Hall of Fame
Louis Francis Sockalexis was a man of legend. His all-too-brief Major League Baseball career showed more promise than any other athlete in the history of the sport. Sockalexis was already something of a folk hero in his native Maine when he journeyed to Worcester, where he was a great star at Holy Cross.
A shade under six feet tall, weighing 190 and capable of running 100 yards in ten seconds flat, Sockalexis, the son of the Penobscot tribe’s governor, excelled in baseball, track and football. His speed led to amazing feats in the “Field Days,” as track meets were called in those days, in the 40-yard dash and mile relay. He was a quick and powerful halfback on the football team. Baseball, however, was his shining sport.
At Holy Cross in 1895 he battered opposing pitchers to the tune of a .436 batting average, returning the following year to hit .444. In his first game, he stole seven bases and hit a grand slam; he held the highest single-season batting average in Holy Cross history for more than eight decades. The Worcester Telegram also wrote, “He was a whirlwind on the bases, could field anything that his great speed could get him into, and could throw like a bullet.” Pat Tebeau signed him to a Cleveland Spiders National League contract in 1897, weeks after he switched from Holy Cross to Notre Dame.
Sockalexis was an instant sensation in the majors, batting .338 in 1897 and stealing 16 bases. Sockalexis returned to Maine after three professional seasons, and died at the age of 42 in 1913.
