List of bespectacled baseball players

William Henry "Whoop-La" White

In baseball, players rarely wear spectacles, but some players played in the major leagues with glasses. For many years, wearing glasses while playing the sport was an embarrassment.[1] Baseball talent scouts routinely rejected spectacled prospects on sight.[2] The stigma had diminished by the early 1960s and by one estimate 20 percent of major league players wore glasses by the end of the 1970s.[1][3] The development of shatter-resistant lenses in the latter half of the 1940s contributed to their acceptance.[4]

The first major-league player to wear spectacles was Will 'Whoop-La' White in 1878–86.[4][5] Only pitchers dared wear glasses while playing until the early 1920s, when George 'Specs' Toporcer of the St. Louis Cardinals became the first outfielder to sport eyewear. Bespectacled pitchers are less rare as they have less need to field the ball.

There are only three players in the Baseball Hall of Fame to have worn eyeglasses during play: Chick Hafey, Reggie Jackson, and Greg Maddux.[6] Because his vision became so variable, Hafey was obliged to rotate among three different pairs of glasses.

Dick Allen was posthumously voted to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2024.[7] After his induction in 2025, he will be the fourth bespectacled player in the Hall of Fame.

List

Non-pitchers

Chris Sabo wearing glasses while batting during a game in 1988

Other notable non-pitchers who wore glasses include:

Pitchers

Sean Doolittle wearing glasses while warming up for a 2020 spring training game

Pitchers who wear or have worn glasses include:

References

  1. ^ a b Jerry Nason (Boston Globe) (August 1963). They've Taken the Stigma Out of Astigmatism. Baseball Digest (Lakeside Publishing Co.). pp. 53–54. ISSN 0005-609X.
  2. ^ H. G. Salsinger (Detroit News) (June 1957). "Baseball Digest - What a Scout Looks for in a Boy". Baseball Digest. Lakeside Publishing Co.: 72. ISSN 0005-609X.
  3. ^ Bruce Markusen. "Cooperstown Confidential - Regular Season Edition - Glasses Half Full". Oakland Athletics Fan Coalition. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  4. ^ a b Swaine, Rick (24 January 2015), Beating the breaks: major league ballplayers who overcame disabilities, McFarland, ISBN 9780786481958
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bill Koenig (6 June 1996), "Spectacular players can wear spectacles", USA Today, Baseball Weekly, retrieved 29 October 2013
  6. ^ Voigt, David Quentin (1979). American Baseball: From Postwar Expansion to the Electronic Age. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00332-4.
  7. ^ https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42862532/hall-fame-classic-era-dick-allen-dave-parker-cooperstown-worthy
  8. ^ Lewis, Franklin. "DeWitts Proved Shrewd Dealers". Baseball Digest (September 1951): 99–100.
  9. ^ "Freddie Freeman Gets 'Four Eyes' Treatment from Atlanta Braves Teammates". Bleacher Report.
  10. ^ "Eyes on the prize: Freeman back after Lasik". MLB.com.
  11. ^ "Bryce Harper wore regular glasses in a game". USA Today.
  12. ^ James, Bill (2003). The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-2722-0.
  13. ^ Grimm, Elly (11 November 2020). "Squints eyewear store opens in Liberal". Leader & Times.
  14. ^ Dickson, Paul (2008). Baseball's Greatest Quotations Rev. Ed.: An Illustrated Treasury of Baseball Quotations and Historical Lore. Collins Reference. ISBN 978-0-06-126060-5.
  15. ^ Gentile, Derek (2008). Baseball's Best 1,000 Revised: Rankings of the Skills, the Achievements, and the Performance of the Greatest Players of All Time. Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 609. ISBN 978-1-57912-777-0.
  16. ^ Westcott, Rich and Bill Campbell (2003). Native Sons: Philadelphia Baseball Players Who Made the Major Leagues. Temple University Press. p. 63. ISBN 1-59213-215-4.
  17. ^ "Swift remains mound choice", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 15 May 1934
  18. ^ Porter, David L. (1995). Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: 1992-1995 Supplement for Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Other Sports. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-28431-1.