominance and role in the Tijuana 1910s dynasty earned him the election to the CABA Hall of Fame.