- published: 17 Dec 2008
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- 1910 World Series
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California
California (pronounced
i/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
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Cashman Field
Cashman Field is a stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Its primary use is for baseball, and is the home field of the Las Vegas 51s Triple-A minor league baseball team, an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Cashman Field opened in 1983 and has a maximum capacity of 9,334. It was named for James "Big Jim" Cashman and his family, who have been Las Vegas entrepreneurs for several generations.
The field is adjacent to Cashman Center, an exhibit hall and theater, operated by the Convention and Visitors Authority.
The facility saw its first professional baseball game on April 1, 1983, when the San Diego Padres faced the Seattle Mariners in front of 13,878 fans. The Cashman Field attendance record was set on April 3, 1993, before a crowd of 15,025, between the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. The stadium played host to the Oakland Athletics as their "home" field for the first part of the 1996 season due to renovations taking place at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. In addition to Triple-A baseball, Cashman Field is home to at least one Major League Baseball Spring Training game annually. The Los Angeles Dodgers made three straight Cashman Field appearances from 2001-03 and returned in 2006 and 2010. In 2005, the Cubs and Mariners played two games to celebrate the Las Vegas Centennial (1905-2005). The Cubs have made six straight appearances (2005 through 2010)..
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Cisco Field
Cisco Field is a proposed ballpark in San Jose, California. It is the proposed new home of the Oakland Athletics; however, the opening date has yet to be determined. It will be replacing their current home at O.co Coliseum, where the team has resided since their move to California in 1968. This stadium will mark the first time that the A's franchise has received a brand new stadium in which to play since the completion of Shibe Park in 1909.
Cisco Field is proposed to be constructed in downtown San Jose immediately adjacent to the HP Pavilion and the Diridon Station at the corner of Montgomery Street and Park Avenue. The ballpark, if built, would open in time for the 2016 season. For the A's to move to San Jose, either the San Francisco Giants would have to rescind their territorial rights on the area, or at least 23 of the 30 MLB owners would have to vote in the A's favor and force San Francisco to give up their territorial claim to Santa Clara County. Lew Wolff has stated, "My goal and desire for the organization is to determine a way to keep the team in Northern California." The Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose has been acquiring the properties needed at the Diridon South site. The available land, only 12-14 acres, would give rise to a very intimate stadium. As a result of its small size, it is speculated to be very hitter-friendly.
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Columbia Park
For other places known as Columbia Park, see Columbia Park (disambiguation)
Columbia Park or Columbia Avenue Grounds was a baseball stadium that formerly stood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first home of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team from the team's founding in 1901 until their move to Shibe Park in 1909.
Columbia Park was on the block bordered by North 29th Street, Columbia Avenue (now Cecil B. Moore Avenue), North 30th Street, and Oxford Street in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia (beer sales were prohibited in the park). The cost of construction was $35,000. The stadium was very small, and originally had a seating capacity of only 9,500. This was eventually increased to 13,600 by the addition of bleacher seating in the outfield. During some sold out games, unofficial additional seating could be found on top of the adjoining homes. There was only one dressing room, for the home team; visiting teams had to change at their hotels.
The opening game in Columbia Park was held on April 26, 1901, after the first two games were rained out. The Athletics played the Washington Nationals (Senators) in front of an overflow crowd of 10,524, with some fans standing on the outfield walls and the roofs of nearby houses. The Athletics lost 5-1, despite three hits by second baseman Nap Lajoie.
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Connie Mack Field
Connie Mack Field was a ballpark in West Palm Beach, Florida and was the long-time spring training home of the Philadelphia Athletics. The stadium was built in 1924 and named Municipal Athletic Field. Athletic Stadium hosted its first event, a football game, in October 1924. The first baseball game was played in December. It was renamed Wright Field in 1927 for West Palm Beach City Manager George C. Wright. It was renamed Connie Mack Field in 1952 in honor of long-time Philadelphia Athletics manager and owner Connie Mack. It was replaced in 1962 by West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium but the grandstand remained until 1973. Thereafter, The ball field itself remained and was used regularly by neighboring Twin Lakes High School. In 1992 it was bulldozed for a garage for the new Kravis Center. The grandstands held about 2,000; black fans watched from a small section in the right-field corner. Total capacity was about 3,500. Record attendance for baseball was on March 20, 1949 when 6,988 fans saw the A's defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in a spring training game featuring Jackie Robinson on the field and then-Secretary of State General George Marshall in attendance.
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New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km2), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km2), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.
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Tom Gola
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Gola (born January 13, 1933, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.
Gola was praised as a great all-around player as a high school student at La Salle College High School, where he led the Explorers to a Philadelphia Catholic League Championship. He entered La Salle a year after another Philadelphia basketball Hall of Famer, Paul Arizin, graduated from Villanova.
Gola was one of the most talented collegiate athletes in Philadelphia sports history. He came to national attention while playing for the hometown La Salle University Explorers men's basketball team in 1954 as an All-American forward. Gola paced the Explorers to the NCAA basketball championship in 1954 and was named Tournament MVP. That same season he was selected as National Player of the Year. As a senior, Gola helped La Salle finish as the runner-up in the 1955 NCAA Tournament. He averaged 20.9 points and 19.0 rebounds during 115 games and holds the NCAA record with 2,201 career rebounds. At 6'6" (198 cm), Gola was clearly a forward who could shoot/score, rebound and defend, but he also had the ballhandling (dribbling, passing) skills of a guard, and with his shooting range and All-Pro defensive skills, could play just as well in the backcourt. He was inducted into the La Salle Hall of Athletes in 1961 and the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1986. Gola was listed on "ESPN's Countdown to the Greatest" College basketball players as #17.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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University of Miami
The University of Miami (informally referred to as UM, U of M, U Miami, Miami, or The U) is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key.
As of 2009[update], the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12 separate colleges, including a medical school, law school, and a school focused on the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences. These colleges offer approximately 115 undergraduate, 114 master’s, 51 doctoral, and two professional areas of study. Over the years, the University's students have represented all 50 states and close to 150 foreign countries. With more than 13,000 full and part-time faculty and staff, UM is the sixth largest employer in Miami-Dade County.
Research is a component of each academic division, with UM attracting $326 million per year in sponsored research grants. UM also offers a large library system with over 3.1 million volumes and exceptional holdings in Cuban heritage and music. UM also offers a wide range of student activities, including fraternities and sororities, a student newspaper and radio station. UM's intercollegiate athletic teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and its football team has won five national championships.
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Wilmington Park
Wilmington Park was a ballpark in Wilmington, Delaware that was located at the corner of 30th Street and Governor Printz Boulevard. It was home to the University of Delaware football team from 1940 to 1952 and the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Class B Interstate League from 1940 to 1952. The Blue Rocks were an affiliate of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1940 to 1943 and the Philadelphia Phillies from 1944 to 1952.
The University of Delaware Blue Hens football team played its home games at the park from 1940 until 1952. Delaware had played at Frazier Field in Newark, Delaware before moving to Wilmington Park midway through the 1940 season. Delaware played its first game at Wilmington Park on November 9, 1940 and beat Pennsylvania Military College 14 to 7. While Delaware would continue to play occasional games at Frazier through the 1946 season, the team played its home games at Wilmington Park until midway through the 1952 season. In their last game at the ballpark, Delaware beat Pennsylvania Military College, 43 to 20. Delaware finished the 1952 season at the brand-new Delaware Stadium which returned the team to Newark and the university campus.
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Al Kaline
Albert William "Al" Kaline (
/ˈkeɪlaɪn/; born December 19, 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a former Major League Baseball right fielder. He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Kaline played his entire 22-year baseball career with the Detroit Tigers. Immediately after retiring from playing, he became the Tigers' TV color commentator, a position he held until 2002. Kaline still works for the Tigers as a front office official. Because of his lengthy career and longtime association with the Tigers organization, Kaline's nickname is "Mr. Tiger."
For most of his career, Kaline played in the outfield, mainly as a right fielder, where he was known for his strong throwing arm. Near the end of his career, he also played as first baseman and, in his last season, was the Tigers' designated hitter.
Kaline bypassed the minor league system and joined the team directly from Baltimore's Southern High School as an 18-year-old "bonus baby" signee, receiving $35,000 ($304,030 as of 2012), to sign with the Tigers. He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. Kaline wore No. 25 during his rookie campaign, but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 after the 1953 season ended. Kaline, who was also known simply as "Six" in the Tiger clubhouse, wore the number for the rest of his major league playing career.
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Al Rosen
Albert Leonard Rosen (born February 29, 1924), nicknamed "Al", "Flip", and the "Hebrew Hammer", is a former American professional baseball player who was a third baseman and right-handed slugger in the Major Leagues for ten seasons in the 1940s and 1950s.
He played his entire 10-year career (1947–1956) with the Cleveland Indians in the American League, where he drove in 100 or more runs 5 years in a row, was a 4-time All-Star, twice led the league in home runs and twice in RBIs, and was an MVP. Rosen was extremely muscular, and had tremendous power and excellent bat control.
Rosen was a .285 career hitter, with 192 home runs and 717 RBIs in 1,044 games. He was selected for the All-Star Game every year between 1952 and 1955. Rosen appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1955.
Rosen was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He and his family moved to Miami, Florida when he was three years old. He grew up in the southwest section of Miami, which is now the heart of Little Havana. Rosen grew up without a father, and was raised by three women: his grandmother, mother and aunt.
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Al Simmons
Aloysius Harry Simmons (May 22, 1902 – May 26, 1956), born Aloisius Szymanski, was an American baseball player. He played for two decades in the major leagues as an outfielder, and had his best years as a member of Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics during the 1930s. Simmons was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.
A "bucketfoot" hitter (his nickname was "Bucketfoot Al") who strode toward third base when hitting, Simmons starred as an outfielder for the Philadelphia Athletics during their heyday in the early 1930s, then went on to play for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Red Sox.
Simmons hit 307 career home runs, also compiling more hits than any right-handed batter in American League history until surpassed by Al Kaline. A deadly clutch hitter and a favorite of manager Connie Mack, Simmons won batting titles in 1930 and 1931 to help the A's to consecutive pennants. He recorded a .300 batting average and 100 or more runs batted in (RBI) in his first eleven major league seasons. Simmons' accumulated 2,000 hits in 1,390 games, which remains the shortest number of games needed to attain that mark in major league history.
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Albert Belle
Albert Jojuan "Joey" Belle (born August 25, 1966) is a former American Major League Baseball outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, and Baltimore Orioles. Standing at 6'2 and weighing in at 225 lbs, Albert was one of the leading sluggers of his time, and in 1995 he became the first player to hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a single season.
Belle was also considered a model of consistency, compiling a .295 career batting average, averaging 37 home runs and 120 RBIs a season over the ten prime years of his major league career from 1991 to 2000. Belle is also one of only six players in major league history to have nine consecutive 100-RBI seasons. However, his combative personality combined with occasional angry outbursts created a reputation for surliness that often overshadowed his on-field hitting performance.
Albert Belle, and his fraternal twin, Terry, were born on August 25, 1966, in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Albert Belle Sr., a high school baseball and football coach, and Carrie Belle, a former math teacher. A former Boy Scout, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Belle attended Huntington High School in Shreveport, where he was a star baseball and football player, a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the local Future Business Leaders of America. He also played little league baseball with future PGA Tour player David Toms. He graduated sixth in his high school class and made the all-state baseball team twice. In 1984, he was selected to play for the USA in the Junior Olympics[disambiguation needed
], in which the U.S. won a silver medal. He played outfield and pitched, winning one game. After graduation, Belle was offered many football and baseball scholarships, including one to the University of Notre Dame; he was also offered an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. However, Belle decided to stay close to home, and accepted a baseball scholarship to Louisiana State University.
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Alex Johnson
Alexander Johnson (born December 7, 1942, in Helena, Arkansas is a former professional baseball player. He was an outfielder and designated hitter over parts of 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. While playing for Cincinnati in 1968 and 1969, he batted over .300 both times, finishing 4th and 6th, respectively, in batting average in the National League. However, in both years, he led National League outfielders in errors. Following the 1969 season, Johnson was traded with Chico Ruiz to the California Angels for pitchers Pedro Borbon‚ Jim McGlothlin, and Vern Geishert. Johnson had his best season in 1970, winning the American League batting title by a fraction of a percentage point over Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox, although he led league outfielders in errors and was 2nd in grounding out into double plays. He played with 4 other teams before retiring, always with a potent bat but being a liability in the field.
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Alex Rodriguez
Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975) is an American professional baseball third baseman with the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Known popularly by his nickname A-Rod, he previously played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.
Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around baseball players of all time. He is the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, breaking the record Jimmie Foxx set in 1939, and the youngest to hit 600, besting Babe Ruth's record by over a year. Rodriguez has fourteen 100-RBI seasons in his career, more than any other player in history. On September 24, 2010, Rodriguez hit two home runs, surpassing Sammy Sosa's mark of 609 HRs, and became the all-time leader in home runs by a player of Hispanic descent.
In December 2007, Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10-year, $275 million contract. This contract was the richest contract in baseball history (breaking his previous record of $252 million).
In February 2009, after previously denying use of performance-enhancing drugs, including during a 2007 interview with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes, Rodriguez admitted to using steroids, saying he used them from 2001 to 2003 when playing for the Texas Rangers due to what he called "an enormous amount of pressure" to perform.
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Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American baseball player who spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) playing for three teams (1914–1935). Known for his hitting brilliance, Ruth set career records for home runs (714), slugging percentage (.690), runs batted in (RBI) (2,217), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164). Ruth originally entered the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox as a starting pitcher, but after he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919, he converted to a full time right fielder. He subsequently became one of the league's most prolific hitters and with his home run hitting prowess, he helped the Yankees win seven pennants and four World Series titles. Ruth retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves, and the following year, he became one of the first five players to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ruth was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), a mark first eclipsed by Roger Maris in 1961 with 61. Ruth's lifetime record of 714 home runs stood until 1974 when it was surpassed by Hank Aaron. Unlike many power hitters, Ruth also hit for a high batting average: his .342 lifetime average is the tenth highest in baseball history, and in one season (1923) he batted .393, a Yankee record. Ruth dominated the era in which he played. He led the league in home runs during a season twelve times, slugging percentage and OPS thirteen times each, runs scored eight times, and RBIs six times. Each of those totals represents a modern record.
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Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds. He debuted in the Major Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 and joined the San Francisco Giants in 1993, where he stayed through 2007.
Bonds' accomplishments during his baseball career place him among the greatest baseball players of all-time. He has a record-setting seven Most Valuable Player awards, including a record-setting four consecutive MVPs. He is a 14-time All-Star and 8-time Gold Glove-winner. He holds numerous Major League Baseball records, including the all-time Major League Baseball home run record with 762 and the single-season Major League record for home runs with 73 (set in 2001), and is also the all-time career leader in both walks (2,558) and intentional walks (688).
Bonds has led a controversial career, notably as a central figure in baseball's steroids scandal. In 2007, he was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand jury during the government's investigation of BALCO, by testifying that he never knowingly took any illegal steroids. The trial began March 21, 2011; he was convicted on April 13, 2011 on the obstruction of justice charge.
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Ben Grieve
Benjamin Grieve (born May 4, 1976 in Arlington, Texas) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. In his nine-season career, he played with the Oakland Athletics (1997-2000), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2001-2003), Milwaukee Brewers (2004), and Chicago Cubs (2004-2005).
Grieve won the 1998 American League Rookie of the Year award while playing for the Oakland Athletics. His father, Tom Grieve, is a broadcaster for the Texas Rangers and a former baseball player and general manager for the Rangers. Grieve admitted in an article in Devil Rays Magazine in 2002 that basketball was his primary love in high school, but baseball was the sport at which he most excelled.
Ben Grieve was once a highly regarded young prospect, born from a baseball family. He began his career with the Oakland Athletics. He hit .288, with 18 HR and 89 RBI, earning him the Rookie of the Year. He followed up with a similar, yet more inconsistent, season, hitting .265 with 28 HR and 86 RBI, missing time due to injuries. His next season (2000) would statistically be his best. Grieve belted 27 HR, drove in 104 RBI, and hit .279. Talk spread throughout the league that Grieve could become a superstar. This talk, however, was short-lived. Following the 2000 season, the young Grieve was involved in a 3-team deal that sent him to Tampa Bay.
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Ben Oglivie
Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer (born February 11, 1949 in Colón, Panama) is a former Major League Baseball left fielder for the Boston Red Sox (1971–1973), Detroit Tigers (1974–1977), and the Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1986). He also played two seasons in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes (1987–1988). He batted and threw left-handed.
Oglivie debuted on September 4, 1971 for the Red Sox and played his final game on October 5, 1986 for the Brewers. Oglivie hit for power fairly well, breaking the 40-home run mark in 1980 with 41, which was good for a tie (with Reggie Jackson) for the league lead. Oglivie hit 3 home runs in a game, three times. In the process, Oglivie became the first non-U.S. born player to lead the American League in home runs.
In a 16-year career, he posted a .273 batting average with 235 home runs and 901 RBIs in 1754 games. He had 87 career stolen bases and 784 runs scored. Oglivie picked up 1615 hits in 5913 at bats.
Oglivie played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in Japan after retiring from MLB and hit 46 home runs in two seasons. He then returned to attempt a comeback in the minors, but never made it back to the majors again.
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Bernie Parent
Bernard Marcel "Bernie" Parent (born April 3, 1945) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs, and also spent one season in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Philadelphia Blazers. During the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons, in what many consider the finest consecutive seasons ever by a goaltender, the Flyers won two Stanley Cups and Parent won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy both seasons. A 1984 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Parent was rated number 63 on The Hockey News' list of The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time in 1998.
Parent's hero as a young boy was Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante, whose sister lived in Parent's neighborhood. Many times Parent watched out for Plante's visits to his sister and her family.
As a Québécois, Parent's use of English was a never ending source of locker room and bus trip humor, especially when he was excited. During his early playing career, Parent did not conduct interviews in English for fear of saying the wrong things.
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Bernie Williams
Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (born September 13, 1968) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and Puerto Rican musician.
Growing up, Williams played classical guitar as well as baseball. He was also active in track and field, winning medals at an international meet at the age of 15. He was one of the world's best 400-meter runners for his age.
On his 17th birthday, he signed a professional contract with the New York Yankees organization.
Playing for the Yankees' Double-A team in Albany, he continued to develop his athletic skills — particularly as a switch hitter. Although viewed as a great prospect by Yankee management, his rise to the Majors was delayed by the solid outfield that the team had developed in the early 1990s.
Williams managed to break into the majors in 1991 to replace the injured Roberto Kelly for the second half of that season. He batted .238 in 320 at bats. He was demoted to the minors until Danny Tartabull was injured, and Williams earned his stay at center by putting up solid numbers.
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Bert Bell
De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was the National Football League (NFL) commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he helped chart a path for the NFL to facilitate its rise in becoming the most popular sports attraction in the United States. For his innovations with the NFL, and his stewardship as commissioner, he was posthumously inducted into the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Bell began his formal days of playing football at the University of Pennsylvania in 1914. As the starting quarterback on the Penn Quakers, he led his team to the 1917 Rose Bowl. His college days were interrupted by a stint in the United States Army during World War I. After resuming, and then concluding, his college playing days, he became an assistant football coach with the Quakers and then the Temple Owls.
He became the co-founder and co-owner of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1933. There, Bell successfully proposed the creation of the NFL draft. He became the sole owner and coach of the Eagles in 1936 and then moved on to become part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1940. He was elected to be NFL commission in 1946 and subsequently sold his stake in the Steelers.
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Bert Campaneris
Dagoberto (Bert) Campaneris Blanco (born March 9, 1942 in Pueblo Nuevo, Cuba), nicknamed "Campy", is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for four American League teams, primarily the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics. One of the mainstays of the Athletics' championship teams of 1971 to 1975, he holds the A's franchise records for career games played (1795), hits (1882) and at bats (7180). He led the AL in stolen bases six times from 1965 to 1972 and retired with the seventh most steals in history (649). He led the league in putouts three times, and ended his career among the major league leaders in games (5th, 2097) and double plays (7th, 1186) at his position. He holds the record for most errors since 1940, with 388.
A small, skinny player at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 160 pounds (73 kg), the Cuban-born Campaneris was a key figure on the A's of the 1960s and 1970s. In his debut with Kansas City on July 23, 1964, Campaneris belted two home runs, the first coming on the first pitch thrown to him by Jim Kaat. He is one of four players in major league history to hit two homers in his first game; Bob Nieman (1951), Mark Quinn (1999), and J.P. Arencibia (2010) are the only others to accomplish this feat.
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Bill Dickey
William Malcolm Dickey (June 6, 1907 – November 12, 1993) was a Major League Baseball catcher and manager. He played his entire 19-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1928–1946). During Dickey's playing career, the Yankees went to the World Series nine times, winning eight championships. Dickey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954.
Dickey was born in Bastrop, Louisiana. He was one of seven children born to John and Laura Dickey. The Dickeys moved to Kensett, Arkansas, where John Dickey worked as a brakeman for Missouri Pacific Railroad. John Dickey had played in a semi-professional league in Memphis. Bill's older brother, Gus, was a second baseman and pitcher in the East Arkansas Semipro League, while his older brother, George, was an MLB catcher.
Dickey broke into the majors in 1928 and played his first full season in 1929. It was his first of ten seasons out of eleven with a .300+ batting average.
Although his offensive production was overshadowed by Yankee greats Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, in the late 1930s Dickey posted some of the finest offensive seasons ever by a catcher, hitting over 20 home runs with 100 RBI in four consecutive seasons (1936 - 1939). His 1936 batting average of .362 was the highest single-season average ever recorded by a catcher (tied by Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997), until Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins hit .365 in 2009.
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Bill King
Wilbur "Bill" King (October 6, 1927 - October 18, 2005) was one of the most prominent sports announcers in San Francisco Bay Area history, widely recognized by his distinctive handlebar mustache and beard and his broadcasting catchphrase "Holy Toledo!"
King was best known as the radio voice of the Oakland Athletics baseball team for twenty-five years (1981–2005), the longest tenure of any A's announcer since the team's games were first broadcast in Philadelphia in 1938. Earlier in his career, he had been a member of the San Francisco Giants' original broadcasting team (together with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons) when the Giants moved west from New York in 1958, had called University of California football and basketball games, and had served as the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders football team and the San Francisco/Golden State Warriors basketball team.
King was born in Bloomington, Illinois and was stationed on the island of Guam at the end of World War II when he began his broadcasting career with the Armed Forces Radio Network, converting play-by-play accounts of games as they came in over the wire and broadcasting them in a manner that made it sound as if he were actually at the game. After the war, he began his professional sportscasting career in Pekin, Illinois, broadcasting high school football and basketball games as well as minor league baseball games. He later announced basketball games for Bradley University and basketball and football games for the University of Nebraska. King moved to the Bay Area in 1958, when the San Francisco Giants hired him as an announcer.
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Bill Lamar
William Harmong Lamar [Good Time Bill] (March 21, 1897 – May 24, 1970) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1917 through 1927 for the New York Yankees (1917–1919), Boston Red Sox (1919), Brooklyn Robins (1920–1921) and Philadelphia Athletics (1924–1927). Listed at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 185 lb., Lamar batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was born in Rockville, Maryland.
In a nine-season career, Lamar was a .310 hitter (633-for-2040) with 19 home runs and 245 RBI in 550 games, including 303 runs, 114 doubles, 23 triples, 25 stolen bases, and a 1.10 walk-to-strikeout ratio (86-to-78).
Lamar died in Rockport, Massachusetts at age 73.
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Bill Melton
William Edwin Melton (born July 7, 1945 in Gulfport, Mississippi), nicknamed "Beltin' Bill" or "Beltin' Melton", is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1968 through 1977 for the Chicago White Sox, California Angels and Cleveland Indians. He is now a commentator for Comcast SportsNet White Sox broadcasts.
Melton was signed as a minor league free agent directly out of high school prior to the 1964 season and was assigned to the White Sox rookie league Sarasota White Sox. After spending 1965 back at Sarasota, this time with the A-league Sarasota Sun Sox, Melton would make steady progress through the White Sox system, playing for the A-league Fox Cities Foxes, AA Evansville White Sox, and AAA Hawaii Islanders and Syracuse Chiefs. At each level, he would display the two characteristics that he would be known for throughout his playing career - a powerful bat and questionable fielding.
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Bill Mueller
William Richard Mueller ( /ˈmɪlər/; born March 17, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. Mueller's playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000, 2002), Chicago Cubs (2001–2002), Boston Red Sox (2003–2005), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2006). He won the American League batting title in 2003, and helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series. He was a switch hitter and threw right-handed.
As of the 2009 season, Mueller is serving in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization as a Special Assistant to General Manager Ned Colletti.
Mueller was born in Maryland Heights, Missouri and attended De Smet Jesuit High School and Southwest Missouri State University. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the 1993 MLB Draft.
Mueller made his professional debut with the Giants low A team, the Everett Giants, in 1993 and quickly rose through the Giants farm system, with stops in San Jose, Shreveport, and Phoenix before making his major league debut with the Giants as a pinch hitter on April 18, 1996 against the Chicago Cubs. He got his first career hit the following day, also as a pinch hitter, against Terry Adams.
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Bill Shores
William David Shores (May 26, 1904 in Abilene, Texas – February 19, 1984 in Purcell, Oklahoma), was a Major League Baseball player who played pitcher from 1928-1936. He would play for the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, and New York Giants.
Bill Shores was the first major league player to wear uniform number 13, while playing for the A's in 1931. The number 13 was not routinely issued to players, except by request.
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Bill Terry
William Harold Terry (October 30, 1898 – January 9, 1989) was a Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. The Giants retired Terry's uniform no. 3 in 1984; it is posted on the facade of the upper deck in the left field corner of AT&T Park. Nicknamed "Memphis Bill", he is most remembered for being the last National League player to hit .400, a feat he accomplished by batting .401 in 1930.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Terry made his professional baseball debut in 1915 at the age of 16. He began his career as a pitcher, playing for two separate minor league teams, the Newnan Cowetas of the Georgia-Alabama League and the Dothan club of the FLAG League. With Newnan, he managed an impressive win-loss record of 7-1, with a microscopic 0.60 earned run average in eight games.
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Bill Tilden
William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 - June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill," was an American tennis player. He is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Tilden was the World No. 1 player for seven years, he won 14 Majors including ten Grand Slams and four Pro Slams. Bill Tilden dominated the world of international tennis in the first half of the 1920s. During his 18 year amateur period of 1912-30, he won 138 of 192 tournaments, and had a match record of 907-62, a winning percentage of 93.6 percent.
Tilden was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family bereaved by the death of three older siblings. He lost his semi-invalid mother when he was 18 and, even though his father was still alive and maintained a large house staffed with servants, was sent a few houses away to live with a maiden aunt. The loss at 22 of his father and older brother marked him deeply. After several months of deep depression, and with encouragement from his aunt, tennis, which he had taken up starting at age five, became his primary means of recovery. According to his biographer, Frank Deford, because of his early family losses Tilden spent all of his adult life attempting to create a father-son relationship with a long succession of ball boys and youthful tennis protégés, of whom Vinnie Richards was the most noted. In spite of his worldwide travels, Tilden lived at his aunt's house until 1941 when he was 48 years old.
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Billy Cunningham
William John "Billy" Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.
Billy Cunningham was born in Brooklyn, New York. His fame began while he was playing at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where he was the MVP in the Brooklyn League in 1961. That year, he was the First-Team All-New York City, and a member of the Parade Magazine All-America Team.
Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. He once grabbed a record 27 rebounds in a game vs. Clemson on February 16, 1963. Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10, 1964. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points (24.8 points per game), and grabbed 1,062 rebounds (15.4 rebounds per game). Upon graduation, his 1,062 rebounds were the best in North Carolina history and he held seasonal records for most rebounds (379 in 1964) and rebound average (16.1 in 1963).
In 1965, Cunningham joined the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association as a sixth man and played well enough to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team.
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Billy Goodman
William Dale Goodman (March 22, 1926 – October 1, 1984) was an infielder and left-handed batter who played Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox (1947–57), Baltimore Orioles (1957), Chicago White Sox (1958–61) and Houston Colt .45's (1962).
Born in Concord, North Carolina, Goodman was an extremely versatile player capable of playing almost every position. In 1950 he led the American League in batting average with a .354 mark (one of five times he hit over .300), and was runner-up behind Phil Rizzuto in voting for the MVP Award. He also hit .290 or better 11 straight years (1948–58).
In his career, Goodman batted exactly .300, with 19 home runs, 591 RBI, 807 runs, 1691 hits, 299 doubles, 44 triples, 37 stolen bases, and 669 walks for a .376 on base percentage.
A two-time All-Star, Billy Goodman died in Sarasota, Florida, at age 58. He was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in November 2004.
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Billy Martin
Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin, Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager. He is best known as the manager of the New York Yankees, a position he held five different times. As Yankees manager, he led the team to consecutive American League pennants in 1976 and 1977; the Yankees were swept in the 1976 World Series by the Cincinnati Reds but triumphed over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the 1977 World Series. He also had notable managerial tenures with several other AL squads, leading four of them to division championships.
As a manager, Martin was known for turning losing teams into winners, and for arguing animatedly with umpires, including a widely parodied routine in which he kicked dust on their feet. However, he was criticized for not getting along with veteran players and owners, burning out young pitchers, and for having an addiction to alcohol. During the 1969 through 1988 period as a manager, Martin totaled 1,253 victories with a .553 winning percentage.
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Bing Miller
Edmund John "Bing" Miller (August 30, 1894 – May 7, 1966) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and coach. Born in Vinton, Iowa, he was 6' (183 cm) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg) and hit and threw right-handed. He debuted in the Major Leagues on April 16, 1921 with the Washington Senators, but in 1922 Miller was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics for whom he spent the prime years of his career.
Miller is best known for hitting a two-out walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1929 World Series that won the Athletics their fourth world championship.
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Blue Moon Odom
Johnny Lee Odom (born May 29, 1945) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who won three consecutive World Series championships with the Oakland Athletics in 1972, 1973 and 1974.
Odom was nicknamed Blue Moon in grade-school by a classmate who thought Odom's round face resembled the moon. Odom led Ballard Hudson High School in Macon, Georgia to two consecutive state championships while amassing a 42-2 record and pitching eight no-hitters. He signed with the Kansas City Athletics upon graduation.
After spending just one season with the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League, he received a September call-up to the Athletics in 1964, and made his major league debut at just nineteen years old on September 5 at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. Odom lasted just two innings against the New York Yankees, giving up a three-run home run in the first inning to Mickey Mantle and surrendered three more runs in the second before giving way to the bullpen.
Odom spent the entire 1965 season with the Lewiston Broncs of the Northwest League. His debut for the Broncs is locally legendary and was one of the most spectacular in baseball history. In the bottom of an inning with no outs, Odom came to the mound in relief. He not only struck out three in a row, he threw all strikes and left the mound to a rousing ovation (from an eye-witness account). For the season, he went 11-14 with a 4.27 earned run average, and led the league in games started (29) and innings pitched (198). He only made one appearance at the major league level all season, pitching one inning and allowing one earned run against the Washington Senators on September 22.
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Bob Boone
Robert Raymond Boone (born November 19, 1947) is an American former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who was a four-time All-Star. Born in San Diego, California, Bob Boone is the son of a major league player, the late third baseman Ray Boone, and the father of two major leaguers: former second baseman Bret Boone and former utility infielder Aaron Boone. All four family members were named All-Stars during their careers.
Bob Boone was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth round of the 1969 amateur draft after attending Stanford University, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. He was brought to the majors in late 1972, and, while he never had excellent hitting numbers, he was a phenomenal defensive catcher, committing only eight errors and allowing only three passed balls in the 1977 season. He made the National League All-Star team three times in a Phillies uniform, and helped the team win the 1980 World Series.
In 1982, the Phillies decided to trade the veteran catcher to the California Angels, following an unproductive year from Boone, and also as a possible retaliation for Boone's key role in leading the players in negotiations during the 1981 Major League Baseball strike. But Boone rebounded by throwing out 21 of the first 34 steal attempts and helping the Angels to the AL West title, and followed in 1983 with his fourth and final All-Star appearance.
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Bob Meusel
Robert William "Bob" Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best known as a member of the Yankees' championship teams of the 1920s, nicknamed the "Murderers' Row", during which time the team won its first six American League (AL) pennants and first three World Series titles.
Meusel, noted for his strong outfield throwing arm, batted fifth behind Baseball Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In 1925, he became the second Yankee, after Ruth, to lead the AL in the following offensive categories: home runs (33), runs batted in (138) and extra base hits (79). Nicknamed "Long Bob" because of his 6 foot, 3 inch (1.91 m) stature, Meusel batted .313 or better in seven of his first eight seasons, finishing with a .309 career average; his 1,005 RBI during the 1920s were the fourth most by any major leaguer, and trailed only Harry Heilmann's total of 1,131 among AL right-handed hitters. Meusel ended his career in 1930 with the Cincinnati Reds. He hit for the cycle three times, and was the second of three major leaguers to accomplish this feat as many as three times during a career.
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Bobby Clarke
Robert Earle Clarke, OC (born August 13, 1949), also known as Bob Clarke and Bobby Clarke, is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Philadelphia Flyers and is currently an executive with the team. During his 15 season playing career, he led the Flyers to two Stanley Cups and was awarded the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times. A 1987 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Clarke was rated number 24 on The Hockey News' list of The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time in 1998.
A talented playmaker, he had three 100-point seasons, twice led the league in assists, and played in eight NHL All-Star Games. He was also a great defensive player, a great checker, and one of the best in the face-off circle. One of the game's great leaders, Clarke was the captain of the notorious Broad Street Bullies during their heyday in the mid-1970s. The Bullies were a reflection of their captain, who had a tireless work ethic and a strong will to win even if it meant breaking the rules. The latter, some say, is exemplified best by Clarke's infamous slash to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov during the Summit Series in 1972, which is still a source of controversy to the present day.
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Bobby Grich
Robert Anthony "Bobby" Grich (born January 15, 1949 in Muskegon, Michigan) is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played for the Baltimore Orioles (1970–1976) and California Angels (1977–1986) of Major League Baseball. He currently works in the Angels' front office.
As a player, Grich won four consecutive Gold Glove Awards and made the American League All-Star squad six times.
In 1973, the Orioles traded Davey Johnson to the Braves in order to make room for Grich at second base. He was an excellent fielder, with good range, soft hands, and a good arm, and he was steady turning the double play. In 1973, he set an all-time major league fielding record with a .995 fielding percentage, and 12 seasons later in 1985, he broke the record again (.997).
With the bat, Grich hit 19 home runs with 82 RBI in 1974. Then, in 1979, he batted .294, adding 30 homers and 101 RBI, but he had his best offensive performance in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Grich tied the lead in home runs (22, along with Tony Armas, Dwight Evans, and Eddie Murray), led in slugging average (.543), and hit a career-high .304.
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Bobby Shantz
Robert Clayton Shantz (born September 26, 1925 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania) was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics (1949–1954), Kansas City Athletics (1955–1956), New York Yankees (1957–1960), Pittsburgh Pirates (1961), Houston Colt .45's (1962), St. Louis Cardinals (1962–1964), Chicago Cubs (1964), and the Philadelphia Phillies (1964).
A left-hander, Shantz began his career as a starting pitcher, but about halfway through he converted to a competent relief pitcher. In 1951 he added the knuckleball to his repertoire.
He enjoyed his best season in 1952 when he led the American League in wins (24) and won the MVP Award. In the process, he led the A's to their last winning season in Philadelphia. The 1952 A's had some excellent players, including batting champion Ferris Fain, home run hitter Gus Zernial, and fleet center fielder Dave Philly. But the club resumed its losing ways, drew fewer and fewer fans, and moved to Kansas City after the 1954 campaign.
A highly skilled fielder, Shantz won eight consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1957 to 1964 (American League, 1957–60; National League, 1961–64; in 1957 the award was rendered for both leagues). Shantz also was selected for the All-Star Game in 1951, 1952 and 1957. In the fifth and final inning of the 1952 All Star Game, the left–handed Shantz exhibited his distinctive sidearm delivery and sharp curve. He struck out three respected hitters in a row: Whitey Lockman, Jackie Robinson, and Stan Musial.
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Bobby Ávila
Roberto Francisco Ávila González (April 2, 1924 – October 26, 2004) to Maria Gonzalez and Jorge Avila, was a Major League Baseball second baseman and right-handed batter who played for the Cleveland Indians (1949–58), Baltimore Orioles (1959), Boston Red Sox (1959), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Tigres del México (1960). Born in Veracruz, Veracruz, México, he had a medium frame at 5' 10" (1.77 m) and 175 lb. (80 kg). He was better known in his homeland and other Latin American countries as "Beto" and in the majors as "Bobby".
In 1954 Ávila won the American League Batting Championship, edging out Ted Williams and Minnie Miñoso with a .341 batting average, while playing almost the entire season with a broken thumb. He also registered career highs in home runs (15), runs (112) and runs batted in (67).
In that same season, the Indians faced the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series, which matched the two leagues' champion bats, Ávila and Willie Mays; it was the third time that top batters in the majors played each other in the Series. Other matchups were Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb in 1909; Al Simmons and Chick Hafey in 1931.
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Boog Powell
John Wesley Powell (born August 17, 1941 in Lakeland, Florida) is a former major league first baseman who played for the Baltimore Orioles (1961–74), Cleveland Indians (1975–76) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1977). He was with the Orioles’ World Series Champion teams in 1966 and 1970, the American League Champion teams in 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1971, and the American League East Division Champion teams in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1974. The 4-time All-Star won the American League's Most Valuable Player award in 1970 and in 1964 posted a .606 slugging percentage to lead the American League. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, playing first base, outfield, and designated hitter.
Powell currently owns Boog's Barbecue, which sells barbecue sandwiches and ribs in two locations: on Eutaw Street at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. Boog Powell is an avid angler, kicking off the Maryland Fishing season with the governor.[citation needed]
Boog (often misheard for "Boot") Powell joined the Orioles after leading the International League in home runs at Rochester in 1961. He spent his first three seasons in Baltimore as a slow-footed third baseman and left fielder before switching to first base in 1965. At the plate he was an immediate success, hitting 25 home runs in 1963; in 1964 he led the American League in slugging percentage (.606) while blasting a career-high 39 home runs despite missing several weeks because of a broken wrist. He slumped to .248 with 17 home runs in 1965, then won the American League Comeback player of the Year honors in 1966 (.287, 34 home runs, 109 runs batted in) while being hampered by a broken finger.
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Braggo Roth
Robert Frank "Bobby" Roth (August 28, 1892 – September 11, 1936), nicknamed Braggo, was a professional baseball player. He was an outfielder over parts of 8 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, and New York Yankees.
Braggo began his minor league career in 1910 with Green Bay of the Class-D Wisconsin-Illinois League. After less than three months, Roth was released and he signed with the Red Wing Manufacturers of the Class-D Minnesota-Wisconsin League. In 1912, he played for the St. Joseph Drummers of the Western League. He played for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association in 1913 and 1914. Braggo played third base for the first four years of his career, but was converted into an outfielder in 1914. He also earned the nickname "Braggo" during the 1914 season, due to his boastful attitude.
Roth made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox of the American League, when they purchased him from the Blues in August 1914. He was switched back to third base, but his playing time decreased in 1915 due to his poor defensive play and the acquisition of Eddie Murphy, resulting in the White Sox trading Roth with a player to be named later (later decided to be Larry Chappell), Ed Klepfer and $31,500 to the Cleveland Indians for Shoeless Joe Jackson in August 1915. Roth hit three home runs in the final week of the 1915 season to increase his season total to seven, one more than Rube Oldring.
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Brooks Robinson
Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. (born May 18, 1937) is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire 23-year major league career for the Baltimore Orioles (1955–1977). Nicknamed "The Human Vacuum Cleaner", he is generally acclaimed as the greatest defensive third-basemen in major league history. He won 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards during his career, tied with pitcher Jim Kaat for the second most all-time for any player at any position. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Brooks Calbert and Ethel Mae (née Donkey) Robinson. His father worked for a large bakery in Little Rock, Colonial Bakery, and then went to work for the Little Rock Fire Department (rising to the rank of captain ), while his mother at first worked for Sears Roebuck & Company, and then in the controller's office at the state capitol. His father played second base for a semi-pro team. Young Brooks Robinson, Jr., delivered the Arkansas Gazette on his bike, and also operated the beer and sold wine at Lamar Porter Field.
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Buck Freeman
John Frank "Buck" Freeman (October 30, 1871 – June 25, 1949) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball at the turn of the 20th century. Freeman was one of the top sluggers of his era, his most famous feat being the 25 home runs he hit during the 1899 season.
A native of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, Freeman showed talent as a pitcher from a young age. He made his major league debut as a left-handed starter with the Washington Statesmen on June 27, 1891, registering the loss in a 4-5 defeat to the Philadelphia Athletics. Freeman played in a further four games during the season, finishing up with a 3-2 record and an earned run average of 3.89.
Following the 1891 season's conclusion he did not play in the majors again for seven years. He played in the Eastern League with Toronto from 1896 to 1898 and returned to the Washington roster midway through the 1898 season. During the intervening time Freeman had bulked out and had begun to show real skill with the bat (in his 18 at bats in 1891 he had recorded a batting average of .222). In light of this the Senators decided to retrain Freeman as a right fielder, believing that he would be even more useful with the bat than he was with the ball. Albeit with only 107 at bats, he recorded a .364 batting average and a .523 slugging percentage during the final months of the 1898 season. Following his strong showing with the bat, he was named as the Senators' first-choice right fielder for the following season.
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Buck Leonard
Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard (September 8, 1907 – November 27, 1997) was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 along with his long-time teammate Josh Gibson.
Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Leonard left school at the age of 14 because no high school education was available for blacks in his hometown. He worked in a textile mill and as a shoeshine boy at a railroad station, the latter being typical of the economic situation for many African Americans at that time.
He began his Negro league career in 1933 with the Brooklyn Royal Giants, then moved to the legendary Homestead Grays in 1934, the team he played for until his retirement in 1950. The Grays of the late 1930s through the mid-1940s are considered one of the greatest teams of any race ever assembled. Leonard batted fourth in their lineup behind Josh Gibson. Since Gibson was known as the "Black Babe Ruth" and Leonard was a first baseman, Buck Leonard was inevitably called the "Black Lou Gehrig." Together, the pair was colloquially known as the "Thunder Twins" or "Dynamite Twins". From 1937 to 1945 the Grays won 9 consecutive Negro National League championships. Leonard led the Negro leagues in batting average in 1948 with a mark of .395, and usually either led the league in home runs or finished second in homers to teammate Gibson.
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Buddy Myer
Charles Solomon "Buddy" Myer (March 16, 1904 – October 31, 1974) was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball from 1925 to 1941.
An excellent hitter, he batted .300 or better in eight full seasons, and retired with a career average of .303. He walked more than twice as many times as he struck out. Apart from a brief period with the Boston Red Sox in 1927–28, he spent his entire career with the Washington Senators.
Myer was born in Ellisville, Mississippi to a Jewish family.[citation needed]
Myer decided to go to college at Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State University). In 1923, he attracted many baseball scouts to watch him play. That same year, the Washington Senators offered him a contract. Buddy accepted the contract with the one condition, that he finish his college education. Myer graduated from Mississippi A&M in 1925.
He was discovered by baseball promoter, Joe Engel, who managed the Chattanooga Lookouts at Engel Stadium.
He broke in with the Senators in 1925 at the age of 21. In 1926 he batted .304. In May 1927 he was traded by the Senators to the Red Sox for Topper Rigney.
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Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman. He played a record 27 consecutive seasons, and was regarded as one of the greatest players of his era and one of the first superstars of the game.
Anson spent most of his career with the Chicago Cubs franchise (then known as the "White Stockings" and later the "Colts"), serving as the club's manager, first baseman and, later in his tenure, minority owner. He led the team to five National League pennants in the 1880s. Anson was one of baseball's first great hitters, and the first to tally over 3,000 career hits.
His contemporary influence and prestige are regarded by historians as playing a major role in establishing the racial segregation in professional baseball that persisted until the late 1940s.. However, a 2006 biography of Anson that exhaustively examined 19th-century newspaper reporting related to him on the subject of racism reached the following conclusion: "As far as the nineteenth century, he rightfully should endure as the big leaguer who, until the late 1940s, was involved in the greatest number of reported negative incidents, on the field, relating to blacks." On several occasions, Anson refused to take the field when the opposing roster included black players. "But at the same time, his argumentative nature could be readily discounted by those around him. So, the notion that he had 'coattails' in persuading players and officials on other teams to do as he did is rather spurious."
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Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski ( /jəˈstrɛmski/; nicknamed "Yaz"; born August 22, 1939) is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox (1961–1983). He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career played at first base and as a designated hitter. Yastrzemski is an 18-time All-Star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox' all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is second on the team's list for home runs behind another Red Sox great, Ted Williams, his predecessor in left field. In 1967, Yastrzemski achieved a peak in his career, leading the Red Sox to the American League pennant for the first time in over two decades, in that season being voted the American League MVP, and being the most recent winner of the triple crown for batters in the major leagues.
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Carlos Peña
Carlos Felipe Peña (born May 17, 1978 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional baseball left-handed first baseman. He played previously with the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs.
Although he was born in Santo Domingo and his family is from San Francisco de Macorís, he spent a significant portion of his childhood in the United States, namely Haverhill, Massachusetts. He is portrayed in the film Moneyball by actor Adrian Bellani.
Peña is the eldest of four children born to Felipe and Juana Peña. The family moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic when Peña was 12, initially living with one of his uncles.
He graduated from Haverhill High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1995. He initially went to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, but returned home after one quarter and instead went to Northeastern University where he studied electrical engineering. As a collegiate player, he competed in the Cape Cod League, which showcases top amateur prospects every summer. He was a member of the Wareham Gatemen in 1997. During his time at Northeastern, Peña led the Huskies to one NCAA tournament. Peña's career batting average at Northeastern was .324 and finished with 24 home runs in two seasons.
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Carney Lansford
Carney Ray Lansford (born February 7, 1957 in San Jose, California) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball and the current hitting coach of the Colorado Rockies. Lansford, who played for the California Angels (1978–80), Boston Red Sox (1981–82) and Oakland Athletics (1983–92), batted and threw right-handed.
Originally drafted by the California Angels in the 3rd round of the 1975 Major League Baseball Draft, Lansford became the Angels' best rookie in 1978 and finished third in the overall AL Rookie of the Year vote. The Angels dealt Lansford to the Red Sox after the 1980 season. In 1981, he won the American League batting title in the strike-shortened season, becoming the league's first right-handed hitter to do so in 11 years. However, the emergence of Wade Boggs resulted in the Red Sox sending Lansford to Oakland[citation needed] in a trade involving Tony Armas during the 1982 off-season. Lansford became the A's third baseman for their 1988 through 1992 dynasty, typically hitting second behind Rickey Henderson. Lansford narrowly missed winning his second batting title in 1989 with a .336 average to Minnesota's Kirby Puckett, who finished with a .339 average. Although his power numbers dropped off during those years, and he missed almost all the 1991 season, Lansford's speed and solid hitting made him a significant contributor. He played in three World Series with the A's, losing in 1988, 1990 and winning in 1989.
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Catfish Hunter
James Augustus "Catfish" Hunter (April 8, 1946 – September 9, 1999), was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 15-year baseball career, he pitched from 1965 to 1979 for both the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.
The youngest son of eight children, he excelled in a variety of sports; enjoying success as a linebacker and offensive tackle in football as well as a shortstop, cleanup batter and pitcher in baseball. His pitching skill began to attract scouts from Major League Baseball teams to Hertford, North Carolina. In his senior year, Hunter was wounded in a hunting accident which led to the loss of one of his toes and the lodging of shotgun pellets in his foot. The accident left Hunter somewhat hobbled and jeopardized his prospects in the eyes of many professional scouts, but the Kansas City Athletics had faith in the young pitcher and signed Hunter to a contract. He was not able to pitch in 1964. He was sent to the Mayo Clinic, as surgeons worked on his right foot. Hunter recovered at Charles O. Finley’s farm in LaPorte, Indiana.
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Cecil Fielder
Cecil Grant Fielder ( /ˈsɛsəl/; born September 21, 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is a former professional baseball player who was a noted power hitter in the 1980s and 1990s. He attended college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He played with the Toronto Blue Jays (1985–88), Detroit Tigers (1990–96), New York Yankees (1996–97), Anaheim Angels and Cleveland Indians (both in 1998). In 1990, he became the first player to reach the 50-home run mark since George Foster hit 52 for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977. He is the father of Detroit Tigers first baseman/designated hitter Prince Fielder, considered one the best current power hitter hitters in Major League Baseball.
Cecil Fielder was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 31st round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 4th round of the 1982 amateur draft, and this time did sign. In 1983, he was traded by the Royals to the Toronto Blue Jays for Leon Roberts.
A part-time first and third baseman for the Blue Jays, Fielder had hit 31 home runs with 84 runs batted in during four seasons. The Hanshin Tigers signed him after the 1988 season. With Toronto, he earned $125,000 per season; the Hanshin Tigers paid him $1,050,000 ($1,968,644 today), including a chauffeur and a full-time interpreter. More than the money, he said, he went to Japan for the opportunity to play every day. He became a hero to the local baseball fans that nicknamed him "Wild Bear" (wild, in Japan, is the image of power; bear, for his hulking presence).
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Charlie Gehringer
Charles Leonard Gehringer (May 11, 1903 – January 21, 1993), nicknamed “The Mechanical Man,” was a German-American Major League Baseball second baseman who played 19 seasons (1924–42) for the Detroit Tigers. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest second basemen of all time, during his career Gehringer, who batted left-handed and threw with his right, compiled a .320 batting average and had seven seasons with more than 200 hits – a hit total never reached in a season by Ted Williams or Mickey Mantle and reached only once by Willie Mays. He was the American League batting champion in 1937 with a .371 average and was also named the American League’s Most Valuable Player. He was among the Top 10 vote recipients in the Most Valuable Player voting for seven straight years from 1932 to 1938. He was the starting second baseman and played every inning of the first six All Star Games.
