HAPPY FELSCH

Oscar Emil Felsch came out of Milwaukee in 1891, stood five-eleven and weighed maybe a hundred seventy-five dripping wet, and for six seasons he patrolled center field for the Chicago White Sox. They called him Happy, and the name fit the swing. Debut April 14, 1915. Final game September 26, 1920. He never played another major-league game after that season.

What he left behind was a bat and a glove worth remembering. Career .293, 825 hits, 135 doubles, 64 triples, 38 home runs, 446 runs batted in, 88 steals in 749 games. On-base .347, slugging .427. He could go get it in the gap and he could throw it flat to the plate — 32 assists in 1919, 25 more in 1920, an arm the league learned to respect and then to avoid.

In 1917 the White Sox won a hundred games, the pennant, and the World Series. Felsch played all six Series games, went 6-for-22 with a home run and three runs batted in, and covered center like the job was his by deed.

Then came 1920, his best year and his last: .338, 188 hits, 40 doubles, 15 triples, 14 home runs, 115 runs batted in. A center fielder doing that kind of damage with the stick and the arm both, at twenty-nine years old.

Five feet eleven, 175 pounds, born in Milwaukee, died in 1964. Six summers, and the numbers do not need a nickname to carry them.