Rabbit Maranville

'When I first heard about him, about all the stunts he pulled, I said to myself for a fellow to do all those crazy things and still keep his job, he had to be a damned good ball players,' Yankees Joe McCarthy said of shortstop Rabbit Maranville. 'When I got into the league, I saw that I was right. He was full of fun, but he could play ball.'

American professional baseball player who is rated as one of the finest shortstops of the game. Maranville, who batted and threw right-handed, played minor league baseball during...

Learn about Rabbit Maranville: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more.

Rabbit Maranville is the only Hall of Famer who was demoted to the minors midcareer. Find statistics and history for this Hall of Fame shortstop.

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Rabbit Maranville baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats, along with uniform numbers, salaries, quotes, career stats and biographical data presented by Baseball Almanac.

Standing only 5'5" and weighing a good deal less during the Deadball Era than his listed playing weight of 155 lbs., Rabbit Maranville compiled a lifetime batting average of just .258 and is known as much for his zany escapades and funny stories as for anything he accomplished on the diamond, but his outstanding glove work kept him in the big leagues for 23 seasons and eventually earned him a plaque in Cooperstown. "Maranville is the greatest player to enter baseball since Ty Cobb arrived," said Boston Braves manager George Stallings. "I've seen 'em all since 1891 in every league around the south, north, east, and west. He came into the league under a handicap--his build. He was too small to be a big leaguer in the opinion of critics. I told him he was just what I wanted: a small fellow for short. All he had to do was to run to his left or right, or come in, and size never handicapped speed in going after the ball."1

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Walter James Vincent Maranville (November 11, 1891 – January 6, 1954), better known as Rabbit Maranville due to his speed and small stature (5'5", 155 pounds), was a Major League Baseball shortstop. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which wasn't broken until 1986 by Pete Rose.

Career: 28 HR, .258 BA, 884 RBI, SS/2B, HOF in 1954, Braves/Pirates/... 1912-1935, b:R/t:R, born in Unite. 1891, died 1954