Getting Eddie Plank and Chief Bender elected to the Hall of Fame was no small task for sportswriter Bill Duncan. A longtime Pennsylvania resident, Duncan’s favorite team of his boyhood was the Philadelphia Athletics led by the two pitchers.
Both hurlers had fallen off the writers’ ballot. Duncan decided to enlist the help of baseball icon Connie Mack to lobby the Veterans Committee.
In this letter to the Athletics’ manager, Duncan writes, “…Eddie did not get into the Hall until you stepped into the picture and urged the Old Timers Committee to select him. I know that you agree that Chief Bender is away overdue…You carry tremendous weight in baseball. With the Chief’s ‘Day’ coming up, I suggest this is the appropriate time to see what can be done.”
With the help of Duncan, and of course one of the most powerful men in the game in Connie Mack, Eddie Plank gained induction in 1946. Chief Bender was elected in 1953, less than a year after Duncan took up his cause.