Gehringer's career totals of 2,839 hits and 574 doubles both rank 19th in Major League history. Gehringer also led the Tigers to three American League pennants (1934, 1935, and 1940) and one World Series Championship (1935). Gehringer hit .379 in the 1934 World Series, and .375 in the 1935 Series.
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Chief Bender
Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (May 5, 1884 – May 22, 1954) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball during the first two decades of the 20th century. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.
Bender was born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota as a member of the Ojibwa tribe - he faced discrimination throughout his career[citation needed]. He, like other players of American Indian heritage, was given the nickname of "Chief", by which he is almost exclusively known today.[citation needed]
After graduating from Carlisle Indian Industrial School and attending Dickinson College, Bender went on to a stellar career as a starting pitcher from 1903 to 1917, primarily with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics (though with stints at the end of his career with the Baltimore Terrapins of the short-lived Federal League, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Chicago White Sox).
Over his career, his win-loss record was 212-127, for a .625 winning percentage (a category in which he led the American League in three seasons). His talent was even more noticeable in the high-pressure environment of the World Series; in five trips to the championship series, he managed six wins and a 2.44 ERA. In the 1911 Series, he pitched three complete games, which tied Christy Mathewson's record of three complete games in a World Series. He also threw a no-hitter in 1910.
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Chris Short
Christopher Joseph "Style" Short (September 19, 1937 – August 1, 1991) was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (1959–1972), and in his final year, for the Milwaukee Brewers (1973). He was a left-handed pitcher, but batted righty. He was born in Milford, Delaware.
Short was considered a top pitcher from 1964 through 1968 with the Phillies. He was 17–9 in 1964, with a 2.20 ERA in 220 and 2/3 innings pitched. It was his career-best ERA and was third in the league behind only Sandy Koufax (1.74) and Don Drysdale (2.18). Teammate Jim Bunning was 5th that season with a 2.63 ERA. Juan Marichal finished 4th (2.48). That year, however, the Phillies and Short suffered a heartbreaking loss in the pennant race. After leading by six and a half games with 12 to go, manager Gene Mauch decided to start his two aces, Bunning and Short, for eight of the last 12 games. Short pitched respectably despite the heavy workload, giving up only six earned runs in 18 innings over his final three starts. But weak hitting, poor relief pitching and atrocious defense (the team committed 17 errors in a 10-game losing streak) doomed Philadelphia. The Phillies lost three games in a row to the hot St. Louis Cardinals, who won the NL race by 1 game and went on to defeat the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series.
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Chuck Bednarik
Charles Philip Bednarik (born May 1, 1925) is a former professional American football player, known as one of the most devastating tacklers in the history of football and the last two-way player in the National Football League. A Slovak American from the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, he is perhaps best remembered for a tackle on the New York Giants' Frank Gifford, then a star running back, that knocked Gifford out of professional football for a year and a half, and shortened Gifford's playing career.
Bednarik played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1949 through 1962 and, upon retirement, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 (his first year of eligibility).
Bednarik currently resides in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley. His great-nephew, Adam Bednarik, was the starting quarterback at West Virginia University, before suffering an injury in 2005 that opened the door for fellow freshman Pat White, who never relinquished the starting position.
His parents emigrated in 1920 from Široké, a village in eastern Slovakia, for work, settling in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and working for Bethlehem Steel. Their son Charles was born in 1925. He attended school at SS. Cyril & Methodius in Bethlehem, which was a Slovak parochial school with Slovak the language of instruction.
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Chuck Klein
Charles Herbert "Chuck" Klein (October 7, 1904 – March 28, 1958) was a Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Philadelphia Phillies (1928–33, 1936–39, 1940–44), Chicago Cubs (1934–36) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1939).
Klein was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was known as the "Hoosier Hammer." He was one of the most prodigious National League sluggers in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Klein worked in a steel mill in his youth, and played semipro baseball on his own time. The St. Louis Cardinals soon noticed his talent, and signed him to a minor-league contract. He eventually worked his way up to the Cardinals' farm team in Fort Wayne. After hitting 26 homers in 88 games in 1928, Klein was slated to be called up to St. Louis midway through the season. However, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis discovered that the Cardinals owned a team in Dayton, Ohio that played in the same league as Fort Wayne. Landis ordered the Cardinals to sell off the Fort Wayne team and give up the rights to its players. The Phillies outbid the New York Yankees for Klein's services, and Klein joined the Phillies in July.
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Connie Mack
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins (3,731), losses (3,948), and games managed (7,755), with his victory total being almost 1,000 more than any other manager. He managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the club's first 50 seasons of play before retiring at age 87 following the 1950 season, and was at least part-owner from 1901 to 1954. He was the first manager to win the World Series three times, and is the only manager to win consecutive Series on separate occasions (1910–11, 1929–30); his five Series titles remain the third most by any manager, and his nine American League pennants rank second in league history. However, constant financial struggles forced repeated rebuilding of the roster, and Mack's teams also finished in last place 17 times. Mack was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
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Curt Simmons
Curtis Thomas "Curt" Simmons (born May 19, 1929 in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania) is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1947–50 and 1952-67. With right-hander Robin Roberts, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Simmons was one of the twin anchors of the starting rotation of the "Whiz Kids", the Philadelphia Phillies' 1950 National League championship team. He is the youngest surviving player from the team.
While attending Whitehall High School, Simmons led his high school team to three straight league titles, and also led the Coplay American Legion team to two Pennsylvania state crowns.
In 1947, Philadelphia Phillies owner Bob Carpenter arranged for an exhibition match between the Phillies and a team of all-star high school players from the Lehigh Valley. The game was played on the opening day of Egypt Memorial Park in front of a crowd of 4,500. Much to the surprise of the Phillies, Simmons struck out eleven and the game ended in a 4-4 tie (in fact, a late-game error was the only thing that prevented the high school team from winning). Simmons was signed by the Phillies, and was awarded a $65,000 signing bonus, one of the highest ever awarded at that time. That spring, Simmons also pitched and played outfield for an All-American high school game between teams managed by Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. In 1949, Simmons would return to the Lehigh Valley, pitching for the Phillies in an exhibition match (and 10-3 win) against the Allentown Redbirds in front of a record crowd of 4,590 at Whitehall's Breadon Field.
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Cy Morgan
Harry Richard Morgan (November 10, 1878 – June 28, 1962) born in Pomeroy, Ohio was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Browns (1903–05, 1907), Boston Red Sox (1907–09), Philadelphia Athletics (1909–12), and Cincinnati Reds (1913).
He helped the Athletics win the 1910 and 1911 World Series.
In 10 seasons he had a Win–Loss record of 78–78 in 210 Games, 172 Games Started, 107 Complete Games, 15 Shutouts, 29 Games Finished, 3 Saves, 1,445 ⅓ Innings Pitched, 1,180 Hits Allowed, 586 Runs Allowed, 403 Earned Runs Allowed, 18 Home Runs Allowed, 578 Walks Allowed, 667 Strikeouts, 95 Hit Batsmen, 59 Wild Pitches, 5,497 Batters Faced, 5 Balks, and a 2.51 ERA.
He died in Wheeling, West Virginia on June 28, 1962, after slitting his own throat with a razor.
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Cy Williams
Frederick "Cy" Williams (December 21, 1887 – April 23, 1974) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs (1912–17) and Philadelphia Phillies (1918–30). As Major League Baseball emerged from the dead ball era, Williams became one of the most prominent home run hitters in the National League.
Born in Wadena, Indiana, Williams attended Notre Dame where he studied architecture and played football with the legendary Knute Rockne. His hitting prowess caught the attention of the Chicago Cubs who purchased his contract after he graduated from college. Williams made his major league debut with the Cubs on July 18, 1912 at the age of 24. From 1915 to 1927 he was a consistent power hitting center fielder, leading the National League in home runs four times during his career. He was the first National League player to hit 200 career home runs, and is also one of three players born before 1900 to hit 200 homers in his career (Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby are the other two). He was the National League's career home run leader until his record of 251 was surpassed by Rogers Hornsby in 1929.
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Dale Alexander
David Dale Alexander (April 26, 1903 – March 2, 1979), nicknamed "Moose," was a Major League Baseball player for the Detroit Tigers (1929–1932) and Boston Red Sox (1932–1933). Dale "Moose" Alexander was a big 6 foot, 3 inch, 210 first baseman. He won the American League batting crown in 1932 and was one of the best hitters in baseball between 1929 and 1932, but a leg injury shortened his Major League career.
Born in Greeneville, Tennessee, Alexander first played professional baseball with his hometown team. Alexander hit .300 or better in five straight minor league seasons. In 1928, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Alexander won the International League triple crown with a .380 batting average, 31 home runs, and 144 runs batted in.
In 1929, Alexander won the first baseman job with the Detroit Tigers. In his rookie season Alexander hit .343, scored 110 runs, led the American League with 215 hits, and was among the league leaders with 83 extra base hits (second in AL), 363 total bases (second in AL), 137 RBIs (third in AL), 25 home runs (fifth in the AL), a .580 slugging percentage (fifth in the AL), 43 doubles (fifth in AL), and 15 triples (fourth in AL).
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Dan Brouthers
Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers ( /ˈbruːθərz/; May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from 1879 to 1896, with a brief return in 1904. Nicknamed "Big Dan" for his size, he was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and weighed 207 pounds (94 kg), which was large for 19th-century standards.
Recognized as the first great slugger in baseball history, and among the greatest sluggers of his era, he held the record for career home runs from 1887 to 1889, with his final total of 106 tying for the fourth most of the 19th century. His career slugging percentage of .519 remained the major league record for a player with at least 4,000 at bats until Ty Cobb edged ahead of him in 1922. At the time of his initial retirement, he also ranked second in career triples (205), and third in runs batted in (1,296) and hits.
A dominating hitter during the prime of his career, he led (or was in the top of) the league in most offensive categories, including batting average, runs scored, runs batted in (RBI), on base percentage and hits. He led the league in batting average five times, the most by a 19th-century player, and his career .342 batting average still ranks ninth all-time. Brouthers is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date who have appeared in Major League games in four decades.
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Darren Daulton
Darren Arthur Daulton (born January 3, 1962 in Arkansas City, Kansas), nicknamed Dutch, is a former catcher in Major League Baseball best remembered for his years with the Philadelphia Phillies. He has been called the "Greatest Clubhouse Leader the Phillies ever had." He earned a World Series ring with the Florida Marlins in 1997.
Daulton was drafted by the Phillies in the 25th round of the 1980 MLB draft. He was an all-star with the AA Reading Phillies in 1983.
On September 25, 1983, Daulton made his major league debut for the Phillies. Between 1983 and 1988 Daulton played sparingly, due much to the presence of all-star catchers Ozzie Virgil and Lance Parrish. Daulton became the Phillies' full time catcher in 1989.
Daulton caught Terry Mulholland's no-hitter on August 15, 1990.
Daulton's finest season came in 1992. That season, Daulton led the National League in runs batted in with 109. Daulton also finished in the top 10 in on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, walks, runs created, and extra base hits. Daulton's impressive season earned him his first all-star appearance, the National League Silver Slugger award, and sixth place in National League MVP voting.
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Dave Kingman
David Arthur Kingman (born December 21, 1948), nicknamed "Kong" and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder, first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter. The towering 6' 6" Kingman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s. His height and long-armed, sweeping swing were sufficient to propel a baseball a very long distance when he connected solidly. It was said of him that he was one of those players that when he came to bat, everyone in the park stopped whatever they were doing to watch him. He hit plenty of home runs, and he could hit them farther than many had ever seen, once over 530 feet.
His free-swinging, however, cut both ways, as he was also apt to strike out frequently, and usually posted a low batting average and on-base percentage, often leading the league in outs made. His 1,816 strikeouts was the fourth-highest total in MLB history at the time of his retirement. He currently ranks twelfth as of the start of the 2012 season - three strikeouts ahead of Manny Ramirez and seven ahead of Adam Dunn who are both active players.
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David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins from 1997 until 2002. Ortiz is a seven-time All-Star and holds the Red Sox single season record for home runs in a regular season with 54, set during the 2006 season. In 2005, Red Sox ownership presented him with a plaque proclaiming Ortiz "the greatest clutch-hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox".
Ortiz graduated from Estudia Espallat High School in the Dominican Republic and in 1992 he was signed by the Seattle Mariners who listed him as "David Arias". He played for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Mariners farm team, until 1996, when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later in an earlier trade for Dave Hollins. When he arrived in Minnesota, he informed the team that he preferred to be listed as "David Ortiz."
He made his Twins debut in September 1997. For a few years, he was moved back and forth between the Twins and their minor league affiliate in Connecticut, the New Britain Rock Cats. The Twins advanced to the American League Championship Series that year, where they lost to the Anaheim Angels. Despite showing flashes of talent, Ortiz's time with the Twins will be remembered as a series of injuries and inconsistency both in the field and at the plate. Ortiz suffered wrist injuries in both 1998 and 2001. He continued to experience knee problems in early 2002 that plagued him throughout the season, despite hitting 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 75 RBIs in 125 games. He was released by the Twins after the season. In six seasons with the Twins, Ortiz hit 58 home runs and 238 RBI.
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Deacon McGuire
James Thomas "Deacon" McGuire (November 18, 1863 – October 31, 1936) was a catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball who spent over a quarter of a century playing professional baseball in a much-traveled career which saw him set several records for durability. His record of playing in 26 major league seasons was unmatched until 1993, and he established a major league record for career games caught which stood until 1925; his record of 1859 career assists as a catcher remains the major league record.
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, McGuire moved with his family to Cleveland when he was still a child. He began his professional baseball career with the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association. When the team folded, he joined the Detroit Wolverines. In 1886, McGuire joined the Philadelphia Quakers, where he would stay for three years, and in 1888, he briefly returned to the Wolverines before playing 26 games for the Cleveland Spiders.
After serving as player-manager of the Toronto franchise in the International League in 1889, he had a one-year stint with the short-lived Rochester Broncos, then joined the Washington Senators, where he would stay for eight years until being traded to the Brooklyn Superbas during the 1899 season; in 1899 and 1900 he was one of the two principal catchers for Brooklyn's NL champions. In 1902 he joined the Detroit Tigers of the rival American League. Before the 1904 season, he was sold to the New York Highlanders, catching 97 games, at age 40, for a team that missed the pennant by 1.5 games.
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Del Ennis
Delmer Ennis (June 8, 1925 – February 8, 1996) was an American left and right fielder in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the Philadelphia Phillies. From 1949 to 1957, Ennis accumulated more runs batted in than anyone besides Stan Musial and was 8th in the National League in home runs. In 1950 he led the National League with 126 RBI as the Phillies won their first pennant in 35 years. He held the Phillies career record of 259 home runs from 1956 to 1980, and ranked 10th in NL history with 1824 games in the outfield when his career ended.[citation needed]
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Del Pratt
Derrill Burnham "Del" Pratt (January 10, 1888 – September 30, 1977) was a star running back for the University of Alabama before becoming a professional baseball player. Pratt signed with the St. Louis Browns in 1912. He was a utility player, playing second base, shortstop, third base and the outfield.
In his rookie season, Pratt batted .302 for the Browns. In 1916 he led the American League with 103 RBIs.
In 1917, the Browns were struggling. Owner Phil Ball accused some of the players of intentionally playing poorly so that they could be traded. Ball said, "Every $1000 I lose on the Browns this season will cost the ballplayers $100. Salaries will be cut next season."
Pratt was offended. He and teammate Doc Lavan sued Ball for slander. The Sporting News went so far as to call Pratt the Browns' Trotsky. The suit was eventually settled in 1918, and Pratt was traded to the New York Yankees.
After the 1920 season, the Yankees traded Pratt to the Boston Red Sox for Waite Hoyt, but he decided to retire. He was hired as the University of Michigan baseball coach to replace Carl Lundgren (with a recommendation from Branch Rickey) and served as an assistant football coach and freshman basketball coach. He began preparing the 1921 team, but the Red Sox coaxed him out of retirement before the first game of the season. Upon his return to the Sox in 1921, Pratt batted over .300. He ended his career with the Detroit Tigers.
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Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), nicknamed "Eck", is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career (the other being John Smoltz).
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. He is also noted as the pitcher who gave up a dramatic, walk-off home run (a phrase Eckersley coined after this home run) to the injured Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
Eckersley was drafted by the Cleveland Indians out of Washington High School of Fremont, California, in the third round of the 1972 amateur draft, and made his Major League debut on April 12, 1975. He was the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1975, compiling a 13–7 record and 2.60 ERA. His unstyled, long hair, moustache, and live fastball made him an instant and identifiable fan favorite. Eckersley pitched reliably over three seasons with the Indians; he even threw the 200th no-hitter in history on May 30, 1977, against the California Angels.
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Denny McLain
Dennis Dale "Denny" McLain (born March 29, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a pitcher in Major League Baseball for ten seasons, most notably for the Detroit Tigers. In 1968, McLain became the last pitcher in Major League Baseball to win 30 or more games during a season (31–6)— a feat accomplished by only thirteen players in the 20th century.
McLain was brash and outspoken, sometimes creating controversy by criticizing teammates and fans with little provocation. His stellar performance at the beginning of his professional baseball career was a marked contrast to his personal life, where he became associated with organized crime and was eventually convicted on charges of embezzlement and served time in prison.
McLain was born in Markham, Illinois and attended Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played on the baseball team as a shortstop and pitcher. As a teenager, he met his future wife, Sharyn Boudreau, the daughter of former major league player, Lou Boudreau. McLain was also musically talented, learning to play the organ from his father.
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Dick Allen
Richard Anthony Allen (born March 8, 1942 in Wampum, Pennsylvania) is a former Major League Baseball player and R&B singer. He played first and third base and outfield in Major League Baseball and ranked among his sport's top offensive producers of the 1960s and early 1970s. Most notably playing for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, he led the American League in home runs twice, and led both leagues in slugging average (the AL twice) and on base percentage. His .534 career slugging average ranks among the highest in an era marked by low averages. He won the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year and 1972 AL MVP. He also spoke his mind, combatted racism, and bucked organizational hierarchy. Sabermetrician Bill James rated Dick Allen as the second-most controversial player in baseball history, behind Rogers Hornsby.
His older brother Hank was a reserve outfielder for three AL teams, and his younger brother Ron was briefly a first baseman with the 1972 St. Louis Cardinals.
Allen hit a baseball with an authority Philadelphia fans had not seen since Chuck Klein and Jimmie Foxx. The Phillies saw his potential immediately and signed him in 1960 for a large $70,000 bonus. His career got off to a turbulent start as he faced racial harassment while playing for the Phillies' minor league affiliate in Little Rock; residents staged protest parades against Allen, the local team's first black player. Nevertheless, he led the league in total bases.
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Dick Hoblitzel
Richard Carleton "Dick" Hoblitzel (October 26, 1888 in Waverly, West Virginia – November 14, 1962 in Parkersburg, West Virginia), was a professional baseball player who played first base in the Major Leagues from 1908-1918. He played for the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox. Hoblitzel was the National League at bats leader in 1910 & 1911 and Cincinnati MVP in 1911. Two World Series championships, 1915 & 1916. Hoblitzel played alongside Babe Ruth at Ruth's first Major League team with the Red Sox until the Babe was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919. Nicknamed "Doc" by his team mates, Hoblitzel's baseball career was cut short with his induction into the US Army in 1918, during World War I, as a dentist and denying him the chance to play and win a third World Series championship. Hoblitzel was known as an intelligent player and well respected for his gentleman's manner, integrity and good sense. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. Hoblitzel's memorabilia from this baseball golden era is highly sought after and collectible by enthusiasts and collectors.
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Dick Williams
Richard Hirschfeld "Dick" Williams (May 7, 1929 – July 7, 2011) was an American left fielder, third baseman, manager, coach and front office consultant in Major League Baseball. Known especially as a hard-driving, sharp-tongued manager from 1967 to 1969 and from 1971 to 1988, he led teams to three American League pennants, one National League pennant, and two World Series triumphs. He is one of seven managers to win pennants in both major leagues, and joined Bill McKechnie in becoming only the second manager to lead three franchises to the Series. He and Lou Piniella are the only managers in history to lead four teams to seasons of 90 or more wins. Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 following his election by the Veterans Committee.
After growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, and Pasadena, California, Williams signed his first professional contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and played his first major league game with Brooklyn in 1951. Initially an outfielder, he separated a shoulder making a diving catch early in his career, weakening his throwing arm. As a result, he learned to play several positions (he was frequently a first baseman and third baseman) and became a notorious "bench jockey" in order to keep his major league job. He appeared in 1,023 games over 13 seasons with the Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics and Boston Red Sox. A right-handed batter and thrower, Williams had a career batting average of .260 with 70 home runs.
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Doc Gessler
Henry Homer "Doc" Gessler (December 23, 1880 – December 25, 1924) was a Major League Baseball player born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who began his eight season career, at the age of 22, with the Detroit Tigers in 1903. He played mainly as a right fielder in a career that totaled 880 games played, 2969 at bats, 831 hits, 363 RBIs and 14 home runs. Doc died in Greensburg at the age of 44, and is interred in Saint Bernard Cemetery in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Before his baseball career, he attended Ohio University, Washington & Jefferson College, and became a physician, graduating from Johns Hopkins Medical School. He was one of three doctors in the 1906 World Series (with Doc White and Frank Owen).
After his short stay with Detroit, he then moved on to the Brooklyn Superbas in an unknown transaction. For Brooklyn, he became a good hitter, batting .290 in both of his full seasons with them. After a slow start in 1906, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Hub Knolls on April 28.
He didn't play in the Majors for the 1907 season, but reappeared for the 1908 Boston Red Sox and batted .308, hit 14 triples, and led the American League in on base percentage. The following season, manager Fred Lake announced that Doc would be team's Captain for the 1909 season. This situation did not last the season, as he was traded to the Washington Senators on September 9, 1909 in exchange for Charlie Smith. He played three seasons for the Senators and retried after the 1911 season.
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Don Baylor
Donald Edward Baylor (born June 28, 1949) is a Major League Baseball coach currently the hitting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a former player and manager. During his 19-year playing career, he was a power hitter who played as a first baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter. He played for six different American League teams, primarily the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels. He later managed the expansion Colorado Rockies for six years and the Chicago Cubs for three.
Born in Austin, Texas, Baylor graduated from Austin High School. He starred in both baseball and football at Austin High, and was offered a scholarship to play football at Texas by legendary Longhorns coach Darrell Royal, which would have made him the first African American to play football at Texas. He opted to pursue a baseball career, enrolling at Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas.
He was drafted in the second round of the 1967 amateur draft by Baltimore. He played for the Orioles from 1970-1975. Before the 1976 season, the Orioles traded Baylor with Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez to the Oakland Athletics for Reggie Jackson, Ken Holtzman, and Bill VanBommell. He signed with the California Angels as a free agent in 1977, with the New York Yankees in 1983 and the Boston Red Sox in 1986. In 1987, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later. He signed with the Athletics for 1988, his final season as a player.
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Don Mattingly
Donald Arthur "Don" Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nicknamed "The Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he played his entire 14-year major league baseball career for the New York Yankees (1982–1995).
Mattingly was named to the American League (AL) All-Star team six times. He won nine Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards, and was the 1985 AL Most Valuable Player. Mattingly served as captain of the Yankees from 1991 through 1995, and the Yankees retired his uniform number after his retirement. After his playing career, Mattingly served as a hitting coach for the Yankees and Dodgers prior to taking on his current position as manager of the Dodgers.
A graduate of Memorial High School in Evansville, Indiana in 1979, he led the Tigers to a state record 59 straight victories through the 1978-79 season. In 1978 the Tigers were crowned State Champions and were State Runners-up in 1979. Don was the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude recipient in 1979. He was All-City, All-SIAC (Southern Indiana Athletic Conference), and All State in both 1978 and 1979. During the four years he played in high school the Tigers compiled a 94-9-1 won – loss record and Don hit .463. He still holds Memorial records for hits (152); doubles (29): triples (25 - also the state record); RBIs (140); and runs scored (99).
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Dustin Pedroia
Dustin Luis Pedroia (born August 17, 1983, in Woodland, California) is an American professional baseball second baseman. Pedroia has won several awards in Major League Baseball, including the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year and the 2008 AL MVP award. He also won a Silver Slugger as a second baseman and a Gold Glove in 2008 and 2011. He finished second overall in the AL in batting average in 2008. In addition to his offensive performance, Pedroia has been a major defensive contributor to the Red Sox.
Pedroia is listed by Major League Baseball and the Red Sox as 5' 8" (173 cm) and 165 pounds. In 2003 a USA Today article gave his height as 5' 7" (170 cm), and when he was in college the NCAA and Arizona State University gave his height as 5' 8".
Pedroia attended Woodland Senior High School in Woodland, California. Pedroia batted .445 his senior year and was chosen as his league's most valuable player. Good childhood friend and high school teamate Frankie Vartuli gave him some inspirational words before he started his college season. What was said on the rainy Thursday night during the phone conversation was, "In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this." Vartuli used the famous quote from Willie Mays to inspire the 5 foot 7 phenom to excel in college.
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Dwight Evans
Dwight Michael Evans (born November 3, 1951), nicknamed "Dewey", is an American former professional baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox (1972–90) and Baltimore Orioles (1991) in Major League Baseball.
Evans won eight Gold Glove Awards (1976, 1978–79 and 1981–85). In the 1970s and 1980s, Evans played in the outfield with Jim Rice as well as all-stars Fred Lynn and Tony Armas.
Evans was born in Santa Monica, California. He played Pony League and Colt League Baseball in Northridge, California with Doug De Cinces. Dwight attended Granada Hills High School in the tenth grade, but was not happy with the poor treatment he received from the baseball coaches. He then transferred to Chatsworth High School and played alongside Rick Rieger. Evans started his career by winning International League MVP honors, but in his early major league career, he was primarily a defensive standout with a modest bat. In the second half of his career, he became a powerful batter.
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Earle Mack
Earle Thaddeus Mack, born Earle Thaddeus McGillicuddy (February 1, 1890 – February 4, 1967), was an American player and coach in Major League Baseball, and, during parts of two seasons, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics when his father, Connie Mack, was too ill to manage. He also became a part-owner of the franchise. His nephew Connie Mack III became a U.S. Senator.
Mack was born in Spencer, Massachusetts and attended Niagara University and the University of Notre Dame. He played only five games for the Athletics between 1910 and 1914, at third base, first base, and catcher. In his only appearance in 1910, he went 2 for 4, including a triple. These would prove to be his only major league hits, as he was not played again until the following year, when he appeared in two games. Again, he would play in two games in 1914, without a hit, though he did get on base (driving in a run) and steal a base. This ended his playing career with a career batting average of .125. Mack's appearances were in the final games of the season; he played after the Athletics had clinched the pennant in each of the three seasons in which he played, and they went on to win World Series titles in 1910 and 1911. Since Mack had not been on the Athletics' roster before September 1 as required by the rules, he was ineligible to play in the World Series—even if his father had been minded to play him.
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Ed Delahanty
Edward James Delahanty (October 30, 1867 – July 2, 1903), nicknamed "Big Ed", was a Major League Baseball player from 1888 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Quakers, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Infants and Washington Senators, and was known as one of the early great power hitters in the game.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
A Cleveland, Ohio native nicknamed "Big Ed," Delahanty was an outfielder and powerful right-handed batter in the 1890s. Crazy Schmit, who pitched for the Giants and Orioles, said of him, "When you pitch to (Ed) Delahanty, you just want to shut your eyes, say a prayer and chuck the ball. The Lord only knows what'll happen after that." (quoted in Autumn Glory by Louis P. Masur) Ed Delahanty was also the most prominent member of the largest group of siblings ever to play in the major leagues: brothers Frank, Jim, Joe and Tom also spent time in the majors.
He attended Cleveland's Central High School and went on to college at St. Joseph's. Delahanty signed on to first play professional baseball with Mansfield of the Ohio State League in 1887. Delahanty also played minor league ball in Wheeling, West Virginia before the Phillies obtained him as a replacement for Charlie Ferguson. Ferguson had died early in 1888 from typhoid fever, and Ed was originally brought in to fill in for him at second base.
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Eddie Collins
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive. He played from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
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 bunts, 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). Collins is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League games in four decades.
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Eddie Dunn
Eddie Dunn (died 1980) was head coach of the University of Miami football program from 1943 to 1944 while head coach Jack Harding, was called to serve in World War II.
Dunn grew up in Miami, Florida. He was a running back from 1935 to 1939 serving as team captain in 1935 and 1939 of the Miami Hurricanes football team. In 1938, he played in the first Miami-Florida game, scoring all three touchdowns in a 19-7 Miami win. Dunn set several game, single-season and career UM records for rushing, scoring, and punt returns. Dunn went on to serve as head baseball coach from 1946–54, guiding UM to a 82-73-2 record over his nine seasons. His 1947 club went 11-2, followed by his second-best mark of 14-8 in 1949, playing teams from the state of Florida, military bases and around the Southeast.
In 2009, Dunn was inducted into UM's "Ring of Fame." Dunn's son Gary Dunn, who also played football at UM, represented him at the induction.
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Eddie Joost
Edwin David Joost (June 5, 1916 – April 12, 2011) was a shortstop and manager in American Major League Baseball. In 1954, Joost became the third and last manager in the 54-year history of the Philadelphia Athletics. Under Joost, the A's finished last in the American League and lost over 100 games. After that season, they relocated to Kansas City.
An outstanding defensive player, the right-handed-hitting Joost hit for power but had trouble making contact. In a 17-year major league playing career (1936–37; 1939–43; 1945; 1947–55) for the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, Athletics and Boston Red Sox, Joost smashed 134 home runs, with a batting average of .239. In 1943, as a Boston Brave, Joost batted .185 in 421 at bats.
His poor contact hitting notwithstanding, Joost was a central figure in the brief revival of the Athletics in the late 1940s. For three seasons — 1947 through 1949 — the A's, after over a decade of futility, played over .500 baseball. Joost was their regular shortstop and one of the team's leaders. He twice hit over 20 home runs, and batted .289 in 1951.
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Eddie Mathews
Edwin Lee Mathews (October 13, 1931 – February 18, 2001) was an American professional baseball player He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman, most notably on the Milwaukee Braves. Mathews is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen ever to play the game. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.
Mathews was born in Texarkana, Texas. He was six years old when his family moved to Santa Barbara, California. The Santa Barbara High School baseball field, where he developed into a star high school baseball player, is named after him. Mathews was signed by the Boston Braves in 1949. He continued to shine in their farm system as a left-handed hitting third baseman who hit towering home runs.
Mathews was brought up to the major leagues in 1952, Mathews hit 25 home runs, including three in one game. In 1953 the Braves moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he batted .302, hit 47 home runs, and drove in 135 runs. For nine straight seasons he hit at least 30 home runs, including leading the National League twice (1953, 1959).
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Eddie Murray
Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter. He was known as one of the most reliable and productive hitters of his era. Murray is regarded as one of the best switch hitters ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Murray was the eighth child of twelve and still has 5 sisters and 4 brothers, and has often quipped that as a child, he did not have to go far for a pick-up baseball game. The games were quite fierce and his older brothers never let him win. He carried that competitive edge to each of his next levels of baseball. At his Hall of Fame induction, Murray thanked his little league coach, Clifford Prelow, for teaching him not just the game of baseball but also love for the game as well. Prelow, an ex-Dodger minor leaguer, also worked his boys hard; making them run out every ground ball and threatening them with 100 yard wind sprints if they did not work. Prelow remembers that young Murray never earned that punishment. Later, Murray attended Locke High School in Los Angeles, California, where he batted .500 as a senior and was a teammate of Ozzie Smith.
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Eddie Plank
Edward Stewart Plank (August 31, 1875 – February 24, 1926), nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie", was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He is the first left-handed pitcher to win 200 games and then 300 games, and now ranks third in all-time wins among left-handers with 326 career victories (eleventh all time) and first all-time in career shutouts by a left-handed pitcher with 66.
Plank was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
History books often erroneously state that Plank graduated from Gettysburg College. He attended Gettysburg Academy, a prep school affiliated with the college, but Plank never attended or graduated from the college. However, he did play for the Gettysburg College baseball team.
Plank made his major league debut on May 13, 1901, for the Philadelphia Athletics, a team he would play for until 1914. Over this time, he would be one of the most consistent pitchers in the game, winning over 20 games seven times and contributing to two World Series championships, one in 1911, the other in 1913 (He sat out the 1910 Series due to a sore arm).
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Eddie Rommel
Edwin Americus Rommel (September 13, 1897 – August 26, 1970) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent his entire career with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1920 to 1932. He is considered to be the "father" of the modern knuckleball. After retiring as a player he went on to have a successful second career as a major league umpire.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was picked up by Philadelphia after manager Connie Mack saw him start both ends of a doubleheader for Newark; although he was knocked out by the third inning in both contests, Mack purchased his contract, noting that Rommel's curveball was breaking on the inside rather than the outside, and that was what he liked. Rommel won twenty games twice for the Athletics, in 1922 and 1925. Towards the end of his career, he relied mostly on the knuckleball.
In 1922, Rommel led the American League in wins with 27 despite playing for a team that finished seventh in the league and won only 65 games. He was the winning pitcher, in relief, in the epic Game 4 of the 1929 World Series in which the Athletics overcame an 8–0 deficit by scoring ten runs against the Chicago Cubs in the seventh inning to win 10–8. Sent into the game with the Athletics down 7–0, he pitched one inning, gave up a run, was pinch-hit for—and wound up the winning pitcher, thanks to the "Mack Attack".
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Edgar Martínez
Edgar Martínez (born January 2, 1963 in New York City), nicknamed "Gar" and "Papi", is a former Major League Baseball third baseman and designated hitter. He spent his entire 18-year Major League career with the Seattle Mariners. He is the cousin of Carmelo Martínez.
On December 19, 1982, the Seattle Mariners signed Martínez to a minor league contract. Martínez worked his way through the Mariners minor league system, making stops with the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Calgary Cannons. Martínez made his major league debut on September 12, 1987, and became a fixture in the Mariners' lineup in 1990, replacing Jim Presley at third base. He began his career as a third baseman and won an American League batting title in 1992, but then he tore his hamstring during an exhibition game at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, B.C. on an unzipped seam in the turf between first and second, just before the 1993 season, and never fully recovered.
Martínez became a full-time designated hitter in 1995, after missing the 1994 season to injury. To date, he is the only designated hitter ever to have won a batting title, winning it in 1995 with a .356 average.
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Elmer Flick
Elmer Harrison Flick (January 11, 1876 – January 9, 1971) was an American player in Major League Baseball from 1898 until 1910. An outfielder known predominantly for his solid batting and speed, Flick was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963.
Born in Bedford, Ohio, Flick joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898, filling in for the injured Sam Thompson, and proved himself a capable big leaguer, batting .302 with 8 home runs, 13 triples and 81 RBIs. After the 1901 season, Flick was one of many star National League players who jumped to the fledgling American League, playing for the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics; but the Phillies obtained an injunction from the state Supreme Court prohibiting any player under contract with the Phillies from playing for another team. As a recourse, Flick and teammate Nap Lajoie signed instead with the Cleveland Naps, as the Pennsylvania injunction could not be enforced in Ohio; the two players often traveled separately from their teammates for the next year, never setting foot in Pennsylvania in order to avoid a subpoena. (While teammates with the Phillies, the pair had once engaged in a fistfight in which Lajoie's hand was broken.) Flick would spend the remainder of his career in Cleveland, and the contract dispute would be resolved when the leagues made peace in September 1903 with the National Agreement [1].
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Elmer Myers
Elmer Glenn Myers (March 2, 1894; York Springs, Pennsylvania – July 29, 1976; Collingswood, New Jersey) was a professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a pitcher from 1915-1922.
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Elmer Valo
Elmer William Valo (March 5, 1921 - July 19, 1998), born Imrich Valo, was a Slovak-American right fielder, coach and scout in Major League Baseball, making his debut on September 22, 1940. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Playing in the major leagues for 20 years, Valo was a .282 hitter with 58 home runs and 601 RBI in 1806 games, with most of his time spent as a member of the Philadelphia & Kansas City Athletics (1940–43, 1946–56).
Valo also played with the Philadelphia Phillies (1956, 1961), Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers (1957–58), Cleveland Indians (1959), New York Yankees (1960), and Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1960–61). His last game was on October 1, 1961, with the Phillies.
Valo played for Federalsburg of the Eastern Shore League in 1939 and for Wilmington in the Interstate League in 1940. It has been alleged that Valo played one game for Philadelphia on September 30, 1939. The significance of this is that if it were true, Valo would join Ted Williams, Mickey Vernon, and Early Wynn as the four decade players from the 30's to the 60's. Although there is no evidence supporting this allegation, the box score for the game in question is incomplete.
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Elston Howard
Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American Negro League and Major League Baseball catcher, left fielder and coach. During a 14-year baseball career, he played from 1955–1968, primarily for the New York Yankees. The first African American player on the Yankees roster, he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for the 1963 pennant winners after finishing third in the league in slugging average and fifth in home runs, becoming the first black player in AL history to win the honor. He won Gold Glove Awards in 1963 and 1964, in the latter season setting AL records for putouts and total chances in a season. His lifetime fielding percentage of .993 was a major league record from 1967 to 1973, and he retired among the AL career leaders in putouts (7th, 6,447) and total chances (9th, 6,977). One of the most regular World Series participants in history, he appeared in ten of them, winning six, and ranks among Series career leaders in several categories. His lifetime slugging average of .427 ranked fourth among AL catchers at the time of his retirement.
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Eric McNair
Donald Eric McNair (April 12, 1909 – March 11, 1949), was a Major League Baseball shortstop from 1929 to 1942. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago White Sox. In his first season as a major league regular (1932), he led the American League in doubles with 47.
McNair died of a heart attack at the age of 39.
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Ernie Banks
Ernest "Ernie" Banks (born January 31, 1931 in Dallas, Texas), nicknamed "Mr. Cub", is a retired professional baseball player. He played as a shortstop and first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 19 seasons on the National League's (NL) Chicago Cubs team, from 1953 through 1971. Banks was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, in 1999.
Banks was a letterman and standout in football, basketball and track at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, Texas, from which he graduated in 1950.
Banks signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1950 and broke into the Major Leagues in 1953 with the Chicago Cubs as their first black player. He played for the Cubs his entire career, starting at shortstop and moving to first base in 1962.
Initially Banks' double play partner was Gene Baker, the second black player on the Cubs, and Banks' roommate on road trips. Thus making Banks and Baker, the first all black double play combination in major league history. When Steve Bilko would play first base, Cubs' announcer and home-town rooter Bert Wilson would refer to the Banks-Baker-Bilko double play combination as "Bingo to Bango to Bilko". This combination would not last quite as long as "Tinker to Evers to Chance", but Banks would become a Cubs institution.
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Everett Scott
Lewis Everett Scott (November 19, 1892 – November 2, 1960), nicknamed "Deacon", was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for 12 seasons with the Boston Red Sox (1914–1921), New York Yankees (1922–1925), Washington Senators (1925), Chicago White Sox (1926) and Cincinnati Reds (1926). Scott batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Bluffton, Indiana.
Scott compiled a lifetime batting average of .249, hitting 20 home runs with 551 RBI in 1654 games. He led American League shortstops in fielding percentage seven straight seasons (1916–22) and appeared in 1,307 consecutive games from June 20, 1916 through May 6, 1925, setting a record later broken by Lou Gehrig. It is still the third-longest such streak in history.
Scott was a member of three Boston Red Sox World Series championship teams in 1915-16 and 1918), and also played with the New York Yankees in the 1922 and 1923 Series, winning in 1923.
Scott died in Fort Wayne, Indiana at age 67.
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Ferris Fain
Ferris Roy Fain (March 29, 1921 – October 18, 2001) was an American baseball first baseman in Major League Baseball who played nine seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians in the American League.
Fain started his career with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. He was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics prior to the 1947 season where he became a two-time American League batting champion. Known for his explosive temper on and off the field it affected his playing ability, and the Athletics traded him after the 1952 season. Fain bounced around the league for a couple of years before retiring in 1955. In his later life, Fain became known for his troubles with the law, mainly growing marijuana.
Ferris Fain was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Oscar Fain, a jockey best known for leading his horse Duval to a second place finish in the 1912 Kentucky Derby and a domestic maid. He had a "very abusive" childhood, mainly at the hands of the father, who died when he was still a child. His mother was doing domestic work in order for the family to survive. He grew up in Oakland, California, where he graduated from Roosevelt High School. From 1939 through 1946 he was with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League; he missed three seasons, 1943–45, owing to military service.
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Frank Chance
Frank Leroy Chance (September 9, 1876 – September 15, 1924) was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. Performing the roles of first baseman and manager, Chance led the Chicago Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years (1906–1910) and earned the nickname "The Peerless Leader".
Chance was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
Born in Fresno, California, Chance began his career in 1898 with the Chicago Cubs and played irregularly until 1902. In 1903 he asserted himself with a .327 batting average, 67 stolen bases and 81 RBI in 441 at-bats. Chance was the first player ever ejected from a World Series game, doing so in Game 3 of the 1910 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics.
He was part of the trio of infielders remembered for their double-play ability in "Tinker to Evers to Chance", also known as "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," written by the 28-year-old New York Evening Mail newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams in July 1910,.
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Frank Robinson
Frank Robinson (born August 31, 1935) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He played from 1956 to 1976, most notably for the Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles. He is the only player to win league MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues. He won the Triple crown, was a member of two teams that won the World Series (the 1966 and 1970 Baltimore Orioles), and amassed the fourth-most career home runs at the time of his retirement (he is currently ninth). Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
Robinson was the first African-American hired to serve as manager in Major League history. He managed the Cleveland Indians during the last two years of his playing career, compiling a 186–189 record. He went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals.
Robinson attended McClymonds High School in Oakland, California, where he was a basketball teammate of Bill Russell. During the off-season while playing for the Reds in the late 1950s, he attended Xavier University in Cincinnati.
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Fred Lynn
Fredric Michael "Fred" Lynn (born February 3, 1952) is an American former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox (1974–1980), California Angels (1981–1984), Baltimore Orioles (1985–1988), Detroit Tigers (1988–1989) and San Diego Padres (1990).
Fred Lynn was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002 and to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.
After graduation from USC, Lynn started his career for the Red Sox with a phenomenal 1975 season in which he won the Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards, the first player ever to win both in the same season. (The feat has since been duplicated by Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.) Lynn and fellow rookie outfielder Jim Rice were dubbed as the “Gold Dust Twins” because of their combined baseball talents. In 1975, Lynn led the American League in doubles, runs scored and slugging percentage, finished second in the batting race with a .331 average, and won a Gold Glove Award for his defensive play. On June 18 he bombed the Tigers with 3 HR, 10 RBI, and 16 total bases in one game.
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Fred McGriff
Frederick Stanley McGriff (born October 31, 1963 in Tampa, Florida) is a left-handed former Major League Baseball player who starred for several teams from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. A power-hitting first baseman with a tall, lanky build, the five-time All-Star became, in 1992, the first player since the dead-ball era to lead both leagues in home runs. Although he never hit more than 37 homers in a single season, he finished his career only seven homers away from joining the exclusive 500 home run club. He won a World Series title as a first baseman with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. He currently works in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office as an advisor. He also currently works for Bright House Sports Network as a co-host for "The Baysball Show".
McGriff's nickname, "Crime Dog", is a play on McGruff, a cartoon dog created for American police to raise children's awareness on crime prevention. At first, McGriff stated he would prefer "Fire Dog" (a reference to a fire in the press-box of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the day the Braves acquired him from the Padres; symbolically, the then-slumping Braves "caught fire" and ended up winning their division), but since has stated that he actually is fond of the "Crime Dog" nickname.
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Garry Maddox
Garry Lee Maddox (born September 1, 1949 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who was known for his outstanding defense.
Maddox was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the second round of the 1968 amateur draft. Maddox missed two seasons due to his service in the U.S. Army during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. Exposure to chemicals in Vietnam left his skin highly sensitive, and he has worn a full beard ever since to protect his face.
Maddox reached the major leagues with the Giants in 1972. On May 4, 1975, the Giants traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman Willie Montañez after the Phillies had failed in their efforts to acquire Rusty Staub from the Mets. The Phillies traded Montanez with the intention to replace him at first-base with Dick Allen. Maddox went on to win his first Gold Glove Award as the top center fielder in the National League. Montanez was traded away the next year.
Maddox's 1975 Gold Glove was his first of eight in a row. His sparkling defensive play led Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas to remark, "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the other one-third is covered by Garry Maddox." (This quote has also been attributed to Ralph Kiner, the Hall-of-Fame slugger-turned-broadcaster for the New York Mets.) Kalas nicknamed Maddox the "Secretary of Defense."
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Gary Sheffield
Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968) is an American retired professional baseball outfielder. He played with eight teams in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, primarily as an outfielder. He currently works as an agent.
For most of his career, Sheffield has played right field, though he has also played left field, third base, shortstop, and a handful of games at first base. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and the New York Mets. Sheffield was a first-round pick of the Brewers, who selected him sixth overall in the 1986 amateur draft after a standout prep career at Hillsborough High School in Tampa. He bats and throws right-handed.
At the start of the 2010 season, Sheffield ranked second among all active players in walks (1,475), third in runs (1,636), fourth in RBIs (1,676), fifth in hits (2,689) and home runs (509), and sixth in hit by pitches (135). Sheffield hit his 500th home run on April 17, 2009.
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Gavvy Cravath
Clifford Carlton "Gavvy" Cravath (March 23, 1881 – May 23, 1963), also nicknamed "Cactus", was an American right fielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. One of the sport's top power hitters of the dead-ball era, in the seven years from 1913 to 1920 he led the National League in home runs six times, in runs batted in, total bases and slugging average twice each, and in hits, runs and walks once each. He led the NL in several offensive categories in 1915 as the Phillies won the first pennant in the team's 33-year history, and he held the team's career home run record from 1917 to 1924.
Born in Escondido, California, Cravath was the first baseball player from the San Diego area to play in the major leagues. He began his career during a time of independent minor leagues, when not all great players moved quickly to the majors. He entered professional baseball in 1903 with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League; during 5 seasons with the team, he helped them win two pennants. He batted .274, .270, .259, .270, and .303, with 7, 13, 9, 6, and 10 home runs, and with 51, 50, 32, 39, and 45 doubles. He led the league in doubles twice (1906 and 1907) and also finished third twice. Although he never led the PCL in home runs, he was second in the league three times, third once, and fourth once during his 5 seasons.
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George Brett
George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953), is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hits are the most by any third baseman in major league history, and 16th all-time. Brett is one of four players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average with the others being Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 on the first ballot.
Brett was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He was the youngest of four sons of a sports-minded family which included Ken, the second oldest, a major league pitcher who had pitched in the 1967 World Series at age 19. Brothers John (eldest) and Bobby had brief careers in the minor leagues. Although his three older brothers were born in Brooklyn, George was born in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Jack & Ethel Brett then moved the family to the Midwest and three years later to El Segundo, a suburb of Los Angeles, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. George grew up hoping to follow in the footsteps of his three older brothers. He graduated from El Segundo High School in 1971 and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round (29th overall) of the 1971 baseball draft. His high school teammate was pitcher Scott McGregor.
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George Earnshaw
George "Moose" Earnshaw (February 15, 1900 – December 1, 1976) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played in parts of nine seasons (1928–1936) with the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was the American League wins leader in 1929 with the A's. For his career, he compiled a 127–93 record in 319 appearances, with a 4.38 ERA and 1,002 strikeouts. Earnshaw played on three American League pennant winners with the Athletics, winning the World Series in 1929 and 1930.
George Livingston Earnshaw was born February 15, 1900, in New York City. He grew to be 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and 210 pounds. George's nickname was "Moose." He was aggressive, threw hard, and threw strikes. His career covered nine years with a total of 127 victories, and over half of Earnshaw's victories occurred during the A's pennant winning years of 1929-31. He won a total of four World Series games, starting eight games with five being complete games. He struck out 56 batters in 62 innings pitched and had an ERA for the three Series of 1.58. Connie Mack gave more credit to George Earnshaw for the Athletics' 1930 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals than any other player.
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George Kell
George Clyde Kell (August 23, 1922 – March 24, 2009) was an American baseball third baseman who played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1943–46), Detroit Tigers (1947–52), Boston Red Sox (1952–54), Chicago White Sox (1954–56), and Baltimore Orioles (1956–57) in the American League, who went on to become a baseball broadcaster for 40 years.
Kell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
In college, Kell played for Arkansas State University, where the baseball facility, Tomlinson Stadium–Kell Field, is named after him.
A solid right-handed hitter and a sure-handed fielder, Kell was a 10-time All-Star, batted over .300 nine times and topped the league's third basemen in assists and total chances four times and in fielding percentage seven times. He won his only batting title in 1949 (.343), denying Ted Williams his third Triple Crown; until the final week of the season, Williams had led the batting race. On October 2, 1949, Kell went 2-for-3 while Williams was hitless in two official at bats. Kell's final mark was .3429, Williams's .3427. One year later, Kell batted .340, leading the league with 218 hits and 56 doubles, but lost the batting title to Williams' teammate, Red Sox second baseman Billy Goodman.
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George Sisler
George Harold Sisler (March 24, 1893 – March 26, 1973), nicknamed "Gentleman George" and "Gorgeous George," was an American professional baseball player for 15 seasons, primarily as first baseman with the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles). From 1920 until 2004, Sisler held the Major League Baseball (MLB) record for most hits in a single season, a mark which stills stands for the 154-game season in which he played.
His 1922 season — during which he batted .420, hit safely in a then-record 41 consecutive games, led the American League in hits (246), stolen bases (51), and triples (18), and was, by general consensus, the best fielding first baseman in the game — is considered by many historians to be among the best individual all-around single-season performances in baseball history.
Sisler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1999, he received the eighth-largest number of first base-category votes in fan balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and editors at The Sporting News named him 33rd on their list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."
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Goose Goslin
Leon Allen "Goose" Goslin (October 16, 1900 – May 15, 1971) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball known for his powerful left-handed swing and dependable clutch hitting. He played 18 seasons with the Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, and Detroit Tigers, from 1921 until 1938. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968.
