The subject of our final OotS profile for 1984 is another for whom it could be argued he heeds no introduction to a wider audience, being already well-enough known. But if he is known it is more for glove than bat, which usually means his light doesn't burn quite as bright in the minds of the casual fan as a slugger or pitching ace.
Elwood "Bingo" DeMoss was born 1889 in Topeka KS and is generally regarded as one of the top deadball era 2B in any form of the game.
Jim Riley has him pegged as more of a hitting demon than the stats subsequently unearthed would have us believe, with SH giving him a career 239/328/291 line and weak 82 OPS+ over the 21 seasons it has records for him. Jim throws around various unsubstantiated epithets such as "at his best in the clutch", "spraying hits to all fields" and able both to " place the ball where he wanted" and "drop a bunt on a dime".
Rube Foster - for whose American Giants Bingo spent numerous seasons playing - loved him, which given his fastidiousness about players knowing how to do the small things properly makes it likely that at least some of Jim assertions have an element of truth to them. But in the modern context, it cannot be denied that he was a relatively weak hitter. EC has him pegged for just under 20 career WAR with his MLEs.
On the other hand, there's no doubt about his defensive prowess, with his DP combo at the AGs with Bobby Williams one of the more legendary and the spine of what is looked upon by many as the greatest NeL team of this era.
His personality and baseball mind are also beyond reproach, with him first captain and then manager of a number of clubs including the ABCs and Detroit Stars in the late 1920s as his playing career wound down.
Unlike many of his peers, Bingo lived to a good age, dying in 1965 at 75 years old.
In the EL, sim sort of imitated life with the AGs drafting him 39th overall in 1971. However his tenure at the club in this timeline was a short one, with him traded to the Grays in 1973, where he won the first of his three Championship rings in 1977. Since then he has played for the Giants (1979), Dodgers (1979), Motown Stars (1980-82 with titles in the first two of those seasons), Athletics (1983) and his current club the Cuban Stars West.
As IRL, his glove has been his strength with just a 220/335/228 career line along with 16 HR and 316 RBI but a colossal 102 ZR that makes him the current all-time leader in this stat cat in
any position.
Presently in his age-34 season, Bingo looks to have a few years left in him and as always we'll keep track of him along the rest of the way.
On the subject of which, here is the traditional update for all active OotS subjects at the time of posting. We'll be back with more of these features next season.
(NB Apologies, this one shows stats for all levels)
Jerry from Brooklyn, this one's for you!