MAX BISHOP: CAMERA EYE

by Dale B. Smith

It is a difficult feat to revitalize the reputation of a perhaps less than Hall of Fame baseball career years after you have hung up the spikes. Max Bishop, however, has done just that. Seventy years after he retired from major league baseball in 1935, his reputation stock continues to rise. To a group of baseball fans in the know, he is now considered one of the best lead-off hitters in the history of the game. But it took the growing popularity of what was, a few years ago, an obscure baseball statistic to bring Max Bishop back into the spotlight.

Today, On Base Percentage (OBP) is considered a key baseball statistic, especially in establishing the value of a leadoff hitter. The top twenty five OBP leaders, however, is often a who’s who of sluggers found further down in the lineup. For the most part, there are few surprises. A high on base percentage typically requires either a good number of walk from nervous pitchers or an extremely good eye.

To the surprise of many, when OBP statistics were calculated, Max Bishop stood tied at 13th with no less than Shoeless Joe Jackson with a .423 OBP average. What baseball had forgotten and members of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) discovered was that Max Bishop had a very good eye.

Max Frederick Bishop was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania near the Maryland border on September 5, 1899. He left high school in 1918 to join the Baltimore Orioles, then a prosperous minor league team that won seven consecutive championships from 1919 to 1925. The team was loaded with talent that included Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw and Joe Boley. Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack was able to pry Max from Baltimore in 1924, the first of the four to make their way to Philadelphia.

Max Bishop quickly established a reputation for getting a free pass to first base. On June 30, 1924, rookie second baseman Max Bishop and Sammy Hale, batting 1-2 in the lineup, collected eight of nine walks given up by Yankee pitchers. Before he was finished, Max Bishop, standing 5’8”, would have the second highest walk average in baseball history at .204. He is second only to Ted Williams at .207 whose reputation for his eyesight is legendary. Max, who predated Williams, had a knowledge of the strike zone that was so phenomenal he earned the nickname of “Camera Eye”.

While OBP considers hits, walks and hits by pitch, it was Max’s ability to draw a walk that would enable sluggers Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Cochrane to drive in runs. His “setting the table” paid dividends already in 1925 when the Philadelphia A’s, who had a virtual lock on last place during the previous ten years, finished in 2nd Place in the American League. That year Max was 3rd in the league in bases on balls with 87. For the next eight years he would finish 4th in walks once, 3rd three times, 2nd three times and 1st once, in 1929. He would finish in the top five in OBP six times during that time period. It was in 1929, of course, that the Philadelphia Athletics won the first of three consecutive American League Pennants. That year Max had only a .232 batting average with 110 hits. He led the league, however, with 128 walks and scored 102 runs. His OBP (which includes all plate appearances divided by times reached) that year was .398, a far cry above a .232 batting average. Max Bishop was not a slouch at the plate however. He hit .316 in 1926 and .294 in both 1931 and 1933. He eventually finished his career with a .271 batting average after 1,216 hits, 1,153 walks, 966 runs scored and an OBP of .423.

Second Baseman Max was also one of the top fielders in his day, finishing his career with a .976 fielding average. It was his ability to bat lead-off and get on base, however, that made him most valuable to the Athletics.

In the 1930 World Series in which the Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Cardinals four games to two, Max scored five runs, tying Mickey Cochrane for the World Series lead. While he got only four hits, Max walked seven times. While his batting average for the Series was just .222, his OBP was a phenomenal .440. With the hitting of Simmons, Foxx, Cochrane and the pitching of Earnshaw and Grove, the Athletics won their last World Series until 1972. By that time, however, they were far removed from Philadelphia. It was a fitting finish to a year that saw Max score 117 runs while getting 111 base hits.

On December 12, 1933 Connie Mack continued his break up of the A’s by sending Max, Lefty Grove and George Walberg to the Boston Red Sox for $125,000. On July 8, 1934, Max tied his own major league record by getting eight walks in a double header. After returning to play for the Baltimore Orioles in 1936 and coaching with Detroit in 1937, Max Bishop embarked on the second half on his career. Max took over as baseball coach at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1938 and remained there until 1962, winning 306 games and losing only 143. In 1961, his last season, he took Navy to a 24-2 record.

M ax Bishop died unexpectedly on February 25, 1962 while returning to his home town following the death of his mother just days before. He was only 62 years old and joined Bucketfoot Al Simmons as the second in a series of the 1929-1931 A’s stars who died relatively young.

Max Bishop is well remembered at Navy where baseball is still played at 5,000 seat Max Bishop Stadium. It was the increasing popularity of the On Base Percentage, however, that has brought Max Bishop back into the spotlight. Being in the same company as Ted Williams (#1 with a .482 OBP), Babe Ruth (#2 at .474) and others such as Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins and Joe Jackson certainly helps. Having a higher OBP than Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and even Rickey Henderson (.401) will cause baseball history fans to sit up and take notice. In the post-steroid era of “little ball”, OBP and having a good eye is going to be increasingly important. Camera Eye had two of the best.