Born in Salem, New Jersey, Goslin was 16 when he left home to play on a touring semipro circuit of the Eastern seaboard, and by 19 had moved into the minors in South Carolina, where he was a pitcher. Goslin was discovered by famed scout, Joe Engel. After hearing from Engel, Senators owner Clark Griffith personally scouted Goslin and attended a Sally League game in which Goslin was playing for Columbia, South Carolina. A fly ball hit Goslin on the head, and another barely missed him. Goslin also hit three home runs in the game, and Griffith decided to take a chance on him.
Goslin’s difficulty in judging fly balls contributed to his nickname "Goose." Opposing players said Goslin resembled a bird flapping its wings when he ran after a ball with his arms waving. While not a great fielder, Goslin did have a good throwing arm, leading the American League in assists by an outfielder in 1924 and 1925. However, one year during spring training, Goslin wandered to an adjacent field where a track and field team was working out. Goslin tried the shot put, and his throwing arm was never the same afterward.
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Gorman Thomas
James Gorman Thomas III (born December 12, 1950 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a former Major League Baseball center fielder and right-handed hitter who played in the American League with the Milwaukee Brewers (1973–76, 1978–83, 1986), Cleveland Indians (1983) and Seattle Mariners (1984–86).
One of the most popular players in Brewers history, and affectionately known as "Stormin' Gorman", Thomas hit more home runs during the period 1978-1983 than any other player in the American League with 197. His frequent strikeouts and low batting average overshadowed some of his career accomplishments. Thomas was a premier center fielder, with a wide range and strong arm until undergoing rotator cuff surgery in 1984, which limited his duties and led to his being utilized primarily as a designated hitter for the remainder of his career.
Thomas was the first player selected by the Seattle Pilots in the June 1969 draft. In the minors he won two home run titles, and made his Major League debut with Milwaukee in 1973. He belted his first home run against Jim Palmer, but was optioned to the Triple-A Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League. After hitting 51 homers with Sacramento in 1974, he returned to the big league team at the end of September.
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Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles (born August 20, 1944), nicknamed "Puff", is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins (1967–1969), Cleveland Indians (1970–1972), New York Yankees (1973–1983), San Diego Padres (1984–1986), Atlanta Braves (1987) and Montreal Expos (1988).
Nettles was one of the best defensive third basemen of all time, and despite his relatively low career batting average, he was an excellent offensive contributor, setting an American League record for career home runs by a third baseman. As a part of four pennant-winning Yankee teams, Nettles enjoyed his best season in 1977 when he won the Gold Glove Award and had career-highs in home runs (37) and runs batted in (107) in leading the Yankees to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Nettles was born in San Diego, California. His unusual name derives from his mother's dislike of the names Greg and Craig - and her combining the two to produce "Graig". "My Dad was away at the war, so he didn't have any say". The name also led to confusion for baseball card companies; the error-prone inaugural 1981 Fleer baseball card set includes an error card where his name is spelled "Graig" on the front, and "Craig" on the back.
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Granny Hamner
Granville Wilbur Hamner (April 26, 1927 – September 12, 1993) was an American shortstop and second baseman in Major League Baseball. Hamner was one of the key players on the "Whiz Kids", the 1950 National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. He was born in Richmond, Virginia.
Hamner (whose brother Garvin was also an infielder in the majors) spent 15 1⁄2 years with the Phillies, coming to the club as a 17-year-old during World War II and becoming one of the team leaders of the 1950 champions at the age of 23. A right-handed hitting shortstop with power, Hamner compiled more than 80 runs batted in four times. In the 1950 World Series, a four-game New York Yankees sweep dominated by Yankee pitchers, Hamner batted .429 (6 for 14) with three extra-base hits. In March 1952, Hamner was named captain of the Phillies by manager Eddie Sawyer.
On May 16, 1959, Hamner was traded to Cleveland, but he batted only .164 for the remainder of the campaign. He then became a manager in the minor league system of the Kansas City Athletics, reappearing briefly with the A's as a pitcher during the 1962 season (he had dabbled on the mound for the 1956-57 Phillies). But the change did not prolong Hamner's playing career. He briefly managed in the Phils' farm system in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Greg Luzinski
Gregory Michael "The Bull" Luzinski (born November 22, 1950) is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois. Luzinski spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies (1970–1980), and retired as a member of the Chicago White Sox (1981–1984).
At 6'1' and 255 pounds, Luzinski was a well-liked member of the Phillies and a feared slugger who could also hit for average despite striking out frequently. While he was a mediocre defensive left fielder, he hit .300 or better for 3 consecutive seasons during the prime of his career, and was a career .276 hitter with 307 home runs and 1,128 RBIs. He was selected an All-Star between 1975 and 1978, hitting a home run off Jim Palmer in 1977 and being the top vote-getter for the National League in 1978. He was also MVP runner up in 1975 (when he led the National League in RBIs with 120) and 1977, when he posted career highs in batting average (.309), home runs (39) and RBIs (130).
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Gus Zernial
Gus Edward Zernial (June 27, 1923 – January 20, 2011) was a Major League Baseball left-fielder and right-handed batter who played for the Chicago White Sox (1949–51), Philadelphia Athletics (1951–54), Kansas City Athletics (1955–57) and Detroit Tigers (1958–59). He was billed as the "New Joe DiMaggio."
Nicknamed "Ozark Ike" after the popular comic strip character, Zernial was one of the most feared sluggers in the 1950s, joining hall of famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Larry Doby in the American League, for most home runs in the decade.
After he hit 29 homers for the White Sox in 1950, Zernial was sent to the Athletics in a trade that brought Minnie Miñoso to Chicago in 1951. That year Zernial led the league in home runs (33), runs batted in (129), extra base hits (68), and 17 assists in the outfield. In 1952 he hit 29 homers with 100 RBI, 42 and 108 in 1953.
Zernial was the first Major Leaguer to hit four home runs in the month of October during the regular season, which he accomplished during a doubleheader on October 1, 1950. In 1985, Ron Kittle would become the second player to do this.
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Hack Wilson
Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900 – November 23, 1948) was an American Major League Baseball player who played 12 seasons for the New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Despite his diminutive stature, he was one of the most accomplished power hitters in the game during the late 1920s and early 1930s. His 1930 season with the Cubs is widely considered one of the most memorable individual single-season hitting performances in baseball history. HIghlights included 56 home runs (the National League record for 68 years) and 191 runs batted in, a mark yet to be surpassed. As one sportswriter of the day remarked, "For a brief span of a few years, this hammered down little strongman actually rivaled the mighty [Babe] Ruth."
While Wilson's combativeness and excessive alcohol consumption made him one of the most colorful sports personalities of his era, his drinking and fighting undoubtedly contributed to a premature end to his athletic career and, ultimately, his premature demise. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
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Hal Newhouser
Harold "Prince Hal" Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998) was an American pitcher for Major League Baseball who played 17 seasons from 1939 to 1955, mostly with the Detroit Tigers of the American League. Newhouser was considered to be the most dominating pitcher of the World War II era of baseball, winning a pitcher's triple crown for the Tigers in 1945.
Newhouser was a schoolboy star at Wilbur Wright High School in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1939 at the age of 18. He made his debut on September 29 of that year. In 1940, he earned a spot on the Tigers out of spring training and remained with the team until 1953.
In his first two full big-league seasons, the young left-hander was plagued with control problems, walking more batters than he struck out while posting records of 9–9 and 9–11. He improved in 1942 and 1943, posting excellent ERAs, but still losing more than he won on a team with a weak offense.
As World War II got under way, the Tigers moved up in the standings because several of their top players, including Newhouser, were classified as 4-F (ineligible to be drafted). Newhouser was 4-F due to a leaky heart valve; he attempted to join the service anyway but was turned down several times.[citation needed]
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Hank Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron (born February 5, 1934), nicknamed "Hammer," or "Hammerin' Hank," is a retired American baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 through 1976. Aaron spent 21 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) before playing for the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League (AL) for the final two years of his career. Aaron is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on their "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list.
After playing with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and in the minor leagues, Aaron started his major league career in 1954. In his final season, he was the last Negro League baseball player on a major league roster. His most notable achievement was breaking the career home run record set by Babe Ruth. During his career, Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.
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Hank Greenberg
Henry Benjamin "Hank" Greenberg (January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank" or "The Hebrew Hammer," was an American professional baseball player in the 1930s and 1940s. A first baseman primarily for the Detroit Tigers, Greenberg was one of the premier power hitters of his generation. He hit 58 home runs in 1938, equaling Jimmie Foxx's 1932 mark for the most home runs in one season by any player between 1927 (when Babe Ruth set a record of 60) and 1961 (when Roger Maris surpassed it).
Greenberg was a five-time All-Star, was twice named the American League's Most Valuable Player, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1956. Greenberg became the first major league player to hit 25 or more home runs in a season in each league. Greenberg is still the American League record holder for most RBIs in a single season by a right-handed batter—183 RBI in 1937 (a 154-game schedule.) Only left-handed batter Lou Gehrig's 184 RBI in 1931 surpasses Greenberg in the American League record books. Greenberg was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1947, became the very first baseball player to earn over $80,000/year in salary (he was paid $100,000, ($1,041,000 today) plus $25,000 that his contract with Detroit called for in the event they sold or traded him), and was one of the few opposing players publicly to welcome Jackie Robinson to the majors.[1]
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Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew ( /ˈkɪlɨbruː/; June 29, 1936 – May 17, 2011), nicknamed "Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. During his 22-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played for the Washington Senators, a team which later became the Minnesota Twins, and the Kansas City Royals. When he retired, he was second only to Babe Ruth in American League (AL) home runs and was the AL career leader in home runs by a right-handed batter (since broken by Alex Rodriguez). He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Killebrew was a stocky 6-foot tall, 195-pound hitter with a compact swing that generated tremendous power. He became one of the AL's most feared power hitters of the 1960s, hitting 40 home runs in a season eight times. In 1965, he played in the World Series with the Minnesota Twins, who lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers. His finest season was 1969, when he hit 49 home runs, recorded 140 runs batted in (RBI), and won the AL Most Valuable Player Award. Killebrew led the league six times in home runs and three times in RBIs, and was named to eleven All-Star teams.
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Harry Heilmann
Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed “Slug,” was a Major League Baseball player who played 17 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1914, 1916–1929) and Cincinnati Reds (1930, 1932). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1952.
Heilmann was a line drive hitter who won four American League batting crowns: in 1921, 1923, 1925 and 1927. He and Ted Williams are the last two American League players to hit .400, Heilmann having accomplished the feat in 1923 with a batting average of .403. Heilmann’s career batting average of .342 is the 12th-highest in major league history.
Heilmann was also an excellent slugger, ranking among the American League leaders in both slugging percentage and RBIs in 12 seasons. He is among the all-time Major League leaders in doubles with 542 (23rd all-time), triples with 151 (49th all-time) and RBIs with 1,539 (39th all-time). He played in 2,148 major league games, including 1,327 as a right fielder and 448 as a first baseman. Heilmann was also the first player to hit a home run in every major league ballpark in use during his career.
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Harry Hooper
Harry Bartholomew Hooper (August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974) was a Major League Baseball player in the early 20th century.
Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, California. A graduate in engineering at Saint Mary's College of California, he broke into the majors with the Red Sox in 1909, and still holds many of the team's records. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in the 1921 season and finished his career in 1925.
Hooper was known as a top-caliber defensive right fielder and a solid leadoff hitter. Between 1910 and 1915, he teamed with Tris Speaker (CF) and Duffy Lewis (LF) to form one of the finest outfield trios in baseball history. On May 30, 1913 Hooper became the first player to hit a home run to lead off both games of a doubleheader, a mark only matched by Rickey Henderson 80 years later. Beside this, Hooper is the only person to be a part of four Red Sox World Series championships: in 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918. On October 13, 1915, he became the first player to hit two home runs in a single World Series game. Hooper was also the captain of the Red Sox in 1919.
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Harry Kalas
Harry Norbert Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) was an American sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies. Kalas was also closely identified with the National Football League, serving as a voice-over narrator for NFL Films productions (a regular feature on Inside the NFL) and calling football games nationally for Westwood One radio.
Born in Naperville, Illinois, Kalas graduated from Naperville High School in 1954 and from the University of Iowa in 1959. Upon graduation, he was immediately drafted into the United States Army and stationed in Hawaii. After his discharge in 1961, Kalas began calling minor-league baseball games for the Hawaii Islanders.
Kalas had three sons Todd, Brad, and Kane. Todd Kalas was a Phillies broadcaster, worked as a pregame/postgame–show host, and is currently an in-game analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Kalas made his major-league debut in 1965 with the Houston Astros, replacing Al Helfer and working alongside Gene Elston and Loel Passe. He called the first game at Houston's Astrodome, on April 12, 1965.
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Harry Lord
Harry Donald Lord (March 8, 1882 – August 9, 1948) was a professional baseball player from 1907 to 1915, who was a member of the first team known as Boston Red Sox in 1908.
Lord Max was born in Porter, Maine on March 8, 1882, and graduated from Bates College in 1908. Lord was 25 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 25, 1907, with the Boston Americans. Harry Lord was a third baseman for eleven years (1906–1915), one in college (1905), nine in the majors (1907–1915) and two in the minors (1906–1907).
His first professional engagement was at Kezar Falls, ME. He attended Bates College, where he graduated in 1908 and pitched for the baseball team, was married and eventually had a son and a daughter.
He broke into Organized Baseball at age 24 in 1906 with Worcester in the New England League and the next year moved up to Providence in the Eastern League. His performance there caught the attention of the Boston Americans and, at 26 years of age, he broke into the big leagues on September 25, 1907, with Boston. He played for Boston (1907–1910). On May 30, 1908, Washington's Jerry Freeman's single was the only hit allowed by Boston's Cy Young. Lord had four hits to back Cy's pitching. On April 21, 1909, Lord stole home on the front end of a triple steal in the bottom of the seventh, with Tris Speaker taking third and Doc Gessler taking second. The Sox won the game, 6-2.
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Harvey Kuenn
Harvey Edward Kuenn (December 4, 1930 – February 28, 1988) was an American player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball. As a shortstop and outfielder, he played with the Detroit Tigers (1952–59), Cleveland Indians (1960), San Francisco Giants (1961–65), Chicago Cubs (1965–66), and Philadelphia Phillies (1966). He batted and threw right-handed. After retiring, Kuenn managed the Milwaukee Brewers (1975, 1982–83).
Kuenn ( /ˈkiːn/) was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, but raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended Lutheran High School. He once kicked a 53-yard field goal for Lutheran in a football game, which is tied for the eighth-longest field goal in Wisconsin high school football history. He played collegiate baseball at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was a member of Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Signed by Detroit as an amateur free agent in 1952, Kuenn was named the starting shortstop after joining the team late in the season. In his first full season in 1953, he hit .308 with 94 runs and led the major leagues with 209 hits, setting a major league rookie record with 167 singles. He received the American League Rookie of the Year and TSN Rookie of the Year awards. Also in that season, he received the first of his ten consecutive selections to the All-Star Game.
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Heinie Manush
Henry Emmett Manush (July 20, 1901 – May 12, 1971), nicknamed "Heinie" due to his German heritage, was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
Manush spent 17 seasons in the majors, playing for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Manush was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama to German immigrant parents. Manush began his pro career in 1920 playing 6 games for the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League. Moving to the then-B League Edmonton Eskimos in the Western Canada League in 1921, Manush hit .321 in 83 games. In 1922, he had a big season for the Omaha Buffaloes in the Western League, batting .376 with 20 home runs. That performance got him called up to the majors.
He followed his older brother, Philadelphia Athletics third baseman Frank Manush, to the major leagues in 1923 and quickly became known as a skillful hitter.
During his rookie season with the Tigers, he batted .334 in 308 at-bats while sharing an outfield with Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Bobby Veach, and Bob Fothergill. In 1926, he led the American League with a batting average of .378 and finished second behind Babe Ruth in the statistical categories of slugging percentage (.564) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.985).
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Heinie Wagner
Charles Francis "Heinie" Wagner (September 23, 1880 – March 20, 1943) was an American baseball player and manager. He played shortstop for the New York Giants (1902) and the Boston Red Sox (1906–1918). He was also the manager of the Red Sox during the 1930 baseball season.
Wagner was born in Harlem, New York, in September 1880. He began his baseball career playing for the Waverly Club in the New York State League in 1901. In 1902, he began the season playing for Columbus in the American Association, and played briefly in 17 games for the New York Giants of the National League. He spent the remainder of the 1902 season with the Newark Sailors and continued to play for the Eastern League team through 1906.
In 1906, Wagner joined the Boston Red Sox. He played for the Red Sox from 1906 to 1918, missing only the 1914 and 1917 seasons. He was the captain of Boston's 1912 World Series championship team. He also played for the Red Sox World Series championship teams in 1915, 1916 and 1918. Wagner and Harry Hooper were the only players to play on all four of the Red Sox World Series championship teams.
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Home Run Baker
John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (March 13, 1886 – June 28, 1963) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1922, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955. As a member of the famed $100,000 infield, Baker helped the Philadelphia Athletics win the 1910, 1911 and 1913 World Series. His legacy has grown over the years, and he is regarded by many as the best third baseman of the pre-war era.
He was born in Trappe, Maryland, was a butcher by trade, and broke into the major leagues in 1908 with the Athletics.
Baker, who led the American League in home runs in 1911, earned the nickname "Home Run" during the 1911 World Series in which he hit a go-ahead home run off Rube Marquard in Game 2, and a ninth-inning game-tying home run off Christy Mathewson in Game 3. His home run crown would be the first of four consecutive seasons leading the American League in home runs. He hit 11 home runs in 1911, 10 home runs in 1912, 12 home runs in 1913, and nine home runs in 1914. In two of those seasons he also led the American League in runs batted in.
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Homer Summa
Homer Wayne Summa (November 3, 1898 – January 29, 1966) was a right fielder in major league baseball from 1920 to 1930. He began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but played most of his career for the Cleveland Indians before finishing as a reserve with the Philadelphia Athletics. His career batting average was .302. He is buried in Glendale, California's Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery.
On May 31, 1927, he became the first player in history to hit into a game ending unassisted triple play.
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Howard Ehmke
Howard Jonathan Ehmke (April 24, 1894 – March 17, 1959) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He is best known for being the surprise starter who won Game 1 of the 1929 World Series for the Philadelphia Athletics at the age of 35. After retirement from baseball, he started his own company that began making the first tarpaulins to cover baseball diamonds during rain.
Born in Silver Creek, New York, Ehmke was a pitcher for fifteen seasons in the Major Leagues with the Buffalo Blues (1915), Detroit Tigers (1916–1917, 1919–1922); Boston Red Sox (1923–1926), and Philadelphia Athletics (1926–1930). Ehmke won at least 10 games in 9 seasons and had a career record of 166-166 with an ERA of 3.75. His greatest success was with the Boston Red Sox, including a no-hitter and his only 20-win season in 1923. Ehmke still holds the American League record for fewest hits (one) in two consecutive starts. Ehmke also ranks No. 16 on the all time Major League list for hitting batsmen with a pitch. Ehmke hit 137 batters in his career and led the American League in the category seven times, including a career-high 23 in 1922.
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Hugh Duffy
Hugh Duffy (November 26, 1866 – October 19, 1954) was a 19th-century Major League Baseball player. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
Duffy, born in Cranston, Rhode Island, was a textile mill worker who had taken up baseball as a semipro for weekend diversion. He played a couple years of minor league ball in the New England League before jumping to the majors, starting up in the league's initial season of 1886, and playing on clubs in Hartford, Springfield and Salem, as well as the Lowell Massachusetts team in 1887.
Duffy entered the National League with Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings in 1888 after receiving an offer of $2,000 from the club. Anson initially was unimpressed with the 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 pound Duffy, telling him, "We already have a batboy." He shortly thereafter earned the reputation of an outstanding outfielder and powerful hitter. Duffy ended up replacing Billy Sunday as the team's regular right fielder. He switched leagues, joining the American Association's Boston Reds in 1891; he then returned to the NL with the Boston Beaneaters in 1892, where he enjoyed his best seasons.
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Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, Suzuki Ichirō?), usually known simply as Ichiro (イチロー, Ichirō?) (born October 22, 1973) is a Japanese Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262. He had ten consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player, surpassing Wee Willie Keeler's streak of eight.
Ichiro moved to the United States in 2001 after playing nine years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. Posted by Orix after the 2000 season, Ichiro became Seattle's right fielder. The first Japanese-born everyday position player in the major leagues, Ichiro led the AL in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named Rookie of the Year and MVP.
Ichiro is the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (The Golden Players Club). He has been voted onto ten All-Star teams by the fans, winning the 2007 All-Star MVP Award for a three-hit performance that included the event's first-ever inside-the-park home run. Ichiro won a Gold Glove award in each of his first ten years in the major leagues, and has had seven hitting streaks of 20 or more games, with a high of 27.
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Iván Rodríguez
Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 30, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge", is a retired Major League Baseball catcher. In his career, he played for the Texas Rangers (on two different tours, comprising the majority of his career), Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.
Rodríguez was awarded the AL MVP award in 1999. He is also regarded as one of the best defensive catchers of all time. Rodríguez won the World Series with the Marlins in 2003, and also played in the 2006 World Series while with the Tigers. On June 17, 2009, Rodríguez set a MLB record by catching his 2,227th game, passing Carlton Fisk. During his career, he had the best caught stealing percentage of any major league catcher, at 45.68%.
Rodríguez was born in Manati, Puerto Rico, and raised in Vega Baja. His father, Juan, worked for a U.S.-based construction company, and his mother, Eva Torres, was an elementary school teacher. Iván's first job involved delivering flyers in the shopping malls in Puerto Rico.
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Jack Coombs
John Wesley "Jack" Coombs (November 18, 1882 – April 15, 1957), nicknamed Colby Jack after his alma mater, was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with the Philadelphia Athletics (1906–1914), Brooklyn Robins (1915–1918), and Detroit Tigers (1920). Coombs set a number of records in the American League and World League which stand to this day, and, when he won 31 games while losing nine in 1910, he became one of only 13 pitchers to win 30 games in a season since 1900.
Born in LeGrand, Iowa, Coombs was a 1906 graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he was a chemistry major and a member of Delta Upsilon. He also participated in football, track, and tennis. Colby's baseball field is named for him.
Three weeks after graduating, he pitched in his first major league game for Philadelphia. His best season was 1910. Besides his record of 31–9, he led the American League in wins (31), games played (45), and shutouts (13). He also won three games in the 1910 World Series, in which the Athletics defeated the Chicago Cubs. He made appearances in the 1911 and 1916 World Series. In 1919, he was the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies for one season before he returned to playing.
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Jack Harding
Jack Harding (January 4, 1898 – February 2, 1963) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at St. Thomas College, now the University of Scranton, from 1926 to 1936 and at the University of Miami from 1937 to 1942 and 1945 to 1947, compiling a career college football record of 103–69–12. He was also the head baseball coach at Miami in 1940 and 1959, tallying a mark of 16–14–1. Harding was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1980.
During his two stints coaching football at Miami, Harding compiled a 54–32–3 (.624) record and led the Hurricanes to four seasons of eight or more wins (1938, 1941, 1945, 1946). After resigning from coaching football, he served as the athletic director at Miami for 15 years until his death in 1963.
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Jackie Jensen
Jack Eugene Jensen (March 9, 1927 – July 14, 1982) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for three American League teams from 1950 to 1961, most notably the Boston Red Sox. He was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1958 after hitting 35 home runs and leading the league with 122 runs batted in; he also led the league in RBI two other years, and in triples and stolen bases once each. Respected for his throwing arm, he won a Gold Glove Award and led the AL in assists and double plays twice each. He retired in his early thirties as baseball expanded westward, due to an intense fear of flying. After being a two-sport star in college, Jensen was the first person to play in the Rose Bowl, the World Series, and the baseball All-Star Game.
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Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American baseball player who became the first black Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s, he was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades. The example of his character and unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation, which then marked many other aspects of American life, and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement.
In addition to his cultural impact, Robinson had an exceptional baseball career. Over ten seasons, he played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Championship. He was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games from 1949 to 1954, was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949—the first black player so honored. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams.
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Jake Beckley
Jacob Peter Beckley (August 4, 1867 – June 25, 1918), nicknamed "Eagle Eye", was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Hannibal, Missouri.
Jake Beckley began playing semi-pro baseball while still a teen in his native Hannibal. A former Hannibal teammate, Bob Hart, suggested the 18-year-old Beckley to the Leavenworth Oilers (Leavenworth, Kansas) of the Western Association.
After spliting two seasons between Leavenworth and a team in Lincoln, Nebraska, Jake Beckley's contract was sold to the St. Louis Whites in the Western Association before he was purchased (along with Harry Staley) by the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $4,500 midway through the 1888 season. After playing one and a half seasons for the Alleghenys, he jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers, a team in the newly formed Players League. The league lasted only one season, and Beckley spent the next five and a half seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. On July 25, 1896, he was traded to the New York Giants for Harry Davis and $1,000. Beckley was released by the Giants the following season on May 22, and he signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds five days later. He played with Cincinnati for seven seasons and was later purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals on February 11, 1904. Beckley retired after the 1907 season with 2930 career hits, second only to Cap Anson, the Major League leader at the time.
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Jake Stahl
Garland "Jake" Stahl (April 13, 1879 – September 18, 1922) was an American first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, and New York Highlanders. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he was a member of the Kappa Kappa chapter of Sigma Chi. He started off as a catcher before being traded to the Senators, where he moved to first base full-time, with occasional stints in the outfield. He was regarded as a good fielder and an average hitter, although he did lead all hitters in the American League in home runs with 10 in 1910.
As a player-manager, he led the Senators to two seventh-place finishes, and in his second managerial stint led the Red Sox to the 1912 World Series title. His success was short-lived, as he had a falling-out with his teammates and resigned midway through the 1913 season. His successor, Bill Carrigan, would win two more World Series titles for the Sox. Stahl died in Monrovia, California at age 43.
Stahl was not related to Red Sox teammate Chick Stahl, despite contemporary accounts erroneously listing them as brothers.
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Jason Giambi
Jason Gilbert Giambi ( /dʒiˈɑːmbi/; born January 8, 1971) is an American professional baseball first baseman with the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball.
He was the American League MVP in 2000 while with the Oakland Athletics, and is a five-time All-Star who has led the American League in walks four times, in on base percentage three times, and in doubles and in slugging percentage once each, and won the Silver Slugger award twice.
Giambi took performance-enhancing drugs during his career, for which use he has publicly apologized. Giambi was named one of the Top 10 Most Superstitious Athletes by Men's Fitness.
Giambi attended Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina, California. He then attended South Hills High School in his native West Covina, where he was a three-sport standout. Giambi was on the baseball team, whose roster also included his brother Jeremy and three other future Major Leaguers and teammates: infielder Shawn Wooten, pitchers Aaron Small and Cory Lidle. He batted .386 during his three years of varsity baseball, leading his team to the state finals as a senior. He was voted MVP in both baseball and basketball. In American football, he was an All-League quarterback.
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Jason Varitek
Jason Andrew Varitek ( /ˈværɨtɛk/; born April 11, 1972) is a former American professional baseball catcher. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox. A three-time All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner at catcher, and a Silver Slugger Award winner, Varitek was part of both the 2004 World Series and 2007 World Series Championship teams. In December 2004 he was named the captain of the Red Sox, only their fourth captain since 1923. He is a switch-hitter.
Varitek is one of only two players in the history of the sport to have played in the World Championship game of the Little League World Series, in the National Championship game of the College World Series, and in the Major League World Series (Ed Vosberg is the other). Varitek stands alone as the only baseball player in history to have played in the three aforementioned World Series along with playing in either the Olympic Baseball team or in the World Baseball Classic (he actually played in both the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic). His Lake Brantley High School baseball team won the Florida State Championship his senior year in 1990 and was named the number one high school baseball team in the nation by a USA Today poll. Varitek has caught an MLB-record four no-hitters. He has allowed 992 stolen bases, more than any active major league catcher.
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Jeff Burroughs
Jeffrey Alan (Jeff) Burroughs (born March 7, 1951 in Long Beach, California) is a former player in Major League Baseball. From 1970 through 1985, he played for the Washington Senators (1970–71), Texas Rangers (1972–76), Atlanta Braves (1977–80), Seattle Mariners (1981), Oakland Athletics (1982–84) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985). Burroughs batted and threw right-handed. He is the father of major league third baseman Sean Burroughs. In a 16-season career, Burroughs posted a .261 batting average with 240 home runs and 882 RBIs in 1689 games.
Burroughs was selected by the Washington Senators in the 1st round (1st pick) of the June 1969 draft. Late in the year, he joined the Senators at age of 19. Considered a "good bat-no field" kind of player, Burroughs was a considerable slugging threat during his playing days. Defensively, he was capable but slow.
In four full seasons with the Texas Rangers, Burroughs averaged 25.5 home runs a year with a high of 30 homers in 1973. His most productive season came in 1974, when he batted .301 with 25 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 118 RBIs and was selected the American League MVP, making him one of only six overall number-one picks to win the MVP title (the others are Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton) and the first Ranger to win the award. During the 1974 season, Burroughs was at the center of the violent Ten Cent Beer Night debacle in Cleveland, where Burroughs was one of the targets of thrown objects and a few punches by unruly and inebriated Cleveland fans, in a game that was forfeited to Texas.
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Jesse Barfield
Jesse Lee Barfield (born October 29, 1959 in Joliet, Illinois) is a former Major League Baseball right fielder who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1981–89) and New York Yankees (1989–92). He batted and threw right-handed. He lived in Tenafly, a suburb of New York City.
Barfield had by far the best outfield arm of the 1980s. He led American League outfielders in assists three times (1985–87). Along with George Bell (LF) and Lloyd Moseby (CF), Barfield starred in what many analysts considered the best all-around outfield of the 1980s.[weasel words]
Selected by the Blue Jays in the ninth round of the 1977 amateur draft, Barfield debuted in the majors in 1981 and was a regular the following season. In 1985, he helped Toronto to reach the playoffs for the first time. He also topped 20 home runs six times, became the first Blue Jay to hit a pinch grand slam (1982), and the first to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in the same season (1985).
Despite the Blue Jays' failure to defend their division title from the previous year, Barfield enjoyed his best personal season in 1986. He collected career-highs in batting average (.289), RBI (108), runs (107), hits (170) and doubles (35). He also hit a career-best 40 home runs, leading the major leagues and setting a team record. In addition, Barfield was awarded the Gold Glove Award and selected to the American League All-Star team.
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Jim Bottomley
James Leroy Bottomley (April 23, 1900 – December 11, 1959) was born in Oglesby, Illinois and grew up in Nokomis, Illinois. Nicknamed "Sunny Jim" because of his cheerful disposition, he was a left-handed Major League Baseball player. He also served as player-manager for the St. Louis Browns in 1937.
As a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals (1922–1932), Cincinnati Reds (1933–1935) and St. Louis Browns (1936–1937), Bottomley was noted for his upbeat demeanor and ability to drive in runs. He had over 100 RBIs in each season from 1924 to 1929.
Bottomley's best season came in 1928, when he hit .325 with 31 home runs and 136 RBIs. He also became the second Major League player in history to join the 20–20–20 club. That year, he won the National League Most Valuable Player award and led the Cardinals to the World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees. He was the first player to win an MVP award after beginning his career in his team's farm system.
He set the Major League record for RBIs in a single game, with 12, on September 16, 1924 (since tied by Mark Whiten). Bottomley also holds the single-season record for most unassisted double plays by a first baseman, with eight. "Sunny" is also known as the only man to be sued for hitting a home run when a fan was hit by the ball when he was not looking.
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Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning (born October 23, 1931) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.
During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career strikeouts in Major League history; he is currently 17th. Bunning pitched the seventh perfect game in Major League Baseball history on June 21, 1964, against the New York Mets. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.
After retiring from baseball, Bunning returned to his native northern Kentucky and was subsequently elected to the city council, and then the state senate, in which he served as minority leader. In 1986, Bunning was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and served in the House from 1987 to 1999. He was elected to the United States Senate from Kentucky in 1998 and served there from 1999 as the Republican junior U.S. Senator. In July 2009, he announced that he would not run for re-election in 2010, citing difficulty in raising campaign funds. Bunning gave his farewell speech to the Senate on December 9, 2010, and was succeeded by current Senator Rand Paul on January 3, 2011.
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Jim Rice
James Edward "Jim" Rice (born March 8, 1953), nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder.
Jim Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989. An 8-time American League (AL) All-Star, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1978 after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases, and went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons, and join Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row. He batted .300 seven times, collected 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times and 200 hits four times, and had eleven seasons with 20 home runs, also leading the league in home runs three times, RBIs and slugging average twice each.
In the late 1970s he was part of one of the sport's great outfields along with Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans, who was his teammate for his entire career; Rice continued the tradition of his predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox. He ended his career with a .502 slugging average, and then ranked tenth in AL history with 382 home runs; his career marks in homers, hits (2,452), RBI (1,451) and total bases (4,129) remain Red Sox records for a right-handed hitter, with Evans eventually surpassing his Boston records for career runs scored, at bats and extra base hits by a right-handed hitter. When Rice retired, his 1,503 career games in left field ranked seventh in AL history. Rice was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009, as the 103rd member voted in by the BBWAA.
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Jim Thome
James Howard "Jim" Thome ( /ˈtoʊmeɪ/; born August 27, 1970 in Peoria, Illinois) is a Major League Baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is the eighth MLB player to hit 600 home runs.
Thome was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 13th round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft. While in the minors, he got into a fight with future Major League star Chipper Jones. Thome and Jones would later become good friends. Thome made his Major League debut on September 4, 1991 as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins. He was 2 for 4 in that game, with his first hit coming off pitcher Tom Edens in the fourth inning. He hit his first career home run on October 4 against New York Yankees pitcher Steve Farr.
Originally a third baseman, he was shifted to first base when the Indians traded for Matt Williams in 1997.
At the plate, Thome hit 25 home runs and 73 runs batted in with a .314 batting average in 1995. Thome then hit 38 home runs in 1996 and 40 in 1997. Thome soon became a prolific home run hitter, once hitting a 511-foot (156 m) shot at Cleveland's Jacobs Field. It is the longest home run ever recorded at a Cleveland ballpark. He hit 49 home runs with the Indians in 2001, followed by a career-high 52 homers in 2002.
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Jimmie Foxx
James Emory "Jimmie" Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was a right-handed American Major League Baseball first baseman and noted power hitter.
Foxx was the second major league player to hit 500 career home runs, after Babe Ruth. Attaining that plateau at age 32 years 336 days, he held the record for youngest to reach 500 for sixty-eight years, until superseded by Alex Rodriguez in 2007. His three career Most Valuable Player awards are tied for second all-time.
James Emory Foxx was born in Sudlersville, Maryland on October 22, 1907 to Dell and Mattie Foxx who were farmers. Dell Foxx had played baseball for a town team when he was younger and he instilled a love for the game in young Jimmie. Foxx did well in school but truly excelled in sports, particularly soccer, track and baseball of which he played all three in high school. He dropped out of high school early to join a minor league team managed by former Philadelphia Athletics great Frank "Home Run" Baker. Foxx had hoped to pitch or play third base, but since the team was short on catchers, Foxx moved behind the plate.
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Jimmy Dykes
James Joseph Dykes (November 10, 1896 – June 15, 1976) was an American third and second baseman, manager and coach in Major League Baseball who played for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox from 1918 to 1939. He batted over .300 five times and led the American League in assists once at second base and twice at third base, ending his career sixth in AL history in games at third base (1,253), and seventh in putouts (1,361), assists (2,403), total chances (3,952) and double plays (199). When he retired, he ranked eighth in AL history in games played (2,282), and ninth in at bats (8,046). He holds the Athletics franchise record for career doubles (365), and formerly held team marks for career games and at bats. He went on to become the winningest manager in White Sox history with 899 victories over 13 seasons, though his teams never finished above third place; he later became the first manager in history to win 1,000 games without capturing a league pennant.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dykes played for three local teams at age 16 in 1913. The first was "his father's Penn Street Boys Club"; the second one paid 50 cents a game plus carfare (to Ardmore on the Main Line); the third paid $1 a game. By 19 he played in the Delaware County League, which the major leagues declared an outlaw league a few years later, for infringing their control of the professional sport.
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Joe Boley
John Peter "Joe" Boley (July 19, 1896 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania – December 30, 1962 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania), was a shortstop in Major League Baseball from 1927 to 1932. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians.
Born John Peter Bolinsky, Boley was a good fielder, steady hitter, and member of the Baltimore Orioles team that won seven consecutive International League championships (1919–1925). Boley's reputed $100,000 price tag kept major league bidders at bay for years. Athletics owner Connie Mack bought him for $60,000 in 1927, when the Orioles team was being disbanded.
During his first MLB season, the 28-year-old rookie batted .311 for the A's. Boley joined Jimmie Foxx, Max Bishop, and Jimmy Dykes in Mack's "Million Dollar Infield," which sparked the A's to three pennants and two world championships (1929–31).
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Joe Cronin
Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 – September 7, 1984) was a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager.[1]
During a 20-year playing career, he played from 1926–45 for three different teams, primarily for the Boston Red Sox. Cronin was a major league manager from 1933–47. A seven-time All-Star, Cronin was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956.
Joe Cronin was born in San Francisco, CA and attended The Sacred Heart High School.
Baseball promoter Joe Engel, who scouted for the Senators and managed the Chattanooga Lookouts at Engel Stadium, originally signed Cronin. When Engel first spotted Cronin playing in Kansas City, "I knew I was watching a great player. I bought Cronin at a time he was hitting .221. When I told Clark Griffith what I had done, he screamed, 'You paid $7,500 for that bum? Well, you didn't buy him for me. You bought him for yourself. He's not my ballplayer – he's yours. You keep him and don't either you or Cronin show up at the ballpark.'" Cronin led the Senators to the 1933 World Series and later married Griffith's niece, Mildred Robertson.
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Joe DiMaggio
Giuseppe Paulo "Joe" DiMaggio (/dɨˈmɑːʒioʊ/ or /dɨˈmædʒioʊ/; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 – July 16, 1941), a record that still stands. DiMaggio was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.
A three-time MVP winner and 13-time All-Star, DiMaggio is the only player to be selected for the All-Star Game in every season he played. During his thirteen years with the Yankees, the club won ten American League pennants and nine World Series championships.
At the time of his retirement, he ranked fifth in career home runs (361) and sixth in career slugging percentage (.579). He was voted the sport's greatest living player in a poll taken in the baseball centennial year of 1969.
His brothers Vince and Dom also became major league center fielders.
DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California, the eighth of nine children born to immigrants from Italy, Giuseppe (1872–1949) and Rosalia (Mercurio) DiMaggio (1878–1951). He was delivered by a midwife identified on his birth certificate as Mrs. J. Pico. He was named after his father; "Paolo" was in honor of Giuseppe's favorite saint, Saint Paul. The family moved to San Francisco, California, when Joe was a year old.
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Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier (January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011), also known as Smokin' Joe, was an American professional boxer and Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981.
Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, defeating opponents that included Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, George Chuvalo and Jimmy Ellis en route to becoming Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in 1970, and followed up by defeating Muhammad Ali on points in the highly-anticipated "Fight of the Century" in 1971. Two years later Frazier lost his title when he was knocked out by George Foreman. He fought on, beating Joe Bugner, losing a rematch to Ali and beating Quarry and Ellis again.
Frazier's last world title challenge came in 1975, but he was beaten by Ali in their brutal rubbermatch. He retired in 1976 following a second loss to Foreman. He made a comeback in 1981, fighting just once, before retiring for good. The International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) rates Frazier among the ten greatest heavyweights of all time. He was an inductee of both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Joe Gordon
Joseph Lowell Gordon (February 18, 1915 – April 14, 1978), nicknamed "Flash" in reference to the comic-book character Flash Gordon, was an American second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians from 1938 to 1950. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Gordon was the outstanding player at his position during the 1940s, winning the 1942 American League MVP Award and being named to The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team in nine of his eleven seasons. Known for his acrobatic defense, he led the AL in assists four times and in double plays three times. He was the first AL second baseman to hit 20 home runs in a season, doing so seven times, holds the league mark for career HRs at second base (246), and he held the single-season record until 2001. He played a major role on the 1948 champion Indians, leading the team in homers and runs batted in. He ranked sixth in major league history in double plays (1,160) upon retiring, and was sixth in AL history in games (1,519), putouts (3,600), assists (4,706) and total chances (8,566) and seventh in fielding percentage (.970).
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Joe Mauer
Joseph Patrick Mauer (born April 19, 1983) is an American baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins. He is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles. He also won three consecutive Gold Glove awards (2008–2010), and the 2009 American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award.
Joe Mauer played football, basketball, and baseball for Saint Paul's Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders, the high school of Paul Molitor, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his senior year he became the only athlete ever to be selected as the USA Today High School Player of the Year in two sports (football in 2000 as a quarterback and baseball in 2001 as a catcher).
In December 2009, Sports Illustrated magazine included Mauer in its article on ten "signature" moments in U.S. high-school sports in the 2000–2009 decade, referring to his selection by the Minnesota Twins as the first pick in the 2001 amateur draft.
Mauer attended the same high school as Baseball Hall of Famer and former Milwaukee Brewer Paul Molitor. Molitor has said that Mauer "has the best swing he had ever seen". Jim O'Neill, Mauer's baseball coach at Cretin-Derham Hall, said his former student "has been groomed for this job since he was a little boy. Mauer's dad, Jake, created a contraption for Joe he later named the 'Quickswing'. The device dropped balls down a tube from eye level and released them at waist level." Mauer had been asked to leave his T-ball league at the age of four, because he was hitting the ball too hard for the other players. "Another guy that came from Cretin-Derham Hall, Paul Molitor, was very similar, [and] had a good short swing," O'Neill said. "And they're both able to wait on the ball so long because they don't have the big swing. Like anything, you keep simple and keep it small or short, there's not a lot of holes in it and not a lot of room for errors."
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Joe Medwick
Joseph Michael Medwick (November 24, 1911 – March 21, 1975), nicknamed "Ducky", was an American Major League Baseball player. A left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals during the "Gashouse Gang" era of the 1930s, he also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1940–43, '46), New York Giants (1943–45), and Boston Braves (1945). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1968, receiving 84.81% of the votes.
Medwick was born to Hungarian immigrants and grew up in Carteret, New Jersey where his portrait is displayed in Borough Hall rendered by fine art artist Lori Baratta. He made his debut with the Cardinals in 1932. Fans nicknamed him "Ducky Wucky", or just "Ducky", because of his waddle when he walked; but his build led to the nickname of "Muscles" which meant that none of his teammates dared to use the name "Ducky" to his face. His hard-charging style of play got him pulled out of the seventh game of the 1934 World Series by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, when Detroit Tigers fans started pelting him with garbage after he slid hard into third base on a triple. (Audio) Landis also ordered Tigers third baseman Marv Owen, into whom Medwick had slid, benched. Medwick remains the only known player to be thrown out of a game for his own personal safety. When asked about the incident by reporters after the game, a perplexed Medwick said, "Well, I knew why [the Tiger fans] threw that garbage at me. What I don't understand is why they brought it to the park in the first place."
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John Kruk
John Martin Kruk (born February 9, 1961 in Charleston, West Virginia) is a former Major League Baseball player and current baseball analyst for ESPN.
Kruk was raised in Keyser, West Virginia. He played baseball at Keyser High School, at Potomac State College, and at Allegany Community College, where Kruk played for Junior College Hall of Fame Coach Steve Bazarnic. Kruk was the first Major Leaguer to come out of Allegany and has since been followed by four others: (Stan Belinda, Steve Kline, Joe Beimel and Scott Seabol).
Kruk signed as a #3 Special Draft selection on June 13, 1981 with scout Hank Zacharias. He began his professional career with the San Diego Padres after being drafted in 1981. He played in such outposts as Walla Walla, Reno, Beaumont, and Las Vegas, before making his debut with the Padres in 1986. In this same year he played in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico with the Mexicali Eagles. Kruk helped the Mexicali Eagles win both the League championship title and Caribbean Series Baseball Title.
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John Olerud
John Garrett Olerud ( /ˈoʊləruːd/; nicknamed Big Rude, and Johnny O; born August 5, 1968), is a former American first baseman in Major League Baseball. Olerud played with the Toronto Blue Jays (1989–96), New York Mets (1997–99), Seattle Mariners (2000–2004), New York Yankees (2004) and Boston Red Sox (2005).
A patient, productive hitter throughout his career, Olerud won the American League batting title in 1993 and was runner-up for the National League batting title in 1998. Also a three-time Gold Glove winner, he was an excellent defensive first baseman and part of Sports Illustrated's "Greatest Infield Ever" with Edgardo Alfonzo, Rey Ordóñez, and Robin Ventura, when he played for the Mets.
In 1987, Olerud hit .414 with 5 HR and 20 RBIs. As a pitcher, he went 8-2 with a 3.00 ERA and was a freshman All-American.
In 1988, Olerud hit .464 with 23 HR, 81 RBIs, 108 hits, 204 total bases, and a .876 Slugging percentage. As a pitcher, he had an undefeated 15–0 season, and threw 113 Ks with a 2.49 ERA. He was a consensus All-American as both 1B and Pitcher and Baseball America College Player of the Year.
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John Vukovich
John Christopher Vukovich (July 31, 1947 – March 8, 2007) was an American third baseman and coach in Major League Baseball best known for his years of service with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played in parts of ten seasons from 1970 to 1981 for the Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Milwaukee Brewers. He was mainly used as a utility infielder capable of playing all four positions. He is also known for recording the lowest career major league batting average (.161) of any non-pitcher with 500 ABs or more.
Vukovich was born in Sacramento, California, and was a backup for the 1975 Reds World Series-winning team, although he was traded back to the Phillies before the playoffs began, and also for the 1980 Phillies World Series-winning team. He actually began the 1975 season as the Reds' starting third baseman, but was benched in favor of Pete Rose so that the Reds could get outfielder George Foster's bat into the lineup every day.[citation needed] He batted above .200 only twice in his ten-year career, appearing in 277 games while batting .161 with 6 home runs and 44 runs batted in, and had a .956 fielding percentage. During his second period of playing with the Phillies, he became beloved to the fans even though he seldom appeared in games; he was seen as a blue-collar player and the ordinary fan respected his effort.[citation needed] After his playing career ended, he joined the Chicago Cubs as a coach, and in 1986 he was manager for a day after Jim Frey was fired (he split that day's doubleheader). In 1987, he rejoined the Phillies, and after Lee Elia was fired with nine games to go, he took over as skipper, going 5-4 the rest of the season.
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Johnny Callison
John Wesley Callison (March 12, 1939 – October 12, 2006) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball, best known for his years with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1960 to 1969. He led the National League in triples twice and doubles once, and gained his greatest prominence in a 1964 season in which he was runnerup for the Most Valuable Player Award and was named MVP of the All-Star Game. He also led the NL in outfield assists four consecutive times and in double plays once, and ended his career among the top five Phillies in home runs (185) and triples (84).
Born in Qualls, Oklahoma, Callison batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox out of high school in 1957, being assigned to the Class-C Bakersfield Bears in the California League, where he batted .340 with 17 home runs and 31 stolen bases. The next season, he was advanced to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, where he led the American Association in home runs. In September 1958 he was recalled by Chicago, and hit .297 in 18 games.
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Johnny Mize
John Robert "Johnny" Mize (January 7, 1913 – June 2, 1993) was a baseball player who was a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and New York Yankees. He played in the Major Leagues for 15 seasons between 1936 and 1953, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Mize was born in Demorest, Georgia, where he later played baseball for Piedmont College. Mize was known as both "Big Jawn" and "The Big Cat" for his smooth fielding at first base. He had a fine batting eye, and in his early career hit for high averages, leading the National League with a .349 batting average in 1939. In 1938 he batted .363, but Cardinals teammate Joe Medwick took the title with a .374 average. Mize then changed targets and went for power instead of batting average. He led the National League in home runs in 1939 with 28, and in 1940 with 43, also leading the league in runs batted in twice, in 1940 and 1942. At the end of the 1941 season, however, he was traded to the New York Giants by Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey, who famously believed in trading players before their skills began to decline.
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Jose Canseco
José Canseco Capas, Jr. (born July 2, 1964), is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder, and designated hitter who is currently playing for the Worcester Tornadoes. He last played for the AAA Quintana Roo Tigres of the Mexican Baseball League, however he was banned from the Mexican League in 2012 for refusing to submit to a drug test and admitting to taking testosterone. He played for the Oakland Athletics (1985–1992, 1997) Texas Rangers (1992–1994), Boston Red Sox (1995–1996), Toronto Blue Jays (1998), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1999–2000), New York Yankees (2000) and Chicago White Sox (2001). During his career, Canseco was a six-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, American League (AL) Rookie of the Year, and AL Most Valuable Player.
Canseco has admitted using performance enhancing drugs during his playing career, and wrote a tell-all book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, in which he claimed that the vast majority of MLB players use steroids.
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Josh Hamilton
Joshua Holt Hamilton (born May 21, 1981) is an American professional baseball player. An outfielder, Hamilton has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 2007. A member of the Texas Rangers (2008–present), he also played for the Cincinnati Reds (2007). He is a four-time MLB All Star and American League Most Valuable Player in 2010.
He was the first overall pick in the 1999 MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was considered a blue chip prospect until injuries and a drug addiction derailed his career, beginning in 2001. Prior to the 2007 season, Hamilton was selected by the Chicago Cubs (picking for the Cincinnati Reds) in the Rule 5 Draft. He made his MLB debut in 2007 with the Reds and had a successful rookie season. During the off-season he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Edinson Volquez and Daniel Ray Herrera.
After his torrid start to the 2008 season, Hamilton was named to the American League All Star team, and made the All-Star team the next three seasons as well. He also participated in the Home Run Derby, where he hit a record 28 home runs in the opening round and finished with 35 home runs, which was second-most all-time in derby history. Hamilton won the AL batting title in 2010. On October 22, 2010, Hamilton was selected as MVP of the 2010 ALCS. On November 23, 2010, Hamilton was named the 2010 AL MVP, earning 22 of 28 first-place votes. On May 8, 2012 Hamilton became the 16th player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, and set an AL record for total bases in a game with 18.
