Maurice Archdeacon
One of the fastest players in baseball in the 1920s, Maurice Archdeacon was given just a few brief trials at the major league level with the Chicago White Sox, after that team paid $50,000 for him. In all, the speedy center fielder played only 127 games in the big leagues, but he scored 84 runs and batted .333 with a keen eye at the plate. He was famous for his drag-bunting skills, but equally infamous for his inability to judge fly balls. In just under 100 games in the outfield, he made eight errors. In a long career in the minors, mostly in the International League, he was frequently among league leaders in stolen bases, runs scored, walks, and batting average. At one point, he rounded the bases in 13.4 seconds, which was publicized as a world record.
Played For
Chicago White Sox (1923-1925)
Minor League Experience
SABR member Darrell Hanson has done extensive research on Archdeacon's career. The following is from a post he made to SABR-L in November of 2006:
Archdeacon played for some darn good [International League] teams in his career. In fact, he had a pretty good string of being a regular on successful teams in the I.L. He played for Rochester when they finished 2nd in 1921, 1922, and 1923 with an average of 102 wins per season, Baltimore when they finished 1st in 1925 (105-61) and 2nd in 1926 (101-65), and Buffalo when they finished 2nd in 1928 (92-76). He also played for 2nd place Toronto in 1929 (92-76), but he joined the team from Atlanta after the season started and I can't say for sure if he was a regular for Toronto in '29 before he hurt his hand and missed the last month of the season. And he made a contribution to those teams' successes.... He led the I.L. in runs scored for 3 consecutive years, 1921-23, and in stolen bases in 1922 with 55. (Stolen base records from 1921 aren't available, at least to me). I don't have his 1928-29 stats but in 6 I.L. seasons from 1921-27 he hit over .300 every year and had a cumulative average of .331. He drew a decent number of walks too, leading the league in walks in 1922, and his cumulative OBA for those years was probably over .410.... He was said to be a master at getting on base with drag bunts, but he hit enough doubles and triples, along with the occasional home run, to earn a .529 slugging average in that period. They played a longer season in the I.L. than in MLB, so to put his runs scored figures in context, he played 850 games in those years and averaged 138 runs per 154 games. Interestingly, his stolen base numbers weren't really that impressive when he rejoined the I.L. after his 1+ seasons in Chicago. Fritz Maisel, not Archdeacon, was the stolen base star of the Orioles in 1925-27.
Where He Played
Center field
Born
Maurice John Archdeacon was born on December 14, 1897, in St. Louis, MO.
Died
September 5, 1954, St.Louis, MO
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
Primary Position: OF
Primary Team: CHA
Major League Debut
September 17, 1923
Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1923
Lou Gehrig
Heinie Manush
Bill Terry
Hack Wilson
Willie Kamm
Ted Lyons
Moe Berg
Charley Root
Earl Whitehill
Nicknames
Flash, Comet
Feats
In 1923, Maurice Archdeacon had two five-hit games in his brief September stay with the White Sox.
Notes
A native of St. Louis, where he lived almost his entire life, Archdeacon served as a scout for the Browns in the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s.
Transactions
September, 1920: Purchased by the Boston Braves from Charleston (South Atlantic).
April 16, 1921: Purchased by Rochester (International) from the Boston Braves.
The Braves gave Archdeacon a serious look in the spring of 1921, but first-year manager Fred Mitchell preferred to go with a veteran outfield, and Archdeacon was shipped to Rochester prior to opening day.
September 13, 1923: purchased for $50,000 by the Chicago White Sox from Rochester.
The Sox had a long history of speedy outfielders, and the $50,000 they paid for Archdeacon was a large sum for that time. Manager Kid Gleason really liked Maurice, but when Gleason was fired and he struggled in 1924 under three Chicago managers, Archdeacon was out of favor. He barely made the team out of spring training in 1925, and after lplaying little (mostly as a pinch-hitter), he was returned to the minors.
Best Strength as a Player
Speed. One source credits Archdeacon with 225 stolen bases in hisminor league seasons of 1919-1923.
Largest Weakness as a Player
Defense
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