Note: the bios for each player have been moved to the bottom of this page.
Ralph Joseph “Rube” Novotney (August 5, 1924 – July 16, 1987) was a catcher who appeared in 22 Major League games for the 1949 Chicago Cubs. The native of Streator, Illinois, attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Novotney’s partial season with the 1949 Cubs included 18 hits (including two doubles and one triple) in 67 at-bats. His Nashville Vols career included 27 games in 1951, but he was behind the plate for 104 games in 1952 and 125 games in 1953, his last year in pro baseball:
1952: 90 hits, 5 HR, 38 RBI, .283 batting average / Fielding: 535 chances, 10 errors, .981 fielding %
1953: 100 hits, 4 HR, 61 RBI, .270 batting average / Fielding: 676 chances, 8 errors, .988 fielding %
Henry John “Dutch” Dotterer, Jr. (November 11, 1931 – October 9, 1999), a native of Syracuse, New York, appeared in all or part of five seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs/Reds (1957–1960) and the expansion Washington Senators (1961). After his pro career began in 1950, he played six full years in the minor leagues and spent two years in military service before his MLB debut in September 1957. In 107 MLB games, Dotterer batted .247, with 74 hits—including 15 doubles and five home runs—and 33 runs batted in. Although he appeared in 17 games with Nashville in 1955, his only full season with the Vols was in 1957 when he appeared in 129 games:
1957: 138 hits, 9 HR, 79 RBI, .303 batting average / Fielding: 741 chances, 11 errors, .985 fielding %
John Alban Edwards (born June 10, 1938) played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds (1961–67), St. Louis Cardinals (1968) and Houston Astros (1969–74). Known for his excellent defensive skills, Edwards was a three-time All-Star and a two-time National League Gold Glove Award winner. On June 14, 1965, Edwards was the Reds catcher when Nashville Vols teammate, pitcher Jim Maloney, went 10 innings against the New York Mets without allowing a hit. A little more than two months later, on August 19, 1965, Edwards was once again the catcher as Maloney threw another 10 innings without allowing a hit. His only season in Nashville was 1960 when he appeared in 136 games for the Vols:
1960: 128 hits, 14 HR, 70 RBI, .293 batting average / Fielding: 730 chances, 18 errors, .983 fielding %
Note: Carl Sawatski (1950); Bob Brady (1951); Bob Pottenger (1954); Frank Baldwin (1955); Matt Batts (1956); Dick Alyward (1958); Eddie Irons (1959); Ed Sogoski (1961); and Ray Bond (1963) do not qualify as each appeared in less than 100 games.
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I remember sitting with Maloney at the Reds fantasy baseball camp (with Jack Billingham) talking about memorable games and Maloney talked about the no-hitter in 1965 and made the connection to Edwards being a Vol the year before I was born.
My vote goes to Dutch Dotterer based on his stats as a Nashville Vol. Johnny Edwards had a much more productive and longer major league career, but if we consider performance at Nashville, then Dotterer’s 1957 season was better than Edwards’ 1960 season in my opinion.