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José Bautista
José Antonio Bautista (born October 19, 1980) is a professional baseball outfielder with the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. Though now primarily a right fielder, having been a utility player in the past, he has major league experience at six different positions. He is from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
In the 2010 season, Bautista set a Toronto Blue Jays single-season franchise record by hitting a major league leading 54 home runs, making him only the 26th member of the 50 home run club in baseball history. In 2011, he once again led the major leagues with 43 home runs. He became the first player to earn two consecutive home run titles since Mark McGwire of the National League did so in the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
On July 3, 2011, Bautista set the all-time Major League record for the most All-Star votes received by a single player through fan balloting, with 7,454,753 votes. This number greatly surpassed the previous record of 6,069,688, set by Seattle's Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1994.
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Juan Samuel
Juan Milton Samuel (born December 9, 1960 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a retired second baseman who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Philadelphia Phillies (1983–1989), New York Mets (1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1990–1992), Kansas City Royals (1992, 1995), Cincinnati Reds (1993), Detroit Tigers (1994–1995) and Toronto Blue Jays (1996–1998). A three-time National League (NL) All-Star, he appeared in the 1983 World Series with the Phillies. He served as interim manager for the Baltimore Orioles during the 2010 MLB season. He is currently the third base coach for the Phillies.
In a 16-season playing career, Samuel was a .259 hitter with 161 home runs and 703 RBI in 1720 games
Samuel was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980. A three-time All-Star, Samuel earned National League Rookie of the Year honors from The Sporting News in 1984, when he tied for the NL lead with 19 triples and placed second with 72 stolen bases setting a MLB rookie record (broken by Vince Coleman the following season).
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Julio Franco
Julio César Robles Franco (born August 23, 1958) is a former Major League Baseball infielder and designated hitter. In 2007, Franco was the oldest active player in the major leagues at the age of 49.
While Franco was an All-Star and posted above-average hitting statistics throughout his career, he is best known for being the oldest regular position player in Major League history. Franco was the all-time hits leader among Dominican-born players until surpassed in 2011 by Vladimir Guerrero. He made his debut on April 23, 1982, as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. During his long career, Franco saw significant time as a shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, and designated hitter.
As his career started, Franco was part of a 1982 five-for-one trade between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cleveland Indians. The Phillies received highly regarded prospect, Von Hayes, in exchange for Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller, Jerry Willard, and Franco.
Franco hit over .300 in every season from 1986 to 1989. He also averaged over 20 stolen bases per season from 1983 through 1991. When he switched from shortstop to second baseman in 1988, he won four straight Silver Slugger Awards. Franco batted with a long whip-like swing with the heaviest bat allowed. Because of his batting style, Franco twice led the American League in grounding into double plays and was in the top-ten in that category seven times in the 1980s alone. He is seventh on the all-time list in ground-ball double plays and has just over 300.
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Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA). He was the best known player in the ABA when the ABA-NBA merger joined it with the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1976 season.
Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player Awards, and three scoring titles while playing with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets, and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. He is the fifth-highest scorer in professional basketball history, with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined). He was well known for slam dunking from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests and was the only player to have been voted Most Valuable Player in both the ABA and the NBA.
Erving was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time team and in 1993 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame. Many consider him among the most spectacular basketballers ever, and one of the best dunkers of all time. While players such as Connie Hawkins, "Jumping" Johnny Green, Elgin Baylor, and Gus Johnson were performing spectacular dunks before Erving's time, "Dr. J" is usually the one most people credit with bringing the practice into the mainstream. His signature dunk was the "slam" dunk, since incorporated into the vernacular and basic skill set of the game, in the same manner as the "cross-over" dribble and the "no look" pass.
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Justin Morneau
Justin Ernest George Morneau (born May 15, 1981) is a Canadian first baseman for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). At 6 feet 4 inches and 220 lbs, Morneau was drafted as a catcher by the Twins in 1999. He converted to first base in the minor leagues and made his MLB debut in 2003. He has held that position throughout his career and became the first Twin since Gary Gaetti in 1987–88 to hit 30 home runs in consecutive seasons. Along with fellow teammate Joe Mauer, they are considered one of the best hitting tandems in baseball.
A four-time All-Star, Morneau was the American League Most Valuable Player during the 2006 season by helping the Twins win their fourth division title in five years. He finished runner-up for MVP in 2008 and won two Silver Slugger Awards as well as the 2008 Home Run Derby. Internationally, Morneau represented Canada at the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Midway through the 2010 season, Morneau suffered a concussion while sliding into second base. The injury sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. Up to that point, he was a leading candidate for his second AL MVP award. Despite making the opening day roster in 2011, Morneau dealt with numerous injuries and sustained another concussion during the season that limited his production. Morneau recovered from his ailments and has since split time between designated hitter and first base for the Twins.
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Justin Verlander
Justin Brooks Verlander (born February 20, 1983) is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.
In 2006, he was named the American League Rookie of the Year. On June 12, 2007, he pitched a no-hitter—the first ever at Comerica Park—against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out 12 batters and walking four. He pitched a second no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 7, 2011, in Toronto, walking one and facing the minimum 27 batters. On November 15, 2011, Verlander was named the 2011 AL Cy Young Award winner by a unanimous vote, becoming the first American League pitcher since Johan Santana in 2006 to win the award in such a fashion. On November 21, 2011, Verlander was voted the AL MVP, winning with 280 points over Jacoby Ellsbury's 242, completing a sweep of the Cy Young Award and MVP, a rare feat for a pitcher in the modern era.
His father Richard, who was president of the local Richmond, Virginia chapter of the Communications Workers of America, sent Justin to The Richmond Baseball Academy. Justin clocked 84 mph (135 km/h) shortly after joining the academy. His velocity kept climbing, and hit 86 MPH by the time he entered Goochland High School. He had been a top pitching prospect in high school, but his career suffered a setback when he came down with strep throat early in his senior season of baseball. A weakened Verlander topped out at 81 during that season, causing professional scouts to lose interest. After he recovered, his velocity reached 87 during his first year at Old Dominion.
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Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 12-year baseball career with the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995) and is the Twins franchise's all-time leader in career hits, runs, doubles, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.
Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire at age 35 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 in his first year of eligibility.
Puckett was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project on Chicago's South Side (the escape from which he frequently referred back to during his career). He attended and played baseball for Calumet High School. After receiving no scholarship offers following graduation, Puckett at first went to work on an assembly line for Ford Motor Company. However he was given a chance to attend Bradley University and was a star on the baseball team, despite his under-sized 5' 8" frame, before the Minnesota Twins selected him in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1982 MLB Draft.
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Larry Bowa
Lawrence Robert Bowa (born December 6, 1945 in Sacramento, California) is a former middle infielder, playing mainly as a shortstop, and manager in Major League Baseball.
Bowa was born in Sacramento, California, the son of Paul Bowa, a former minor-league infielder and manager in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. While at C. K. McClatchy High School, Bowa tried out but never made the school's baseball team. After graduation, Bowa went to Sacramento City College where he started, and was expected to go in the MLB Draft, but didn't. The Philadelphia Phillies were the only Major League team interested in Bowa. They sent a local scout, Eddie Bockman to watch Bowa play in a doubleheader, only for Bowa to be thrown out of the game for arguing. Bockman had a winter league team in the area and offered Bowa a chance to play. Bowa played well and signed with the Phillies for a $2,000 bonus.
Characterized by his "soft" hands, strong arm, and fiery personality, he won two Gold Glove Awards and led the National League in fielding percentage six times, then a league record. He retired with the NL record for career games at shortstop (2222) and the Major League records for fielding average in a career (.980) and a single season (.991, in 1979), and was also among the career leaders in assists (sixth, 6857) and double plays (fourth, 1265); his records have since been broken, though he retains the NL mark for career fielding average.
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Larry Doby
Lawrence Eugene "Larry" Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball.
A native of Camden, South Carolina, he was the second black player to play in the modern major leagues and the first to do so in the American League. A center fielder, Doby appeared in seven All-Star games and finished second in the 1954 American League MVP voting. Appointed manager of the Chicago White Sox in 1978, Doby was the second African-American to lead a Major League club. He was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 by the Hall's Veterans Committee.
A local star athlete from Paterson, New Jersey, Doby joined the Newark Eagles in the Negro National League at the age of 17, in 1942, starring as a second baseman. Doby tried out for the Newark Eagles at historic Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey. A Negro league umpire by the name of Henry Moore advised Eagles owner Abe Manley to give Doby a try out. Doby worked out with the Eagles prior to a game between the Newark Eagles and the New York Black Yankees (Hinchliffe Stadium was the Black Yankees home ballpark). At his Hall of Fame induction press conference in 1998, Doby said his most memorable moment at Hinchliffe Stadium was trying out for the Eagles, this after having a stellar career as a football and baseball player at Eastside High School. At that time he played under the name Larry Walker to protect his amateur status. His career in Newark was interrupted for two years for service in the Navy. He then rejoined the Eagles in 1946. Along with his partner, fellow Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, Doby led the team to the Negro League Championship.
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Lefty Gomez
Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez (November 26, 1908 – February 17, 1989) was an American left-handed major league pitcher who played in the American League for the New York Yankees between 1930 and 1942. Considered one of the great pitchers of the day, Gomez was a seven-time All-Star and a five-time World Series Champion with the Yankees. He was also known for his colorful personality and humor throughout his career and life.
Gomez was born in Rodeo, California. His father, Francisco Gomez, had been born in California to a Spanish father, Juan Gomez, and a Portuguese mother, Rita. His mother, Lizzie Herring, was an American of Welsh-Irish descent. He played sandlot baseball in Oakland while attending Richmond High School. It was during that timeframe that he was recruited by the San Francisco Seals. The New York Yankees purchased Lefty from the Seals for an estimated $39,000.
A 20-game winner four times and an All-Star every year from 1933 to 1939, Gomez led the league twice each in wins, winning percentage and ERA, and three times each in shutouts and strikeouts. In the historic first major league All-Star Game (July 6, 1933), Gomez not only was the winning pitcher for the American League, but also drove in the first run of the game. This was out of character for him, as he was, even by the standards of pitchers, notorious for poor hitting. "I never broke a bat until I was 73 years old," he said. "And that was from backing the car out of the garage." His career OPS+ of -7 is the fifth-worst in baseball history among players with at least 1,000 plate appearances. [2] Gomez holds the record for the most innings pitched in a single All-Star game (six, in 1934).
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Lefty Grove
Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was a professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox, winning 300 games in his 17-year MLB career. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947.
One of the greatest left-handed pitchers in major league history, Grove led the American League in wins in four separate seasons, in strikeouts seven years in a row, and had the league's lowest earned run average a record nine times. Over the course of the three years from 1929 to 1931 he twice won the pitcher's Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA, while amassing a 79-15 record as the ace for the Athletics' dynasty teams.
Born in Lonaconing, Maryland, Grove was a sandlot star in the Baltimore area during the 1910s. In 1920, he made his professional debut with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the class-D Blue Ridge League, where he appeared in six games. In 59 innings pitched, Grove gave up just 30 hits, and he had an earned run average (ERA) of 1.68. His performance attracted the attention of Jack Dunn, the owner of the minor league Baltimore Orioles, who also discovered Babe Ruth.
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Lew Fonseca
Lewis Albert Fonseca (January 21, 1899 – November 26, 1989) was an American first and second baseman in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox over a 12-year career. While not a power hitter, he hit for average and was a good contact hitter for most of his career. He topped the .300 mark six times, with his best season coming in 1929 with the Indians, when he hit .369 to win the American League batting title, after coming off a 1928 season in which he broke his leg. His success was short-lived, however, as he broke his arm in 1930, and a torn ligament in his leg prematurely ended his playing career.
Fonseca is perhaps best known as one of the first men to use film in analyzing baseball games and finding flaws in players. It is said that his interest with cameras began while shooting Slide, Kelly, Slide in 1927. As manager of the Chicago White Sox, he used film extensively. After retiring from playing the game, he was director of promotions for both leagues. Fonseca worked on World Series highlight films for almost 25 years, as an editor and director, and occasionally narrated them as well. Television sportscaster Bob Costas wrote of Fonseca's narration: "[his] vocal stylings were somewhat less than mellifluous, but still endlessly entertaining."
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Lou Boudreau
Louis "Lou" Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs of the National League.
In 1948, he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and managed the Cleveland Indians to the World Series title.
Boudreau was an eight-time All Star Game selection, starting three times. He won the 1944 AL batting title (.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946.
Boudreau was born in Harvey, Illinois, to a father of French ancestry and a Jewish mother. He was raised Catholic. Boudreau graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois. While at Thornton, Boudreau guided the "Flying Clouds" to three straight Illinois high school championship games, finishing first in 1933 and second in 1934 and 1935.
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Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis "Lou" or "Buster"Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig set several major league records, including most career grand slams (23) and most consecutive games played (2,130). Gehrig is chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter and his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname "The Iron Horse", as well as the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1969 he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association, and was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.
A native of New York City, he played for the Yankees until his career was cut short by ALS, a disorder now commonly known in the United States and Canada as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over a 15-season span from 1925 through 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. This streak ended only when Gehrig became disabled by the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long considered one of baseball's few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years, until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, 1995.
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Luke Appling
Lucius Benjamin Appling (April 2, 1907 – January 3, 1991) was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox (1930–1950). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
Appling was born in High Point, North Carolina. He attended Oglethorpe College, but left during his sophomore year when he was signed by the Southern League Atlanta Crackers in 1930. He was a good hitter in his first year, but committed 42 errors in 104 games. The Chicago Cubs showed some interest at first, but decided not to sign him, and the White Sox ended up purchasing him from the Crackers for $20,000. He seemed a poor pickup initially, as his hitting fell off and his fielding failed to improve, but in 1933 he stopped trying to be a power hitter and had his first of nine straight .300 seasons. He interrupted his career to serve in World War II in 1944 and 1945.
Appling was a good leadoff hitter who topped the .400 mark in OBP eight times (1935–1937, 1939–1940, 1943, 1948–1949) and drew over 100 walks three times (1935, 1939, 1949), though he often batted third due to a lack of offensive talent on the White Sox. Indeed, this lack of talent insured that Appling never had a chance to play in a World Series. His best season was 1936, when he batted .388, knocked in 124 runs (his only 100-RBI season), scored 111 times, recorded 204 hits, and had a team-record 27-game hitting streak. His .388 average was good for the first batting title ever won by a shortstop (in the American League) and was the highest batting average recorded by a shortstop in the 20th century. Appling won another batting title in 1943 with a .328 average and also led the league in OBP that year (.419). Appling was selected to seven All-Star teams (1936, 1939–1941, 1943, 1946–47).
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Magglio Ordóñez
Magglio José Ordóñez Delgado ( /ɔrˈdoʊnjɛz/; born January 28, 1974) is a former Venezuelan Major League Baseball right fielder. He has played for the Chicago White Sox (1997–2004) and Detroit Tigers (2005–2011). Ordóñez is 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighs 215 lb (98 kg).
In a 15-year major league career (through the end of the 2011 season), Ordóñez was a .309 hitter with 294 home runs and 1,236 RBIs in 1,848 games. He has been selected for the All-Star Game six times (1999–2001, 2003, and 2006–07) and has won three Silver Slugger awards (2000, 2002, and 2007). In 2007, he won the American League batting title with an average of .363. He also established a career high with 139 runs batted in, and finished runner-up to Alex Rodriguez in the AL Most Valuable Player award voting.
Ordóñez spent the first eight years of his major league career playing with the Chicago White Sox. In the five seasons prior to 2004, Ordóñez hit at least .300 with 29 home runs and 99 RBI, and reached the 30-home run, 100-RBI plateau in four of those seasons. He also collected over 70 extra-base hits from 2001 to 2003, but a collision with second baseman Willie Harris on Omar Vizquel's popup to right field during a May 19, 2004 game against the Cleveland Indians, cost him two trips to the disabled list and two surgeries on his left knee. He finished with .292, 9 home runs, and 37 RBI in 52 games.
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Manny Ramirez
Manuel Arístides "Manny" Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who is currently with the Oakland Athletics organization. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28 post-season home runs are the most by any player in MLB history. He was a fixture in the All-Star Game with 12 appearances including eleven consecutive beginning 1998. He appeared in the All-Star game in every season that he played with the Boston Red Sox.
Ramirez was allegedly among a group of 104 major league players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during 2003. In 2009 he was suspended 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy by taking human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a women's fertility drug. According to steroid dealer Victor Conte, hCG is often used to restart natural testosterone production after a steroid cycle.
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Mark McGwire
Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.
For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the lowest at bats per home run ratio in baseball history (Babe Ruth is second at 11.76). In 1987, he broke the single-season home run record for rookies, with 49. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' single season home run record; McGwire broke the record and hit 70 home runs that year.Barry Bonds now holds the record, after hitting 73 home runs during the 2001 season.
After three years at Southern California and a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, McGwire was drafted 10th overall by the Oakland Athletics in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft.
McGwire made the major leagues in August. As a rookie in 1987 he hit 33 homers before the All-Star break and was a unanimous choice for AL Rookie of the Year after finishing with 49 homers, 118 RBI and a .289 average. His 49 longballs smashed the old rookie record of 38, jointly held by Frank Robinson and Wally Berger. He sat out the season's final two games and gave up a chance at 50 home runs to be present at the birth of his first child.
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Mark Teixeira
Mark Charles Teixeira ( /teɪˈʃɛrə/ tay-SHERR-ə; born April 11, 1980, in Annapolis, Maryland), nicknamed "Tex" is an American Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees. Primarily a first baseman, he has also played third base and in the outfield. He played college baseball at Georgia Tech, where in 2001 he won the Dick Howser Trophy as the national collegiate baseball player of the year.
Teixeira was drafted in 2001 by the Texas Rangers, and made his MLB debut for them in 2003. In mid-2007 he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, and traded again in mid-2008 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In December 2008, he agreed to a contract with the New York Yankees. Teixeira has won four Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards. Teixeira also holds the all-time major league record for most games with a home run from both sides of the plate, with 13.
Teixeira grew up in Severna Park, Maryland, and attended Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he played for the school's varsity baseball team. Teixeira is Portuguese American. He also has roots in the South American country of Guyana, the country from which his grandfather migrated as a young man.
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Max Bishop
Max Frederick Bishop (September 5, 1899 – February 24, 1962) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1924 through 1935 for the Philadelphia Athletics (1924–1933) and Boston Red Sox (1934–1935). Bishop batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
In a 12-season career, Bishop was a .271 hitter with 41 home runs and 379 RBI in 1338 games played.
Bishop was the leadoff hitter for the last three American League pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics teams of Connie Mack. Nicknamed "Tilly" or "Camera Eye" for his notable ability to judge pitches, Bishop was adept at working counts and drawing walks, as evidenced by his .423 career on base percentage, in front of Athletics sluggers Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane and Jimmie Foxx. Eight times he collected 100 walks, leading the AL with 128 in 1929; twice walked eight times in a doubleheader, to set a major league record; twice draw five walks in a single game, to become the only major leaguer to do this twice and recorded a 2.55 walk-to-strikeout ratio (1153-to-452), as his walk percentage of .204 is only surpassed by Ted Williams's .207. He also scored 100 or more runs during four consecutive seasons (1928–1931), with a career-high 117 in 1930. Rated as one of the best fielders in the game, Bishop led AL second basemen four times in fielding percentage and played 18 World Series games without committing an error. When Bishop scored 117 runs in 1930, he became the only man in major league history to score at least 70 runs while collecting more runs than hits.
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Mel Ott
Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958), nicknamed "Master Melvin", was a Major League Baseball right fielder. He played his entire career for the New York Giants (1926-1947). Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. The first National League player to surpass 500 home runs, he was unusually slight of stature for a power hitter, at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m), 170 pounds (77 kg).
In his 22-season career, Ott batted .304 with 511 home runs, 1,860 RBIs, 1,859 runs, 2,876 hits, 488 doubles, 72 triples, 89 stolen bases, a .414 on base percentage and a .533 slugging average.
Ott was a six-time NL home run leader, in 1932, 1934, 1936–38, and 1942. From 1928-1945, he led the New York Giants in home runs. This 18-season consecutive dominance is a record; no other player has ever led his team in more consecutive years in a single Triple Crown category. He was both the youngest player to hit 100 home runs and the first National Leaguer to hit 500 home runs. He passed Rogers Hornsby to become the all-time NL home run leader in 1937 and held that title until Willie Mays passed him in 1966.
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Mickey Cochrane
Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962) was a professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Cochrane was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts to Northern Irish immigrant John Cochrane, whose father had immigrated to Ulster from Scotland and Scottish immigrant Sadie Campbell. He was also known as "Black Mike", because of his fiery, competitive nature. Cochrane was educated at Boston University where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball. Although he considered himself better as a football player than as a baseball player, professional football wasn't as established as Major League Baseball at the time so, Cochrane signed a contract to play for the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924.
After just one season in the minor leagues, Cochrane was promoted to the major leagues, making his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 14, 1925 at the age of 22. He made an immediate impact by earning the starting catcher's assignment over Cy Perkins, who was considered one of the best catchers in the major leagues at the time. A left-handed batter, Cochrane ran well enough that manager Connie Mack would occasionally insert him into the leadoff spot in the batting order. Most frequently, Cochrane would bat third, but wherever he hit, his primary job was to get on base so that hard-hitting Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx could drive him in. In May, he tied a major league record by hitting three home runs in a game. He ended his rookie season with a .331 batting average and a .397 on base percentage, helping the Athletics to a second place finish.
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Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995) was an American baseball center fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
Mantle was noted for his hitting ability, both for average and for power.[citation needed] He won the Triple Crown in 1956, leading MLB in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI). He received three American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards and played in twenty All-Star games. Mantle appeared in 12 World Series, winning 7 of them. He holds the records for most World Series home runs (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123). He is also the career leader in walk-off home runs, with a combined thirteen, twelve in the regular season and one in the postseason.
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Mickey Vernon
James Barton "Mickey" Vernon (April 22, 1918 – September 24, 2008) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Washington Senators (1939–1948, 1950–1955) for the majority of his career, as well as four other teams: the Cleveland Indians (1949–1950, 1958), Boston Red Sox (1956–1957), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1960). Despite missing two seasons to military service during World War II, he retired with 2,495 hits, and holds the major league record for career double plays at first base (2,044), as well as American League records for career games (2,227), putouts (19,754), assists (1,444) and total chances (21,408). He batted and threw left-handed.
Mickey Vernon was born in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, and attended Villanova University, before making his major league debut on July 8, 1939. He was the father of Gay Vernon.
Note: The picture at right is not Mickey Vernon. It is an error card from the 1953 Bowman Color set, and actually depicts Mickey's teammate Floyd Baker.
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Miguel Cabrera
José Miguel Cabrera Torres (born April 18, 1983) commonly known as Miguel Cabrera, and nicknamed "Miggy", or "Cabby", is a Venezuelan professional baseball third baseman with the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. He bats and throws right-handed.
He is a six-time All-Star, having been selected to the National League All-Star Team in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, and also the American League All-Star Team in 2010 and 2011. Cabrera has started at least 100 games at first base, third base, left field and right field. He progressed through the Florida Marlins minor-league system, before being called up from the Double-A Carolina Mudcats in June 2003. Cabrera went on to provide boost needed to help the Florida Marlins win the World Series that year as their clean-up hitter.
Cabrera is widely considered to be one of the best pure hitters in baseball, hitting at a high average with power to all fields. He has posted at least 30 home runs in seven of his previous eight seasons while batting .320 during that period. Cabrera has also driven in over 100 runs every season aside from his rookie campaign when he played in only 87 games. He has been an MVP caliber player since entering the majors at just 20 years old, having received MVP votes in each of his nine major league seasons, and placing in the top five in the previous three. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim starting pitcher Dan Haren is quoted saying, "You're going to make good pitches, and [Cabrera] is going to hit them."
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Miguel Tejada
Miguel Odalis Tejada (born on May 25, 1974, in Baní, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball infielder in the Baltimore Orioles organization. He began his first six seasons of his career with the A's, where he began his streak of 1,152 consecutive games, that ended with the Orioles on June 22, 2007. In 2002, he was awarded the AL MVP award, and he was the MVP of the 2005 All-Star Game.
His nickname is "La Guagua" which means "the bus" in certain Spanish dialects, as Tejada was known for his ability to drive in runs. On February 11, 2009, he pleaded guilty to one count of perjury for lying to Congress in his testimony on whether or not Rafael Palmeiro lied about his steroid use.
Tejada grew up in extreme poverty in Baní, a city approximately 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. Miguel Tejada grew up idolizing the Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. Miguel Tejada's rise from the slums of Baní through the minors and into the Major Leagues is chronicled in the book Away Games: The Life and Times of a Latin Ballplayer by Marcos Breton and Jose Luis Villegas. Away Games describes the struggles of Dominican players in general and Tejada in particular as they arrive in the U.S. speaking very little English often in small towns playing for minor league teams with dreams of making it big.
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Mike Menosky
Michael William Menosky (October 16, 1894 - April 11, 1983) was a professional American baseball outfielder for the Federal League and Major League Baseball. Born in Glen Campbell, Pennsylvania, he was known as "Leaping Mike" for his daring, fence-crashing catches. Menosky started his career on April 18, 1914 with the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League, and went on to play 68 games that season. At 19, he was the second-youngest baseball player in the Federal League that season behind Jimmy Smith. He spent most of the 1915 season in the minor leagues of the Federal League. After the league folded in 1915, he was purchased by the Washington Senators of the American League on February 10, 1916.
After playing 11 games in 1916, he became the starting left fielder in 1917. He hit ten triples that season, and stole 22 bases. After taking a year off from baseball to serve in the military, he was again the starting left fielder during the 1919 season for the Senators. After the season ended, Menosky was traded on January 20, 1920 with Eddie Foster and Harry Harper to the Boston Red Sox for Braggo Roth and Red Shannon. He remained the starting left fielder on the Boston Red Sox for the 1920 and 1921 seasons. He had his best statistical season during the 1920 Boston Red Sox season, where he played in 141 games, had a batting average of .297, hit nine triples, and stole 23 bases, which was good for fourth in the American League. During the 1921 Boston Red Sox season, he had a career-high batting average of .300. In 1922, he was named the opening day starter as a center fielder, having played the previous two seasons in left field. He went on to play only four games in center field that season out of the 103 he played.
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Mike Schmidt
Michael Jack Schmidt (born September 27, 1949) is a Hall of Fame third baseman, widely considered as the greatest at the position in the history of Major League Baseball. He played his entire career for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Schmidt had an unusual batting stance, turning his back somewhat to the pitcher and shaking his derrière while waiting for the pitch. By standing far back in the batter's box, he made it impossible to jam him by pitching inside. Schmidt was one of the best athletes of his time; teammate Pete Rose once said, "To have his body, I'd trade him mine and my wife's, and I'd throw in some cash."
Upon graduation from Fairview High School in Dayton, Ohio in 1967, Schmidt attended Ohio University in Athens, where he joined Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. Schmidt led the Ohio Bobcats baseball team to the College World Series in 1970, and was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft with the 30th overall pick.
On June 11, 1971, he was signed by scout Tony Lucadello, who had followed him since Little League Baseball. Six days later, Schmidt made his professional debut in an exhibition game between the Phillies and the Reading Phillies in Reading. Schmidt played the whole game at shortstop for the Phillies and hit a game-winning home run against Reading. Along with shortstop and third base, Schmidt also played some second base in the minors.
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Mo Vaughn
Maurice Samuel 'Mo' Vaughn (born December 15, 1967 in Norwalk, Connecticut), nicknamed "The Hit Dog", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played from 1991 to 2003. Vaughn was a three-time All-Star selection and won the American League MVP award in 1995.
Vaughn played high school baseball at New Canaan Country School[dubious – discuss] in New Canaan, Connecticut. He then moved on to play baseball at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, along with seven-time All-Star Craig Biggio.
Vaughn became the center of the Red Sox's line-up in 1993, hitting 29 home runs and contributing 101 RBIs. In 1995, he established a reputation as one of the most feared hitters in the American League when he hit 39 home runs with 126 RBIs and a .300 average. He also garnered 11 stolen bases. His efforts, which led the Red Sox to the playoffs (only to lose to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series), were rewarded with the American League MVP award.
Vaughn had his career year with the Red Sox in 1996, batting an average of .326, playing in 161 games, with 44 home runs, and 143 RBIs. On May 30, 1997 playing a game against the Yankees, Vaughn went 4-for-4 with three solo homers in the Red Sox's 10-4 win over the Yankees.
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Mule Haas
George William (Mule) Haas (October 15, 1903 – June 30, 1974) was a center fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1925 through 1938, Haas played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1925), Philadelphia Athletics (1928–32, 1938) and Chicago White Sox (1933–37). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
In a 12-season career, Haas posted a .292 batting average with 43 home runs and 496 RBI in 1168 games.
A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Haas broke into the majors in 1925, appearing in four games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1928 he joined the Philadelphia Athletics and was part of two World Championship teams in 1929 and 1930, and one American League champion team in 1931.
Haas enjoyed his finest moment in the 1929 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. In Game Four at Philadelphia, as the Athletics trailed 8–0 in the seventh inning, Haas hit a three-run inside-the-park home run as the Athletics rallied by scoring 10 runs in the inning to win, 10–8. Two days later, in what was to be the final game of the Series, Haas hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score, 2–2, as the Athletics later won the game on Bing Miller's RBI-double.
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Mule Suttles
George "Mule" Suttles (March 31, 1900 – July 9, 1966 in Newark, New Jersey) was an American first baseman and outfielder in Negro league baseball, most prominently with the Birmingham Black Barons, St. Louis Stars and Newark Eagles. Suttles was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Born in Blocton, Alabama, Suttles played one game for the New York Bacharach Giants in 1921, and broke into the Negro National League in 1923 with the Birmingham Black Barons. Suttles was renowned for hitting for power as well as batting average. In five years with the Stars (1926–30), he led the league in home runs twice and in doubles, triples, and batting average once each.
Suttles' final seasons were spent playing first base for the Newark Eagles' "Million Dollar Infield" with Dick Seay at second, Wells at Short, and Ray Dandridge at third. He also managed, and was highly respected.
In five East-West All-Star Games, he batted .412 with an .883 slugging percentage. He also hit the first ever home run in the history of the East-West game.
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Nap Lajoie
Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (English pronunciation: /ˈlæʒəweɪ/; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie, was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. He was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. In his career as a second baseman, he was considered one of the greatest players of the fledgling American League in the early 20th century, and the most serious of Ty Cobb's challengers.
Lajoie was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
Lajoie started his career in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896. In 1901, in response to a league-wide salary cap of $2,400 per year, he jumped to the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics, owned by former Phillies' part-owner Benjamin Shibe and managed by Connie Mack. Lajoie's batting average that year was .426. That same year Lajoie became the second Major Leaguer to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded after Abner Dalrymple in 1881. Only four other players have done it since: Del Bissonette in 1928, Bill Nicholson in 1944, Barry Bonds in 1998, and Josh Hamilton in 2008.
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Nellie Fox
Jacob Nelson Fox (December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman on three teams, primarily the Chicago White Sox, for 19 seasons, from 1947 through 1965. He was the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1959 and played in 12 MLB All-Star games. Fox was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Fox was born in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania. He began his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1947, though he was never a full-time starter during his three seasons with the team. Fox was a member of the 1949 Philadelphia Athletics team that set a major league team record of 217 double plays, a record which still stood as of 2010. He appeared in 77 games that season and contributed to 68 of the team's record number of double plays. Traded to the White Sox October 29, 1949, Fox's career took off. He spent 14 seasons with Chicago, making 10 All-Star teams. He played his final two seasons (1964–65) with the Houston Colt .45s and Astros.
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Nick Etten
Nicholas Raymond Thomas (Nick) Etten (September 19, 1913 – October 18, 1990) was a first baseman in major league baseball, who played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–39), Philadelphia Phillies (1941–42, 1947) and New York Yankees (1943–46). Etten batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Spring Grove, Illinois. Etten attended St. Rita of Cascia High School on the south side of Chicago.
Etten attended Villanova University and was drafted by the Athletics from the Oakland Oaks minor league team. He made his major league debut with the Athletics late in 1938, also playing part-time for them in 1939. After playing two seasons with the Phillies, he was traded to the Yankees in January 1943, and he responded by leading the American League with 22 home runs, and drawing 97 walks in 1944, and with 111 RBIs the following season, also best in the league. During his four-year stint with the Yankees, Etten also ranked among league leaders in most offensive categories, was a member of the 1943 World Champion team, and was selected to the All-Star Game in 1945. In 1947, he appeared in fourteen games for the Phillies before retiring.
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Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra ( /ˈnoʊmɑr ɡɑrˌsiːəˈpɑrə/; born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California) is a former Major League Baseball player and current ESPN analyst. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and shortstop and third base for the Chicago Cubs. He is one of 13 players in Major League history to hit two grand slams during a single game, and the only player to achieve the feat at his home stadium.
Garciaparra attended St. Mary's of the Assumption School in Whittier, California for elementary school; for high school he attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, where he excelled in football, soccer, and baseball, and had a 3.9 GPA. His teams won high school league championships in 1990–91, and he won the league MVP honors in 1991, his last year of high school. St. John Bosco High School retired Garciaparra's baseball jersey. St. John Bosco High School's Activities Office window is home to an area dedicated to Garciaparra's baseball career both at the school and with the Dodgers.
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Norm Cash
Norman Dalton Cash (November 10, 1934 – October 11, 1986) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who spent almost his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. An outstanding power hitter, his 377 career home runs were the fourth most by an American League left-handed hitter when he retired, behind Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig; his 373 home runs with the Tigers rank second in franchise history behind his teammate Al Kaline (399). He also led the AL in assists three times and fielding percentage twice; he ranked among the all-time leaders in assists (4th, 1317) and double plays (10th, 1347) upon his retirement, and was fifth in AL history in games at first base (1943). He was known to fans and teammates during his playing days as "Stormin' Norman."
Cash was born in Justiceburg, Garza County, Texas, and attended (what was then) Sul Ross State Teachers College, where he was All-Lone Star Conference in football as well as playing baseball; he was drafted by the Chicago Bears as a running back in 1955, but declined to play pro football. After signing with the Chicago White Sox in 1955, he spent 1957 in the military and made his debut with the team in 1958, seeing limited play as an outfielder and pinch hitter. He appeared in 58 games for the 1959 pennant-winners, but the midseason acquisition of Ted Kluszewski left him on the bench, and he was hitless in four pinch-hitting appearances in the World Series. In December of that year he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in an eight-player deal that brought Minnie Miñoso back to Chicago, but the Indians general manager Frank Lane traded Cash to Detroit for Steve Demeter, who would play only four more games; both Chicago and Cleveland were haunted by Cash for the next 15 years, as he won a batting title and a World Series ring in a Detroit uniform.
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Ogden Nash
Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry". Ogden Nash wrote over 500 pieces of comic verse. The best of his work was published in 14 volumes between 1931 and 1972.
Nash was born in Rye, New York. His father owned and operated an import-export company, and because of business obligations, the family relocated often. Nash was descended from the brother of General Francis Nash, who gave his name to Nashville, Tennessee.
His family lived briefly in Savannah, GA in a carriage house owned by Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA; he wrote a poem about Mrs. Low's House. After graduating from St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island, Nash entered Harvard University in 1920, only to drop out a year later. He returned to St. George's to teach for a year and left to work his way through a series of other jobs, eventually landing a position as an editor at Doubleday publishing house, where he first began to write verse.
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Orlando Cepeda
Orlando Manuel "Peruchin" Cepeda Pennes (Spanish pronunciation: [orˈlando seˈpeða]; born September 17, 1937) is a former Puerto Rican Major League Baseball first baseman.
Cepeda was born to a poor family. His father, Pedro Cepeda, was a baseball player in Puerto Rico, which influenced his interest in the sport from a young age. His first contact with professional baseball was as a batboy for the Santurce Crabbers of Puerto Rico. Pedro Zorilla, the team's owner persuaded his family to let him attend a New York Giants tryout. He played for several Minor League Baseball teams before attracting the interest of the Giants, who had just moved to San Francisco.
During a career that lasted sixteen years, he played with the San Francisco Giants (1958–66), St. Louis Cardinals (1966–68), Atlanta Braves (1969–72), Oakland Athletics (1972), Boston Red Sox (1973), and Kansas City Royals (1974). Cepeda was selected to play in seven Major League Baseball All-Star Games during his career, becoming the first player from Puerto Rico to start one. In 1987, Cepeda was contracted by the San Francisco Giants to work as a scout and "goodwill ambassador." In 1999, Cepeda was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
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Paul Arizin
Paul Joseph Arizin (April 9, 1928 – December 12, 2006), nicknamed "Pitchin' Paul," was an American basketball player who spent his entire National Basketball Association career with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1950 to 1962. He retired with the third highest career point total (16,266) in NBA history, and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History upon its 50th anniversary in 1996. He was a high-scoring forward at Villanova University before being drafted by the Warriors of the fledgling NBA.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Arizin did not play basketball at La Salle College High School, failing to make the team in his only tryout as a senior. Arizin graduated just a year before another NBA hall of famer, Tom Gola, entered La Salle College High School as a freshman.
During his freshmen year at Villanova, Arizin played CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) basketball in Philadelphia. Late in that season, Al Severance, the then Villanova varsity basketball coach, attended one of Arizin's CYO games. Afterwards, Severance approached Arizin and asked, "How would you like to go to Villanova?" His answer: "I go to Villanova."
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Paul Hines
Paul Aloysius Hines (March 1, 1855 – July 10, 1935) was an American center fielder in professional baseball who played in the National Association and Major League Baseball from 1872 to 1891. Born in Virginia, he is credited with winning baseball's first triple crown in 1878; the accomplishment was not noted at the time, as runs batted in would not be counted until years later, home runs were rare and home run leadership obscure, and Abner Dalrymple was then erroneously recognized as the batting champion. There is some controversy over whether Hines was also the first player to turn an unassisted triple play.
Hines probably practiced with the original Washington Nationals or played on its junior team before joining the National Association with that club in 1872. When the original Chicago White Stockings resumed play in 1874, the teenage Hines played every game, usually in center field. He remained with the club four seasons, including the inaugural National League championship season of 1876, and then played eight seasons for the Providence Grays from 1878 to 1885, that club's entire major league association including two more pennants. He remained an every day major league center fielder through two seasons for a new Washington Nationals club and one for the Indianapolis Hoosiers, shifting to first base for a second Indianapolis season in 1889. He returned to center field with gradually declining playing time for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Boston Beaneaters and Washington Statesmen in 1890 and 1891. As of 2006 he is commonly listed as the oldest player in the major leagues during those seasons, ages 38 and 39, but recent research has shown that he was three years younger. He finished his professional career splitting 1896 between Burlington, Iowa and Mobile, Alabama at age 41.
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Perry Moss
Perry Lee Moss (born August 4, 1926) is a former American football football player, coach, and executive. Moss played tailback at the University of Tulsa and quarterback at Illinois during the 1940s. As a Tulsa tailback, he was on the Orange Bowl team that beat Georgia Tech, 26–12, in the 1945 Orange Bowl and later as an Illinois T-quarterback, he directed a Rose Bowl team which routed UCLA, 45–14, in 1947. Moss served two years in the United States Air Force between his playing time at Tulsa and Illinois. At Illinois, he was named to All-Big Ten Conference and All-American teams. He was drafted in 1948 by the Green Bay Packers in the 13th round (111th pick overall) and played at the professional level for one year before returning to Illinois as an assistant.
Moss served as head baseball coach and backfield coach at the University of Miami in 1955 and University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1958. In 1959, he was named as the head football coach and athletic director at Florida State, and compiled a 4–6 record and later at Marshall University in 1968 where he compiled an 0–9–1 record before resigning in the wake of NCAA recruiting violations. From 1960 through 1962 he was head coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. In the mid-1960s and again in the early 1980s he coached the West Virginia Rockets of the semi-pro American Football Association. In 1991, he was named as first coach of the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League and compiled a record of 59–25 before leaving the team in 1997.
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Pete Runnels
James Edward "Pete" Runnels (January 28, 1928 – May 20, 1991) was a Major League Baseball infielder who played for the Washington Senators (1951–57), Boston Red Sox (1958–62) and Houston Colt .45s (1963–64). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Runnels was born in Lufkin, Texas. A master at handling the bat, he was a notorious singles hitter who had one of the best eyes in the game, compiling an outstanding 1.35 walk-to-strikeout ratio (844-to-627). Altogether, he batted over .300 six times, once with the Senators, five with the Red Sox. Despite winning the batting title in 1960, he drove in just 35 runs, a record low for a batting title winner.
Solid and versatile with the glove, Runnels started as a shortstop with the Senators, but ultimately played 644 games at first base, 642 at second, 463 at shortstop, and 49 at third. Twice he led the American League in fielding percentage, at second base in 1960 (.986), and at first base in 1961 (.995). He was not a good base stealer: in 1952 he set the record for most attempted steals with no successes, at 10. In his career he stole 37 bases and was caught 51 times.
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Pete Suder
Peter Suder (April 16, 1916 – November 14, 2006), nicknamed "Pecky," was an American professional baseball player, a utility infielder for the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics (1941–43 and 1946–55). He was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.
Suder led the American League in grounding into double plays (23) in 1941. He is also the Athletics' all-time leader in grounding into double plays (158). Suder was a member of the 1949 Philadelphia Athletics team that set a major league team record of 217 double plays, a record which still stood as of 2010.
In 13 seasons he played in 1,421 games, had 5,085 at bats, 469 runs, 1,268 hits, 210 doubles, 44 triples, 49 home runs, 541 runs batted in, 19 stolen bases, 288 bases on balls, a .249 batting average, .290 on-base percentage, .337 slugging percentage, 1,713 total bases and 92 sacrifice hits.
He died, aged 90, in Aliquippa.
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Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees (1941–1956). Rizzuto was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
A popular figure on a team dynasty which captured 10 AL titles and seven World Championships in his 13 seasons, Rizzuto holds numerous World Series records for shortstops. His best statistical season was 1950, when he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. Despite this offensive peak, Rizzuto was a classic "small ball" player, noted for his strong defense in the infield. The slick-fielding Rizzuto is also regarded as one of the best bunters in baseball history. When he retired, his 1,217 career double plays ranked second in major league history, trailing only Luke Appling's total of 1,424, and his .968 career fielding average trailed only Lou Boudreau's mark of .973 among AL shortstops.
Ted Williams once claimed that his Red Sox would have won most of the Yankees' 1940s and 1950s pennants if they had had Rizzuto at shortstop, but Rizzuto himself was more modest: "My stats don't shout. They kind of whisper."
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Rafael Palmeiro
Rafael Palmeiro Corrales (born September 24, 1964 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and left fielder. Palmeiro was an All-American at Mississippi State University before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1985. He played for the Cubs (1986–1988), Texas Rangers (1989–1993, 1999–2003), and the Baltimore Orioles (1994–1998, 2004–2005). He was named to the MLB All-Star Team four times, and won the Gold Glove three times. He is a member of the exclusive 500 home run club and the 3,000 hit club and is only the fourth player in history to be a member of both.
Days after recording his 3,000th hit, Palmeiro was suspended for testing positive for an anabolic steroid.
Palmeiro was born in Havana, Cuba and graduated from Miami Jackson High School. He played college baseball at Mississippi State University. Although he was drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 1982 draft, he did not sign. On June 11, 1985, Palmeiro signed with the Chicago Cubs as the 22nd pick in the 1st round of the 1985 draft. Rafael Palmeiro played baseball during early years in Miami, together with Jose Canseco and many other players. The coach that they play under was Osvaldo Morales who used to coach Jose Canseco in Miami Coral Park Hight School at the Junior Varsity team.
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Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four different teams (1967–1987). He was nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees. Jackson won five consecutive American League West divisional pennants, three consecutive American League pennants and two consecutive World Series titles as a member of the Oakland Athletics (he did not play in the 1972 World Series due to injury) from 1971 to 1975; four American League East divisional pennants, three American League pennants and two consecutive World Series titles with the Yankees from 1977 to 1981; and two American League West divisional pennants with the California Angels in 1982 and 1986. He is perhaps best remembered for hitting three consecutive home runs in the clinching game of the 1977 World Series.
Jackson played for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics (1967–1975, 1987), Baltimore Orioles (1976), New York Yankees (1977–1981), and California Angels (1982–1986). A 14-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jackson won two Silver Slugger Awards, the 1973 American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, two World Series MVP Awards, and the 1977 Babe Ruth Award.
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Richie Ashburn
Don Richard "Richie" Ashburn (March 19, 1927 – September 9, 1997), also known by the nicknames, "Putt-Putt", "The Tilden Flash", and "Whitey" due to his light-blond hair, was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska (some sources give his full middle name as "Richie"). From his youth on a farm, he grew up to become a professional outfielder and veteran broadcaster for the Philadelphia Phillies and one of the most beloved sports figures in Philadelphia history. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995.
One of the famous "Whiz Kids" of the National League champion 1950 Phillies, Ashburn spent 12 of his 15 major-league seasons as the Phillies' center fielder (from 1948 through 1959). He sported a .308 lifetime batting average, leading the National League twice, and routinely led the league in fielding percentage. In 1950, in the last game of the regular season, he threw Dodgers' runner Cal Abrams out at home plate to preserve a 1–1 tie and set the stage for Dick Sisler's pennant-clinching home run.
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Rickey Henderson
Richard Nelson Henley "Rickey" Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder who played for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. Nicknamed The Man of Steal, he is widely regarded as the sport's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner. He holds the major league records for career stolen bases, runs scored, unintentional walks and leadoff home runs. At the time of his last major league game in 2003, the ten-time American League (AL) All-Star ranked among the sport's top 100 all-time home run hitters and was its all-time leader in bases on balls. In 2009, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot appearance.
In addition to the career steals record, Henderson also holds the single-season record for stolen bases (130 in 1982) and is the only player in AL history to steal 100 bases in a season, having done so three times. His 1,406 career steals is 50% higher than the previous record of 938 by Lou Brock. Henderson is the all-time stolen base leader for the Oakland A's and previously held the New York Yankees' franchise record from 1988-2011. He was among the league's top ten base stealers in 21 different seasons.
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Robin Yount
Robin R. Yount ( /ˈjɒnt/; nicknamed,"The Kid", and "Rockin' Robin", born September 16, 1955) is an American former Major League Baseball shortstop and center fielder. He spent his entire 20-year baseball career with the Milwaukee Brewers (1974–1993). In 1999, Yount was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Yount was born in Danville, Illinois. During his youth, his family moved to southern California, where he attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills.
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Rocky Colavito
Rocco Domenico "Rocky" Colavito, Jr. (born August 10, 1933 in New York City) is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball best known for his years with the Cleveland Indians. He wore a #6, #7 or #21 jersey during his MLB career. Colavito was the fifth player in American League history to have eleven consecutive 20-home run seasons (1956–66), exceeding 40 home runs three times and 100 runs batted in six times during that span; he also led the AL in home runs, RBI and slugging average once each. Hitting all but three of his 374 career home runs in the AL, he ranked behind only Jimmie Foxx (524) and Harmon Killebrew (then at 397) among the league's right-handed hitters when he retired. In 1965, playing every game, he became the first outfielder in AL history to complete a season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, and his 1272 AL games in right field ranked eighth in league history at the end of his career. He currently lives in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Colavito grew up in The Bronx as a devoted fan of the New York Yankees, particularly Joe DiMaggio. By age nine he was playing semipro baseball, and he dropped out of school at age 16 to pursue Major rules to wait until his school class graduated before signing, and only a special appeal allowed him to go pro after a one-year wait. The Yankees expressed little interest in him, and the Philadelphia Athletics had to bow out due to financial problems; the Cleveland Indians finally signed him in 1950, with two-thirds of his signing bonus deferred until he progressed in their system. He spent most of the next six years working his way up. With the Indianapolis Indians in 1954, Colavito would hit 38 home runs and accumulate 116 RBIs.
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Rod Carew
Rodney Cline "Rod" Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman, second baseman and coach. He played from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels and was elected to the All-Star game every season except his last. In 1991, Carew was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. While Carew was never a home run threat (hitting fewer than 100 career home runs), he made a career out of being a consistent contact hitter. He threw right-handed and batted left-handed.
Carew is a Zonian and was born to a Panamanian mother on a train in the town of Gatún, which, at that time, was in the Panama Canal Zone. The train was racially segregated; white passengers were given the better forward cars, while non-whites, like Carew's mother, were forced to ride in the rearward cars. When she went into labor, a physician traveling on the train, Dr. Rodney Cline, delivered the baby. In appreciation for this, Mrs. Carew named the boy Rodney Cline Carew.
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Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "The Rocket", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams. Clemens was one of the most dominant pitchers in major league history, tallying 354 wins, a 3.12 earned run average (ERA), and 4,672 strikeouts, the third-most all time. An 11-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, he won seven Cy Young Awards during his career, the most of any pitcher. Clemens was known for his fierce competitive nature and for his hard-throwing pitching style that he used to intimidate batters.
Clemens debuted in the major leagues in 1984 with the Boston Red Sox, whose pitching staff he anchored for 12 years. In 1986, he won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award, the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, and the All-Star Game MVP Award, and he struck out an MLB-record 20 batters in a single game. After the 1996 season, Clemens left Boston via free agency and joined the Toronto Blue Jays. In each of his two seasons with Toronto, Clemens won a Cy Young Award, as well as the pitching triple crown by leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. Prior to the 1999 season, Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees where he won his only two World Series titles. In 2003, he reached his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout in the same game. Clemens left for the Houston Astros in 2004, where he spent three seasons and won his seventh Cy Young Award. He rejoined the Yankees in 2007 for one last season.
