Photograph of baseball player Eddie Collins of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. Photo dates to 1912.

About the Player
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American second baseman, manager and executive in Major League Baseball who played from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox. He was the greatest star on the Athletics' "$100,000 infield" which propelled the team to four American League (AL) pennants and three World Series titles between 1910 and 1914, and was named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1914; after that season his contract was sold to the White Sox, and he helped them to capture pennants in 1917 and 1919.

At the end of his career, he ranked second in major league history in career games (2,826), walks (1,499) and stolen bases (744), third in runs scored (1,821), fourth in hits (3,315) and at bats (9,949), sixth in on base percentage (.424), and eighth in total bases (4,268); he was also fourth in AL history in triples (187). He still holds the major league record of 512 career sacrifice hits, over 100 more than any other player. He was the first major leaguer in modern history to steal 80 bases in a season, and still shares the major league record of six steals in a game, which he accomplished twice in September 1912. He regularly batted over .320, retiring with a career average of .333. He also holds major league records for career games (2,650), assists (7,630) and total chances (14,591) at second base, and ranks second in putouts (6,526); his total of 1,215 double plays was a record until Charlie Gehringer passed him in 1938. Under the win shares statistical rating system created by baseball historian and analyst Bill James, Collins was the greatest second baseman of all time.