Hamlin got his nickname because he juggled the ball while getting ready to pitch. Hamlin led the NL with 36 starts and won 20 in 1939, but Dodger manager Leo Durocher subsequently became disenchanted with the pitcher’s inability to hold leads. Once, when Durocher saw an old political campaign poster for the Abe Lincoln-Hannibal Hamlin ticket, he commented, “It proves Lincoln was a great man; he could win even with Hamlin.”