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Roger Connor
Roger Connor (July 1, 1857 – January 4, 1931) was a 19th-century Major League Baseball player, born in Waterbury, Connecticut. Known for being the player whom Babe Ruth succeeded as the all-time home run champion, Connor hit 138 home runs during his 18-year career, and his career home run record stood for 23 years after his retirement in 1897.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Connor entered the National League in 1880 as a member of the Troy Trojans. He later played for the New York Gothams, and, due to his great stature, gave that team the enduring nickname "Giants". He was regularly among the league leaders in batting average and home runs until his retirement in 1897. Although he only led the league in home runs once (the Players' League in 1890), Connor's career mark of 138 was a benchmark not surpassed until 1921 by Babe Ruth. He finished his career with a .317 batting average. Connor is credited with being the first player to hit a grand slam in the major leagues and being the first to hit an over-the-wall home run at the Polo Grounds. His grand slam came with two outs and his team down three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. George Vecsey, in The New York Times wrote: "Roger Connor was a complete player — a deft first baseman and an agile base runner who hit 233 triples and stole 244 bases despite his size (6 feet 3 inches and 200 pounds)."
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Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) on four teams, from 1957 through 1968. Maris hit a record 61 home runs during the 1961 season for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs in 1927. Maris' record stood for the next 37 years.
Maris appeared in seven World Series games. He was a two-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) (1960–1961), seven-time All-Star (1959–62), and an AL Gold Glove winner in 1960. His accomplishment of 61 home runs in a season, which was greatly debated in its own time, came back to the forefront in 1998, when the record was broken by both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. On September 24, 2011, the 50th anniversary of Maris' home run record was celebrated in Yankee Stadium.
Roger Maris was the son of Croatian immigrants. He was born Roger Eugene Maras(he later changed his last name to Maris) in Hibbing, Minnesota. He grew up in Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota, where he attended Shanley High School. Maris, a gifted athlete, participated in many sports while in Fargo, and excelled at football and still holds the official high school record for most kickoff return touchdowns in a game, with four.
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Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby, Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1937). Hornsby had 2,930 hits, 301 home runs, and a .358 batting average during his career; he was named the National League (NL)'s Most Valuable Player (MVP) twice, and was a member of one World Series championship team.
Born and raised in Texas, Hornsby played for several semi-professional and minor league teams. In 1915, he began his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals and remained with the team for 12 seasons; during this period, Hornsby won his first MVP Award and the Cardinals won the 1926 World Series. After that season, he spent one season at the New York Giants and another with the Boston Braves before being traded to the Chicago Cubs. He played with the Cubs for four years and won his second MVP Award before the team released him in 1932. Hornsby re-signed with the Cardinals in 1933, but was released partway through the season and was picked up by the St. Louis Browns. He remained there until his final season in 1937. From 1925 to 1937, Hornsby was intermittently his own manager. After retiring as a player, he managed the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952 to 1953.
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Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers (born August 25, 1946) is a retired American Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics (1968–76), San Diego Padres (1977–80) and Milwaukee Brewers (1981–85). He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. Fingers is also one of only a few MLB players to have his number retired by more than one club (Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers).
Fingers was born in Steubenville, Ohio to George Michael Fingers and Edna Pearl (née Stafford) Fingers.
His father (who had also played minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and roomed with Stan Musial), worked in a Steubenville steel mill. George Fingers came home from work fed-up one day, said "That's it, we're moving to California," and sold the house for $1,500 and bought a car and took the family to Cucamonga. They could not afford hotels so they slept in sleeping bags beside the highway. After getting to California George Fingers had to eventually go back to work in another steel mill.
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Ron Fraser
Ronald 'Ron' Fraser (born June 25, 1933 in Nutley, New Jersey) was the college baseball coach at the University of Miami from 1963 to 1992.
Nicknamed the "Wizard of College Baseball," he was one of the most successful coaches in NCAA baseball history, and was also responsible for bringing college baseball to a new level of public awareness. The Miami Hurricanes baseball team went from being on the brink of being "contracted" to being the toast of college baseball under Fraser's tenure.
Born and raised in Nutley, New Jersey, Fraser was a three-sport letterman at Nutley High School where he graduated in 1953. After graduation, he played baseball for Florida State University from 1954 to 1956 as a relief pitcher. After that he was in the Army for some years, stationed in Germany and the Netherlands. He became manager of the national team of Germany and after the 1958 European championship, he managed the Netherlands until 1963. In 1963, Fraser took a head coaching job with the University of Miami, a school which did not offer its baseball players a scholarship. Even though the school did not begin to offer scholarships until 1973, Fraser built a respectable program through hard work and endless promotions. Some of the people Fraser brought in to bring publicity to the program were Major League Baseball Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Stan Musial, as well as announcer Joe Garagiola. In 1974, Miami was runner-up to the University of Southern California, a perennial college baseball powerhouse. The previous year, Miami started a record streak of consecutive postseason appearances in college baseball, a record which as of the 2009 season is still being added to. Also in 1973, Mark Light Stadium was built in large part to efforts by Fraser to build a privately funded stadium.
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Roy Grover
Roy Arthur Grover (January 17, 1892 – February 7, 1978) was a Major League Baseball second baseman. He played all or part of three seasons in the majors, between 1916 and 1919, for the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators.
In 1917, Grover was the Athletics' starting second baseman. That year, he set the all-time Athletics franchise record for sacrifice hits with 43, a record that still stands.
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Roy Sievers
Roy Edward Sievers (born November 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former first baseman/left fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1949 through 1965, Sievers played for the St. Louis Browns (1949–53), the original Washington Senators (1954–59), Chicago White Sox (1960–61), Philadelphia Phillies (1962–64), and finally the new Senators (1964–65). He batted and threw right-handed.
Signed by the St. Louis Browns as a free agent in 1947, Sievers debuted in the major leagues on April 21, 1949.
Sievers won the American League Rookie of the Year and TSN Rookie of the Year awards in 1949, batting .306 with 16 home runs and 75 RBI. He struggled to .238 in 1950, and for the next three years he suffered shoulder and arm injuries that limited his playing time to 134 games. He was traded to the Washington Senators for Gil Coan before the 1954 season.
In Washington, Sievers collected 95 or more RBI and played at least 144 games during five consecutive years (1954–58) and made the AL All-Star team three times (1956–57, 1959). His most productive season came in 1957, when he led the league in home runs (42), RBI (114), extra base hits (70) and total bases (331), batting .301. He finished third in the MVP ballot with four first-place votes and 205 points –Mickey Mantle got six and 233, Ted Williams five and 209.
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Rube Oldring
Reuben Henry "Rube" Oldring (May 30, 1884 – September 9, 1961), was a professional baseball player who played outfield in the major leagues from 1905 to 1918. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees.
Oldring started his professional baseball career in the Southern Association, in 1905. That October, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Athletics in the rule 5 draft.
From 1907 to 1915, Oldring was a regular outfielder on the A's. He played in three World Series with them.
Oldring played in the minor leagues for several years after his major league career was over. In 1923, he hit .342 for Wilson of the Virginia League and also managed the team to the pennant.
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Rube Waddell
George Edward Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels (1897, 1899), Pittsburgh Pirates (1900–01) and Chicago Orphans (1901) in the National League, and the Philadelphia Athletics (1902–07) and St. Louis Browns (1908–10) in the American League. Waddell earned the nickname "Rube" because he was a big, fresh kid. The term was commonly used to refer to hayseeds or farmboys. He was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania.
Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
Waddell, a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters mostly slapped at the ball to get singles, had an excellent fastball, a sharp-breaking curve, a screwball, and superb control (his strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1). He led the Major Leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years.
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Rube Walberg
George Elvin Walberg (July 27, 1896 – October 27, 1978) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1923 through 1937 for the New York Giants (1923), Philadelphia Athletics (1923–1933) and Boston Red Sox (1934–1937). Walberg batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Pine City, Minnesota.
In a 15-season career, Walberg posted a 155–141 record with 1085 strikeouts and a 4.16 ERA in 2644 innings, including 15 shutouts and 140 complete games.
A consistent and durable pitcher, Walberg averaged 16 wins for the Philadelphia Athletics of Connie Mack from 1926 to 1932, with career-highs of 20 wins in 1931 and 18 in 1929. He also had a 1–1 mark with a 1.93 ERA for the Athletics in five World Series appearances. A good-hitting pitcher, Walberg collected a .220 batting average with four home runs and 84 runs batted in. When Mack dismantled the Athletics in 1933, he was sent along with Lefty Grove and Max Bishop to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for two players and $150.000. He was a spot starter and reliever with Boston during three seasons and pitched his last game at the age of forty-one.
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Rudy York
Preston Rudolph York (August 17, 1913 – February 5, 1970) was a Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Detroit Tigers (1934, 1937–45), Boston Red Sox (1946–47), Chicago White Sox (1947) and Philadelphia Athletics (1948). York was born in Ragland, Alabama. He batted and threw right-handed.
With one-eighth Cherokee ancestry and less-than-perfect fielding abilities, York prompted one sportswriter to declare: "He is part Indian and part first baseman".
York's family moved from Ragland, Alabama, to Aragon, Georgia, when Rudy was a small boy. Rudy's mother moved the family to the Cartersville, Georgia, area sometime in the late 1920s. They lived in the American Textile Company (ATCO) mill town on the outskirts of Cartersville, where Rudy began working in his early teens.
In his mid-teens, Rudy was playing baseball with older men on the ATCO mill team and receiving local attention for his prowess at the plate. Rudy would become the team's star player from 1930 to 1933.
York received a tryout and was signed by the Knoxville club of the Southern League in April 1933 but was released after appearing in just three games. Rudy returned to the Atco community and briefly resumed play with the mill team. He spent most of June of that year playing for a semi-pro team in Albany, Georgia, before returning to Atco for another brief stint with the mill team. In early July, Detroit scout Eddie Goosetree signed him for the Tigers. Assigned briefly to Shreveport of the Dixie League, he finished the 1933 season with Beaumont of the Texas League.
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Sam Chapman
Samuel Blake Chapman (April 11, 1916 – December 22, 2006) was an American two-sport athletic star who played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball, spending nearly his entire career with the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1945–1951). He batted and threw right-handed, leading the American League in putouts four times. He was previously an All-American college football player at the University of California.
Born in Tiburon, California, Chapman graduated from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California in 1934, with letters in football, baseball, basketball and track; his football coach was former Cal star Roy Riegels.
Going to the university at Riegels' suggestion, Chapman starred in football for the Golden Bears, being named an All-American for the 1937 Pacific Coast Conference and national champion "Thunder Team", which went on to win the 1938 Rose Bowl; the last time California has won the game. Nicknamed the "Tiburon Terror", Chapman was also an All-American baseball player in college.
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Sam Crawford
Samuel Earl Crawford (April 18, 1880 – June 15, 1968), nicknamed "Wahoo Sam", was a Major League Baseball player who played outfield for the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957.
Crawford batted and threw left-handed, stood 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds. He was one of the greatest sluggers of the dead-ball era and still holds the Major League's records for triples in a career (309) and inside-the-park home runs in a season (12). He has the second best all-time record for most inside-the-park home runs in a career (51). He finished his career with 2,961 hits and a .309 batting average, and became first player to lead both American League and the National League in home runs (1901 and 1908).
Baseball legend, Ed Barrow, who managed Crawford in his first two years with Detroit, and went on to convert Babe Ruth to an outfielder as general manager of the Yankees, once said that “there never was a better hitter” than Crawford.” One of his contemporaries, Fielder Jones, said of Crawford: “None of them can hit quite as hard as Crawford. He stands up at the plate like a brick house and he hits all the pitchers, without playing favorites.”
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Sam Thompson
Samuel Luther Thompson (March 5, 1860 – November 7, 1922) was a 19th-century Major League Baseball player. "Big Sam" (6 feet 2 inches, and 200 pounds) was known for his offensive production and was second on the career home runs list at the time of his retirement. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.
Thompson's 1887 total of 166 RBIs stood as a Major League record for 34 years until Babe Ruth broke the record in 1921. He was the only 19th-century player to drive in 150 or more runs and he did it twice. His .923 RBIs/Game is still a major league record, and he has the still-standing record of 61 RBIs in 1 month, which he accomplished for the Philadelphia Phillies in August 1895.
Born in Danville, Indiana, Thompson entered the National League in 1885 with the Detroit Wolverines and played his first full season in 1886. An outfielder, Thompson had his breakout season in 1887 when he batted .372 with 118 runs, 203 hits, 11 home runs and 166 RBIs en route to leading the Wolverines to the National League pennant as well as a World Series victory over the St. Louis Browns of the American Association - the other major league at the time. The Wolverines finished the 1888 season in fifth place, losing so much money that the team folded and the players were sold off. Thompson was purchased by the Philadelphia Quakers (known as the Philadelphia Phillies beginning in 1890), for $5,000 cash (equal to $129,333 today). He would play for them until 1898.
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Sammy Sosa
Samuel Peralta "Sammy" Sosa (born November 12, 1968) is a Dominican former professional baseball right fielder. Sosa played with four Major League Baseball teams over his career which spanned from 1989-2007.
Sosa's Major League career began with the Texas Rangers in 1989. After three seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Sosa became a member of the Chicago Cubs in 1992 and subsequently became one of the league's best hitters. In 1998, Sosa and Mark McGwire achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' home run record. Sosa finished his career with brief stints with the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers. With the Rangers, Sosa hit his 600th career home run to become the fifth player in MLB history to reach the milestone. He is also the all-time home run leader among foreign-born MLB players. Furthermore, Sosa is one of only two National League Players to ever reach 160 RBI in a season, a milestone he reached in 2001. The other was Cubs player and RBI Champion Hack Wilson during his record setting 1930 season in which he recorded 191 RBI. Sosa is the only player to have hit 60 or more home runs in a single season three times.
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Sherry Magee
Sherwood Robert "Sherry" Magee (August 6, 1884 – March 13, 1929) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1904 through 1919, Magee played for the Philadelphia Phillies (1904–14), Boston Braves (1915–1917) and Cincinnati Reds (1917–1919). He batted and threw right-handed.
In a 16-season career, Magee posted a .291 batting average with 83 home runs and 1,176 runs batted in in 2,087 games played.
A native of Clarendon, Pennsylvania, Magee was one of the premier hitters of the dead-ball era. He could hit, run and field, and played with intelligence and aggressively. Nevertheless, he has been one of the most underrated ballplayers in major league history.[citation needed]
From 1905 through 1914, Magee finished in the National League Top 10 in home runs and RBIs seven times, including leading the NL in RBIs four times. He led the league for a fourth time in the 1918 campaign, which was shortened by World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic. Magee also hit over .300 five times, including a batting title to his credit as well, while also being known as one of the finest defensive outfielders of his day. To top it all off, he collected 2,169 hits and 441 stolen bases, including 23 steals of home.
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Snuffy Stirnweiss
George Henry "Snuffy" Stirnweiss (October 26, 1918 – September 15, 1958) was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1943 through 1952, Stirnweiss played for the New York Yankees (1943–50), St. Louis Browns (1950) and Cleveland Indians (1951–52). He batted and threw right-handed.
In a 10-season career, Stirnweiss was a .268 hitter with 29 home runs and 281 RBI in 1028 games played.
A native of New York City, Stirnweiss was an All-American halfback at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating in 1940, he was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League. Nevertheless, he cast his lot with baseball and signed with the New York Yankees organization, starting his major league career with the Yankees in 1943.
Stirnweiss was in three World Series and appeared in the All-Star Game in 1945 and 1946. He won the American League batting title in 1945 with a .309 average. On the final day of the season, he trailed Tony Cuccinello, whose final game had been rained out. After Stirnweiss singled in his first two at-bats, word came from the press box that he was ahead of Cuccinello and should sit out the rest of the game. He refused to do so, but then went out his next two times up. In the final inning, he singled. Without the additional 1-for-3, he would not have beaten Cuccinello. However, this fact was never discussed in the press.
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Socks Seybold
Ralph Orlando "Socks" Seybold (November 23, 1870 – December 22, 1921) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played over parts of nine seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Athletics. Known as a power hitter, Seybold set the American League record for home runs in 1902, which would not be broken until 1919. He stood at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) and weighed 200 lbs.
Seybold was born in Washingtonville, Ohio. He started his professional baseball career in 1892, and over the next few years he played in the Pennsylvania State League and Atlantic League. In 1896, he had a breakout season, hitting .352 at Lancaster, and in 1897, he led the team to the pennant by slugging a league-leading 14 home runs. Seybold led the Atlantic League in homers again in 1898 and was leading in 1899 when he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds.
Seybold made his major league debut on August 20. He did not hit well in Cincinnati, and returned to the minors in 1900. He led the American League in home runs, with 9. Seybold then got his second shot in the majors in 1901, with the Philadelphia Athletics, and this time, he stuck. That season, he hit .334 and had a 27-game hitting streak in July and August.
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Sonny Hill
William Randolph "Sonny" Hill (born July 22, 1936) is a former basketball player and announcer. He is a member of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, and current sports radio personality for WIP-AM 610 in Philadelphia. He also serves as an executive advisor for the Philadelphia 76ers. He is known as Mr. Basketball in Philadelphia for founding the eponymous Sonny Hill League and for his many contributions to the game.
Hill was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Northeast High School He attended college for two years and then joined the Eastern Basketball League. Publically, Sonny prides himself and his professional status as "retired", and although he is presently holding such esteemed positions as Executive Advisor to the Philadelphia 76ers, to those who know him best, his true title has always been "inventor."
Hill is the father of filmmaker K. Brent Hill
Sonny played college basketball and semi-professionally in the Eastern Basketball League from 1958 to 1967. He is also credited with playing a game of H.O.R.S.E against The CEO of Bugle Boy Jeans that lasted 9 days long. The game ended in a draw.
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Spud Chandler
Spurgeon Ferdinand "Spud" Chandler (September 12, 1907 – January 9, 1990) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in major league baseball, who played his entire career for the New York Yankees from 1937 through 1947. He was named the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1943 after anchoring the team's pitching staff with 20 wins and only 4 losses as New York won its third consecutive pennant; his 1.64 earned run average in that season was the lowest by any major league pitcher between 1920 and 1967, and remains a Yankees team record. In eleven seasons, he never suffered a losing record; with a total of 109 wins and 43 losses, his career winning percentage of .717 is the highest of any pitcher with at least 100 victories since 1876.
Chandler attended the University of Georgia, near his birthplace and hometown of Royston, Georgia, and played football as a halfback, throwing a touchdown pass to help defeat Yale in a 1929 game dedicating a new stadium. He also pitched for the baseball team and competed on the track team. He was a brother of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and graduated with a degree in agriculture. He spent five seasons in the Yankees organization after signing with the team, his favorite since boyhood. Chandler finally made his major league debut at age 29 on May 6, 1937, and went 7-4 that season with a 2.84 ERA and six complete games (including two shutouts). The following year he was 14-5, and in 1939 he was 3-0 in 11 relief appearances. Although the Yankees won the World Series in each of those years, Chandler did not appear in the postseason. Bothered by injuries during his early career, after records of 8-7 and 10-4 in 1940 and 1941 he improved further to 16-5 in 1942, finishing third in the AL with a 2.38 ERA and earning his first of four All-Star selections. He was the All-Star Game's winning pitcher in 1942. Chandler had one start in the World Series each year, but lost both times, as the Yankees won in 1941 and lost in 1942.
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Steve Carlton
Steven Norman "Steve" Carlton (born December 22, 1944), nicknamed "Lefty", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1965 to 1988 for six different teams in his career, but it is his time with the Philadelphia Phillies where he received his greatest acclaim as a professional and won four Cy Young Awards. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
Carlton has the second-most lifetime strikeouts of any left-handed pitcher (4th overall), and the second-most lifetime wins of any left-handed pitcher (11th overall). He was the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards in a career. He held the lifetime strikeout record several times between 1982 and 1984, before his contemporary Nolan Ryan passed him. One of his most remarkable records was accounting for nearly half (46%) of his team's wins, when he won 27 games for the last-place (59-97) 1972 Phillies. He is still the last National League pitcher to win 25 or more games in one season, as well as the last pitcher from any team to throw more than 300 innings in a season. He also holds the record with the most career balks of any pitcher, with 90 (double the second on the all time list, Bob Welch).
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Steve Van Buren
Stephen W. Van Buren (born December 28, 1920) is a former professional American football halfback who played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League from 1944–1951, and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Van Buren was born in La Ceiba, Honduras but, after he was orphaned as a boy, he was sent to live with relatives in New Orleans. From Easton High School in New Orleans, he received an athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University, where he led the nation in points (110) and touchdowns (16) as a senior.
A first-round draft pick in the 1944 NFL Draft, Van Buren ran for 444 yards in nine games during his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles. He also led the league in returning punts as a rookie. The following season, Van Buren led the NFL in rushing for the first time. He would win three additional rushing crowns in 1947, 1948 and 1949, becoming the first running back in NFL history to achieve three consecutive rushing titles. Jim Brown (1957–1961, 1963–1965) twice, Earl Campbell (1978–1980), and Emmitt Smith (1991–1993) have since managed that feat. All four are in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.
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Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox (1939–1942 and 1946–1960). Williams was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. A nineteen-time All-Star, he had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Williams recorded a hit 34 percent of the time; he reached base an astounding 48 percent of the time.
Williams was the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941). Williams holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs. His career year was 1941, when he hit .406 with 37 HR, 120 RBI, and 135 runs scored. His .551 on base percentage set a record that stood for 61 years. Nicknamed "The Kid", "The Splendid Splinter", "Teddy Ballgame", "The Thumper" and, because of his hitting prowess, "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived", Williams's career was twice interrupted by service as a U.S. Marine Corps fighter-bomber pilot. An avid sport fisherman, he hosted a television program about fishing, and he was inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame.
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Thurman Munson
Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American Major League Baseball catcher. He played his entire 11-year career for the New York Yankees (1969–1979). A perennial All-Star, Munson is the only Yankee ever to win both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Munson was selected as the fourth pick of the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft. Munson hit over .300 in his two seasons in the Minor Leagues, establishing himself as a hot prospect. He became the starting catcher late in the 1969 season, when the Yankees were reestablishing themselves after a few losing seasons. Munson played his first complete season in 1970, becoming Rookie of the Year after hitting .302.
Considered the "heart and soul" of the Yankees, Munson became the first team captain since Lou Gehrig. He led the Yankees to three consecutive World Series, winning two of them.
Munson died at age 32 while practicing landing his Cessna Citation at Akron-Canton Airport. Munson suffered a broken neck as result of the crash and his cause of death was asphyxiation. His two companions escaped the burned aircraft.
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Tilly Walker
Clarence William "Tilly" Walker (September 4, 1887 – September 20, 1959) was an American left and center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1911 to 1923. Born in Telford, Tennessee, Walker hit .281, and he was one of the first power hitters, slugging 17 home runs in 1920, 23 in 1921, and 37 (with a .549 slugging percentage and a .283 batting average) in 1922. For a time he was among the top ten lifetime home run leaders. He died at age 72 in Unicoi, Tennessee.
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Tom Gola
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Gola (born January 13, 1933, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.
Gola was praised as a great all-around player as a high school student at La Salle College High School, where he led the Explorers to a Philadelphia Catholic League Championship. He entered La Salle a year after another Philadelphia basketball Hall of Famer, Paul Arizin, graduated from Villanova.
Gola was one of the most talented collegiate athletes in Philadelphia sports history. He came to national attention while playing for the hometown La Salle University Explorers men's basketball team in 1954 as an All-American forward. Gola paced the Explorers to the NCAA basketball championship in 1954 and was named Tournament MVP. That same season he was selected as National Player of the Year. As a senior, Gola helped La Salle finish as the runner-up in the 1955 NCAA Tournament. He averaged 20.9 points and 19.0 rebounds during 115 games and holds the NCAA record with 2,201 career rebounds. At 6'6" (198 cm), Gola was clearly a forward who could shoot/score, rebound and defend, but he also had the ballhandling (dribbling, passing) skills of a guard, and with his shooting range and All-Pro defensive skills, could play just as well in the backcourt. He was inducted into the La Salle Hall of Athletes in 1961 and the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1986. Gola was listed on "ESPN's Countdown to the Greatest" College basketball players as #17.
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Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.
Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13 as Jim Lovell, The Green Mile as Paul Edgecomb, Toy Story as Woody and Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.
Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was an itinerant cook. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer)[citation needed], Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California.[citation needed]
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Tony Armas
Antonio Rafael Armas Machado (born July 2, 1953 in Puerto Píritu, Estado Anzoátegui, Venezuela) ) is a former professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He was one of the top sluggers in the American League in the early 1980s. Twice Armas led the league in home runs, and led all of Major League Baseball in RBIs in 1984. He was, however, prone to injuries that affected his career. In his major league career, Armas went to the disabled list twelve times, missing 302 games.
Armas debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates' Gulf Coast League affiliate in 1971 just shy of his eighteenth birthday. He spent six seasons in their farm system, batting .270 with 69 home runs when he received a September call-up in 1976. He appeared in four games for the Pirates, and collected two hits in six at-bats.
During Spring training 1977, he, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford, Doc Medich and Mitchell Page were dealt to the Oakland Athletics for Chris Batton, Phil Garner and Tommy Helms.
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Tony Conigliaro
Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–67, 1969–1970, 1975) and California Angels (1971). He was born in Revere, Massachusetts, and was a 1962 graduate of St. Mary's High School (Lynn, Massachusetts). During the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season of 1967, he was hit in the face by a pitch, causing a severe eye injury and derailing his career. Though he would make a dramatic comeback from the injury, his career was not the same afterwards.
Conigliaro was signed by the Red Sox in 1962, at the age of 17. In 1963, he batted .363 with 24 home runs in the New York - Penn League and was subsequently called up to the majors.
During his 1964 rookie season, Conigliaro batted .290 with 24 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games, but broke his arm and his toes in August.
In his sophomore season in 1965, Conigliaro led the league in home runs (32), becoming the youngest home run champion in American League history. He was selected for the All-Star Game in 1967. In that season, at age 22, he reached a career total of 100 home runs.
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Tony Oliva
Tony Pedro Oliva (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique on July 20, 1938 in Pinar del Río, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter. He played his entire 15-year baseball career for the Minnesota Twins (1962–1976). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. His career was hampered by knee injuries, forcing him to become a designated hitter during his final four years of baseball.
Oliva was born in Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. He played baseball weekly with his father, brothers, and neighbors in a vacant lot near the Olivas' farm. Oliva's father, who worked in a tobacco factory and was famous for rolling the leaves to make the best cigars, was also a former semi-professional player who instructed Oliva and helped him become "the best hitter in Pinar del Río". A scout for the Minnesota Twins noticed him and brought him to the United States to play professionally. He was reluctant to leave his mother, father, and nine siblings, but his father encouraged him to become "rich and famous" in America.
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Tony Pérez
Atanasio Pérez Rigal (born May 14, 1942 in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba), more commonly known as Tony Pérez, is a former Major League Baseball player. He was also known by the nickname "Big Dog," "Big Doggie," and "Doggie."
Until he was traded in December, 1976, Pérez was a key member of Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine". Apart from his years with the Reds (1964–76, 1984–86), he also played for the Montreal Expos (1977–79), Boston Red Sox (1980–82) and Philadelphia Phillies (1983). He finished his career with a .279 batting average, 379 home runs, 1652 runs batted in and 1272 runs scored. After retiring, Pérez went on to manage the Reds and Florida Marlins. He currently holds the title of Special Assistant to the General Manager with the Marlins. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Tony Pérez was named as the Most Valuable Player in the Pacific Coast League in 1964 when he played for the San Diego Padres (then a minor league club). Perez hit .309 with 34 home runs and 107 RBI for the Padres. His performance earned him a promotion to the Reds in the homestretch of the 1964 season.
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Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 (sixth all-time), and still holds the record of 792 career doubles. Defensively, his career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder still stand. His fielding glove was known as the place "where triples go to die."
Speaker led the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships, and then carried the Cleveland Indians, as player-manager, to that team's first-ever World Series title. His innovations, most notably the platoon system and the infield rotation play, revolutionized the game. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in its second year of voting, 1937.
Tris Speaker was born on April 4, 1888 in Hubbard, Texas, to Archie and Nancy Poer Speaker. As a youth, he suffered a fractured right arm in a fall from a horse, forcing him to throw left-handed, which he continued to do throughout his baseball career. In 1905, Speaker played his only year of college baseball, for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute. His left arm was severely injured in a football accident, to the extent that surgeons advised amputation. Tris refused, and fully recovered.
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Troy Glaus
Troy Edward Glaus ( /ˈɡlɔːs/; born August 3, 1976 in Tarzana, California) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and third baseman. Previously, Glaus played with the Anaheim Angels (1998-2004), Arizona Diamondbacks (2005), Toronto Blue Jays (2006-2007), St. Louis Cardinals (2008-2009), and the Atlanta Braves (2010). Glaus lettered in baseball while attending UCLA. He bats and throws right-handed.
Through 10-plus seasons, Glaus has hit .256 with 304 home runs and 877 RBI in 1395 games. In 19 postseason games, he hit .347 with nine home runs and 16 RBI. Glaus has been selected to four All-Star Games.
Glaus began his career with the Angels in 1998 and was installed as the team's starting third baseman in 1999.
Glaus had a breakout season in 2000, becoming the all time single season home run leader for third basemen in Angels history with 47 while leading third baseman in adjusted range factor (2.95) in 2000.
Glaus started in the 2001 MLB All-Star Game and posted his second consecutive 40 home run season with 41 on the year.
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Tug McGraw
Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. (August 30, 1944 – January 5, 2004) was a Major League Baseball relief pitcher and the father of Country music singer Tim McGraw and actor/TV personality Mark McGraw and Cari McGraw. He is likely best remembered for recording the final out, via a strikeout of the Kansas City Royals' Willie Wilson, in the 1980 World Series, bringing the Philadelphia Phillies their first world championship. He was the last active major league player to have played under manager Casey Stengel.
McGraw was born in Martinez, California to Frank Edwin "Big Mac" McGraw, Sr. and Mable McKenna. He got the nickname "Tug" from his mother because of the particularly aggressive way he breast-fed. Frank Senior was the great-grandson of Irish immigrants. McGraw graduated from St. Vincent Ferrer High School in Vallejo, California in 1962. He enrolled in Solano Community College, and signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent on June 12, 1964 upon graduation.
McGraw was used both as a starting pitcher and out of the bullpen in the minors, and after just one season in the Mets' farm system, where he went 6–4 with a 1.64 earned run average in Rookie and class A ball, McGraw made the Mets out of Spring training 1965 without ever having played double or triple A ball. That same year, when asked if he preferred the new astroturf on the field at the Houston Astrodome to real grass, he said, "I don't know, I never smoked AstroTurf".
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Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team's player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes.
Cobb is widely credited with setting 90 Major League Baseball records during his career. He still holds several records as of 2012, including the highest career batting average (.366 or .367, depending on source) and most career batting titles with 11 (or 12, depending on source). He retained many other records for almost a half century or more, including most career hits until 1985 (4,189 or 4,191, depending on source), most career runs (2,245 or 2,246 depending on source) until 2001, most career games played (3,035) and at bats (11,429 or 11,434 depending on source) until 1974, and the modern record for most career stolen bases (892) until 1977. He committed 271 errors in his career, the most by any American League outfielder.
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Vern Stephens
Vernon Decatur Stephens (October 23, 1920 – November 3, 1968) was an American shortstop in professional baseball who played 15 seasons in the American League for four different teams. A native of McAlister, New Mexico, Stephens batted and threw right-handed. He was also nicknamed "Pop-up Stephens", "Junior", and "Buster".
One of the strongest-hitting shortstops in major league history, Stephens compiled a .286 batting average with 247 home runs and 1174 RBI in 1720 games. Breaking with American Major League baseball, Stephens signed a five-year contract with the Mexican League in 1946. He had been in Mexico only a few days when his father, a minor league umpire, and the Browns scout Jack Fournier drove down and brought him back to the United States.
Vern Stephens died of a heart attack in Long Beach, California at 48 years of age.
In August 2008, he was named as one of the ten former players who began their careers before 1943 to be considered by the Veterans Committee for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
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Victor Pellot
Victor Pellot a.k.a. "Vic Power" (November 1, 1927 – November 29, 2005) was the second black Puerto Rican to play in Major League Baseball and the first Puerto Rican to play in the American League. He used the name Vic Power during his 12-year Major League career, but played as Victor Pellot when he played winter baseball in Puerto Rico.
Pellot (birth name: Victor Felipe Pellot Pove), born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was the second child in a family of six. Pellot showed an interest in baseball at a young age, however his father didn't want him to play baseball and would punish him if he caught him doing so. When he was 13 years old, his father died and it was only then that he was able to play the game he loved. His mother moved to the City of Caguas, there he attended and graduated from José Gautier Benítez High School.
In 1946 he started to practice with a local baseball team called the Senadores de San Juan (San Juan Senators) and learned many of his baseball skills. He was later invited to play for the Criollos de Caguas, where he was spotted by a New York Yankees scout. In 1949, he left for the City of Chicago and went to play for a minor league team in Drummondville, Quebec.
wn.com/Victor_Pellot -
Vida Blue
Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. (born July 28, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 17-year career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics (1969–77), San Francisco Giants (1978–81; 1985–86), and Kansas City Royals (1982–83) He won the American League Cy Young award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971. He is a six-time all-star, and is one of only four pitchers in major league history to start the all-star game for both the American League (1971) and the National League (1978); Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay would later duplicate the feat.
Blue, the oldest of six children, was born and raised in Mansfield, Louisiana. His father worked as a laborer in an iron foundry. In high school he pitched for the baseball team and also was the quarterback for the football team. In his senior year of high school, he threw for 3,400 yards and completed 35 touchdown passes while rushing for 1,600 yards in football. Also in his senior year, Blue threw a no-hitter. In seven innings pitched, Blue had 21 strikeouts. He received several offers to play college football, but his father died suddenly. Soon after, Blue signed a contract with the Oakland A's.
wn.com/Vida_Blue -
Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Alvino Guerrero (born February 9, 1975, in Don Gregorio, Nizao, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter. He is currently with the Toronto Blue Jays, having been offered a minor league contract and an "extended spring training" opportunity to get into game shape at the team's Dunedin, Florida facility before an expected summer call up.
In 2004, he was voted the American League MVP. He helped lead the Angels to five American League West championships (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009), and was voted as one of the most feared hitters in baseball in a 2008 poll of all 30 major league managers.
A nine-time All Star, he is widely recognized as one of the best all-around players in the game because of his impressive offensive production, regularly hitting for power and average, and -- prior to injuries that robbed him of range -- stellar defense highlighted by one of the strongest throwing arms in baseball. He is also regarded as the game's premier "bad ball hitter," for his ability to consistently hit balls thrown well outside of his strike zone, a skill made evident on August 14, 2009, when Guerrero hit a pitch which bounced in front of home plate.
wn.com/Vladimir_Guerrero -
Wade Boggs
Wade Anthony Boggs (born June 15, 1958) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent his 18-year baseball career primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also played for the New York Yankees, with whom he won his only World Series, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with whom he recorded his 3,000th hit. His hitting in the 1980s and 1990s made him a perennial contender for American League batting titles. Boggs was elected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
With 12 straight All-Star appearances, Boggs is third only to Brooks Robinson and George Brett in number of consecutive appearances as a third baseman. In 1999, he ranked number 95 on the Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Boggs, a 1976 graduate of Plant High School in Tampa, Florida, currently resides in the Tampa Palms neighborhood of Tampa.
Boggs played in the longest game in professional baseball history as a member of the Pawtucket Red Sox in 1981 against Cal Ripken, Jr. and the Rochester Red Wings.
wn.com/Wade_Boggs -
Wally Moses
Wallace Moses (October 8, 1910 – October 10, 1990) was a right fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1935 through 1951, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1935–1941, 1949–1951), Chicago White Sox (1942–1946) and Boston Red Sox (1946–1948). Moses batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Uvalda, Georgia.
Moses started his professional career with Galveston of the Texas League, where he batted .316 in 1934. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1935 season. He batted over .300 each of his seven years with them, with a career-best .346 in his sophomore year.
Moses had by far his most productive season in 1937, when he hit career-highs in home runs (25), RBI (86), runs (113), hits (208) and doubles (48), batting .320 with 13 triples. In 1939, he missed a World Series opportunity when his trade to the Detroit Tigers for Benny McCoy was nullified by Baseball Commissioner K.M. Landis. The verdict made several Tigers free agents.
Through years of last place finishes with Philadelphia, Moses had little chance to display his speed on the basepaths. But in 1943, with the Chicago White Sox, he posted a career-high 56 stolen bases and co-led the American League in triples (12). A strong-armed right fielder, he led the AL in putouts (329) in 1945.
wn.com/Wally_Moses -
Wally Pipp
Walter Clement Pipp (February 17, 1893 – January 11, 1965) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball, now best remembered as the man who lost his starting role to Lou Gehrig at the beginning of Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games.
After playing 12 games with the Detroit Tigers in 1913, Pipp graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1914. The Chicago-born Pipp then joined the New York Yankees for the 1915 season, and would play 136 or more games for them every season until 1925 (except 1918, when his playing was curtailed by injury), hitting .282 with a little power, even after the end of the "dead ball" era. Pipp did lead the American League with 12 home runs in 1916, and again with 9 in 1917. Pipp was the first Yankee to win a home run title. Pipp scouted and asked Miller Huggins to sign young Lou Gehrig from Columbia University, whom Pipp personally helped develop as a young first baseman.
On June 2, 1925, Pipp was removed from the Yankees' starting lineup and replaced with Gehrig. While many stories over the years have said Pipp sat out the game due to a headache, others suggest Yankee manager Miller Huggins may have actually benched Pipp and other veterans in order to "shake up" the slumping lineup. A month later, Pipp received a skull fracture when he was hit by a practice pitch from Charlie Caldwell, an event that had also been mistakenly linked to his initial benching. Pipp was later traded to the Cincinnati Reds before the 1926 season.
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Wikipedia Persondata
wn.com/Wikipedia_Persondata -
Willie Hernández
Guillermo "Willie" Hernández Villanueva (born November 14, 1954 in Aguada, Puerto Rico) is a former relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs (1977–1983), Philadelphia Phillies (1983), and the Detroit Tigers (1984–1989). He threw and batted left-handed.
Hernández signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1973. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs from the Phillies in the 1976 Rule V Draft. In his first two years in the majors (1977 and 1978), Hernandez went 16–9 with a 3.03 ERA in '77 and a 3.77 ERA in '78. The Cubs gave him a try as a starter in 1980, but he went 1–9 that year in 7 starts and 53 games pitched.
From 1979 to 1982, Hernández was 9–19 and gave up 128 earned runs in that time. After being traded to the Phillies for Bill Johnson and Dick Ruthven, he went 8–4 with 3.29 ERA and 7 saves. The Phillies made the World Series that year, losing to the Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.
Prior to the 1984 season, Hernández was traded to the Detroit Tigers with Dave Bergman for Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss. He had a 9–3 record, 32 saves and a 1.92 ERA in 140 innings pitched, while recording 112 strikeouts. In the entire season, Hernandez gave up only 6 home runs, 30 runs, 36 base on balls, and 96 hits. His 32 saves came in 33 opportunities.
wn.com/Willie_Hernández -
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931) is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Most baseball fans and historians agree that Mays was the greatest all-around baseball player to have played in the Major Leagues.
Mays won two MVP awards and tied Stan Musial's record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. Mays ended his career with 660 home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. An outstanding center fielder, he won a record-tying twelve Gold Gloves starting the year the award was introduced six seasons into his career.
In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News' List of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is one of five NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
wn.com/Willie_Mays -
Willie McCovey
Willie Lee McCovey (born January 10, 1938 in Mobile, Alabama), nicknamed "Mac", "Big Mac", and "Stretch", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played nineteen seasons for the San Francisco Giants, and three more for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics, between 1959 and 1980. He batted and threw left-handed and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
One of the most intimidating power hitters of his era, McCovey was called "the scariest hitter in baseball" by pitcher Bob Gibson, an assessment with which Reggie Jackson concurred. McCovey's powerful swing generated 521 home runs, 231 of which he hit in Candlestick Park, the most hit there by any player, and included a home run of Sept. 16, 1966 described as the longest ever hit in that stadium.
Prior to playing for the San Francisco Giants, McCovey played for a Giants' farm club in Dallas, Texas that was part of the Class AA Southern League. In that league, he did not participate when his team played in Shreveport, Louisiana due to segregation in that city. He later played for the Pacific Coast League Phoenix Giants just prior to joining the San Francisco Giants.
wn.com/Willie_McCovey -
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American basketball player. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA; he played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers. He played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history.
Chamberlain holds numerous NBA all-time records in scoring, rebounding and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists. Although he suffered a long string of professional losses, Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams. Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.
wn.com/Wilt_Chamberlain -
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925) is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career (1946–1965) for the New York Yankees. Berra was one of only four players to be named the Most Valuable Player of the American League three times and is one of only six managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. As a player, coach, or manager, Berra appeared in 21 World Series. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Berra is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. According to the win shares formula developed by sabermetrician Bill James, Berra is the greatest catcher of all time and the 52nd greatest non-pitching player in major-league history.
Berra, who quit school after the eighth grade, has a tendency toward malapropism and fracturing the English language. "It ain't over till it's over" is arguably his most famous example, often quoted. Simultaneously denying and confirming his reputation, Berra once stated, "I really didn't say everything I said."
wn.com/Yogi_Berra -
Zoilo Versalles
Zoilo Casanova Versalles Rodriguez (/vɛərˈsaɪ/ vair-SY ; December 18, 1939 – June 9, 1995), nicknamed "Zorro", was a Cuban shortstop in Major League Baseball, who was considered a solid leadoff man, and a good baserunner whose speed helped him to cover a huge area at shortstop. He was the spark plug who led the 1965 Minnesota Twins to their first World Series, a year in which he also won the American League Most Valuable Player award.
Versalles was born in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Cuba and he had difficulty adjusting to life in the U.S., due largely to the language barrier and his fear of failure, leaving him eternally homesick for his native Cuba. Versalles was signed as an amateur free agent by the Washington Senators prior to the 1958 season and was assigned to the Elmira Pioneers in the Class D New York-Penn League where he held his own and hit .292 in 124 games. The following spring, he went north with the Senators and made his major league debut on 1 April 1959. However, he was obviously overmatched and after hitting .153 with 15 strikeouts in 59 at-bats, Versalles was sent back down and spent the rest of the season with the Fox Cities Foxes in the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, hitting .278 with 9 home runs. In 1960 Versalles split time between Washington and AAA Charleston trying to grow as a player and work through a stereotype that he was too sure of himself and was thus incapable of taking instruction. Although he hit .278 at Charleston with 8 home runs, 50 RBI and 24 stolen bases, he committed 42 errors and had only a .940 fielding percentage.
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Foxx, Jimmie Filmography
- A Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939 (2010)
- Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino (2004)
- Jim McKay: My World in My Words (2003)
- The Curse of the Bambino (2003)
- Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History (2001)
- When It Was a Game (1991)
- Babe Ruth: The Man, the Myth, the Legend (1990)
- Touching All Bases (1939)
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Jimmie Foxx - The Beast
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:51
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. Hit 58 homers in a season and 534 for his career. Ranked #2 to Ruth when he retired.
http://wn.com/Jimmie_Foxx_The_Beast
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. Hit 58 homers in a season and 534 for his career. Ranked #2 to Ruth when he retired.
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:31
- Updated: 17 Sep 2011
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
http://wn.com/Lou_Gehrig_and_Jimmie_Foxx
Neil Armstrong, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Foxx, Muhammad Ali +++ Autograph Collection!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:11
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic.
http://wn.com/Neil_Armstrong,_Roberto_Clemente,_Jimmie_Foxx,_Muhammad_Ali_+++_Autograph_Collection!
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic.
- published: 05 Jul 2012
- views: 970
- author: clutchpromo
Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Jimmie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:43
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Jimmie Foxx's Hall of Fame Video Bio
http://wn.com/Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_Biographies_Jimmie_Foxx
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All-Star Dealers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 08 Mar 2012
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check out velocity.discovery.com
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Foxx_Bat_|_All-Star_Dealers
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check out velocity.discovery.com
- published: 05 Mar 2012
- views: 148
- author: velocity
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All Star Dealers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:08
- Updated: 12 Feb 2012
Watch ALL STAR DEALERS Tuesdays at 8PM e/p on Discovery. | dsc.discovery.com | Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat from the 1920s.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Foxx_Bat_|_All_Star_Dealers
Watch ALL STAR DEALERS Tuesdays at 8PM e/p on Discovery. | dsc.discovery.com | Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat from the 1920s.
- published: 27 Jan 2012
- views: 2817
- author: DiscoveryNetworks
Grabando en el Cine (Ray Charles)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:42
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/Grabando_en_el_Cine_Ray_Charles
jimmy foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:19
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
this video is me, jimmy foxx
http://wn.com/jimmy_foxx
any given sunday-jimmie foxx(official music video)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
any given sunday-jimmie foxx 1999
http://wn.com/any_given_sunday-jimmie_foxxofficial_music_video
Coach's Corner Auctions Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Walter Johnson
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:46
- Updated: 12 Feb 2012
Coach's Corner Auctions
http://wn.com/Coach's_Corner_Auctions_Babe_Ruth,_Lou_Gehrig,_Mickey_Mantle,_Jimmie_Foxx,_Walter_Johnson
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:59
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT, www.myfootage.com
http://wn.com/ALL_STAR_BASEBALL_JIMMY_FOXX,_LOU_GERHIG,_DIZZY_DEAN_SPORT
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT, www.myfootage.com
- published: 23 Aug 2012
- views: 50
- author: clipcafe
For Sale Jimmie Foxx Autographed Baseball Al Simmons George Earnshaw
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:03
- Updated: 20 Jun 2010
click here to see www.dpbolvw.net
http://wn.com/For_Sale_Jimmie_Foxx_Autographed_Baseball_Al_Simmons_George_Earnshaw
1982 Old Spice Presents: The 7th Inning Stretch: Jimmie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Updated: 02 Feb 2012
Originall aired Saturday, May 22, 1982, Old Spice was the corporate sponsor of the 7th inning stretch segment. Typically, legends and hall of famers were spotlighted, in this particular case, Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx is featured. Later in the decade, Gatorade took over the sponsorship of this segment, but "The 7th Inning Stretch" remained a constant for Game of Week broadcasts.
http://wn.com/1982_Old_Spice_Presents_The_7th_Inning_Stretch_Jimmie_Foxx
Originall aired Saturday, May 22, 1982, Old Spice was the corporate sponsor of the 7th inning stretch segment. Typically, legends and hall of famers were spotlighted, in this particular case, Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx is featured. Later in the decade, Gatorade took over the sponsorship of this segment, but "The 7th Inning Stretch" remained a constant for Game of Week broadcasts.
- published: 01 Feb 2012
- views: 100
- author: maxcareyhof
KPW - the Homecoming - Mr Samoa vs Jimmy Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:29
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zealand's Jimmy Foxx take on Mister Samoa.
http://wn.com/KPW_the_Homecoming_Mr_Samoa_vs_Jimmy_Foxx
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zealand's Jimmy Foxx take on Mister Samoa.
- published: 29 Jun 2011
- views: 793
- author: stevoocular
Baseball All Star Game 1934
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:25
- Updated: 25 Sep 2012
Bill Terry of NL and Joe Cronin of AL, the rival managers. New York's Mayor LaGuardia and Commissioner Landis enjoy a joke. Crowd. Starting pitchers Hubbell of Giants and Gomez of Yankees. Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jimmy Foxx. Walter Johnson in Cleveland uniform. Lefty Gomez warming up. LaGuardia throws out the first ball. Hubbell striking out Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx. Earl Averill hits a triple, he also doubled for AL team. Al Simmons hits a double in the 5th inning, Red Ruffing singles for two runs.
http://wn.com/Baseball_All_Star_Game_1934
Bill Terry of NL and Joe Cronin of AL, the rival managers. New York's Mayor LaGuardia and Commissioner Landis enjoy a joke. Crowd. Starting pitchers Hubbell of Giants and Gomez of Yankees. Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jimmy Foxx. Walter Johnson in Cleveland uniform. Lefty Gomez warming up. LaGuardia throws out the first ball. Hubbell striking out Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx. Earl Averill hits a triple, he also doubled for AL team. Al Simmons hits a double in the 5th inning, Red Ruffing singles for two runs.
- published: 27 Jun 2011
- views: 1658
- author: historycomestolife
Bernie Leibowitz, "Philadelphia Waiter"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:17
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Bernie Leibowitz graduated from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia in 1939. He was a huge fan of Jimmie Foxx and still hasn't quite accepted the Athletics' move to Kansas City.
http://wn.com/Bernie_Leibowitz,_Philadelphia_Waiter
Bernie Leibowitz graduated from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia in 1939. He was a huge fan of Jimmie Foxx and still hasn't quite accepted the Athletics' move to Kansas City.
- published: 22 Sep 2010
- views: 16891
- author: OldJewsTellingJokes
Baseball PC -Legendary Cuts Babe Ruth & Mickey Mantle Quad Cut Auto + Babe Ruth Bat Barrel 1/1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:39
- Updated: 28 Dec 2012
Some card from my baseball PC, highlights include 2005 Legendary Cuts Babe Ruth / Mickey Mantle / Jimmie Foxx / Ted Williams Quad Cut Auto 1/1, 2010 Topps Triple Threads Babe Ruth Bat Barrel 1/1, 2001 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols RC Auto BGS 9 + more
http://wn.com/Baseball_PC_-Legendary_Cuts_Babe_Ruth_Mickey_Mantle_Quad_Cut_Auto_+_Babe_Ruth_Bat_Barrel_1_1
Some card from my baseball PC, highlights include 2005 Legendary Cuts Babe Ruth / Mickey Mantle / Jimmie Foxx / Ted Williams Quad Cut Auto 1/1, 2010 Topps Triple Threads Babe Ruth Bat Barrel 1/1, 2001 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols RC Auto BGS 9 + more
- published: 10 Mar 2012
- views: 2314
- author: m3equals333
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Make or Break - Triple Threat Match, Whetu, Foxx and Freemantle July 16 2010
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:40
- Updated: 26 Mar 2011
Mark Freemantle's debut match! Freemantle is joined in the ring by Jimmy Foxx and Whetu The Maori Warrior in this Triple threat match.
http://wn.com/Kiwi_Pro_Wrestling_Make_or_Break_Triple_Threat_Match,_Whetu,_Foxx_and_Freemantle_July_16_2010
Mark Freemantle's debut match! Freemantle is joined in the ring by Jimmy Foxx and Whetu The Maori Warrior in this Triple threat match.
