Right Man; Wrong Era
Who was the fastest man to ever play professional baseball - non-Herb Washington Division? If you had answered: "Cool Papa Bell," you would not have been alone. Yet one baseball expert who witnessed Bell's exploits would have disagreed. Ernie Carrol in 1974 asserted that only one man could match the great Negro League star for pure speed: the former Chicago White Sox outfielder Maurice "Flash" Archdeacon.
If you've never heard of Archdeacon, don't be embarrassed - even Chicago baseball fans wouldn't recognize him. 
Before coming to Chicago, Archdeacon starred for the Rochester Tribe in the International League - along with Fred Merkle, where he fell percentage points short of winning the 1922 batting title, while scoring more than 160 runs. A punch hitter, Archdeacon's reputation for speed grew to legendary status. In 1921, Archdeacon set the record for circling the bases by completing the circuit in 13.4 seconds, even though he slipped to one knee rounding third base. In the fall of 1923, he was sold by Rochester to the Chicago White Sox for a reported $50,000. The "Man with the $50,000 Legs," however, never became a major league star. His major league career lasted a little more than a year, consisting of slightly less than 400 at bats; nevertheless, "Flash" made the most of his limited appearances, averaging .333, while stealing 13 bases and scoring 84 runs.
After his brief stay in the majors, Archdeacon was released by the White Sox, but continued to play successfully in the high minors. So what happened to the Chicago Flash?
Archdeacon was an perfect example of the many players in those days before expansion whose abilities placed them on the cusp of the major leagues, but whose shortcomings kept them in the high minors, especially when those shortcomings were combined in a change in baseball strategy. In the Roaring Twenties, it wasn't just chicks that dug the long ball, fans, managers, and owners saw what was happening with Ruth and Company in New York. A player like Archdeacon, who could barely reach the outfielders with a fly ball, fit best in an era where speed and contact was at a premium. But the Dead Ball Era was passing and the fastest man in baseball was lost to memory.
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