Forrest Vandergrift Jacobs (November 4, 1925 – February 18, 2011) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1954 through 1956 for the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1954–56), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1956). Listed at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), 155 lb, he batted and threw right-handed. His teammates affectionately called him Spook, a moniker that he used throughout his life.
James Harry Taylor (May 20, 1919 – November 5, 2000) was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 90 games, 44 as a starter, in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946–48) and Boston Red Sox (1950–52). The native of East Glenn, Indiana, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).
Taylor's professional career lasted from 1938 through 1955, with five seasons (1941–45) missed due to United States Army service in World War II and another two (1953–54) out of organized baseball in the semipro ranks. He spent the entire 1947 campaign on the Dodgers' big-league roster, winning ten of 15 decisions with 20 starting assignments and two shutouts. It was an eventful season for Brooklyn that saw Jackie Robinson break the baseball color line in the Major Leagues, manager Leo Durocher's season-long suspension for "conduct detrimental to baseball", and the Dodgers win their seventh overall National League pennant.
Taylor was the Dodgers' starting pitcher in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series on October 3 at Ebbets Field. Matched against the New York Yankees' Bill Bevens, Taylor failed to record an out, facing four batters in the first inning and allowing two singles, a base on balls, a fielder's choice (the batter reaching on an error) and an unearned run before being relieved by Hal Gregg, who got out of the inning without further scoring. Bevens, meanwhile, threw 82⁄3 innings of no-hit baseball. But the Yankee hurler allowed ten bases on balls, and his no-hitter and game were ruined by pinch hitter Cookie Lavagetto's ninth-inning double, scoring the decisive two runs and enabling the Dodgers to win, 3–2.
Taylor returned to the minor leagues during the 1948 season, and spent almost all of the following two years at Triple-A. But in September 1950, his contract was purchased by the Red Sox, who were chasing the Yankees and Detroit Tigers in the American League pennant race. After one game in relief, he threw two complete game victories, September 25 against the Philadelphia Athletics (a two-hit shutout) and October 1 against the Yankees. But Boston fell short in the standings, finishing in third place, four games behind the Yankees.
In his 90 MLB games, Taylor worked 3572⁄3 innings pitched, and allowed 344 hits and 201 bases on balls. He recorded 127 strikeouts, 16 complete games and four saves.
He posted a .161 batting average (20-for-124) in his career. He fielded his position well, recording a .990 fielding percentage with only one error in 105 total chances.
Ronald Alvin Negray (February 26, 1930 – November 8, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he appeared in 66 games in Major League Baseball over four seasons between 1952 and 1958 for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The native of Akron, Ohio, was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg). He graduated from Garfield High School and attended Kent State University.
Donald Ray Elston (April 6, 1929 – January 2, 1995) was an American relief pitcher who appeared in 450 games in Major League Baseball, all but one of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs (1953, 1957–1964). Elston batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). He was born in Campbellstown, Ohio, and attended Camden High School. His 18-season professional baseball career began in the Cub farm system in 1948.
A hard thrower, Elston played for perennially weak Cubs teams over the course of his nine-year major league tenure. After a brief late-season trial with the 1953 Cubs, when he was treated rudely by the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, he was sent back to the minor leagues for the next two campaigns. Chicago included him in a December 1955 trade with the defending world champion Brooklyn Dodgers that was headlined by veterans Randy Jackson, Don Hoak, Russ Meyer and Walt Moryn, but Elston remained in the minors for all of 1956. He made the Dodgers' 1957 early-season roster and worked in one game. throwing one inning of shutout relief on May 5 against the Milwaukee Braves. He was traded back to the Cubs 18 days later for pitchers Jackie Collum and Vito Valentinetti.
The Cubs first used him as a swingman: in 1957, after his re-acquisition, he began as a reliever, then, beginning June 30, he made 14 appearances as a starter through September 13. But on September 18, he moved back to the bullpen, where he would spend the rest of his career. Elston became one of the best relief pitchers in the National League. He led the league with 69 games pitched in 1958, setting a club mark. Then, in 1959, he tied teammate Bill Henry for the league lead in appearances, with 65. That season, Elston won a career-high ten games and was selected to the 1959 National League All-Star team. He came on in the ninth inning of the first of 1959's two All-Star tilts and earned a save to preserve a 5–4 victory over the American League at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, on July 7. His 14 saves in 1959, third in the league, also was a career high. He was one of the Senior Circuit's top five relief pitchers for five straight years in saves (1957–1961) and games pitched (1958–1962). He posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in 1958, 1962 and 1963.
In 450 career MLB games, Elston compiled a 49–54 won–lost record with a 3.69 ERA and 64 saves. In 7552⁄3 innings pitched, he allowed 702 hits and 327 bases on balls. He struck out 519. During his brief career as a starting pitcher, he registered two complete games.
Elston died in Arlington Heights, Illinois, at the age of 65.
Oscar Ray Grimes Jr. (April 13, 1915 – May 19, 1993) was a utility infielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians (1938–1942), New York Yankees (1943–1946) and Philadelphia Athletics (1946). Grimes batted and threw right-handed.
He was born in Minerva, Ohio.
In a nine-season career, Grimes posted a .256 batting average with 18 home runs and 200 RBI in 602 games played.
Grimes died in Westlake, Ohio, at the age of 78. He played semi-pro football for the Minerva Merchants.
Robert Gordon Addis (November 6, 1925 – November 15, 2016) was an American professional baseball player. The outfielder appeared in 208 Major League Baseball games over four seasons (1950–53) for three National League teams. He threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 170 pounds (77 kg).
Arthur Anthony Rebel (March 4, 1914 – July 10, 2004) was a professional baseball player. He was an outfielder over parts of two seasons (1938, 1945) with the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. For his career, he compiled a .333 batting average in 81 at-bats and drove in six runs. Rebel also played 17 seasons for 18 teams in the minor leagues, hitting .301 with 106 home runs.
He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and later died in Tampa, Florida at the age of 90.