- published: 27 Jul 2010
- views: 543
- author: stevoocular
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Jimmy Foxx promo for True Mana
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:38
- Updated: 19 Jul 2011
NZ Wrestler the 'sexy' Jimmy Foxx will take on Dane King 'the Young Lion' in a strap match at Kiwi pro Wrestlings Live wresting event 'True Mana'. 22 July 2011 Wellington High
http://wn.com/Kiwi_Pro_Wrestling_Jimmy_Foxx_promo_for_True_Mana
NZ Wrestler the 'sexy' Jimmy Foxx will take on Dane King 'the Young Lion' in a strap match at Kiwi pro Wrestlings Live wresting event 'True Mana'. 22 July 2011 Wellington High
- published: 19 Jul 2011
- views: 152
- author: stevoocular
Batting Average
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:21
- Updated: 22 Jul 2012
This video explains what a batting average is and how to calculate it. For more on Jimmie Foxx check out his stats here: bit.ly For more on hits, see this video: youtu.be All diagrams were created by me, pictures are from the Wikimedia Commons. Recorded using CamStudio (camstudio.org Please e-mail any questions or comments to me at pmreddick@gmail.com or tweet me @pmreddick
http://wn.com/Batting_Average
This video explains what a batting average is and how to calculate it. For more on Jimmie Foxx check out his stats here: bit.ly For more on hits, see this video: youtu.be All diagrams were created by me, pictures are from the Wikimedia Commons. Recorded using CamStudio (camstudio.org Please e-mail any questions or comments to me at pmreddick@gmail.com or tweet me @pmreddick
- published: 19 Apr 2011
- views: 722
- author: TheOnDeckCircle
Baseball Comes to Japan - The Journey of Lefty Gomez
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:20
- Updated: 20 Dec 2012
From the personal archives of Lefty Gomez: never-before-seen film footage taken in the 1930s of a historic trip to Japan by some of baseball's immortals including Lefty Gomez, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Babe Ruth. To learn more about the trip and the life of Lefty Gomez, read LEFTY: An American Odyssey by Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone. www.randomhouse.com Vernon Lefty Gomez LLC - Copyright 2012
http://wn.com/Baseball_Comes_to_Japan_The_Journey_of_Lefty_Gomez
From the personal archives of Lefty Gomez: never-before-seen film footage taken in the 1930s of a historic trip to Japan by some of baseball's immortals including Lefty Gomez, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Babe Ruth. To learn more about the trip and the life of Lefty Gomez, read LEFTY: An American Odyssey by Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone. www.randomhouse.com Vernon Lefty Gomez LLC - Copyright 2012
- published: 22 May 2012
- views: 283
- author: rhpubgroup
Carl Hubbell strikesout 5 Hall of Famers to be in 1934 All Star Game
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:44
- Updated: 28 Dec 2012
The second annual All-Star Game produces Carl Hubbell's amazing feat of striking out five future Hall of Famers in a row. Off to a shaky start with two on base in the first inning, Hubbell uses his screwball to fan Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. He adds Al Simmons and Joe Cronin to start the second. After three scoreless innings he leaves with the National League ahead, 4 - 0. The American League rallies, scoring nine runs off Lon Warneke, Van Mungo and Dizzy Dean, while Mel Harder pitches five shutout innings in relief of Red Ruffing to hold the lead. Frankie Frisch and Joe Medwick hit homers. Earl Averill's three RBI are decisive for the AL's 9 - 7 victory. read more www.thebaseballpage.com
http://wn.com/Carl_Hubbell_strikesout_5_Hall_of_Famers_to_be_in_1934_All_Star_Game
The second annual All-Star Game produces Carl Hubbell's amazing feat of striking out five future Hall of Famers in a row. Off to a shaky start with two on base in the first inning, Hubbell uses his screwball to fan Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. He adds Al Simmons and Joe Cronin to start the second. After three scoreless innings he leaves with the National League ahead, 4 - 0. The American League rallies, scoring nine runs off Lon Warneke, Van Mungo and Dizzy Dean, while Mel Harder pitches five shutout innings in relief of Red Ruffing to hold the lead. Frankie Frisch and Joe Medwick hit homers. Earl Averill's three RBI are decisive for the AL's 9 - 7 victory. read more www.thebaseballpage.com
- published: 01 Oct 2011
- views: 953
- author: Littleebbets
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Jimmie Foxx - The Beast
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:51
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. Hit 58 homers in a season and 534 for his career. Ranked #2 to Ruth when he retired.
http://wn.com/Jimmie_Foxx_The_Beast
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. Hit 58 homers in a season and 534 for his career. Ranked #2 to Ruth when he retired.
- published: 17 Dec 2008
- views: 27256
- author: RUKidding05
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:31
- Updated: 17 Sep 2011
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
http://wn.com/Lou_Gehrig_and_Jimmie_Foxx
Jamie Foxx - Fall For Your Type ft. Drake
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:51
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring Drake performing Fall For Your Type. (C) 2010 J Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_Fall_For_Your_Type_ft_Drake
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring Drake performing Fall For Your Type. (C) 2010 J Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
- published: 12 Dec 2010
- views: 22696883
- author: jamiefoxxVEVO
Neil Armstrong, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Foxx, Muhammad Ali +++ Autograph Collection!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:11
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic.
http://wn.com/Neil_Armstrong,_Roberto_Clemente,_Jimmie_Foxx,_Muhammad_Ali_+++_Autograph_Collection!
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic.
- published: 05 Jul 2012
- views: 970
- author: clutchpromo
Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Jimmie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:43
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Jimmie Foxx's Hall of Fame Video Bio
http://wn.com/Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_Biographies_Jimmie_Foxx
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 1 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:20
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_Interview_On_Jimmy_Kimmel_Part_1_Hillarious!_8_16_2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 24696
- author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:20
- Updated: 21 Dec 2012
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
http://wn.com/Funny_Jamie_Foxx_Interview_On_Jimmy_Kimmel_8_16_2011_Part_1
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 6687
- author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 2 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:13
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_Interview_On_Jimmy_Kimmel_Part_2_Hillarious!_8_16_2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 13116
- author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
jimmy foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:19
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
this video is me, jimmy foxx
http://wn.com/jimmy_foxx
Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:41
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Music video by Kanye West performing Gold Digger. (C) 2005 Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC
http://wn.com/Kanye_West_Gold_Digger_ft_Jamie_Foxx
Music video by Kanye West performing Gold Digger. (C) 2005 Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC
- published: 16 Jun 2009
- views: 44117220
- author: KanyeWestVEVO
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:13
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
http://wn.com/Funny_Jamie_Foxx_Interview_On_Jimmy_Kimmel_8_16_2011_Part_2
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 6940
- author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All-Star Dealers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 08 Mar 2012
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check out velocity.discovery.com
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Foxx_Bat_|_All-Star_Dealers
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check out velocity.discovery.com
- published: 05 Mar 2012
- views: 148
- author: velocity
any given sunday-jimmie foxx(official music video)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
any given sunday-jimmie foxx 1999
http://wn.com/any_given_sunday-jimmie_foxxofficial_music_video
Jamie Foxx on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:29
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The first part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_on_Jimmy_Kimmel_Live_PART_1
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The first part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 80323
- author: JimmyKimmelLive
Jamie Foxx featuring TI - Just Like Me ft. TI
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:49
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring TI performing Just Like Me. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 30832 (C) 2008 J Records, a unit of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_featuring_TI_Just_Like_Me_ft_TI
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring TI performing Just Like Me. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 30832 (C) 2008 J Records, a unit of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
- published: 03 Oct 2009
- views: 13611459
- author: jamiefoxxVEVO
Coach's Corner Auctions Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Walter Johnson
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:46
- Updated: 12 Feb 2012
Coach's Corner Auctions
http://wn.com/Coach's_Corner_Auctions_Babe_Ruth,_Lou_Gehrig,_Mickey_Mantle,_Jimmie_Foxx,_Walter_Johnson
KPW - the Homecoming - Mr Samoa vs Jimmy Foxx
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:29
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zealand's Jimmy Foxx take on Mister Samoa.
http://wn.com/KPW_the_Homecoming_Mr_Samoa_vs_Jimmy_Foxx
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zealand's Jimmy Foxx take on Mister Samoa.
- published: 29 Jun 2011
- views: 793
- author: stevoocular
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All Star Dealers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:08
- Updated: 12 Feb 2012
Watch ALL STAR DEALERS Tuesdays at 8PM e/p on Discovery. | dsc.discovery.com | Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat from the 1920s.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Foxx_Bat_|_All_Star_Dealers
Watch ALL STAR DEALERS Tuesdays at 8PM e/p on Discovery. | dsc.discovery.com | Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat from the 1920s.
- published: 27 Jan 2012
- views: 2817
- author: DiscoveryNetworks
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:59
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT, www.myfootage.com
http://wn.com/ALL_STAR_BASEBALL_JIMMY_FOXX,_LOU_GERHIG,_DIZZY_DEAN_SPORT
ALL STAR BASEBALL. JIMMY FOXX, LOU GERHIG, DIZZY DEAN / SPORT, www.myfootage.com
- published: 23 Aug 2012
- views: 49
- author: clipcafe
Jamie Foxx on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:01
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The second part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_on_Jimmy_Kimmel_Live_PART_2
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The second part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 56824
- author: JimmyKimmelLive
Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain - Blame It ft. T-Pain
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:12
- Updated: 16 Jan 2013
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain performing Blame It. (C) 2009 J Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_featuring_T-Pain_Blame_It_ft_T-Pain
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain performing Blame It. (C) 2009 J Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
- published: 03 Oct 2009
- views: 14479042
- author: jamiefoxxVEVO
Jamie Foxx on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:51
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The third part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
http://wn.com/Jamie_Foxx_on_Jimmy_Kimmel_Live_PART_3
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The third part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 48038
- author: JimmyKimmelLive
2:51
Jimmie Foxx - The Beast
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of a...
published: 17 Dec 2008
author: RUKidding05
Jimmie Foxx - The Beast
Jimmie Foxx also known as Double X and the Beast... one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. Hit 58 homers in a season and 534 for his career. Ranked #2 to Ruth when he retired.
- published: 17 Dec 2008
- views: 27256
- author: RUKidding05
0:31
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx...
published: 17 Sep 2011
author: Littleebbets
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx
- published: 17 Sep 2011
- views: 191
- author: Littleebbets
4:51
Jamie Foxx - Fall For Your Type ft. Drake
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring Drake performing Fall For Your Type. (C) 2010 J Record...
published: 12 Dec 2010
author: jamiefoxxVEVO
Jamie Foxx - Fall For Your Type ft. Drake
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring Drake performing Fall For Your Type. (C) 2010 J Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
- published: 12 Dec 2010
- views: 22696883
- author: jamiefoxxVEVO
5:11
Neil Armstrong, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Foxx, Muhammad Ali +++ Autograph Collection!
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic....
published: 05 Jul 2012
author: clutchpromo
Neil Armstrong, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Foxx, Muhammad Ali +++ Autograph Collection!
Hope you enjoy, because this video took a while to make. Everything is authentic.
- published: 05 Jul 2012
- views: 970
- author: clutchpromo
0:43
Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Foxx's Hall of Fame Video Bio...
published: 02 Sep 2011
author: TheBaseballHall
Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Foxx's Hall of Fame Video Bio
- published: 02 Sep 2011
- views: 698
- author: TheBaseballHall
8:20
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 1 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers...
published: 17 Aug 2011
author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 1 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 24696
- author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
8:20
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 1
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers...
published: 17 Aug 2011
author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 1
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 6687
- author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
9:13
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 2 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers...
published: 17 Aug 2011
author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Part 2 Hillarious! 8/16/2011
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 13116
- author: EyeBusDozeDopeMovez
5:19
jimmy foxx
this video is me, jimmy foxx...
published: 30 Apr 2007
author: purplehaze6539
jimmy foxx
this video is me, jimmy foxx
- published: 30 Apr 2007
- views: 2671
- author: purplehaze6539
3:41
Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx
Music video by Kanye West performing Gold Digger. (C) 2005 Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC...
published: 16 Jun 2009
author: KanyeWestVEVO
Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx
Music video by Kanye West performing Gold Digger. (C) 2005 Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC
- published: 16 Jun 2009
- views: 44117220
- author: KanyeWestVEVO
9:13
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 2
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers...
published: 17 Aug 2011
author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
Funny Jamie Foxx Interview On Jimmy Kimmel 8/16/2011 Part 2
www.dolobeats.com The Hottest Beats For Artists & Best Sounds For Producers
- published: 17 Aug 2011
- views: 6940
- author: Demolitionteamzfitsq
2:03
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All-Star Dealers
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check ou...
published: 05 Mar 2012
author: velocity
Jimmy Foxx Bat | All-Star Dealers
Richie Russek is presented with what may be a game-used Jimmy Foxx bat. For more, check out velocity.discovery.com
- published: 05 Mar 2012
- views: 148
- author: velocity
3:28
any given sunday-jimmie foxx(official music video)
any given sunday-jimmie foxx 1999...
published: 03 Jan 2010
author: Vykthor Ffields
any given sunday-jimmie foxx(official music video)
any given sunday-jimmie foxx 1999
- published: 03 Jan 2010
- views: 17205
- author: Vykthor Ffields
Vimeo results:
4:25
"FINGERS" - JIMMY, CAROL & MOCKINBIRD (1978)
Scene from "Fingers" (1978) a James Toback film with Harvey Keitel & Tisa farrow (featurin...
published: 16 Aug 2010
author: Woody Braun
"FINGERS" - JIMMY, CAROL & MOCKINBIRD (1978)
Scene from "Fingers" (1978) a James Toback film with Harvey Keitel & Tisa farrow (featuring the song Mockingbird by Charlie & Inez Foxx).
This film was remade in 2005 by Jacques Audiard as "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" ("De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrété")
4:28
Jimmy Stone Radio Show - Simple Language Girl
Jimmy Stone Radio Show perform their song "Simple Language Girl" live at the Foxx Lounge i...
published: 13 Apr 2010
author: LiveVibe Productions
Jimmy Stone Radio Show - Simple Language Girl
Jimmy Stone Radio Show perform their song "Simple Language Girl" live at the Foxx Lounge in Barrie, Ontario on March 19th, 2010.
Shot with the Canon 5DmkII and a Canon Vixia HF10. Audio recorded with the Zoom H4n.
www.livevibeproductions.com
5:11
Nick Burns, le gars de l'informatique. Sous-titres français.
Un classique de Saturday Night Live, "Nick Burns, your company's computer guy". Avec Jimmy...
published: 29 Aug 2010
author: MAC TRANQUILLE
Nick Burns, le gars de l'informatique. Sous-titres français.
Un classique de Saturday Night Live, "Nick Burns, your company's computer guy". Avec Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan et Jamie Foxx.
Sous titres français.
Youtube results:
4:29
Jamie Foxx on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 1
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The first part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live'...
published: 05 Sep 2012
author: JimmyKimmelLive
Jamie Foxx on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 1
Jimmy Kimmel Live - The first part of Jimmy's interview with Jamie Foxx Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC. Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed. Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com For tickets: www.1iota.com
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 80323
- author: JimmyKimmelLive
3:49
Jamie Foxx featuring TI - Just Like Me ft. TI
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring TI performing Just Like Me. YouTube view counts pre-VE...
published: 03 Oct 2009
author: jamiefoxxVEVO
Jamie Foxx featuring TI - Just Like Me ft. TI
Music video by Jamie Foxx featuring TI performing Just Like Me. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 30832 (C) 2008 J Records, a unit of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
- published: 03 Oct 2009
- views: 13611459
- author: jamiefoxxVEVO
7:46
Coach's Corner Auctions Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Walter Johnson
Coach's Corner Auctions...
published: 27 Jan 2009
author: TomTresh2
Coach's Corner Auctions Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Walter Johnson
Coach's Corner Auctions
- published: 27 Jan 2009
- views: 653
- author: TomTresh2
11:29
KPW - the Homecoming - Mr Samoa vs Jimmy Foxx
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zeala...
published: 29 Jun 2011
author: stevoocular
KPW - the Homecoming - Mr Samoa vs Jimmy Foxx
Kiwi Pro Wrestling - Live NZ pro wrestling from Wanganui 'The Homecoming'. Watch New Zealand's Jimmy Foxx take on Mister Samoa.
- published: 29 Jun 2011
- views: 793
- author: stevoocular
photo: AP / Adj Nicolas-Nelson Richard, ECPAD
14 Jan 2013
Bamako/Paris - French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds deep in northern Mali on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital, Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al-Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country’s north ... Defence Minister Jean-Yves le Drian said France’s intervention on Friday prevented the advancing rebels from seizing Bamako and vowed air strikes would continue ... – ... Doubt....(size: 6.6Kb)
photo: AP / Kevin Frayer
14 Jan 2013
Allahabad. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims led by naked, ash-covered holy men streamed into the sacred river Ganges on Monday at the start of the world's biggest religious festival. The Kumbh Mela in the Indian town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers gather over the next 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings ... "I am ecstatic ... Agence France-Presse ....(size: 4.2Kb)
photo: WN / Jamal Penjweny
15 Jan 2013
WASHINGTON. Suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year, far exceeding American combat deaths in Afghanistan, and some private experts are predicting the dark trend will grow worse this year. The Pentagon has struggled to deal with the suicides, which Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others have called an epidemic ... Last year’s total is the highest since the Pentagon began closely tracking suicides in 2001 ... ....(size: 5.0Kb)
photo: White House / Pete Souza
14 Jan 2013
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama issued a strong warning to Republicans on Monday that he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling or allow Republicans to use it as a bargaining chip. "To even entertain the idea of the United States of America not paying our bills is irresponsible. It's absurd," Obama said in a press conference ... "They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the economy," Obama said ... Also on HuffPost ... ....(size: 10.3Kb)
photo: AP / Arshad Butt
15 Jan 2013
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the case regarding Pakistani Shias, a minority population in Pakistan, some are refusing to bury their dead until the government deepens its commitment to protect them and the army provides better security. This comes on the heels of another suicide terrorist attack that killed 92 people and wounded more than 100 ... (1) Crilly, Rob ... ....(size: 4.0Kb)
MLB
14 Jan 2013
HR RBI OPS+ Led * Rogers Hornsby 1922 .401 42 152 207 12 Rogers Hornsby 1925 .403 39 143 210 9 Chuck Klein 1933 .368 28 120 176 11 Jimmie Foxx 1933 .356 48 163 201 8 Lou Gehrig 1934 .363 49 165 206 8 Joe Medwick 1937 .374 31 154 182 11 Ted Williams 1942 .356 36 137 216 11 Ted Williams 1947 .343 32 114 205 11 Mickey Mantle 1956 .353 52 130 210 9 ......(size: 12.4Kb)
noodls
14 Jan 2013
HR RBI OPS+ Led * Rogers Hornsby 1922 .401 42 152 207 12 Rogers Hornsby 1925 .403 39 143 210 9 Chuck Klein 1933 .368 28 120 176 11 Jimmie Foxx 1933 .356 48 163 201 8 Lou Gehrig 1934 .363 49 165 206 8 Joe Medwick 1937 .374 31 154 182 11 Ted Williams 1942 .356 36 137 216 11 Ted Williams 1947 .343 32 114 205 11 Mickey Mantle 1956 .353 52 130 210 9 ......(size: 11.7Kb)
ESPN
10 Jan 2013
Getty Images, AP PhotoGreg Maddux, Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine each have Hall of Fame-caliber numbers ... Greg Maddux ... Thomas is one of only nine players to hit 500 home runs and have a career batting average over .300, joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jimmy Foxx, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, Manny Ramirez and ... His career on-base percentage is the third highest ever for a right-handed hitter, trailing Rogers Hornsby and Foxx ... ....(size: 8.7Kb)
Detroit Free Press
06 Jan 2013
On Wednesday, we'll learn who, if anyone, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer ... Then, C ... Rosecrans wrote. "Before Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012, each of the 11 players to win it since 1900 -- Carl Yastrzemski, Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe Medwick, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Chuck Kelin, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie -- made it to the Hall of Fame ... Rosecrans ... Also on the list ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)
MLB
02 Jan 2013
For all those who accomplished great things in 2012, the dawning of 2013 presents an opportunity to extend those accomplishments into even greater ones ... Such as ... The Giants ... In fact, the feat was only accomplished in back-to-back seasons at all in 1933 and '34, when Philadelphia pulled a double Triple Crown with Jimmie Foxx of the A's and Chuck Klein of the Phillies in '33 before the Yankees' Lou Gehrig followed them up in '34 ... ....(size: 5.6Kb)
Yahoo Daily News
31 Dec 2012
Women shone in numerous ways, including in sports where their presence was nonexistent ... Here are our 20 records and feats that caught our eye in 2012.. 1 ... Ever steady slugger Jim Thome belted his 13th career walk-off home run in midseason, moving him into sole possession of first place in that category ahead of five others with whom he previously shared the record – Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, and Frank Robinson....(size: 15.3Kb)
Newsday
19 Dec 2012
Web links. Part 8 of a 10-part series that looks at prominent potential Hall of Famers for the Class of 2013 and the reasons to vote them in -- or keep them out. Jeff Bagwell is in his third year on the ballot, getting 56 percent of the vote in 2012 (75 percent is needed for election) ... THE CASE FOR THE HALL. Bagwell had only 2,314 hits. He hit only 449 home runs ... Four are in the Hall of Fame (Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Murray) ... ....(size: 10.6Kb)
New York Post Online
18 Nov 2012
Kevin Kernan. Follow Kevin on Twitter. Passion ignites success, and Mike Piazza is realizing a different kind of baseball dream these days. He is rediscovering ancestral roots in Italy and helping to make baseball relevant there. Piazza is the hitting coach for the Italian National Team that won the European Championship this year ... EZIO RATTI/FIBS ... Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx and Babe Ruth. That is quite a list ... ....(size: 3.7Kb)
Detroit Free Press
16 Nov 2012
The streak has ended. Emphatically. Until Thursday, it had been 72 years since a Tigers hitter had won the American League's Most Valuable Player Award. No one wearing the Old English D had done it since Hank Greenberg in 1940 ... Between Greenberg in 1940 and Thursday, there had been nine times that a Tigers hitter had finished second in the MVP voting ... "MVP! MVP!" ... Pitcher Lefty Grove won first, then teammate Jimmie Foxx won twice in a row....(size: 12.1Kb)
CNN
13 Nov 2012
Story Highlights. Mike Trout, and Bryce Harper both won Rookie of the Year honors on Monday. Trout had the best 20-year-old season ever, Harper the best teenage season ever. Both players play the game with a hustling style that is infectious. Bryce Harper and Mike Trout made the first of what will surely be many All-Star Games in their careers in 2012. US Presswire. Harper and Trout ... tour ... Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott ... Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott ... ....(size: 9.3Kb)
MLB
08 Nov 2012
PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies have four nominations for Major League Baseball's GIBBY Awards. Cole Hamels is nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Year. He finished 17-6 with a 3.05 ERA in 31 starts in 2012 ... Hamels set a career high in wins, elevating himself as the best pitcher in the Phils' rotation in 2012 ... Thome had been tied with Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson ... 21 in a game against the Reds ... ET ... 4....(size: 3.0Kb)
noodls
08 Nov 2012
Hamels, Ruiz, Thome, Frandsen up for popular year-end awards. By Todd Zolecki / MLB.com . 11/08/12 3.33 PM ET. PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies have four nominations for Major League Baseball's GIBBY Awards. Cole Hamels is nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Year. He finished 17-6 with a 3.05 ERA in 31 starts in 2012 ... Thome had been tied with Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson....(size: 4.4Kb)
Detroit Free Press
06 Nov 2012
In 1933, Jimmie Foxx of the Philadelphia Athletics won the AL Triple Crown with a .356 batting average, 48 home runs and 163 ......(size: 0.6Kb)
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008) |
| Jimmie Foxx | |
|---|---|
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| First baseman | |
| Born: (1907-10-22)October 22, 1907 Sudlersville, Maryland |
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| Died: July 21, 1967(1967-07-21) (aged 59) Miami, Florida |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| May 1, 1925 for the Philadelphia Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 23, 1945 for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .325 |
| Home runs | 534 |
| Hits | 2,646 |
| Runs batted in | 1,922 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
|
| Induction | 1951 |
| Vote | 79.2% (first ballot) |
James Emory "Jimmie" Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was a right-handed American Major League Baseball first baseman and noted power hitter.
Foxx was the second major league player to hit 500 career home runs, after Babe Ruth. Attaining that plateau at age 32 years 336 days, he held the record for youngest to reach 500 for sixty-eight years, until superseded by Alex Rodriguez in 2007. His three career Most Valuable Player awards are tied for second all-time.
Contents |
Early years[link]
James Emory Foxx was born in Sudlersville, Maryland on October 22, 1907 to Dell and Mattie Foxx who were farmers. Dell Foxx had played baseball for a town team when he was younger and he instilled a love for the game in young Jimmie. Foxx did well in school but truly excelled in sports, particularly soccer, track and baseball of which he played all three in high school. He dropped out of high school early to join a minor league team managed by former Philadelphia Athletics great Frank "Home Run" Baker. Foxx had hoped to pitch or play third base, but since the team was short on catchers, Foxx moved behind the plate.
He immediately drew interest from the Athletics and New York Yankees. Foxx signed with the A's and made his major league debut in 1925 at age 17.
Major league career[link]
Philadelphia Athletics[link]
The A's catching duties were already filled by future Baseball Hall of Fame member Mickey Cochrane, so by 1927, Foxx was splitting time between catching, first base, and the outfield. In 1929, installed as the A's regular first baseman, Foxx had a breakthrough year, batting .354 and hitting 33 home runs.
In 1932, Foxx hit .364, with 58 home runs with 169 RBIs, missing the Triple Crown by just three points in batting average. Boston Red Sox first baseman Dale Alexander hit .367, but in just 454 plate appearances; he would not have won the batting title under current rules, which are based upon 3.1 plate appearances per team games played. Foxx did win the Triple Crown the following season, with a batting average of .356, 163 RBIs, and 48 home runs. He won back-to-back MVP honors in 1932 and 1933.
Foxx was one of the three or four most feared sluggers of his era. The great Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez once said of him, "He has muscles in his hair."
In 1937, Foxx hit a ball into the third deck of the left-field stands at Yankee Stadium in New York, a very rare feat because of the distance and the angle of the stands. Gomez was the pitcher who gave it up, and when asked how far it went, he said, "I don't know, but I do know it took somebody 45 minutes to go up there and get it back."
When the Great Depression fully hit in the early 1930s, A's owner Connie Mack was unable to pay the salaries of his highly paid stars, and was obliged to sell off a number of them. In 1936, Mack sold Foxx's contract to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000, following a contract dispute.
Boston Red Sox[link]
Foxx played six years for Boston, including a spectacular 1938 season in which he hit 50 home runs, drove in 175 runs, batted .349, won his third MVP award, and again narrowly missed winning the Triple Crown. Foxx is one of nine players to have won three MVPs; only Barry Bonds (7) has more.
On June 16, 1938, he set an American League record when he walked six times in a game. In 1939 he hit .360, his second-best all-time season batting average. His 50 home runs would remain the single-season record for the Red Sox until David Ortiz hit 54 in 2006.
Chicago Cubs & Philadelphia Phillies[link]
Foxx's skills diminished significantly after 1941. Some sources attribute this to a drinking problem, while others attribute it to a sinus condition.
He split the 1942 season between the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, playing mostly a reserve role. He sat out the 1943 season and appeared only in 15 games in 1944, mostly as a pinch hitter.
He wound up his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945, filling in at first and third, pinch hitting, and even pitching nine games, compiling a surprising 1–0 record and 1.59 ERA over 22.2 innings. Interestingly, the man who was so often called the right-handed Babe Ruth throughout his career was the opposite of Ruth in this regard. Ruth began his big-league career as a pitcher; Foxx ended his big-league career as one.
Foxx finished his 20-year career with 534 home runs, 1,922 runs batted in, and a .325 batting average. His 12 consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs was a major league record until it was broken by Barry Bonds in 2004.
At the end of his career, his 534 home runs placed him second only to Ruth on the all-time list, and first among right-handed hitters. He retained these positions until Willie Mays passed Foxx for second place in 1966.
Foxx was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.
Post-baseball career[link]
Foxx worked as a minor league manager and coach after his playing days ended, including managing the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for one season in 1952. He took them to the playoffs where they lost in the first round 2 games to 1 against the Rockford Peaches. Foxx did not return for the 1953 season.
Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan in the movie A League of Their Own was largely based on Foxx and Hack Wilson, although the producers took a number of liberties in creating the role.
Foxx served as head coach for the University of Miami baseball team for two seasons, going 9–8 in 1956 and 11–12 in 1957.
A series of bad investments left Foxx broke by 1958.
Foxx retired to suburban Cleveland in Lakewood, Ohio, and was employed by the Lakewood Recreation Department. His two children, a daughter and son also lived in Lakewood. His son, Jimmie Foxx, Jr. was an outstanding football player at Lakewood High School and at Kent State University.
City of Lakewood Councilman and future Lakewood Mayor, Thomas George, honored Foxx with the naming of a city baseball field in his honor. The dedication ceremony included Foxx's son, grandchildren and several former members of the Cleveland Indians including Herb Score and Mike Hegan. TV announcer Casey Coleman, son of announcer Ken Coleman, served as master of ceremonies of the event. A plaque commemorating Foxx's community service remains there today.
Death[link]
Foxx choked to death in 1967 at age 59 in Miami, Florida.[1] He is buried at Flagler Memorial Park in Miami.
A statue of Foxx was erected in his hometown on October 25, 1997. In 1999, he ranked number 15 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Foxx is mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:
Line-Up for Yesterday
X is the first
Of two x's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
With his powerful soxx.
See also[link]
- List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
- 500 home run club
- 50 home run club
- List of Major League Baseball RBI Records
- List of MLB individual streaks
- List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
- Triple Crown
- List of Major League Baseball home run champions
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
- Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
Notes and references[link]
- ^ Foxx choked to death at dinner
- ^ "Baseball Almanac". http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_line.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
External links[link]
- Jimmie Foxx at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jimmie Foxx at Find a Grave
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Biography at The Baseball Biography Project
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig Lou Gehrig Hank Greenberg |
American League Home Run Champion 1932–1933 1935 (with Hank Greenberg) 1939 |
Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Lou Gehrig Hank Greenberg |
| Preceded by Lou Gehrig Hank Greenberg |
American League RBI Champion 1932–1933 1938 |
Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Ted Williams |
| Preceded by Lefty Grove Charlie Gehringer |
American League Most Valuable Player 1932, 1933 1938 |
Succeeded by Mickey Cochrane Joe DiMaggio |
| Preceded by Ty Cobb |
American League Triple Crown 1933 |
Succeeded by Lou Gehrig |
| Preceded by Dale Alexander Charlie Gehringer |
American League Batting Champion 1933 1938 |
Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Joe DiMaggio |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Foxx, Jimmie |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American baseball player and coach |
| Date of birth | October 22, 1907 |
| Place of birth | Sudlersville, Maryland |
| Date of death | July 21, 1967 |
| Place of death | Miami, Florida |
http://wn.com/Jimmie_Foxx
Related pages:
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Foxx
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For the disease sometimes referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, see Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
| Lou Gehrig | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First baseman | |
| Born: (1903-06-19)June 19, 1903 Yorkville, New York City, New York |
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| Died: June 2, 1941(1941-06-02) (aged 37) Riverdale, New York City, New York |
|
| Batted: Left | Threw: Left |
| MLB debut | |
| June 15, 1923 for the New York Yankees | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| April 30, 1939 for the New York Yankees | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .340 |
| Home runs | 493 |
| Hits | 2,721 |
| Runs batted in | 1,995 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Member of the National | |
| Baseball Hall of Fame |
|
| Induction | 1939 |
| Vote | Special Election (results unknown) |
Henry Louis "Lou" or "Buster"[1] Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig set several major league records,[2] including most career grand slams (23)[3] and most consecutive games played (2,130). Gehrig is chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter and his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname "The Iron Horse", as well as the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1969 he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association,[4] and was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.[5]
A native of New York City, he played for the Yankees until his career was cut short by ALS, a disorder now commonly known in the United States and Canada as Lou Gehrig's disease.[6] Over a 15-season span from 1925 through 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. This streak ended only when Gehrig became disabled by the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long considered one of baseball's few unbreakable records,[7] stood for 56 years, until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, 1995.
Gehrig accumulated 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs) in 17 seasons, with a career batting average of .340, on-base percentage of .447, and slugging percentage of .632. Three of the top six RBI seasons in baseball history belong to Gehrig. He was selected to each of the first seven All-Star games (though he did not play in the 1939 game, as he retired one week before it was held),[8] and he won the American League's (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1927 and 1936. He was also a Triple Crown winner in 1934, leading the AL in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.[9]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Gehrig was born in the East Harlem section of Manhattan at 1994 Second Avenue,[10] weighing almost 14 pounds (6.4 kg) at birth, the second child out of four to German immigrants.[11] His father Heinrich was a sheet metal worker by trade, but frequently unemployed due to alcoholism, and his mother Christina was a maid, the main breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family.[12] His two sisters died from whooping cough and measles at an early age; another son also died in infancy.[13] Young Gehrig helped his mother with her work, doing tasks such as folding laundry and picking up supplies from the local stores.[14] In 1910, Gehrig lived with his parents at 2266 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.[15] In 1920 the family resided at 2079 8th Avenue in Manhattan.[16]
Gehrig first garnered national attention for his baseball ability while playing in a game at Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field) on June 26, 1920. Gehrig's New York School of Commerce team was playing a team from Chicago's Lane Tech High School, in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators.[17] With his team winning 8–6 in the top of the ninth inning, Gehrig hit a grand slam completely out of the major league park, an unheard-of feat for a 17-year old.[17][18]
Lou Gehrig attended PS 132 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, then to Commerce High School, graduating in 1921.[19][20] Gehrig then studied at Columbia University for two years, although he did not graduate.[21] While attending Columbia, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.[22] Initially, Gehrig could not play intercollegiate baseball for the Columbia Lions because he had played baseball for the minor-league Hartford Senators of the Eastern League in the summer before his freshman year.[22] At the time, he was unaware that doing so jeopardized his eligibility to play any collegiate sport. However, Gehrig was ruled eligible to play on the Lions' football team and was a standout fullback. Later, he gained baseball eligibility and played on the Lions team.
On April 18, 1923, the same day that Yankee Stadium opened for the first time and Babe Ruth inaugurated the new stadium with a home run, Columbia pitcher Gehrig struck out seventeen Williams College batters to set a team record; however, Columbia lost the game. Only a handful of collegians were at South Field that day, but more significant was the presence of Yankee scout Paul Krichell, who had been trailing Gehrig for some time. It was not Gehrig’s pitching that particularly impressed him; rather, it was Gehrig’s powerful left-handed hitting. During the time Krichell had been observing the young Columbia ballplayer, Gehrig had hit some of the longest home runs ever seen on various Eastern campuses, including a 450-foot (137 m) home run on April 28 at Columbia's South Field which landed at 116th Street and Broadway.[23] Within two months, Gehrig had signed a Yankee contract.[22] Gehrig returned to minor-league Hartford to play parts of two seasons, 1923 and 1924, batting .344 and crushing 61 home runs in 193 games. (It was the only time Lou ever played any level of ball—sandlot, high school, collegiate or pro—for a non-New York City-based team.)
Major League career[link]
Gehrig joined the New York Yankees midway through the 1923 season and made his debut on June 15, 1923, as a pinch hitter. In his first two seasons, he saw limited playing time, mostly as a pinch hitter — he played in only 23 games and was not on the Yankees' 1923 World Series roster. In 1925, he batted .295, with 20 home runs and 68 runs batted in (RBIs).[24]
The 23-year-old Yankee first baseman's breakout season came in 1926, when he batted .313 with 47 doubles, an American League-leading 20 triples, 16 home runs, and 112 RBIs.[24] In the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Gehrig hit .348 with two doubles and 4 RBIs. The Cardinals won a seven-game series four games to three.[25]
In 1927, Gehrig put up one of the greatest seasons by any batter in history, hitting .373, with 218 hits: 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, a then-record 175 runs batted in (surpassing teammate Babe Ruth's 171 six years earlier), and a .765 slugging percentage.[24] His 117 extra-base hits that season are second all-time to Babe Ruth’s 119 extra-base hits in 1921[24] and his 447 total bases are third all-time, after Babe Ruth's 457 total bases in 1921 and Rogers Hornsby's 450 in 1922.[24] Gehrig's production helped the 1927 Yankees to a 110–44 record, the AL pennant, and a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series. Although the AL recognized his season by naming him league MVP, it was overshadowed by Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season and the overall dominance of the 1927 Yankees, a team often cited as having the greatest lineup of all time — the famed Murderers' Row.[26]
Despite playing in the shadow of the larger-than-life Ruth for two-thirds of his career, Gehrig was one of the highest run producers in baseball history: he had 509 RBIs during a three-season stretch (1930–32). Only two other players, Jimmie Foxx with 507 and Hank Greenberg with 503, have surpassed 500 RBIs in any three seasons; their totals were non-consecutive. (Babe Ruth had 498.)[27] Playing 14 complete seasons, Gehrig had 13 consecutive seasons with 100 or more RBIs (a major league record shared with Foxx until eclipsed in 2010 by Alex Rodriguez). Gehrig had six seasons where he batted .350 or better (with a high of .379 in 1930), plus a seventh season at .349. He had seven seasons with 150 or more RBIs, 11 seasons with over 100 walks, eight seasons with 200 or more hits, and five seasons with more than 40 home runs.[28] Gehrig led the American League in runs scored four times, home runs three times, and RBIs five times. His 184 RBIs in 1931 remain the American League record as of 2010 and rank second all-time to Hack Wilson's 191 RBIs in 1930. On the single-season RBI list, Gehrig ranks second, fifth (175), and sixth (174), with four additional seasons over 150 RBI. He also holds the baseball record for most seasons with 400 total bases or more, accomplishing this feat five times in his career.[28] He batted fourth in the lineup to Ruth's third in the order, making it impractical to give up an intentional walk to Ruth.
During the 10 seasons (1925–1934) in which Gehrig and Ruth were both Yankees and played a majority of the games, Gehrig had more home runs than Ruth only once, in 1934, when he hit 49 compared to Ruth’s 22 (Ruth played 125 games that year). They tied at 46 in 1931. Ruth had 424 home runs compared to Gehrig’s 347. However, Gehrig outpaced Ruth in RBI, 1,436 to 1,316. Gehrig had a .343 batting average, compared to .338 for Ruth.[29]
In 1932, Gehrig became the first player of the 20th century to hit four home runs in a game, accomplishing the feat on June 3 against the Philadelphia Athletics.[30] He narrowly missed getting a fifth home run in the game when Athletics center fielder Al Simmons made a leaping catch of another fly ball at the center field fence. After the game, manager Joe McCarthy told him, "Well, Lou, nobody can take today away from you." On the same day, however, John McGraw announced his retirement after thirty years of managing the New York Giants. McGraw, not Gehrig, got the main headlines in the sports sections the next day.[31] The following year, in September 1933, Gehrig married Eleanor Twitchell, the daughter of Chicago Parks Commissioner Frank Twitchell.[24]
In a 1936 World Series cover story about Lou Gehrig and Carl Hubbell, Time proclaimed Gehrig "the game's No. 1 batsman", who "takes boyish pride in banging a baseball as far, and running around the bases as quickly, as possible".[32]
2,130 consecutive games[link]
On June 1, 1925, Gehrig entered the game as a pinch hitter, substituting for shortstop Paul "Pee Wee" Wanninger. The next day, June 2, Yankee manager Miller Huggins started Gehrig in place of regular first baseman Wally Pipp. Pipp was in a slump, as were the Yankees as a team, so Huggins made several lineup changes to boost their performance. Fourteen years later, Gehrig had played 2,130 consecutive games. In a few instances, Gehrig managed to keep the streak intact through pinch hitting appearances and fortuitous timing; in others, the streak continued despite injuries. For example:
- On April 23, 1933, a pitch by Washington Senators pitcher Earl Whitehill struck Gehrig in the head. Although almost knocked unconscious, Gehrig remained in the game.
- On June 14, 1933, Gehrig was ejected from a game, along with manager Joe McCarthy, but he had already been at bat and received credit for playing the game.
- On July 13, 1934, Gehrig suffered a "lumbago attack" and had to be assisted off the field. In the next day's away game, he was listed in the lineup as "shortstop", batting lead-off. In his first and only plate appearance, he singled and was promptly replaced by a pinch runner to rest his throbbing back, never taking the field. A&E's Biography speculated that this illness, which he also described as "a cold in his back", might have been the first symptom of his debilitating disease.[33]
In addition, X-rays taken late in his life disclosed that Gehrig had sustained several fractures during his playing career, although he remained in the lineup despite those previously undisclosed injuries.[34] On the other hand, the streak was helped when Yankees general manager Ed Barrow postponed a game as a rainout on a day when Gehrig was sick with the flu—even though it was not raining.[35]
Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played stood until September 6, 1995, when Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it.[36]
Illness[link]
File:Lou Gehrig plaque.jpg
Plaque in St. Petersburg, Fla., where Gehrig collapsed in 1939 during spring training
Although his performance in the second half of the 1938 season was slightly better than in the first half, Gehrig reported physical changes at the midway point. At the end of that season, he said, "I tired mid-season. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get going again." Although his final 1938 statistics were above average (.295 batting average, 114 RBI, 170 hits, .523 slugging percentage, 689 plate appearances with only 75 strikeouts, and 29 home runs), they were significantly down from his 1937 season, in which he batted .351 and slugged .643. In the 1938 World Series, he had four hits in 14 at-bats, all singles.[37]
When the Yankees began their 1939 spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, it was clear that Gehrig no longer possessed his once-formidable power. Even Gehrig's base running was affected, and at one point he collapsed at Al Lang Field, then the Yankees' spring training park.[38] By the end of spring training, Gehrig had not hit a home run.[39] Throughout his career, Gehrig was considered an excellent baserunner, but as the 1939 season got under way, his coordination and speed had deteriorated significantly.[40]
By the end of April, his statistics were the worst of his career, with one RBI and a .143 batting average. Fans and the press openly speculated on Gehrig's abrupt decline. James Kahn, a reporter who wrote often about Gehrig, said in one article:
I think there is something wrong with him. Physically wrong, I mean. I don't know what it is, but I am satisfied that it goes far beyond his ball-playing. I have seen ballplayers 'go' overnight, as Gehrig seems to have done. But they were simply washed up as ballplayers. It's something deeper than that in this case, though. I have watched him very closely and this is what I have seen: I have seen him time a ball perfectly, swing on it as hard as he can, meet it squarely — and drive a soft, looping fly over the infield. In other words, for some reason that I do not know, his old power isn't there... He is meeting the ball, time after time, and it isn't going anywhere.[41]
He was indeed meeting the ball, with only one strikeout in 28 at-bats; however, Joe McCarthy found himself resisting pressure from Yankee management to switch Gehrig to a part-time role. Things came to a head when Gehrig had to struggle to make a routine put-out at first base. The pitcher, Johnny Murphy, had to wait for Gehrig to drag himself over to the bag so he could field the throw. Murphy said, "Nice play, Lou."[41]
On April 30, Gehrig went hitless against the Washington Senators. Gehrig had just played his 2,130th consecutive major league game.[29]
On May 2, the next game after a day off, Gehrig approached McCarthy before the game in Detroit against the Tigers and said, "I'm benching myself, Joe," telling the Yankees' skipper that he was doing so "for the good of the team."[42] McCarthy acquiesced, putting Ellsworth "Babe" Dahlgren in at first base, and also said that whenever Gehrig wanted to play again, the position was his. Gehrig himself took the lineup card out to the shocked umpires before the game, ending the fourteen-year streak. Before the game began, the Briggs Stadium announcer told the fans, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time Lou Gehrig's name will not appear on the Yankee lineup in 2,130 consecutive games." The Detroit Tigers' fans gave Gehrig a standing ovation while he sat on the bench with tears in his eyes.[37] A wire service photograph of Gehrig reclining against the dugout steps with a stoic expression appeared the next day in the nation's newspapers. Other than his retirement ceremony, it is one of the most-reproduced and best-remembered visual images of Gehrig.
Gehrig stayed with the Yankees as team captain for the rest of the season, but never played in a major league game again.[37]
Diagnosis[link]
As Lou Gehrig's debilitation became steadily worse (he stumbled over curbs, mishandled fielding plays, and fell while running the bases), his wife, Eleanor, called the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Her call was transferred to Charles William Mayo, who had been following Gehrig's career and his mysterious loss of strength. Mayo told Eleanor to bring Gehrig as soon as possible.[37]
Eleanor and Gehrig flew to Rochester from Chicago, where the Yankees were playing at the time, arriving at the Mayo Clinic on June 13, 1939. After six days of extensive testing at Mayo Clinic, the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was confirmed on June 19, Gehrig's 36th birthday.[11] The prognosis was grim: rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of less than three years, although there would be no impairment of mental functions. Eleanor Gehrig was told that the cause of ALS was unknown but it was painless, non-contagious and cruel — the motor function of the central nervous system is destroyed but the mind remains fully aware to the end.[43][44]
At Eleanor's request, the Mayo doctors intentionally withheld his grim prognosis from Gehrig. He often wrote letters to Eleanor, and in one such note written shortly afterwards, said (in part):
The bad news is lateral sclerosis, in our language chronic infantile paralysis. There isn't any cure... there are very few of these cases. It is probably caused by some germ...Never heard of transmitting it to mates... There is a 50–50 chance of keeping me as I am. I may need a cane in 10 or 15 years. Playing is out of the question...[45]
Following Gehrig's visit to the Mayo Clinic, he briefly rejoined the Yankees in Washington, D.C. As his train pulled into Union Station, he was greeted by a group of Boy Scouts, happily waving and wishing him luck. Gehrig waved back, but he leaned forward to his companion, a reporter, and said, "They're wishing me luck — and I'm dying."[11]
"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth"[link]
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| Lou Gehrig's number 4 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1940. |
On June 21, the New York Yankees announced Gehrig's retirement and proclaimed July 4, 1939, "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium. Between games of the Independence Day doubleheader against the Washington Senators, the poignant ceremonies were held on the diamond. In its coverage the following day, The New York Times said it was "perhaps as colorful and dramatic a pageant as ever was enacted on a baseball field [as] 61,808 fans thundered a hail and farewell."[46] Dignitaries extolled the dying slugger and the members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship team, known as "Murderer's Row", attended the ceremonies. New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia called Gehrig "the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship" and Postmaster General James Farley concluded his speech by predicting, "For generations to come, boys who play baseball will point with pride to your record."[46]
Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy, struggling to control his emotions, then spoke of Lou Gehrig, with whom there was a close, almost father and son-like bond. After describing Gehrig as "the finest example of a ballplayer, sportsman, and citizen that baseball has ever known", McCarthy could stand it no longer. Turning tearfully to Gehrig, the manager said, "Lou, what else can I say except that it was a sad day in the life of everybody who knew you when you came into my hotel room that day in Detroit and told me you were quitting as a ballplayer because you felt yourself a hindrance to the team. My God, man, you were never that."[47]
The Yankees retired Gehrig's uniform number "4", making him the first player in Major League Baseball history to be accorded that honor.[48] Gehrig was given many gifts, commemorative plaques, and trophies. Some came from VIPs; others came from the stadium's groundskeepers and janitorial staff. Footage of the ceremonies shows Gehrig being handed various gifts, and immediately setting them down on the ground, because he no longer had the arm strength to hold them.[11] The Yankees gave him a silver trophy with their signatures engraved on it. Inscribed on the front was a special poem written by The New York Times writer John Kieran.[49] The trophy cost only about $5, but it became one of Gehrig's most prized possessions.[50] It is currently on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
After the presentations and remarks by Babe Ruth, Gehrig addressed the crowd:
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that's the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.
