International League inducts Hall of Famers

Great-grandson hunts up records of 'Rabbit' Whitman

DURHAM -- Back in the 1920s, Hobart "Rabbit" Whitman was a tough guy to strike out.

On Friday, Whitman's exploits on the baseball diamond were honored after the Durham Bulls defeated the Columbus Clippers 7-3.

The late Whitman was the first of 27 players to be inducted into the International League Hall of Fame this year.

Baseball scouts discovered him while he was playing ball for a factory team in the Winston-Salem area, said great-grandson Hal Messick of Lewisville, who accepted the award.

"He had an extremely awkward stance," said Messick, who's seen old film of his great-grandfather. "He had a wide stance and would lean over the plate in an exaggerated way. It was like he had his head over the plate."

Whitman was hit by pitches frequently because of his unorthodox stance, Messick said. One year, he said, Whitman was hit by pitches 10 times.

Messick, 42, was 3 years old when Whitman died but said he has faint memories of him. Messick didn't start digging into his great-grandfather's past until he was in college.

He didn't find much looking through archives in Winston-Salem, but a friend helped him track down some stats. And a baseball historian from the Reading, Pa., area also helped.

Whitman hit over .300 in nine seasons. In 1925, he struck out only three times in 514 at-bats. In 1928, he struck out three times in 575 at-bats.

In 1927 and 1932, he struck out only five times each.

Whitman, a career .326 hitter in the International League, never reached the major leagues, but he played from 1923 to 1933 in seven International League cities: Newark, N.J.; Reading, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Montreal; Albany, N.Y.; and Jersey City, N.J.

In Reading, a local promotion gave players a new suit every time they hit a home run. Whitman hit 24 homers in the seasons he played for Reading.

"He had a lot of suits," Messick said.

Whitman married Agnes Krobuth, whom he met in Reading, and moved back to North Carolina after his baseball career ended, working for tobacco companies.

Whitman died in Pfafftown, near Winston-Salem, in 1969.

"You can't script some of the things in history," said Messick, who saw irony in his great-grandfather's life. "He made a living playing baseball, met his wife, then moved back home."

Messick said Whitman left behind a hickory baseball bat with a crack in it and a team uniform from the tobacco company Brown & Williamson. They were the Browns.

The International League hadn't inducted anybody into its Hall of Fame since 1963. The hall was established in 1947 by the league's baseball writers' association.

"We have no idea why it stopped," said league president Randy Mobley.

He said the league was cautious in resuming hall of fame honors because of the lack of records. "We didn't want to induct anybody who had already been inducted," Mobley said.

League officials did enough research to track down 51 existing inductees. There will be ceremonies at 12 of the league's 14 ballparks this year. As many as 21 more players will be inducted over the next three years, Mobley said.

Of this year's 27 inductees, the most well-known is former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who was the league's most valuable pitcher as a member of the Montreal Royals in 1958.

Durham is in its 11th season in the International League, and no former Bulls are on this year's list.