FRANK SCHULTE

They called him Wildfire, and for a stretch of summers on the North Side of Chicago, Frank Schulte earned every spark of the name. Born in Cochecton, New York, in 1882, he grew into a left-handed outfielder with a right fielder's arm and a batter's eye that could turn a game in one swing.

He arrived with the Cubs as they were building a dynasty, and he stayed for the ride. From 1906 through 1910, Chicago won the National League pennant every year but one, and Schulte patrolled the outfield through all of it. The 1907 and 1908 clubs took the World Series, and Wildfire was no passenger — he was thunder in the grass, a man who ran the bases like the inning depended on it.

His peak came in 1911, when he hit .300 with 21 home runs, 21 triples, 30 doubles, 105 runs, and 107 runs batted in. A .534 slugging mark in the dead-ball era was a small bonfire. He was named the National League's most valuable player in the Chalmers era, and the season stands as one of the great all-around campaigns of his time. The year before he had hit .301; the year after, .264 with a dozen home runs.

He finished with 1,806 games, 1,766 hits, 92 home runs, and 124 triples across stints with the Pirates, Phillies, and Senators. He died in 1949. They remembered the nickname, and they were right to.