The crowd stood and applauded for almost two minutes. Gehrig was visibly shaken as he stepped away from the microphone, and wiped the tears away from his face with his handkerchief.[50] Babe Ruth came over and hugged him as a band played "I Love You Truly" and the crowd chanted "We love you, Lou." The New York Times account the following day called it "one of the most touching scenes ever witnessed on a ball field", that made even hard-boiled reporters "swallow hard."[46]
In December 1939, Lou Gehrig was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in a special election by the Baseball Writers Association.[52] At age 36, he was the second youngest player to be so honored (behind Sandy Koufax).[53]
Final years[link]
"Don't think I am depressed or pessimistic about my condition at present," Lou Gehrig wrote following his retirement from baseball. Struggling against his ever-worsening physical condition, he added, "I intend to hold on as long as possible and then if the inevitable comes, I will accept it philosophically and hope for the best. That's all we can do."[11]
In October 1939, he accepted Mayor LaGuardia's appointment to a ten-year term as a New York City Parole Commissioner and was sworn into office on January 2, 1940.[52] The Parole Commission commended the ex-ballplayer for his "firm belief in parole, properly administered", stating that Gehrig "indicated he accepted the parole post because it represented an opportunity for public service. He had rejected other job offers – including lucrative speaking and guest appearance opportunities – worth far more financially than the $5,700 a year commissionership." Gehrig visited New York City's correctional facilities, but insisted that the visits not be covered by news media.[54] Gehrig, as always, quietly and efficiently performed his duties. He was often helped by his wife Eleanor, who would guide his hand when he had to sign official documents. About a month before his death, when Gehrig reached the point where his deteriorating physical condition made it impossible for him to continue in the job, he quietly resigned.[55]
On June 2, 1941, at 10:10 p.m., sixteen years to the day after he replaced Wally Pipp at first base and two years after his retirement from baseball, Lou Gehrig died at his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York.[56][57]
Upon hearing the news, Babe Ruth and his wife Claire went to the Gehrig house to console Eleanor. Mayor LaGuardia ordered flags in New York to be flown at half-staff, and Major League ballparks around the nation did likewise.[58]
Following the funeral at Christ Episcopal Church of Riverdale, Gehrig's remains were cremated and interred on June 4 at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Lou Gehrig and Ed Barrow are both interred in the same section of Kensico Cemetery, which is next door to Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where the graves of Babe Ruth and Billy Martin are located.[59]
The Gehrigs had no children. Eleanor, who never remarried, dedicated the remainder of her life to supporting ALS research. She died on March 6, 1984, on her 80th birthday.[18]
The Yankees dedicated a monument to Gehrig in center field at Yankee Stadium on July 6, 1941, the shrine lauding him as, "A man, a gentleman and a great ballplayer whose amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time." Gehrig's monument joined the one placed there in 1932 to Miller Huggins, which would eventually be followed by Babe Ruth's in 1949.[29]
Gehrig's birthplace in Manhattan, at 1994 Second Avenue (near E. 103rd Street), is memorialized with a plaque marking the site, as is another early residence on E. 94th Street (near Second Avenue). (As of 26/12/2011, the first mentioned plaque is not present due to ongoing construction. The second mentioned plaque is present, but ascribes to his birthplace, not early residence.) The Gehrigs' white house at 5204 Delafield Avenue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where Lou Gehrig died, still stands today on the east side of the Henry Hudson Parkway and is likewise marked by a plaque.[24]
Records, awards, and accomplishments[link]
Sixty years after his farewell to baseball, Gehrig received the most votes of any baseball player on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fan balloting in 1999.[5]
Records[link]
| Accomplishment | Record | Refs |
|---|---|---|
| Career | ||
| Most grand slams | 23 | [60] |
| Most consecutive seasons with 120+ RBIs | 8 (1927–1934) | [60] |
| Most runs batted in (RBI) by a first baseman | 1,995 | [60] |
| Most runs scored by a first baseman | 1,888 | [60] |
| Highest on-base percentage by a first baseman | .447 | [60] |
| Most walks by a first baseman | 1,508 | [60] |
| Highest slugging percentage by a first baseman | .632 | [60] |
| Most extra base hits by a first baseman | 1,190 | [60] |
| Single–season | ||
| Most runs batted-in by a first baseman | 184 (1931) | [60] |
| Most runs scored by a first baseman | 167 (1936) | [60] |
| Highest slugging percentage by a first baseman | .765 (1927) | [60] |
| Extra-base hits by a first baseman | 117 (1927) | [60] |
| Most total bases by a first baseman | 447 (1927) | [60] |
| Single–game | ||
| Most home runs[a] | 4 | [60] |
- ^ The record is held with 15 other players
Awards and honors[link]
| Award/Honor | # of Times | Dates | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| American League All-Star | 7 | 1933–1939 | [60] |
| American League MVP | 2 | 1927, 1936 | [60][61] |
| The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award[62] | — | 1955–present | [60] |
| Named starting first baseman on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team | — | 1999 | [5] |
| Inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum | — | 1939 | [60] |
| World Series champion | 6 | 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938 |
Other accomplishments[link]
| Accomplishment | Year |
|---|---|
| Triple Crown (.363 BA, 49 HR, 165 RBI) | 1934 |
| Only player in history to collect 400 total bases in five seasons | 1927, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936 |
| With Stan Musial, one of two players to collect at least 500 doubles, 150 triples, and 400 home runs in a career | – |
| One of only six players (Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, and Ted Williams were the others) to end their career with a minimum .320 batting average, 350 home runs, and 1,500 RBI | – |
| With Albert Pujols, one of two players to hit 40 doubles and 40 home runs in the same season three separate times | 1927, 1930, 1934 |
| Scored game-winning run in 8 World Series games | – |
| First athlete ever to appear on a box of Wheaties | – |
| First baseball player to have his uniform number retired (January 6, 1940); his July 4, 1939, farewell speech was voted by fans as the fifth-greatest moment in Major League Baseball history in 2002 | July 4, 1939 |
| A Lou Gehrig 25-cent postage stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service on the 50th anniversary of his retirement from baseball, depicting him both in profile and at bat (Scott number 2417) | 1989 |
| On the 70th anniversary of his farewell address in Yankee Stadium, MLB dedicated a day of remembrance to him and to the awareness of ALS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | July 4, 2009 |
| Gehrig was mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash: | |
|
"Line-Up for Yesterday"
G is for Gehrig, |
Film and other media[link]
Lou Gehrig starred in the 1938 20th Century Fox movie Rawhide playing himself in his only feature film appearance.[64] In 2006, researchers presented a paper to the American Academy of Neurology, reporting on an analysis of Rawhide and photographs of Lou Gehrig from the 1937–1939 period, to ascertain when Gehrig began to show visible symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. They concluded that while atrophy of hand muscles could be detected in 1939 photographs of Gehrig, no such abnormality was visible at the time Rawhide was made in January 1938. "Examination of Rawhide showed that Gehrig functioned normally in January 1938", the report concluded.[65]
In 1942, the life of Lou Gehrig was portrayed in the movie The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper as Gehrig and Teresa Wright as his wife Eleanor. It received 11 Academy Award nominations and won in one category, Film Editing. Real-life Yankees Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig and Bill Dickey (then still an active player) played themselves, as did sportscaster Bill Stern.
Later, in 1978, a TV movie, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story was released, starring Blythe Danner and Edward Herrmann as Eleanor and Lou Gehrig. It was based on the 1976 autobiography My Luke and I, written by Eleanor Gehrig and Joseph Durso.
In an episode of the PBS series Jean Shepherd's America, the Chicago-born Shepherd told of how he and his father (Jean Shepherd, Sr.) would watch Chicago White Sox games from the right field upper deck at Comiskey Park in the 1930s. On one occasion, the Sox were playing the Yankees, and Shepherd Sr. had been taunting Gehrig, yelling at him all day. In the top of the ninth, with Sox icon Ted Lyons holding a slim lead, Gehrig came up with a man on base, and the senior Shepherd yelled in a voice that echoed around the ballpark, "Hit one up here, ya bum! I dare ya!" Gehrig did exactly that, hitting a screaming liner, practically into the heckler's lap, for the eventual game-winning home run. Shepherd's father was booed mercilessly, and he never again took junior Jean to a game. He apparently told this story originally when Gehrig's widow was in the audience at a speaking engagement.[66]
See also[link]
- List of MLB:
- List of MLB players with
References[link]
- ^ "Re-Discovering Lou Gehrig’s Lost Nickname". http://www.oneforfive.com/buster-gehrig-follow-up/. Retrieved February, 15, 2012.
- ^ "Lou Gehrig". Britannica Encyclopedia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/227791/Lou-Gehrig. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ "Lou Gehrig Grand Slams". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/Lou_Gehrig_Grand_Slams.shtml. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ Frank Graham, Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969.
- ^ a b c "All-Century Team final voting". ESPN. October 23, 2007. http://assets.espn.go.com/mlb/news/1999/1023/129008.html. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
- ^ "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)". Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). http://www.als-mda.org/disease/. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Ripken_Cal.html
- ^ "All-Star Game History". Baseball Almanac. 2007. http://baseball-almanac.com/asgmenu.shtml. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
- ^ [1] "Baseball-Almanac Statistics"
- ^ Robinson, Ray (July 3, 2005). "Gehrig Remains a Presence in His Former Neighborhood". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/sports/baseball/03gehrig.html.
- ^ a b c d e Eig, Jonathan (2005). Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0-7432-4591-1.
- ^ Robinson, Ray (1990). Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 30–31. ISBN 0-393-02857-7.
- ^ Eig: p. 7, 11.
- ^ Eig: p. 9
- ^ 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York; Roll T624_1026; Page: 26B; Enumeration District: 683; Image: 431.
- ^ 1920;Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 11, New York, New York; Roll T625_1205; Page: 18A; Enumeration District: 830; Image: 541.
- ^ a b "Commerce Team Wins". The New York Times. June 27, 1920.
- ^ a b Kashatus, William (2004). Lou Gehrig: A Biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, p. 44.
- ^ "P.S. 132 Historical Perspective". NYC Department of Education. http://www.binarywire.com/ps132/background.htm. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago: Field Enterprises, 1958, p. 2897.
- ^ a b c Robinson, Ray. "Lou Gehrig: Columbia Legend and American Hero". http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Fall2001/Gehrig.html. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, pp. 58–59.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Lou Gehrig: Biography". lougehrig.com. http://www.lougehrig.com/about/bio.htm. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ Kashatus, William (2004). Lou Gehrig: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters) (Hardcover). Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32866-8.
- ^ "Murderers' Row and Beyond". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/minor-league/minor2003a.shtml. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
- ^ "MVP BAseball Players". Baseball Reference. http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/mvp_cya.shtml. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
- ^ a b Newman, Mark. "Gehrig's shining legacy of courage". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/nyy/history/gehrig.jsp. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Lou Gehrig". The Idea Logical Company, Inc.. http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Lou_Gehrig_1903. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
- ^ "Box Score of Four Home Run Game by Lou Gehrig". Baseball Almanac. 2000. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/06031932.shtml. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
- ^ Baseball's Unforgettable Games (1960, by Joe Reichler and Ben Olan
- ^ "Equinoctial Climax". Time. October 5, 1936. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,770376,00.html. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
- ^ Davis, J. H. (1988). "Fixing the Standard of Care: Motivated Athletes and Medical Malpractice". American Journal of Trial Advocacy 12: 215. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=info:tFte_3bGN7AJ:scholar.google.com/&output=viewport. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
- ^ ( – Scholar search) Mike Tilden English 15 Gregg Rogers 24 October 2002 September 11 Defines "American Hero". http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/w/mwt131/frosh/engl015/definition%20paper.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2008. [dead link][dead link]
- ^ Getlen, Larry (February 28, 2010). "The Baseball Codes". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/books/bat_manners_rdJEH7M3ZUnHrHhGCO20JM/2. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ Greenberg, D. A.; Jin, K. (2004). "VEGF and ALS: the luckiest growth factor?". Trends in Molecular Medicine 10 (1): 1–3. DOI:10.1016/j.molmed.2003.11.006. PMID 14720577.
- ^ a b c d Malik, N. (2000). "Lou Gehrig's Disease: A Closer Look at the Genetic Basis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis" ( – Scholar search). Pediatrics 3 (3). http://www.geriatricsandaging.com/FMPro?-DB=GA_articles_database&-Find=&-Format=record_detail.htm&Name=Lou%20Gehrig's%20Disease:%20A%20Closer%20Look%20at%20the%20Genetic%20Basis%20of%20Amyotrophic%20Lateral%20Sclerosis. Retrieved April 17, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Bob Chick (February 24, 2008). "Spring Training In Tampa — The Final Out". The Tampa Tribune.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, p. 248.
- ^ Walling, A.D. (1999). "Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Lou Gehrig's disease.". Am Fam Physician 59 (6): 1489–96. PMID 99207934.
- ^ a b "Quotes about Lou Gehrig". lougehrig.com. http://www.lougehrig.com/about/quotesabout.htm. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, pp. 251–253.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, p. 258.
- ^ Cardoso, R.M.F.; Thayer, M.M.; Didonato, M.; Lo, T.P.; Bruns, C.K.; Getzoff, E.D.; Tainer, J.A. (2002). "Insights into Lou Gehrig's Disease from the Structure and Instability of the A4V Mutant of Human Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase". Journal of Molecular Biology 324 (2): 247–256. DOI:10.1016/S0022-2836(02)01090-2. PMID 12441104.
- ^ Kaden, S. (2002). "More About His ALS Battle". http://moregehrig.tripod.com/id3.html. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ a b c John Drebinger, "61,808 Fans Roar Tribute to Gehrig", The New York Times, July 5, 1939.
- ^ Belli, R.F.; Schuman, H. (1996). "The complexity of ignorance". Qualitative Sociology 19 (3): 423–430. DOI:10.1007/BF02393279. http://www.springerlink.com/index/2X76864U72372M35.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
- ^ Greenberger, R. (2003). Lou Gehrig. The Rosen Publishing Group.
- ^ The inscription on the trophy presented to Gehrig from his Yankees teammates: <poem> "We've been to the wars together; We took our foes as they came; And always you were the leader, And ever you played the game. Idol of cheering millions, Records are yours by sheaves; Iron of frame they hailed you Decked you with laurel leaves. But higher than that we hold you, We who have known you best; Knowing the way you came through Every human test. Let this be a silent token Of lasting Friendship's gleam, And all that we've left unspoken; Your Pals of the Yankees Team." </poem>Source: The day he retired, S. Kaden, 2003
- ^ a b The Day He Retired, S. Kaden, 2003
- ^ "Farewell Speech". lougehrig.com. July 4, 1939. http://www.lougehrig.com/about/speech.htm. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ^ a b Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, p. 266.
- ^ "Henry Louis Gehrig". National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080403155758/http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=114680. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
- ^ In appointing Gehrig as a Parole Commissioner, Mayor LaGuardia said, "I believe he will be not only a capable, intelligent commissioner but that he will be an inspiration and a hope to many of the younger boys who have gotten into trouble. Surely the misfortune of some of the young men will compare as something trivial with what Mr. Gehrig has so cheerfully and courageously faced." Gehrig continued to go regularly to his City Hall office until a month before his death. (reference: New York City Parole Commission history)
- ^ Cleveland, D.W.; Rothstein, J.D. (2001). "From Charcot to Lou Gehrig: deciphering selective motor neuron death in ALS". Nat Rev Neurosci 2 (11): 806–19. DOI:10.1038/35097565. PMID 11715057. http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/teaching/C7101/From_Charcot_to_Lou_g.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
- ^ "Gehrig, 'Iron Man' of Baseball, Dies at the age of 37", The New York Times, June 3, 1941.
- ^ Yardley, Jonathan. "Book World Live: Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig", The Washington Post, April 5, 2005. Accessed May 3, 2008. "On June 2, 1941, just days short of his 38th birthday, Henry Louis Gehrig died at his house in the pleasant New York City neighborhood of Riverdale."
- ^ Time magazine, June 16, 1941.
- ^ Innes, A.M.; Chudley, A.E. (1999). "Genetic landmarks through philately- Henry Louis'Lou' Gehrig and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis". Clinical Genetics 56 (6): 425–427. DOI:10.1034/j.1399-0004.1999.560603.x. PMID 10665660.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Achievements". lougehrig.com. http://www.lougehrig.com/about/achievements.htm. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
- ^ "Most Valuable Player winners". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/mlb_awards_content.jsp?content=mvp_history. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
- ^ The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award was created by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity in his honor and is given to players who best exemplify Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field. Since the award was created in 1955, the name of each winner has been placed on the Lou Gehrig Award plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
- ^ "Line-Up For Yesterday by Ogden Nash". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_line.shtml. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
- ^ Robinson, Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time, pp. 231–232.
- ^ Melissa Lewis Paul H. Gordon (July 13, 2006). "Lou Gehrig, Rawhide, and 1938". American Academy of Neurology. http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/short/68/8/615?rss=1. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
- ^ Partridge, Ernest. "Jean Shepherd – 1921–1999". http://gadfly.igc.org/essays2/shepherd.htm. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lou Gehrig |
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lou Gehrig |
- YouTube Video of Lou Gehrig - Superman
- Lou Gehrig at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Video, Audio and Text of Lou Gehrig's Farewell to Baseball Address
- Official Website
- Gehrig's shining legacy of courage, Major League Baseball tribute by Mark Newman on Gehrig's 100th birthday.
- Lou Gehrig Memorial at Find a Grave
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http://wn.com/Lou_Gehrig
Related pages:
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other uses, see Neil Armstrong (disambiguation).
| Neil Armstrong | |
|---|---|
  |
|
| USAF / NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Status | Retired |
| Born | (1930-08-05) August 5, 1930 (age 81)[1] Wapakoneta, Ohio, U.S. |
| Previous occupation | Naval aviator, test pilot |
| Time in space | 8 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes and 31 seconds |
| Selection | 1958 Man In Space Soonest 1960 Dyna-Soar 1962 NASA Group 2 |
| Total EVAs | 1 |
| Total EVA time | 2 hours 31 minutes |
| Missions | Gemini 8, Apollo 11 |
| Mission insignia |   |
| Awards |   |
Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon.
Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was in the United States Navy and served in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety of aircraft. As a research pilot, Armstrong served as project pilot on the F-100 Super Sabre A and C variants, F-101 Voodoo, and the Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. He also flew the Bell X-1B, Bell X-5, North American X-15, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Stratojet, KC-135 Stratotanker, and was one of eight elite pilots involved in the paraglider research vehicle program (Paresev). He graduated from Purdue University and the University of Southern California.
A participant in the U.S. Air Force's Man In Space Soonest and X-20 Dyna-Soar human spaceflight programs, Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first spaceflight was the NASA Gemini 8 mission in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming one of the first U.S. civilians to fly in space.[citation needed] On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft with pilot David Scott. Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission on July 20, 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2½ hours exploring while Michael Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module. Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon along with Collins and Aldrin, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.
Contents |
Early years[link]
Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, to Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel.[2][3] He is of Scots-Irish and German descent, and had two younger siblings, June and Dean. Stephen Armstrong worked as an auditor[4] for the Ohio state government, and the family moved around the state repeatedly in the 15 years following Armstrong's birth, living in 20 different towns. His love for flying grew during this time, having gotten off to an early start when his father took 2-year-old Neil to the Cleveland Air Races. On July 20, 1936, when he was 6, he experienced his first airplane flight in Warren, Ohio, when he and his father took a ride in a Ford Trimotor (aka the "Tin Goose").[5] His father's last forced move was to Wapakoneta (Auglaize County) in 1944, where Neil attended Blume High School. Armstrong began taking flying lessons at the county airport, and was just 15 when he earned his flight certificate, before he had a driver's license. Armstrong was active in the Boy Scouts and he eventually earned the rank of Eagle Scout. As an adult, he was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo Award.[6] On July 18, 1969, while flying towards the Moon inside the Columbia, he greeted the Scouts: "I'd like to say hello to all my fellow scouts and scouters at Farragut State Park in Idaho having a National Jamboree there this week; and Apollo 11 would like to send them best wishes". Houston: "Thank you, Apollo 11. I'm sure that, if they didn't hear that, they'll get the word through the news. Certainly appreciate that."[7]
In 1947, Armstrong began studying aerospace engineering at Purdue University, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta[8] and Kappa Kappa Psi.[9] He was only the second person in his family to attend college, and was also accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but the only engineer he knew (who had attended MIT) dissuaded him from attending, telling Armstrong that it was not necessary to go all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a good education.[10] His college tuition was paid for under the Holloway Plan – successful applicants committed to two years of study, followed by three years of service in the United States Navy, then completion of the final two years of the degree. At Purdue, he earned average marks in his subjects, with a GPA that rose and fell during eight semesters. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1955, and, from the University of Southern California in 1970, a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering.[11] Armstrong holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities.[12]
Navy service[link]
Armstrong's call-up from the Navy arrived on January 26, 1949, which required him to report to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. This lasted almost 18 months, during which he qualified for carrier landing aboard the USS Cabot and USS Wright. On August 16, 1950, two weeks after his 20th birthday, Armstrong was informed by letter he was a fully qualified Naval Aviator.[13]
His first assignment was to Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 7 at NAS San Diego (now known as NAS North Island). Two months later he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51), an all-jet squadron, and made his first flight in a jet, an F9F-2B Panther, on January 5, 1951. In June, he made his first jet carrier landing on the USS Essex and was promoted the same week from midshipman to ensign. By the end of the month, the Essex had set sail with VF-51 aboard, bound for Korea, where they would act as ground-attack aircraft.[14]
Armstrong first saw action in the Korean War on August 29, 1951, as an escort for a photo reconnaissance plane over Songjin.[15] On September 3, 1951, Armstrong flew armed reconnaissance over the primary transportation and storage facilities south of the village of Majon-ni, west of Wonsan; while he was making a low bombing run at about 350 mph (560 km/h), Armstrong's F9F Panther was hit by anti-aircraft fire. While trying to regain control, Armstrong collided with a pole at a height of about 20 feet (6.1 m), which sliced off an estimated three feet of the Panther's right wing.[16] Armstrong was able to fly the plane back to friendly territory, but due to the loss of the aileron, ejection was his only safe option. He planned to eject over water and await rescue by navy helicopters, and therefore flew to an airfield near Pohang but instead of achieving the desired rescue from the water, his ejection seat was blown back over land.[17] A jeep driven by a room-mate from flight school picked Armstrong up; it is unknown what happened to the wreckage of No. 125122 F9F-2.[18]
Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea for a total of 121 hours in the air, most of which were in January 1952. He received the Air Medal for 20 combat missions, a Gold Star for the next 20, and the Korean Service Medal and Engagement Star.[19] Armstrong left the navy at the age of 22 on August 23, 1952, and became a Lieutenant, Junior Grade in the United States Naval Reserve. He resigned his commission in the Naval Reserve on October 21, 1960.[20]
College years[link]
After his service with the Navy, Armstrong returned to Purdue, where his best grades came in the four semesters following his return from Korea. His final GPA was 4.8 out of 6.0.[21] He pledged the Phi Delta Theta fraternity after his return, where he wrote and co-directed their musical as part of the all-student revue, was also a member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, and a baritone player in the Purdue All-American Marching Band. Armstrong graduated with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955.[20]
While at Purdue, he met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, who was majoring in home economics. According to the two there was no real courtship, and neither can remember the exact circumstances of their engagement, except that it occurred while Armstrong was working at the NACA's Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. They were married on January 28, 1956 at the Congregational Church in Wilmette, Illinois. When he moved to Edwards Air Force Base, he lived in the bachelor quarters of the base, while Janet lived in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. After one semester, they moved into a house in Antelope Valley. Janet never finished her degree, a fact she regretted later in life.[22]
The couple had three children together – Eric, Karen, and Mark.[23] In June 1961, Karen was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the middle part of her brain stem; X-ray treatment slowed its growth but her health deteriorated to the point where she could no longer walk or talk. Karen died of pneumonia, related to her weakened health, on January 28, 1962.[24]
Armstrong later completed his master of science degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Southern California.[1]
Test pilot[link]
Following his graduation from Purdue, Armstrong decided to become an experimental research test pilot. He applied at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base; although they had no open positions they did forward his application to the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, where Armstrong began working at Lewis Field in March 1955.[25] Armstrong's stint at Cleveland lasted a couple of months, and by July 1955, he had returned to Edwards AFB for his new job.[26]
On his first day at Edwards, Armstrong was tasked his first assignments, which were to pilot chase planes during releases of experimental aircraft from modified bombers. He also flew the modified bombers, and on one of these missions had his first flight incident at Edwards. Armstrong was in the right-hand seat of a B-29 Superfortress on March 22, 1956,[27] which was to air-drop a Douglas Skyrocket D-558-2. Armstrong sat the right-hand seat pilot while the left-hand seat commander, Stan Butchart, flew the B-29.[28]
As they ascended to 30,000 ft (9 km), the number four engine stopped and the propeller began windmilling (rotating freely) in the airstream. Hitting the switch that would stop the propeller spinning, Butchart found the propeller slowed but then started spinning again, this time even faster than the other engines; if it spun too fast, it would break apart. Their aircraft needed to hold an airspeed of 210 mph (338 km/h) to launch its Skyrocket payload, and the B-29 could not land with the Skyrocket still attached to its belly. Armstrong and Butchart brought the aircraft into a nose-down alignment to increase speed, then launched the Skyrocket. At the very instant of launch, the number four engine propeller disintegrated. Pieces of it careened through part of the number three engine and hit the number two engine. Butchart and Armstrong were forced to shut down the number three engine, due to damage, and the number one engine, due to the torque it created. They made a slow, circling descent from 30,000 ft (9,000 m) using only the number two engine, and landed safely.[29]
Armstrong's first flight in a rocket plane was on August 15, 1957, in the Bell X-1B, to an altitude of 11.4 miles (18.3 km). The nose landing gear broke on landing, which had happened on about a dozen previous flights of the Bell X-1B due to the aircraft's design.[30] He later flew the North American X-15; Armstrong would fly the aircraft seven times before September 1962, and during his penultimate X-15 flight, he reached an altitude of 207,500 feet (63.2 km).[30]
Armstrong was involved in several incidents that went down in Edwards folklore and/or were chronicled in the memoirs of colleagues. The first was an X-15 flight on April 20, 1962, when Armstrong tested a self-adjusting control system. He flew to a height of 207,000 ft (63 km), (the highest he flew before Gemini 8), but he held the aircraft nose up too long during descent, and the X-15 bounced off the atmosphere back up to 140,000 ft (43 km). At that altitude, the atmosphere is so thin that aerodynamic surfaces have almost no effect. He flew past the landing field at Mach 3 (2,000 mph, or 3,200 km/h), over 100,000 ft (30.5 km) altitude, and ended up 40 miles (64 km) south of Edwards (legend has it that he flew as far as the Rose Bowl). After sufficient descent, he turned back toward the landing area, and barely managed to land without striking Joshua trees at the south end. It was the longest X-15 flight in both time and distance of the ground track.[31]
Four days later, Armstrong was involved in a second incident, when he flew for the only time with Chuck Yeager. Their job, flying a T-33 Shooting Star, was to evaluate Smith Ranch Dry Lake for use as an emergency landing site for the X-15. In his autobiography, Yeager wrote that he knew the lake bed was unsuitable for landings after recent rains, but Armstrong insisted on flying out anyway. As they attempted a touch-and-go, the wheels became stuck and they had to wait for rescue. Armstrong tells a different version of events, where Yeager never tried to talk him out of it and they made a first successful landing on the east side of the lake. Then Yeager told him to try again, this time a bit slower. On the second landing they became stuck and according to Armstrong, Yeager was in fits of laughter.[32]
Many of the test pilots at Edwards praised Armstrong's engineering ability. Milt Thompson said he was "the most technically capable of the early X-15 pilots." Bill Dana said Armstrong "had a mind that absorbed things like a sponge." Those who flew for the Air Force tended to have a different opinion, especially people like Chuck Yeager and Pete Knight who did not have engineering degrees. Knight said that pilot-engineers flew in a way that was "more mechanical than it is flying," and gave this as the reason why some pilot-engineers got into trouble: their flying skills did not come naturally.[33]
On May 21, 1962, Armstrong was involved in what Edwards' folklore called the "Nellis Affair". He was sent in an F-104 Starfighter to inspect Delamar Lake, again for emergency landings. He misjudged his altitude, and also did not realize that the landing gear had not fully extended. As he touched down, the landing gear began to retract. Armstrong applied full power to abort the landing, but the ventral fin and landing gear door struck the ground, which damaged the radio and released hydraulic fluid. Without radio communication, Armstrong flew to Nellis Air Force Base, past the control tower, and waggled his wings, the signal for a no-radio approach. The loss of hydraulic fluid caused the tail-hook to release, and upon landing he caught the arresting wire attached to an anchor chain, and careened along the runway dragging the chain. It took thirty minutes to clear the runway and rig an arresting cable. Armstrong telephoned Edwards and asked for someone to collect him. Milt Thompson was sent in an F-104B, the only two-seater available, but a plane Thompson had never flown. With great difficulty, Thompson made it to Nellis, but a strong crosswind caused a hard landing and the left main tire suffered a blowout. The runway was again closed to clear it, and Bill Dana was sent to Nellis in a T-33 Shooting Star, but he almost landed long — and the Nellis base operations office decided that it would be best to find the three NASA pilots ground transport back to Edwards, to avoid any further problems.[34]
Armstrong made seven flights in the X-15. He reached a top altitude of 207,500 ft (63.2 km) in the X-15-3,[35] and a top speed of Mach 5.74 (4,000 mph or 6,615 km/h) in the X-15-1; he left the Dryden Flight Research Center with a total of 2,400 flying hours.[36] Over his career, he has flown more than 200 different models of aircraft.[11]
Astronaut career[link]
There was no defining moment in Armstrong's decision to become an astronaut. In 1958, he was selected for the U.S. Air Force's Man In Space Soonest program. In November 1960 Armstrong was chosen as part of the pilot consultant group for the X-20 Dyna-Soar, a military space plane, and on March 15, 1962 he was named as one of six pilot-engineers who would fly the space plane when it got off the design board.[37]
In the months after the announcement that applications were being sought for the second group of NASA astronauts, he became more and more excited about the prospects both of the Apollo program and of investigating a new aeronautical environment. Armstrong's astronaut application had arrived about a week past the June 1, 1962 deadline, but Dick Day, with whom Armstrong had worked closely at Edwards, worked at the Manned Spacecraft Center, saw the late arrival of the application, and slipped it into the pile before anyone noticed.[38] At Brooks City-Base at the end of June he underwent a medical exam that many of the applicants described as painful and at times seemingly pointless.[39]
Deke Slayton called Armstrong on September 13, 1962 and asked if he was interested in joining the NASA Astronaut Corps as part of what the press dubbed "the New Nine"; without hesitation, Armstrong said yes. The selections were kept secret until three days later, although newspaper reports had been circulating since the middle of summer that year that he would be selected as the "first civilian astronaut".[40] Armstrong was one of two civilian pilots selected for the second group, the other being Elliott See who, like Armstrong, was a naval aviator.[41] Armstrong did not become the first civilian to fly in space, as the Russians had launched Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963 with Valentina Tereshkova, a textile worker and amateur parachutist, aboard.[42]
Gemini program[link]
[edit] Gemini 8
Main article: Gemini 8
The crew assignments for Gemini 8 were announced on September 20, 1965, with Armstrong as Command Pilot and David Scott as Pilot. Scott was the first member of the third group of astronauts to receive a prime crew assignment. The mission launched on March 16, 1966; it was to be the most complex yet, with a rendezvous and docking with the unmanned Agena target vehicle, the second American extra-vehicular activity by Scott. In total the mission was planned to last 75 hours and 55 orbits. After the Agena lifted off at 10 am EST, the Titan II carrying Armstrong and Scott ignited at 11:41:02 am EST, putting them into an orbit from where they would chase the Agena.[43]
The rendezvous and first ever docking between two spacecraft was successfully completed after 6.5 hours in orbit.[44] Contact with the crew was intermittent due to the lack of tracking stations covering their entire orbits. Out of contact with the ground, the docked spacecraft began to roll, which Armstrong attempted to correct with the Orbital Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS) of the Gemini spacecraft. Following the earlier advice of Mission Control, they undocked, but found that the roll increased dramatically to the point where they were turning about once per second, which meant the problem was in their Gemini's attitude control. Armstrong decided the only course of action was to engage the Reentry Control System (RCS) and turn off the OAMS. Mission rules dictated that once this system was turned on, the spacecraft would have to reenter at the next possible opportunity. It was later thought that damaged wiring made one of the thrusters become stuck on.[45]
Throughout the astronaut office there were a few people, most notably Walter Cunningham, who publicly stated that Armstrong and Scott had ignored the malfunction procedures for such an incident, and that Armstrong could have salvaged the mission if he had turned on only one of the two RCS rings and saved the other for mission objectives. These criticisms were unfounded – no malfunction procedures were written and it was only possible to turn on both RCS rings, not one or the other. Gene Kranz wrote, "the crew reacted as they were trained, and they reacted wrong because we trained them wrong." The mission planners and controllers had failed to realize that when two spacecraft are docked together they must be considered to be one spacecraft.[46]
Armstrong himself was depressed[47] that the mission had been cut short, which cancelled most mission objectives and robbed Scott of his EVA.
[edit] Gemini 11
Main article: Gemini 11
The last crew assignment for Armstrong during the Gemini program was as backup Command Pilot for Gemini 11, announced two days after the landing of Gemini 8. Having already trained for two flights, Armstrong was quite knowledgeable about the systems and was more in a teaching role[48] for the rookie backup Pilot, William Anders. The launch was on September 12, 1966[49] with Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon on board, who successfully completed the mission objectives, while Armstrong served as CAPCOM.
Following the flight, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Armstrong and his wife to take part in a 24-day goodwill tour of South America.[50] Also on the tour, which took in 11 countries and 14 major cities, were Dick Gordon, George Low, their wives, and other government officials. In Paraguay, Armstrong impressed dignitaries by greeting them in their local language, Guarani;[51] in Brazil he talked about the exploits of the Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont, who was regarded as having beaten the Wright brothers with the first flying machine with his 14-bis.[52]
Apollo program[link]
On January 27, 1967, the date of the Apollo 1 fire, Armstrong was in Washington, D.C. with Gordon Cooper, Dick Gordon, Jim Lovell and Scott Carpenter for the signing of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty. The astronauts chatted with the assembled dignitaries until 6:45 pm Carpenter went to the airport, and the others returned to the Georgetown Inn, where they each found messages to phone the Manned Spacecraft Center. They learned of the deaths of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee during these telephone calls. Armstrong and the group spent the rest of the night drinking scotch and discussing what had happened.[53]
On April 5, 1967, the same day the Apollo 1 investigation released its report on the fire, Armstrong assembled with 17 other astronauts for a meeting with Deke Slayton. The first thing Slayton said was, "The guys who are going to fly the first lunar missions are the guys in this room."[54] According to Eugene Cernan, Armstrong showed no reaction to the statement. To Armstrong it came as no surprise – the room was full of veterans of Project Gemini, the only people who could fly the lunar missions. Slayton talked about the planned missions and named Armstrong to the backup crew for Apollo 9, which at that stage was planned to be a medium Earth orbit test of the Lunar Module-Command/Service Module combination. After design and manufacturing delays in the Lunar Module (LM), Apollo 9 and Apollo 8 swapped crews. Based on the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong would command Apollo 11.[55]
To attempt to give the astronauts experience with how the LM would fly on its final landing descent, NASA commissioned Bell Aircraft to build two Lunar Landing Research Vehicles, later augmented with three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTV). Nicknamed the "Flying Bedsteads", they simulated the Moon's one-sixth of Earth's gravity by using a turbofan engine to support the remaining five-sixths of the craft's weight. On May 6, 1968, about 100 feet (30m) above the ground, Armstrong's controls started to degrade and the LLTV began banking.[56] He ejected safely (later analysis would suggest if he had ejected 0.5 seconds later, his parachute would not have opened in time). His only injury was from biting his tongue. Even though he was nearly killed on one, Armstrong maintains that without the LLRV and LLTV, the lunar landings would not have been successful as they gave commanders valuable experience in the behavior of lunar landing craft.[57]
Apollo 11[link]
Main article: Apollo 11
After Armstrong served as backup commander for Apollo 8, Slayton offered him the post of commander of Apollo 11 on December 23, 1968, as 8 orbited the Moon.[58] In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Armstrong as commander, lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins, he was offering the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the Lunar Module Pilot, unofficially the lowest ranked member, and Armstrong could not justify placing Lovell, the commander of Gemini 12, in the number 3 position of the crew.[59]
A March 1969 meeting between Slayton, George Low, Bob Gilruth, and Chris Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon, in some part because NASA management saw Armstrong as a person who did not have a large ego.[60] A press conference held on April 14, 1969 gave the design of the LM cabin as the reason for Armstrong being first; the hatch opened inwards and to the right, making it difficult for the lunar module pilot, on the right-hand side, to egress first. Slayton added, "Secondly, just on a pure protocol basis, I figured the commander ought to be the first guy out. . . . I changed it as soon as I found they had the time line that showed that. Bob Gilruth approved my decision."[61] At the time of their meeting, the four men did not know about the hatch issue. The first knowledge of the meeting outside the small group came when Kraft wrote his 2001 autobiography.[62]
On July 16, 1969, Armstrong received a crescent moon carved out of Styrofoam from the pad leader, Guenter Wendt, who described it as a key to the Moon. In return, Armstrong gave Wendt a ticket for a "space taxi" "good between two planets".[63]
Voyage to the Moon[link]
During the Apollo 11 launch, Armstrong's heart reached a top rate of 110 beats per minute.[64] He found the first stage to be the loudest – much noisier than the Gemini 8 Titan II launch – and the Apollo CSM was relatively roomy compared to the confinement of the Gemini capsule. This ability to move around was suspected to be the cause of space sickness that had hit members of previous crews, but none of the Apollo 11 crew suffered from it; Armstrong was especially happy, as he had been prone to motion sickness as a child and could experience nausea after doing long periods of aerobatics.[65]
The objective of Apollo 11 was to land safely rather than to touch down with precision on a particular spot. Three minutes into the lunar descent burn Armstrong noted that craters were passing about two seconds too early, which meant the Eagle would probably touch down beyond the planned landing zone by several miles.[66] As the Eagle's landing radar acquired the surface, several computer error alarms appeared. The first was a code 1202 alarm, and even with their extensive training Armstrong or Aldrin were not aware of what this code meant. However, they promptly received word from CAPCOM in Houston that the alarms were not a concern; the 1202 and 1201 alarms were caused by an executive overflow in the lunar module computer. As described by Buzz Aldrin in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, the overflow condition was caused by his own counter-checklist choice of leaving the docking radar on during the landing process, so the computer had to process unnecessary radar data and did not have enough time to execute all tasks, dropping lower-priority ones. Aldrin stated that he did so with the objective of facilitating re-docking with the CM should an abort become necessary, not realizing that it would cause the overflow condition.[citation needed]
When Armstrong noticed they were heading towards a landing area which he believed was unsafe, he took over manual control of the LM, and attempted to find an area which seemed safer, which took longer than expected, and longer than most simulations had taken.[67] For this reason, there was concern from mission control that the LM was running low on fuel.[68] Upon landing, Aldrin and Armstrong believed they had about 40 seconds worth of fuel to left, which included the 20 seconds worth of fuel which had to be saved in the event of an abort.[69] During training, Armstrong had landed the LLTV with less than 15 seconds left on several occasions, and he was also confident the LM could survive a straight-down fall from 50 feet (15 m) if needed. Analysis after the mission showed that at touchdown there were 45 to 50 seconds of propellant burn time left.[70]
The landing on the surface of the moon occurred at 20:17:39 UTC on July 20, 1969.[71] When a sensor attached to the legs of the still hovering Lunar Module made lunar contact, a panel light inside the LM lit up and Aldrin called out, "Contact light." As the LM settled on the surface Aldrin then said, "Okay. Engine stop," and Armstrong said, "Shutdown." The first words Armstrong intentionally spoke to Mission Control and the world from the lunar surface were, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Aldrin and Armstrong celebrated with a brisk handshake and pat on the back before quickly returning to the checklist of tasks needed to ready the lunar module for liftoff from the Moon should an emergency unfold during the first moments on the lunar surface.[72][73][74] During the critical landing, the only message from Houston was "30 seconds", meaning the amount of fuel left. When Armstrong had confirmed touch down, Houston expressed their worries during the manual landing as "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again".[69]
First Moon walk[link]
See also: Apollo 11 – Lunar surface operations
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Although the official NASA flight plan called for a crew rest period before extra-vehicular activity, Armstrong requested that the EVA be moved to earlier in the evening, Houston time. Once Armstrong and Aldrin were ready to go outside, Eagle was depressurized, the hatch was opened and Armstrong made his way down the ladder first.
At the bottom of the ladder, Armstrong said "I'm going to step off the LEM now" (referring to the Apollo Lunar Module). He then turned and set his left boot on the surface at 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969,[75] then spoke the famous words "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."[76]
Armstrong had decided on this statement following a train of thought that he had had after launch and during the hours after landing.[77] Armstrong said later that he accidentally dropped the "a", from his remark, rendering the phrase a contradiction (as man in such use is synonymous with mankind).[76] Armstrong later said he "would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it was not said – although it might actually have been".[78]
It has since been claimed that acoustic analysis of the recording reveals the presence of the missing "a";[76][79] Peter Shann Ford, an Australia-based computer programmer, conducted a digital audio analysis and claims that Armstrong did, in fact, say "a man", but the "a" was inaudible due to the limitations of communications technology of the time.[76][80][81] Ford and James R. Hansen, Armstrong's authorized biographer, presented these findings to Armstrong and NASA representatives, who conducted their own analysis.[82] The article by Ford, however, is published on Ford's own web site rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and linguists David Beaver and Mark Liberman at Language Log were skeptical of Ford's claims.[83] Armstrong has expressed his preference that written quotations include the "a" in parentheses.[84]
When Armstrong made his proclamation, Voice of America was rebroadcast live via the BBC and many other stations worldwide. The estimated global audience at that moment was 450 million listeners,[85] out of a then estimated world population of 3.631 billion people.[86]
About 20 minutes after the first step, Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface and became the second human to set foot on the Moon, and the duo began their tasks of investigating how easily a person could operate on the lunar surface. Early on they also unveiled a plaque commemorating their flight, and also planted the flag of the United States. The flag used on this mission had a metal rod to hold it horizontal from its pole. Since the rod did not fully extend, and the flag was tightly folded and packed during the journey, the flag ended up with a slightly wavy appearance, as if there were a breeze.[87] Shortly after the flag planting, President Richard Nixon spoke to them by a telephone call from his office. The President spoke for about a minute, after which Armstrong responded for about thirty seconds.[88]
In the entire Apollo 11 photographic record, there are only five images of Armstrong partly shown or reflected. The mission was planned to the minute, with the majority of photographic tasks to be performed by Armstrong with their single Hasselblad camera.[89]
After helping to set up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package, Armstrong went for a walk to what is now known as East Crater, 65 yards (59 m) east of the LM, the greatest distance traveled from the LM on the mission. Armstrong's final task was to leave a small package of memorial items to deceased Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The time spent on EVA during Apollo 11 was about two-and-a-half hours, the shortest of any of the six Apollo lunar landing missions;[90] each of the subsequent five landings were allotted gradually longer periods for EVA activities – the crew of Apollo 17, by comparison, spent over 22 hours exploring the lunar surface.[90]
Return to Earth[link]
After they re-entered the LM, the hatch was closed and sealed. While preparing for the liftoff from the lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin discovered that in their bulky spacesuits, they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent engine; using part of a pen, they pushed the circuit breaker in to activate the launch sequence,[91] and Aldrin still possesses the pen which they used to do this. The lunar module then continued to its rendezvous and docked with Columbia, the command and service module. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific ocean, to be picked up by the USS Hornet (CV-12).[92]
After being released from an 18-day quarantine to ensure that they had not picked up any infections or diseases from the Moon, the crew were feted across the United States and around the world as part of a 45-day "Giant Leap" tour. Armstrong then took part in Bob Hope's 1969 USO show, primarily to Vietnam.[93] In May 1970, Armstrong traveled to the Soviet Union to present a talk at the 13th annual conference of the International Committee on Space Research; after arriving in Leningrad from Poland, he traveled to Moscow where he met Premier Alexei Kosygin. He was the first westerner to see the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 and was given a tour of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center, which Armstrong described as "a bit Victorian in nature".[94] At the end of the day, he was surprised to view delayed video of the launch of Soyuz 9 – it had not occurred to Armstrong that the mission was taking place, even though Valentina Tereshkova had been his host and her husband, Andriyan Nikolayev, was on board.[95]
Life after Apollo[link]
Teaching[link]
Armstrong announced shortly after the Apollo 11 flight that he did not plan to fly in space again.[96] He was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for aeronautics for the Office of Advanced Research and Technology (DARPA), but served in this position for only a year, and resigned from it and NASA as a whole in 1971.[97]
He accepted a teaching position in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati,[98] having decided on Cincinnati over other universities, including his alma mater, Purdue, because it had a small Aerospace department; he hoped that the faculty members would not be annoyed that he came straight into a professorship with only the USC master's degree.[99] He began the work while stationed at Edwards years before, and finally completed it after Apollo 11 by presenting a report on various aspects of Apollo, instead of a thesis on simulation of hypersonic flight. The official job title he received at Cincinnati was University Professor of Aerospace Engineering. After teaching for eight years, he resigned in 1979 without explaining his reason of leaving.[100]
NASA accident investigations[link]
Armstrong served on two spaceflight accident investigations. The first was in 1970, after Apollo 13, where as part of Edgar Cortwright's panel, he produced a detailed chronology of the flight. Armstrong personally opposed the report's recommendation to re-design the service module's oxygen tanks, the source of the explosion.[101] In 1986 President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of that year. As vice-chairman, Armstrong was in charge of the operational side of the commission.[102]
Business activities[link]
After Armstrong retired from NASA in 1971, he avoided offers from businesses to act as a spokesman. The first company to successfully approach him was Chrysler, for whom he appeared in advertising starting in January 1979. Armstrong thought they had a strong engineering division, plus they were in financial difficulty. He acted as a spokesman for other companies, including General Time Corporation and the Bankers Association of America. He only acts as a spokesman for US businesses.[103]
Along with spokesman duties, he also served on the board of directors of several companies, including Marathon Oil, Learjet, Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company, Taft Broadcasting, United Airlines, Eaton Corporation, AIL Systems, and Thiokol.[104] He joined Thiokol's board after he served on the Rogers Commission; Challenger was destroyed due to a problem with the Thiokol-manufactured solid rocket boosters. He retired as chairman of the board of EDO Corporation in 2002.[105]
Personal life[link]
Armstrong was approached by political groups from both ends of the spectrum after his aeronautical career. Unlike former astronauts and United States Senators John Glenn and Harrison Schmitt, Armstrong has declined all offers. Personally, he is in favor of states' rights and against the United States acting as the "world's policeman".[106] In 1971, Armstrong was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point for his service to the country.[107]
In 1972, Armstrong was welcomed into the town of Langholm, Scotland, the traditional seat of Clan Armstrong; he was made the first freeman of the burgh, and happily declared the town his home.[108] The Justice of the Peace read from an unrepealed 400-year-old law that required him to hang any Armstrong found in the town.[109]
In the fall of 1979, Armstrong was working at his farm near Lebanon, Ohio. As he jumped off of the back of his grain truck, his wedding ring caught in the wheel, tearing off the tip of his ring finger; he calmly collected the severed digit, packed it in ice, and had it reattached by microsurgeons at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.[110] In February 1991, he suffered a mild heart attack while skiing with friends at Aspen, Colorado,[111] a year after his father had died, and nine months after the death of his mother.
Armstrong's first wife, Janet, divorced him in 1994, after 38 years of marriage.[112] He met his second wife, Carol Held Knight, in 1992 at a golf tournament, where they were seated together at the breakfast table. She said little to Armstrong, but two weeks later she received a call from him asking what she was doing—she replied she was cutting down a cherry tree; 35 minutes later Armstrong was at her house to help out. They were married on June 12, 1994, in Ohio, and then had a second ceremony, at San Ysidro Ranch, in California. He lives in Indian Hill, Ohio.[113]
Since 1994, Armstrong has refused all requests for autographs, because he has found that his signed items are selling for large amounts of money and that many forgeries are in circulation; any requests sent to him receive a form letter in reply saying that he has stopped signing. Although his no-autograph policy is well known, author Andrew Smith observed people at the 2002 Reno Air Races still trying to get signatures, with one person even claiming, "If you shove something close enough in front of his face, he'll sign."[114] He has also stopped sending out congratulatory letters to new Eagle Scouts, because he believes these letters should come from people who know the Scouts personally.[115]
Use of Armstrong's name, image, and famous quote has caused him problems over the years. MTV wanted to use his quote for its now-famous ident depicting the Apollo 11 landing when it launched in 1981, but he declined.[116] Armstrong sued Hallmark Cards in 1994 after they used his name and a recording of "one small step" quote in a Christmas ornament without permission. The lawsuit was settled out of court[117] for an undisclosed amount of money which Armstrong donated to Purdue.[118] The case caused Armstrong and NASA to be more circumspect in granting permission for the use of astronaut names, photographs and recordings.[citation needed]
In May 2005, Armstrong became involved in an unusual legal battle with his barber of 20 years, Marx Sizemore. After cutting Armstrong's hair, Sizemore sold some of it to a collector for $3,000 without Armstrong's knowledge or permission.[119] Armstrong threatened legal action unless the barber returned the hair or donated the proceeds to a charity of Armstrong's choosing. Sizemore, unable to get the hair back, decided to donate the proceeds to the charity of Armstrong's choice.[120]
Legacy[link]
Armstrong has received many honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, the Sylvanus Thayer Award, the Collier Trophy from the National Aeronautics Association, and the Congressional Gold Medal. The lunar crater Armstrong, 31 mi (50 km) from the Apollo 11 landing site, and asteroid 6469 Armstrong[121] are named in his honor. Armstrong was also inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor and the Astronaut Hall of Fame.[122][123]
Throughout the United States, there are more than a dozen elementary, middle and high schools named in his honor,[124] and many places around the world have streets, buildings, schools, and other places named for Armstrong and/or Apollo.[125] In 1969, folk songwriter and singer John Stewart recorded "Armstrong", a tribute to Armstrong and his first steps on the moon. Purdue University announced in October 2004 that its new engineering building would be named Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering in his honor;[126] the building cost $53.2 million and was dedicated on October 27, 2007, during a ceremony at which Armstrong was joined by fourteen other Purdue Astronauts.[127] The Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum is located in his hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio, although it has no official ties to Armstrong, and the airport in New Knoxville where he took his first flying lessons is named for him.[128]
Armstrong's authorized biography, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, was published in 2005. For many years, Armstrong turned down biography offers from authors such as Stephen Ambrose and James A. Michener, but agreed to work with James R. Hansen after reading one of Hansen's other biographies.[129]
In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Armstrong was ranked as the #1 most popular space hero.[130]
The press often asks Armstrong for his views on the future of spaceflight. In 2005, Armstrong said that a manned mission to Mars will be easier than the lunar challenge of the 1960s: "I suspect that even though the various questions are difficult and many, they are not as difficult and many as those we faced when we started the Apollo [space program] in 1961." In 2010, he made a rare public criticism of the decision to cancel the Ares 1 launch vehicle and the Constellation moon landing program.[131] In an open public letter also signed by Apollo veterans Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan, he noted, "For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature".[132] Armstrong has also publicly recalled his initial concerns about the Apollo 11 mission, when he had believed there was only a 50% chance of landing on the moon. "I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful", he later said.[133]
On November 18, 2010, at age eighty, Neil Armstrong said in a speech during the Science & Technology Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, that he would offer his services as commander on a mission to Mars if he were asked.[134]
See also[link]
- Apollo program
- List of Eagle Scouts (Boy Scouts of America)
- List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
- Mission control center
- Project Mercury
- Space Shuttle program
Footnotes[link]
- References
- ^ a b "Neil Armstrong Bio - NASA". NASA. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/armstrong-na.html. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "History of Wapakoneta, OH". City of Wapakoneta, Ohio. http://www.wapakoneta.net/node/3. Retrieved July 5, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 49–50.
- ^ "Neil Armstrong grants rare interview to accountants organization", CBC News, May 24, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- ^ "Project Apollo: Astronaut Biographies". NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/astrobios.htm#Armstrong. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "Distinguished Eagle Scouts". Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ "Apollo 11 - Day 3, part 2: Entering Eagle - Transcript". NASA. April 11, 2010. http://history.nasa.gov/ap11fj/09day3-entering-eagle.htm. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ "The Beginning". Phi Delta Theta international site. http://www.phideltatheta.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=118. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ "Prominent Members of Kappa Kappa Psi". Kkpsi.org. http://www.kkpsi.org/prominentmembers.asp. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 55–56.
- ^ a b "Astronaut Bio: Neil Armstrong". NASA. December 1993. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/armstrong-na.html. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
- ^ "Biography: Neil A. Armstrong". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/neilabio.html. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 68–78.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 79–85.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 90.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 95.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 96.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 112.
- ^ a b Hansen 2005, p. 118.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 62.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 124–127.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 128.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 161–164.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 122.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 134.
- ^ "From the Mojave to the Moon: Neil Armstrong's Early NASA Years". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/neil_armstrong.html. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 134-136.
- ^ a b Hansen 2005, p. 145.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 178–184.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 184–189.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 189–192.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 178.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 210.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 173.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 195.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 195–204.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 201–202.
- ^ "Elliot M. See, Jr.". NASA. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/see-em.html. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Born March 6, 1937)". Adm.yar.ru. http://www.adm.yar.ru/english/section.aspx?section_id=74. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, ch. 19.
- ^ "Gemini 1965–1966". Spacecollection.info. http://www.spacecollection.info/us_gemini/gemini.html. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- ^ Merritt, Larry (March 2006). "The abbreviated flight of Gemini 8". Boeing.com. http://bts.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2006/march/i_history.html. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- ^ Kranz, p. 174.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 274.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 292–293.
- ^ "Gemini-XI". NASA - Kennedy Space Center. http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/gemini/gemini-xi/gemini-xi.html. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 296–297.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 298.
- ^ "Santos Dumont In France 1906–1916". Earlyaviators.com. http://www.earlyaviators.com/edumonb.htm. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ Lovell, Jim; Kluger, Jeffrey (2000). Apollo 13. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-618-05665-3.
- ^ Cernan, Eugene; Davis, Don (1999). The Last Man on the Moon. New York: St Martin's Griffin. p. 165. ISBN 0-312-26351-1.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 312–313.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 330.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 334.
- ^ Nelson 2009, p. 17
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 338
- ^ Hansen 2005, ch. 25.
- ^ Expeditions to the Moon, chapter 8, p. 160.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 373.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 407
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 410
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 411–412.
- ^ Smith, Andrew (2006). Moon Dust (Paperback ed.). Bloomsbury. p. 11. ISBN 0-7475-6369-1.
- ^ Chaikin 1995, p. 199.
- ^ Chaikin 1995, p. 198.
- ^ a b Chaikin 1995, p. 200
- ^ See Section "9.8.3 Gaging System Performance" of the following report: "Apollo 11 Mission Report". NASA. November 1969. http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11_MissionReport.pdf.
- ^ Jones, Eric M.. "The First Lunar Landing, time 109:24:48". http://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.step.html. The accuracy to the second of Apollo 11 events differs in different NASA logs.
- ^ Jones. "The First Lunar Landing, time 1:02:45". http://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.landing.html. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
- ^ "Mission Transcripts, Apollo 11 AS11 PA0.pdf". http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/apollo11.htm. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
- ^ "Apollo 11 Mission Commentary 7-20-69 CDT 15:15 - GET 102:43 - TAPE 307/1". http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11transcript_pao.htm.
- ^ Harland, David (1999). Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions. ISBN 1-85233-099-6
- ^ a b c d Mikkelson, Barbara; David Mikkelson (October 2006). "One Small Misstep: Neil Armstrong's First Words on the Moon". Snopes.com. Urban Legends Reference Pages. p. 1. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/onesmall.asp. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
- ^ Hansen, James R. (October 3, 2006). "Armstrong's Abbreviated Article: Notes from the Expert". Language Log. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003635.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Nickell, Duane S. (2008). Guidebook for the scientific traveler: visiting astronomy and space. Rutgers University Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-8135-4374-1.
- ^ Goddard, Jacqui (October 2, 2006). "One small word is one giant sigh of relief for Armstrong". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article657515.ece. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Ford, Peter Shann (September 17, 2006). "Electronic Evidence and Physiological Reasoning Identifying the Elusive Vowel "a" in Neil Armstrong's Statement on First Stepping onto the Lunar Surface" (reprint). CollectSpace.com. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-100306a.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ "Software finds missing 'a' in Armstrong's moon quote". CNN.com. Associated Press. October 1, 2006. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061004151135/http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/30/moon.quote.ap/index.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Smith, Veronica (October 2, 2006). "Armstrong's Moon landing speech rewritten". Cosmos Magazine. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/717. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
- ^
- Language Log. "One small step backwards". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003630.html. (including audio)
- Language Log. "One 75-millisecond step before a "man"". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003632.html.
- Language Log. "Armstrong's abbreviated article: the smoking gun?". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003634.html.
- Language Log. "Armstrong's abbreviated article: notes from the expert". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003635.html.
- Language Log. "First Korean on the moon!". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003639.html.
- Language Log. "What Neil Armstrong said". http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003645.html.
- ^ Carreau, Mark (September 29, 2006). "High-tech analysis may rewrite space history". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4225505.html. Retrieved September 30, 2006.
- ^ Heil, Alan L. (2003). Voice of America: A History. ISBN 0-231-12674-3
- ^ "Information Please world statistics". http://www.infoplease.com/year/1969.html. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
- ^ Greene, Nick. "A Lunar Odyssey". Apollo 11 Mission. About.com. p. 3. http://space.about.com/cs/missions/a/apollo11_3.htm. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 505–506.
- ^ "AS11-40-5886" Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. March 2, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ a b "Summary Data on Apollo Missions". NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4214/app5.html. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 489–490
- ^ "Apollo 11 Command and Service Module (CSM)", NASA (NSSDC ID: 1969-059A). Retrieved: March 14, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 580.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 583.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 582–584.
- ^ Riley, Christopher (July 10, 2009). "The moon walkers: Twelve men who have visited another world". Guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/09/apollo-astronauts-walking-moon. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 584.
- ^ "Neil Armstrong". Life.com. http://www.life.com/topic/neil_armstrong. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ "Apollo 11 Crew Information". Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal. NASA. November 1, 2005. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.crew.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Hansen, pp. 590–594.
- ^ Hansen, pp. 60–603.
- ^ Hansen, pp. 610–616.
- ^ Hansen, p. 595.
- ^ Hansen, pp. 596–598.
- ^ "EDO Corporation CEO James M. Smith to become Chairman upon retirement of Neil A. Armstrong" (Press release). EDO Corporation. February 8, 2000. Archived from the original on October 17, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061017094755/http://www.edocorp.com/pr2002/02r0208.htm. Retrieved July 1, 2006.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 600–601.
- ^ "Sylvanus Thayer Award". Sylvanus-thayer-award.co.tv. http://sylvanus-thayer-award.co.tv/. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ Johnston, Willie (July 20, 2009). "Recalling Moon man's 'muckle' leap". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8158762.stm. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 13.
- ^ Sawyer, Kathy (July 11, 1999). "Armstrong's Code". The Washington Post Magazine. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/space/armstrong1.htm. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
- ^ Hansen 2005, pp. 639–640.
- ^ Schorn, Daniel (July 2, 2006). "Being The First Man On The Moon". 60 Minutes (CBS News). http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/03/60minutes/main1008288_page3.shtml. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ Johnston, John; Amrhein, Saundra; Thompson, Richelle (July 18, 1999). "Neil Armstrong, Reluctant Hero". The Cincinnati Enquirer. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/07/18/loc_neil_armstrong_the.html.
- ^ Smith 2005, p. 134.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 623.
- ^ Anson, Robert Sam (November 2000). "Birth of an MTV Nation". Vanity Fair (New York). http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2000/11/mtv200011?printable=true¤tPage=allPittman.
- ^ Hansen 2005, p. 628.
- ^ "Neil Armstrong, Hallmark Settle". Chicago Tribune. December 2, 1995. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-12-02/business/9512020040_1_neil-armstrong-hallmark-cards-ornament. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Armstrong, barber in fight over locks". Dayton Daily News (Ohio). June 1, 2005. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11945915.html. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ Rosenberg, Jennifer (June 5, 2005). "Barber Sold Neil Armstrong's Hair". About.com. http://history1900s.about.com/b/2005/06/05/barber-sold-neil-armstrongs-hair.htm. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
- ^ "Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (5001)-(10000): 6469 Armstrong". IAU: Minor Planet Center. http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/~cgi/ShowCitation.COM?num=006469. Retrieved July 26, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Honorees". City of Lancaster. http://www.cityoflancasterca.org/index.aspx?page=193. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Neil A. Armstrong". Austronaut Scholarship Foundation. http://www.astronautscholarship.org/armstrong.html. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Search for Public School". http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&InstName=neil+armstrong&SchoolID=&Address=&City=&State=&Zip=&Miles=&County=&PhoneAreaCode=&Phone=&DistrictName=&DistrictID=&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ^ "Ireland: What's in a name? Cold, hard cash". The Times (London). December 22, 2002. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article804378.ece. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Holsapple, Matt (October 16, 2004). "Purdue launching Neil Armstrong Hall for engineering's future". Purdue University News. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2004/041016.Jischke.Armstrong.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ Venere, Emil (October 27, 2007). "Neil Armstrong Hall is new home to Purdue engineering". Purdue University News. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007b/071027CelArmstrongDedication.html. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
- ^ Knight, Andy (Winter 2000). "To the moon: Armstrong space museum offers history lessons on space travel". Cincinnati.Com. http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/stories/012800_moon.html. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ McGauley, John (October 14, 2005). "Discovering the Man Behind 'First Man'". collectSPACE.com. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-013003b.html#100305.
- ^ "Space Foundation Survey Reveals Broad Range of Space Heroes" (Press release). Space Foundation. October 27, 2010. http://www.spacefoundation.org/news/story.php?id=1038. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ Kaplan, Jeremy A. (April 14, 2010). "Star Wars: Neil Armstrong, Obama Spar Over NASA's Future". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/14/obama-vs-neil-armstrong-nasa-constellation/?test=latestnews.
- ^ Armstrong, Neil et al. (April 14, 2010). "Armstrong: Obama NASA plan 'devastating'". NBC Nightly News. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36470363.
- ^ Yoong, Sean (September 6, 2005). "Neil Armstrong: Manned Mars mission 20 years away". USA Today (Washington DC). http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2005-09-06-mars-armstrong_x.htm. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) Neil Armstrong wil nog best naar Mars (Neil Armstrong still wants to go to Mars), NU.nl, November 18, 2010
- Bibliography
- Cambridge Biographical Dictionary (1990). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Chaikin, Andrew (1995). A man on the moon. Penguin books. ISBN 0-14-024146-9.
- Cornish, Scott; Rahman, Tahir, McLeon, Bob, Havekotte, Ken, Reznikoff, John. "Neil Armstrong Signature Exemplars". CollectSpace.com. http://www.collectspace.com/resources/autographs_armstrong.html. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- Francis, French; Burgess, Colin (2007). "A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969". In the Shadow of the Moon.
- Hansen, James R. (2005). First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5631-X.
- Jones, Eric (1995). "One Small Step". Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal. NASA. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/a11.step.html. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- Kranz, Gene (2000). Failure is not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0079-9.
- Nelson, Craig. Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon. United Kingdom: John Murray, 2009. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-1-84864-291-4|978-1-84864-291-4]].
- Smith, Andrew (2005). In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth: Moondust. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-6368-3.
Further reading[link]
- Kirk, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Amy; United States Naval Forces Central Command. "Astronaut Legend Neil Armstrong Receives Naval Astronaut Wings". www.cusnc.navy.mil. http://www.cusnc.navy.mil/articles/2010/021.html. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- Sherrod, Robert (July 30, 1975). "Men for the Moon". Apollo Expeditions to the Moon. NASA. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/toc.html.
- Thompson, Milton (April 1992). At The Edge Of Space: The X-15 Flight Program. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. ISBN 1-56098-107-5.
External links[link]
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Neil Armstrong |
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neil Armstrong |
- Neil Armstrong's Official NASA Biography
- Neil Armstrong at the Internet Movie Database
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Works by or about Neil Armstrong in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Neil Armstrong Honored as an Ambassador of Exploration
- Cosmos magazine, October 2006
| Preceded by Ellsworth Bunker |
Sylvanus Thayer Award recipient 1971 |
Succeeded by Billy Graham |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Armstrong, Neil |
| Alternative names | Armstrong, Neil Alden |
| Short description | Astronaut, first human to set foot on the Moon |
| Date of birth | August 5, 1930 |
| Place of birth | Wapakoneta, Ohio, U.S. |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Neil_Armstrong
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http://cs.wn.com/Neil Armstrong
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Roberto Clemente | |
|---|---|
| 200px |
|
| Right fielder | |
| Born: (1934-08-18)August 18, 1934 Carolina, Puerto Rico |
|
| Died: December 31, 1972(1972-12-31) (aged 38) Off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico |
|
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 17, 1955 for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 3, 1972 for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .317 |
| Hits | 3,000 |
| Home runs | 240 |
| Runs batted in | 1,305 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Member of the National | |
| Baseball Hall of Fame |
|
| Induction | 1973 |
| Vote | 92.7% (first ballot) |
Roberto Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 through 1972. Clemente was awarded the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1966. He was on the NL All-Star team 15 times, received 12 Gold Glove Awards, and led the NL in batting average four times. In 1972, Clemente got his 3,000th major league hit.
Off the field, Clemente was involved in charity work in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries, often delivering baseball equipment and food to those in need. He died in an aviation accident on December 31, 1972, while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1973, becoming the first Latin American to be selected and the only current Hall of Fame member for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period had been waived. Clemente is also the first Hispanic player to win a World Series as a starter (1960), receive an MVP Award (1966), and receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).
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Early life[link]
Roberto Clemente was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, to Don Melchor Clemente and Luisa Walker. He was the youngest of seven siblings, having four brothers and two sisters. During his childhood, Don Melchor worked as foreman of the sugar crops located in the municipality.[1] The family's resources were limited and Roberto had to work to earn money; this work included delivering milk cans to the family's neighbors.
Clemente demonstrated interest in baseball early in his life and would often play against neighboring barrios. He studied at Vizcarondo High School, a public school located in Carolina. During his first year in high school, he was recruited by Roberto Marin to play softball with the Sello Rojo team; Marin had taken interest in Clemente when he saw him playing baseball in Barrio San Anton.[2] He was with the team two years, playing shortstop. Clemente joined Puerto Rico's amateur league when he was sixteen years old; while there, he played for the Ferdinand Juncos team, which represented the municipality of Juncos.[3]
On November 14, 1964, he married Vera Zabala at San Fernando Church in Carolina. The couple had three children: Roberto Jr., Luis Roberto and Enrique Roberto.
Baseball career[link]
Clemente's professional career began when Pedrín Zorilla offered him a contract with the Santurce Crabbers of the LBBPR.[4] He was a bench player during his first campaign, but was promoted to the team's starting lineup the following season. During this season he hit .288 as the team's leadoff hitter. While Clemente was playing in the LBBPR, the Brooklyn Dodgers offered him a contract with the team's Triple-A subsidiary.[5] He then moved to Montreal to play with the Montreal Royals. The climate and language differences affected Clemente early on, but he received the assistance of his teammate Joe Black, who was able to speak Spanish. In 1954, Clyde Sukeforth, a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, noticed that Clemente was being used as a bench player for the team and discussed the possibility of drafting Clemente to the Pirates with the team's manager, Max Macon.[6] The Pirates selected Clemente as the first selection of the rookie draft that took place on November 22, 1954.
Pittsburgh Pirates[link]
Clemente debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 17, 1955 in the first game of a double header against the Brooklyn Dodgers.[7] At the beginning of his time with the Pirates, he experienced frustration because of racial tension with the local media and some teammates.[8][9] Clemente responded to this by stating, "I don’t believe in color".[10] He noted that, during his upbringing, he was taught to never discriminate against someone based on ethnicity.[10]
During the middle of the season, Clemente was involved in a car accident; this caused him to miss several games with an injury in his lower back.[11] He finished his rookie season with an average of .255, despite confronting trouble hitting certain types of pitches.[12] His defensive skills, however, were highlighted during this season.[13]
During the off season, Clemente played with the Santurce Crabbers in the Puerto Rican baseball winter league, where he was already considered a star.[14]The Pirates experienced several difficult seasons through the 1950s, although they did manage their first winning season since 1948 in 1959. During the winter season of 1958–59, Clemente didn't play winter baseball in Puerto Rico; instead, he joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He spent his six month active duty commitment at Parris Island, South Carolina, and Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. At Parris Island, Clemente received his basic training with Platoon 346 of the 3rd Recruit Battalion.[15] The rigorous training programs helped Clemente physically; he added strength by gaining ten pounds and said his back troubles had disappeared. He served in the Marine Corps Reserve until September 1964.[16][17][18]
The 1960s[link]
File:RobertoClementeStatueatPNCPark.jpg
A statue of Clemente stands outside of PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Early in the 1960 season, Clemente led the league, batting an average of .353 and scoring Runs Batted In (RBIs) in twenty-five out of twenty-seven games.[19] Roberto's batting average stayed above the .300 mark throughout the course of the campaign. In August, he was inactive for five games as a result of an injury on his chin; he received this injury when his head impacted a concrete wall while he was trying to catch a hard line hit that reached the park's outer wall. Following this accident, he was transported to a local hospital, where the doctors stitched his chin; this prohibited him from playing until the injury was healed.[20] The Pirates compiled a 95–59 record during the regular season, winning the National League pennant, and defeated the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series. Clemente batted .310 in the series, hitting safely at least once in every game.[21] His .314 batting average, 16 home runs, and defense during the course of the season earned him his first participation in the All-Star game, where he served as a reserve player.
During 1961 spring training, Clemente tried to modify his batting technique by using a heavier bat in order to slow the speed of his swing, following advice from Pirates' batting coach George Sisler.[22] During the 1961 season, Clemente was selected as the starting right fielder for the National League in the All-Star game. In this game, he batted a triple on his first at-bat and scored the team's first run. With the American League ahead 4–3 in the tenth inning, Clemente hit a double that gave the National League a decisive 5–4 win.[23]
Following the season, he traveled to Puerto Rico along with Orlando Cepeda, who was a native of Ponce. When both players arrived, they were received by 18,000 people.[24] On November 14, 1964, Clemente married Vera Zabala. The ceremony took place in the church of San Fernando in Carolina and was attended by thousands of fanatics.[25] During this time, he was also involved in managing the Senadores de San Juan, as well as playing with the team during the Major League offseason. During the course of the winter league, Clemente was injured and only participated as a pinch hitter in the league's All-Star game. He experienced a complication on his injury during the course of this game and underwent surgery shortly after being carried off the playing field.[26]
This condition limited his role with the Pirates in the first half of the 1965 season, during which he batted an average of .257. He was inactive for several games during this stage of the campaign before being fully active; when he returned to the starting lineup, he hit in thirty-three out of thirty-four games and his average improved to .340.[27] Roberto and Vera had their first son on August 17, 1965, when Roberto Clemente, Jr. was born; he was the first of three children, along with Luis Roberto and Enrique Roberto.[28] During the 1960s, he batted over .300 in every year except 1968, when he hit .291.[29] He was selected to every All-Star game, and he was given a Gold Glove every season from 1961 onwards.[29] He led the National League in batting average four times (1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967), led the National League in hits twice (1964 and 1967), and won the Most Valuable Player award in the 1966 season, when he hit .317 while setting career highs in home runs (29) and RBI (119).[29] In 1967, he registered a career high .357 average and hit twenty-three home runs and 110 runs batted in.[29]
The 1970s[link]
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You may watch Roberto Clemente's hit number 3,000 here |
The 1970 season was the last one that the Pittsburgh Pirates played in Forbes Field before moving to Three Rivers Stadium; for Clemente, abandoning this stadium was an emotional situation. The Pirates' final game at Forbes Field took place on June 28, 1970. That day, Clemente noted that it was hard to play in a different field, saying, "I spent half my life there".[30] The night of July 4, 1970, was declared "Roberto Clemente Night"; on this day, several Puerto Rican fans traveled to Three Rivers Stadium and cheered Clemente while wearing traditional Puerto Rican indumentary. A ceremony to honor Clemente took place, during which he received a scroll with 300,000 signatures compiled in Puerto Rico, and several thousands of dollars were donated to charity work following Clemente's request.[31][32]
During the 1970 campaign, Clemente compiled an average of .352; the Pirates won the National League East pennant but were subsequently eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds. In the offseason, Clemente experienced some tense situations while he was working as manager of the Senadores and when his father, Melchor Clemente, experienced medical problems and was subjected to a surgery.[33]
In the 1971 season, the Pirates won the National League pennant and faced the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Baltimore had won 100 games and swept the American League Championship Series, both for the third consecutive year, and were the defending World Series champions. The Orioles won the first two games in the series, but Pittsburgh won the championship in seven games. This marked the second occasion that Clemente had won a World Series with the Pirates. Over the course of the series, Clemente batted a .414 average (12 hits in 29 at-bats), performed well defensively, and hit a solo home run in the deciding 2–1 seventh game victory.[34] Following the conclusion of the season, he received the World Series Most Valuable Player award. Struggling with injuries, Clemente only managed to appear in 102 games in 1972, but he still hit .312 for his final .300 season.[34] On September 30, in a game at Three Rivers Stadium, he hit a double off Jon Matlack of the New York Mets for his 3,000th hit.[35] It was the last at-bat of his career during a regular season, though he did play in the 1972 NLCS playoffs against the Cincinnati Reds.[34] In the playoffs, he batted .235 as he went 4 for 17. His last game ever was at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium in the fifth game of the playoff series. He and Bill Mazeroski were the last Pirate players remaining from the 1960 World Series champions.
Death in airplane accident[link]
Clemente spent much of his time during the off-season involved in charity work. When Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, was affected by a massive earthquake on Saturday December 23, 1972, Clemente (who had been visiting Managua three weeks before the quake) immediately set to work arranging emergency relief flights.[36] He soon learned, however, that the aid packages on the first three flights had been diverted by corrupt officials of the Somoza government, never reaching victims of the quake.[37]
Clemente decided to accompany the fourth relief flight, hoping that his presence would ensure that the aid would be delivered to the survivors.[38] The airplane he chartered for a New Year's Eve flight, a Douglas DC-7, had a history of mechanical problems and sub-par flight personnel, and it was overloaded by 4,200 pounds.[39] It crashed into the ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico immediately after takeoff on Sunday December 31, 1972.[40] A few days after the crash, the body of the pilot and part of the fuselage of the plane were found. An empty flight case apparently belonging to Clemente was the only personal item recovered from the plane. Clemente's teammate and close friend Manny Sanguillen was the only member of the Pirates not to attend Roberto's memorial service. The catcher chose instead to dive into the waters where Clemente's plane had crashed in an effort to find his teammate. Clemente's body was never recovered.[40]
At the time of his death, Clemente had established several records with the Pirates, including most triples in a game (three) and hits in two consecutive games (ten).[41] These include tying the record for most Gold Glove Awards won among outfielders with twelve, which he shares with Willie Mays.[42] He also is the only player to have hit a walk-off inside-the-park grand slam.[43] He accomplished this historic baseball-event on July 25, 1956 in a 9–8 Pittsburgh win against the Chicago Cubs, at Forbes Field. In addition, he was one of four players to have ten or more Gold Gloves and a lifetime batting average of .317.
Posthumous honors[link]
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| Roberto Clemente's number 21 was retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1973. |
On March 20, 1973, the Baseball Writers Association of America held a special election for the Baseball Hall of Fame. They voted to waive the waiting period for Clemente, due to the circumstances of his death, and posthumously elected him for induction into the Hall of Fame, giving him 393 of the 420 available votes, or 92% of the vote. Clemente's Hall of Fame plaque had originally read "Roberto Walker Clemente". In 2000, the plaque was recast to express his name in the proper Hispanic format, "Roberto Clemente Walker".[44]
MLB presents the Roberto Clemente Award every year to the player who best follows Clemente's example with humanitarian work.[45] In 1973, Clemente was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the first Presidential Citizens Medal. In 2002, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2003, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame.[18] On October 26, 2005, Clemente was named a member of Major League Baseball's Latino Legends Team.[46] At the Major League Baseball All-Star game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 11, 2006, many of the players on both teams wore yellow wristbands with the initials "RCW" in honor of Clemente. At the end of the fourth inning, Clemente was awarded the Commissioner's Historical Achievement Award by the Commissioner of Baseball; the award was accepted by his widow.[47] During the award presentation, the Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig stated that "Roberto was a hero in every sense of the term".[47]
PNC Park, the home ballpark of the Pirates which opened in 2001, includes a right field wall 21 feet (6.4 m) high, in reference to Clemente's uniform number and his normal fielding position during his years with the Pirates.[48] The Pirates originally erected a statue in memory of Clemente at Three Rivers Stadium, an honor previously awarded to Honus Wagner. The statue was moved to PNC Park when it opened, and stands at the corner near the Roberto Clemente Bridge. There was talk of the team even naming PNC Park after Clemente, but despite popular sentiment, the team chose instead to sell the naming rights to locally-based PNC Financial Services, with the bridge being renamed after him considered a compromise.[49]
Puerto Rico has honored Clemente's memory by naming the coliseum in San Juan the Roberto Clemente Coliseum; two baseball parks are in Carolina, the professional one, Roberto Clemente Stadium, and the Double-A. There is also the Escuela de los Deportes (School of Sports) that has the Double-A baseball park. Today, this sports complex is called Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente.[50] In Pittsburgh, the 6th Street Bridge was renamed in his memory, and the Pirates retired his number 21 at the start of the 1973 season.[51] The City of Pittsburgh maintains Roberto Clemente Memorial Park along North Shore Drive in the city's North Side which includes a bronze relief by sculptor Eleanor Milleville. In 2007, the Roberto Clemente Museum opened in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh.[52] Near the old Forbes Field where he began his pro career the city of Pittsburgh has renamed a street in his honor. In 1973, the state of New York opened Roberto Clemente State Park in The Bronx.[53] Some schools, such as Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago, Illinois the Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Roberto Clemente Academy in Detroit, Michigan, were named in his honor.[54] Clemente was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. There's also a Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, Nicaragua. There's also a middle school in Germantown, Maryland called Roberto W. Clemente Middle School
On August 17, 1984, the day before what would have been his 50th birthday, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Clemente.[55] Designed by Juan Lopez-Bonilla, the spare clean design shows Clemente wearing his Pirates cap, with the Puerto Rican flag in the background. In 1999, he ranked Number 20 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, the highest-ranking Latino player on the list.[56] Later that year, Clemente was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[57] As part of the Golden Anniversary of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award, Clemente was selected to the All-Time Rawlings Gold Glove Team.[58]
Clemente's #21 remains active in Major League Baseball, and is worn by multiple players. Sammy Sosa wore #21 throughout his career as a tribute to his childhood hero.[59] The number is unofficially retired in the Puerto Rico Baseball League. While the topic of retiring #21 throughout Major League Baseball like Jackie Robinson's #42 has been broached, and supported by groups such as Hispanics Across America, Jackie Robinson's daughter disagrees, believing that Major League Baseball should honor him another way.[60]
Biographies and documentaries[link]
Clemente's life has been the subject of numerous books, articles and documentaries. David Maraniss wrote a book titled Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, which was published in 2006. Clemente is also the subject of a one-hour biography as part of the Public Broadcasting Service history series, American Experience which premiered on April 21, 2008.[61] The film is directed by Bernardo Ruiz, narrated by Jimmy Smits and features interviews with Vera Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and George F. Will.[61] The production received an ALMA Award. In 2011 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente was released, a graphic novel by Wilfred Santiago detailing Clemente's life in a comic-book format. In their USA Today Magazine article titled "Saluting Pittsburgh's Finest" Richard E. Vatz and Lee S. Weinberg said Clemente was "arguably the best in the history of the game" and stated that "understanding the magnitude of Roberto Clemente requires an appreciation of the gestalt of his presence, which was greater than the sum of his statistics".[62]
A movie called Chasing 3000 was created based on a true story of two kids named Mickey (played by Ray Liotta, Trevor Morgan and Blake Woodyard) and Roger (played by Jay Karnes, Rory Culkin and Nicholas Brady) as they go on an adventure to travel across the United States to see Roberto Clemente's 3000th hit.
See also[link]
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Puerto Rico portal |
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Pittsburgh portal |
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Baseball portal |
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United States Marine Corps portal |
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Biography portal |
- Roberto Clemente Museum
- Players from Puerto Rico in MLB
- List of Puerto Ricans
- Afro-Puerto Ricans
- List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- 3000 hit club
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball triples champions
- Hispanics in the United States Marine Corps
References[link]
- ^ Paul Roberto Walker (1988). "The way of the Jibaro". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 3. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Roberto's father,Don Melchor Clemente, worked as foreman in the sugar fields."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Where Are You Going, Momen?". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 20. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "For the next two years, Roberto played for the Sello Rojo softball team."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Where Are You Going, Momen?". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 20. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "When he was sixteen, he played for the Ferdinand Juncos team in the Puerto Rican amateur league."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Tell the Man I Will Sign". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 25. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. ""Well, Marin," said señor Zorilla, "we can give him $400 bonus and maybe $ 40.00 a week until he learns to wear a uniform.""
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Wearing the Uniform". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 33. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. ""Roberto," said Pedrin Zorilla, "I have spoken with Mr. Campanis. The Dodgers would like to sign you to a contract with their Triple-A team in Montreal. They will pay you a signing bonus of $10,000 and a salary of $5,000 for the year""
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "It's For Your Own Good". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 41. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. ""I noticed you haven’t been playing Clemente much." Sukeforth smiled across the dinner table at Max Macon. The two men had known each other for years. There was no sense in trying to fool each other. "Well, I don’t care if you never play him" continued the Pittsburgh scout. "We’re going to finish last, and we’re going to draft him number one.""
- ^ Paul Robert Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "It was Sunday, April 17, 1955, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing the first game of a double-header against the Brooklyn Dodgers.[...] For Roberto Clemente it was his first time at bat in the major leagues."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Even on his own team, some of the players made fun of him and called him a "nigger." Roberto grew furious at their insults."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "There were other insults as well. In the newspapers, the writers called him a "Puerto Rican hot dog." When they quoted the things he said they exaggerated his accent."
- ^ a b Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. ""I don’t believe in color," Roberto said. "I believe in people. I always respect everyone and thanks to God my mother and my father taught me never to hate, never to dislike someone based of their color."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "To make matters worse, Roberto had to sit out many games because of pain in his lower back. During the winter, a drunken driver had rammed into his car at sixty miles per hour."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Roberto continued to struggle at the plate throughout his rookie season, finally finishing with a .255 average."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "In the outfield, however, he quickly established himself as an outstanding performer."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I play like Roberto Clemente". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Once again he was playing for the Santurce Crabbers. In the winter league he was an established star."
- ^ "Clemente, The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero"; By: David Maraniss; pag. 88; Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN 978-0-7432-1781-1
- ^ Clemente to Start Six-Month Marine Corps Hitch, October 4,. The Sporting News. September 24, 1958. pp. 7.
- ^ Buc Flyhawk Now Marine Rookie. The Sporting News. November 19, 1958. pp. 13.
- ^ a b "Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame: Roberto Clemente". http://www.usmc-mccs.org/sports/hof/2003-clemente.cfm. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Beat 'Em, Bucs!". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 63. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "In May, while the Pirates were fighting the San Francisco Giants for first place, Roberto drove in 25 runs in 27 games. By the end of the month he was leading the league with a batting average of .353 and the Pirates were ahead of the Giants by one and a half games."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Beat 'Em, Bucs!". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 64. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Roberto was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. The doctors stitched up his jaw and he sat out the next five games waiting for it to heal"
- ^ Juan Mercado. "Roberto Clemente Un verdadero símbolo latinoamericano". [A] hora.com. http://www.ahora.com.do/Edicion1250/SECCIONES/deportes.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Beat 'Em, Bucs!". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 74. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Now, in the spring of 1961, he made another improvement. He began using a heavier bat to slow down his swing and make better contact with the ball."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Beat 'Em, Bucs!". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 77. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Then he brought his bat around and smashed a line drive to right field. As Roberto raced for first, Willie Mays rounded third and headed for home. The National League had won by a score of 5-4!"
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "Beat 'Em, Bucs!". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "When the plane landed, Roberto and Cepeda received a hero's welcome. Eighteen thousand people stood cheering on the side of the road as they were driven from the airport to Sixto Escobar Stadium."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "It Is My Life". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 84. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Thousands of people filled the plaza in Carolina on November 14, 1964. It was a beautiful sunny day., but they were not there for the sunshine. Inside the church of San Fernando, Roberto Clemente was marrying Vera Zabala."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "It Is My Life". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 85. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "The injury had not affected his swing, and he smashed a hard line drive to right field. But as he limped to first base, his leg collapsed beneath him. He was rushed to the hospital, and a few days later, the doctors cut open his leg to drain a pool of blood in his thigh."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "It Is My Life". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 88–89. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "Clemente was back and so were the Pirates. Roberto hit safely in 33 out of 34 games, raising his average all the way up to .340."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "MVP". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 90. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "On August 17, 1965, while Roberto Sr. was chasing his third batting title, Vera gave birth to Roberto Jr."
- ^ a b c d "ESPN - Roberto Clemente MLB Career Stats - Major League Baseball". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/alltime/playercard?playerId=2482&type=0. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I Don't Have The Words". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 106. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "On June 28, 1970, the Pittsburgh Pirates played their last game at Forbes Field. For Roberto it was an emotional moment. "I spent half my life there", he said."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I Don't Have The Words". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 107. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "A young Puerto Rican businessman named Juan Jiménez presented Roberto with a scroll containing 300,000 signatures from the people of Puerto Rico."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I Don't Have The Words". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 108. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "At Roberto's request, thousands of dollars were donated to help the crippled children at Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital."
- ^ Paul Rober Walker (1988). "I Don't Have The Words". Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente. United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 111–112. ISBN 0-15-307557-0. "That winter, Roberto had other concerns as well. Don Melchor fell seriously ll and had to have surgery."
- ^ a b c Larry Schwartz. "Clemente quietly grew in stature". ESPN. http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Clemente_Roberto.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Roberto Clemente Award". Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/clemente.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "White House Dream Team: Roberto Walker Clemente". White House. http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/dreamteam/robertoclemente.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "El vuelo solidario y temerario de Clemente". El Nuevo Diario. http://archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2004/diciembre/11-diciembre-2004/nacional/nacional-20041211-15.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Hispanic Heritage: Roberto Clemente". Gale Gengage Learning. http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/chh/bio/clemente_r.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ Roberto Clemente plane ruled unfit
- ^ a b "Roberto Clemente". Latino Legends in Sports. http://www.latinosportslegends.com/clemente.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Pirates Single Game Records". Pittsburgh Pirates. http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pit/history/single_game_records.jsp. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ "Gold Glove National League Outfielders". Baseball Almanac. http://baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_ggnl.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ "Roberto Clemente Presente!". leftfield.com. http://leftfield.homestead.com/roberto_clemente.html. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Roberto Clemente Plaque is Recast to Correct Cultural Inaccuracy; New One Travels to Puerto Rico (November 2000)". National Hall of Fame and Museum. 2000-09-18. Archived from the original on April 28, 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20030428013259/http://209.23.71.87/whats_new/press_releases/2000/pr2000_09_19.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ Marc Zarefsku (2007-09-06). "Baseball honors Roberto Clemente". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080207084045/http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=4991&vkey=hof_news. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ Jesses Sanchez (2005-10-26). "Latino Legends team announced". Major League Baseball. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051026&content_id=1260107&vkey=printer_friendly&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ a b Barry M. Bloom (2006-07-12). "Baseball honors Clemente". Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060711&content_id=1553135&vkey=allstar2006&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ "PNC Park Overview". Major League Baseball. http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pit/ballpark/index.jsp. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
- ^ http://www.pittsburghsportsreport.com/1998-Issues/psr9809/98090106.html
- ^ "Bienvenidos". Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente (official website). http://www.rcsc21.com/index.php?page=homepage. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ Johnna A. (1999-04-08). "Clemente's family helps to christen renamed bridge". post-gazette.com. http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990408clemente3.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ Diana Nelson Jones (2007-07-23). "Clemente Museum brightens Lower Lawrenceville outlook". The Pittsburgh Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07204/803776-63.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ "State Parks : Roberto Clemente State Park". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/140/details.aspx. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
- ^ "About Us". Roberto Clemente Community Academy. http://www.clementehs.org/. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ "National Postal Museum to feature Roberto Clemente Walker". Hispania News. http://www.hispanianews.com/archive/2001/April13/04.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ "The Sporting News Baseball 100 Greatest Players". The Sporting News. http://archive.sportingnews.com/baseball/100/index-1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "All-Century Team final voting". ESPN. 1999-10-23. http://static.espn.go.com/mlb/news/1999/1023/129008.html. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ Roberto Clemente at the Rawlings All Time Gold Glove Award winners
- ^ Cunniff, Bill (1999-11-26). "Sosa plays host at party at his island mansion". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 3. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB424463A5BF794&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ "Sharon Robinson: honor Clemente some other way". Associated Press. ESPN. January 24, 2006. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2304057&type=story. Retrieved 2009-08-17. "The daughter of Jackie Robinson thinks Major League Baseball should not retire Roberto Clemente's No. 21, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday. The Hispanics Across America advocacy group wants Clemente's number set aside the way the late Robinson's No. 42 was nine years ago. But Sharon Robinson said that honor should remain for her father only."
- ^ a b "American Experience: Roberto Clemente". Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/clemente/. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
- ^ Richard E. Vatz and Lee S. Weinberg, Saluting Pittsburgh's Finest. USA Today Magazine. July 2008.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roberto Clemente |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Roberto Clemente |
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Roberto Clemente at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Latino Sports Legends
- Society of American Baseball Research BioProject biography of Clemente
- Baseball-almanac
- The American Presidency Project - Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring Roberto Clemente. May 14, 1973
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| Preceded by Eddie Mathews Pete Rose Ron Santo |
Major League Player of the Month May 1960 May 1967 July 1969 |
Succeeded by Lindy McDaniel Hank Aaron Willie Davis |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Roberto Clemente Walker |
| Alternative names | Roberto Walker Clemente (common misspelling used in the original Hall of Fame plaque) |
| Short description | Puerto Rican professional baseball player, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer |
| Date of birth | August 18, 1934 |
| Place of birth | Carolina, Puerto Rico |
| Date of death | December 31, 1972 |
| Place of death | Atlantic ocean, off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico |
http://wn.com/Roberto_Clemente
Related pages:
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Cassius Clay" redirects here. For the 19th-century politician and abolitionist, see Cassius Marcellus Clay (politician).
This article is about the American boxer. For other people named Muhammad Ali, see Muhammad Ali (disambiguation).
| Muhammad Ali | |||||||||||||
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 Ali in 1967 |
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| Nickname(s) | The Greatest The People's Champion The Louisville Lip |
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| Rated at | Heavyweight | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
| Reach | 80 in (203 cm) | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
| Born | (1942-01-17) January 17, 1942 (age 70) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
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| Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||
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| Total fights | 61 | ||||||||||||
| Wins | 56 | ||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 37 | ||||||||||||
| Losses | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Draws | 0 | ||||||||||||
| No contests | 0 | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an American former professional boxer,[1] philanthropist[2] and social activist.[2] Considered a cultural icon, Ali was both idolized and vilified.[3][4]
Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and more recently practicing Sufism.[clarification needed][5] In 1967, three years after Ali had won the World Heavyweight Championship, he was publicly vilified for his refusal to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... No Viet Cong ever called me nigger" – one of the more telling remarks of the era.[6]
Widespread protests against the Vietnam War had not yet begun, but with that one phrase, Ali articulated the reason to oppose the war for a generation of young Americans, and his words served as a touchstone for the racial and antiwar upheavals that would rock the 1960s. Ali's example inspired Martin Luther King Jr. – who had been reluctant to alienate the Johnson Administration and its support of the civil rights agenda – to voice his own opposition to the war for the first time.[7]
Ali was eventually arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges; he was stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was eventually successful.
Ali would go on to become the first and only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion.
Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches.[8] Notable among these were three with rival Joe Frazier, which are considered among the greatest in boxing history, and one with George Foreman, where he finally regained his stripped titles seven years later. Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float[ing] like a butterfly, sting[ing] like a bee", and employing techniques such as the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope.[9] Ali had brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports and through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he had become the most famous athlete in the world.[10] He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes.
In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.[11][12]
Contents
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Biography[link]
Amateur career and Olympic gold[link]
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky.[13] The younger of two boys, he was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., who was named after the 19th century abolitionist and politician of the same name. His father painted billboards and signs,[13] and his mother, Odessa O'Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his elder brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists.[14] He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with some Irish ancestry.[15]
Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin,[16] who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he better learn how to box first.[17] For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by legendary boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.[18]
Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[19][20] Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.
Ali states in his 1975 autobiography that he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang.[21] Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.
Early professional career[link]
After his Olympic triumph, Clay returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.
Standing at 6'3" (1.91 m), Clay had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches, and carried his hands low.
From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19–0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.
Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs.[13] Clay admitted he adopted the latter practice from "Gorgeous" George Wagner, a popular professional wrestling champion in the Los Angeles area who drew thousands of fans.[13] Often referred to as "the man you loved to hate," George could incite the crowd with a few heated remarks, and Clay followed suit.
Among Clay's victims were Sonny Banks (who knocked him down during the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and the aged Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had fought over 200 previous fights, and who had been Clay's trainer prior to Angelo Dundee). Clay had considered continuing using Moore as a trainer following the bout, but Moore had insisted that the cocky "Louisville Lip" perform training camp chores such as sweeping and dishwashing. He considered having his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson, as a manager, but instead hired Dundee.
Clay first met Dundee on February 19, 1957 when the latter was in Louisville the day before a fight with light heavyweight champ Willie Pastrano.[22] The teenaged Golden Gloves winner traveled downtown to the fighter's hotel, called Dundee from the house phone, and was asked up to their room. He took advantage of the opportunity to query Dundee (who had worked with champions Sugar Ramos and Carmen Basilio) about what his fighters ate, how long they slept, how much roadwork (jogging) they did, and how long they sparred.
Following his bout with Moore, Clay won a disputed 10-round decision over Doug Jones in a matchup that was named "Fight of the Year" for 1963. Clay's next fight was against Henry Cooper, who knocked Clay down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. The fight was stopped in the fifth due to deep cuts over Cooper's eyes.
Despite these close calls, Clay became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. However, although he had an impressive record, he was not widely expected to defeat the champ. The fight was scheduled for February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida, but was nearly canceled when the promoter, Bill Faversham, heard that Clay had been seen around Miami and in other cities with the controversial Malcolm X, a member of Nation of Islam. Because of this, news of this association was perceived as a potential gate-killer to a bout which, given Liston's overwhelming status as the favorite to win (7–1 odds),[23] had Clay's colorful persona and nonstop braggadocio as its sole appeal.
Faversham confronted Clay about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Clay protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book The Greatest: My Own Story by Ali (with Richard Durham).
During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Clay, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."
First title fight and aftermath[link]
Main article: Muhammad Ali versus Sonny Liston
At the pre-fight weigh-in, Clay's pulse rate was around 120, more than double his norm of 54.[24] Liston, among others, misread this as nervousness. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height advantage to beat Liston to the punch with his own lightning-quick jab.[24]
By the third round, Clay was ahead on points and had opened a cut under Liston's eye.[24] Liston regained some ground in the fourth, as Clay was blinded by a substance in his eyes.[24] It is unconfirmed whether this was something used to close Liston's cuts, or deliberately applied to Liston's gloves;[24] however, Bert Sugar has claimed that "in two of his previous fights, Liston's opponents had complained about their eyes 'burning,'"[25] suggesting the possibility that the Liston corner deliberately attempted to cheat.
Liston began the fourth round looking to put away the challenger. As Clay struggled to recover his vision, he sought to escape Liston's offensive. He was able to keep out of range until his sweat and tears rinsed the substance from his eyes, responding with a flurry of combinations near the end of the fifth round. By the sixth, he was looking for a finish and dominated Liston. Then, Liston shocked the boxing world when he failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, stating he had a shoulder injury. At the end of the fight, Clay boasted to the press that doubted him before the match, proclaiming, "I shook up the world!"
When Clay beat Liston, he was the youngest boxer (age 22) ever to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion, a mark that stood until Mike Tyson won the title (age 20) from Trevor Berbick on November 22, 1986. At the time, Floyd Patterson (dethroned by Liston) had been the youngest heavyweight champ ever (age 21), but he won the title during an elimination tournament following Rocky Marciano's retirement by defeating Archie Moore, the light-heavyweight champion at the time.
In the rematch with Liston, which was held in May 1965 in Lewiston, Maine, Ali (who had by then publicly converted to Islam and changed his name) won by knockout in the first round as a result of what came to be called the "phantom punch." Many believe that Liston, possibly as a result of threats from Nation of Islam extremists, or in an attempt to "throw" the fight to pay off debts, waited to be counted out (see Muhammad Ali versus Sonny Liston). Others, however, discount both scenarios and insist that it was a quick, chopping Ali punch to the side of the head that legitimately felled Liston. Ali was declared the winner after 1 minute and 52 seconds.[26]
Early title defenses[link]
On November 22, 1965, Ali fought Floyd Patterson in his second title defense. Patterson lost by TKO at the end of the 12th round. As would later occur with Ernie Terrell, many sportswriters accused Ali of "carrying" Patterson so that he could physically punish him without knocking him out. Ali countered that Patterson, who said his punching prowess was limited when he strained his sacroiliac, was not as easy to down as may have appeared. During the fight Ali called out "What's my name?" to Patterson, a gesture he would later repeat during the Terrell fight.
Ali was scheduled to fight WBA champion Ernie Terrell (the WBA stripped Ali of his title after his agreement to fight a rematch with Liston) on March 29, 1966, but the llinois Athletic Commission wouldn't approve the Terrell fight unless Ali went to Chicago and apologized for his remarks about the war.[27] The fight destination continued to change venues and ultimately was delayed. Ali won a 15-round decision against substitute opponent George Chuvalo. He then went to England and defeated Henry Cooper by stoppage on cuts May 21, and knocked out Brian London in the third round in August. Ali's next defense was against German southpaw Karl Mildenberger, the first German to fight for the title since Max Schmeling. In one of the tougher fights of his life, Ali stopped his opponent in round 12.
Ali returned to the United States in November 1966 to fight Cleveland Williams in the Houston Astrodome. According to the Sports Illustrated account, the bout drew an indoor world record 35,460 fight fans. A year and a half before the fight, Williams had been shot in the stomach at point-blank range by a Texas policeman. As a result, Williams went into the fight missing one kidney and 10 feet (3.0 m) of his small intestine, and with a shriveled left leg from nerve damage from the bullet that was still lodged in his body. Ali beat Williams in three rounds. Bert Sugar wrote that it had been Ali's greatest performance in the ring.[28]
On February 6, 1967, Ali returned to a Houston boxing ring to fight Terrell in what is regarded as one of the uglier fights in boxing. Terrell angered Ali by calling him Clay, and the champion vowed to punish him for this insult. During the fight, Ali kept shouting at his opponent, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... What's my name?" Terrell suffered 15 rounds of brutal punishment, losing 13 rounds on two judges' scorecards, but Ali did not knock him out. Analysts, including several who spoke to ESPN on the sports channel's "Ali Rap" special, speculated that the fight continued only because Ali wanted to thoroughly punish and humiliate Terrell. After the fight, Tex Maule wrote, "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty." When asked about this during a replay of the fight on ABC's popular "Wide World of Sports" by host Howard Cosell, Ali said he was not unduly cruel to Terrell- boxers are paid to punch their opponents into submission or defeat. He pointed out that if he had not hit and hurt Terrell, Terrell would have hit and hurt him, which is standard practice. Cosell's repeated reference to the topic surprised Ali. Following his final defense against Zora Folley in March 1967, Ali was stripped of his title the following month for refusing to be drafted into the Army[13] and had his professional boxing license suspended.
Conversion to the Nation of Islam[link]
After winning the championship from Liston in 1964, Clay revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam (often called the Black Muslims at the time) and the Nation gave Clay the name Cassius X, discarding his surname as a symbol of his ancestors' enslavement, as had been done by other Nation members. On Friday, March 6, 1964, Malcolm X took Clay on a guided tour of the UN building (for a second time). Malcolm X announced that Clay would be granted his "X." That same night, Elijah Muhammad recorded a statement over the phone to be played over the radio that Clay would be renamed Muhammad (one who is worthy of praise) Ali (fourth rightly guided caliph). Only a few journalists (most notably Howard Cosell) accepted it at that time. Venerable boxing announcer Don Dunphy addressed the champion by his adopted name, as did British reporters. The adoption of this name symbolized his new identity as a member of the Nation of Islam.
Many sportswriters of the early 1960s reported[where?] that it was Ali's brother, Rudy Clay, who converted to Islam first (estimating the date as 1961). Others wrote[where?] that Clay had been seen at Muslim rallies a few years before he fought Liston. Ali's own version[where?] is that he would sneak into Nation of Islam meetings through the back door roughly three years before he fought Sonny Liston.
Aligning himself with the Nation of Islam made him a lightning rod for controversy, turning the outspoken but popular champion into one of that era's most recognizable and controversial figures. Appearing at rallies with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and declaring his allegiance to him at a time when mainstream America viewed them with suspicion—if not outright hostility—made Ali a target of outrage, as well as suspicion. Ali seemed at times to provoke such reactions, with viewpoints that wavered from support for civil rights to outright support of separatism. For example, Ali once stated, in relation to integration: "We who follow the teachings of Elijah Muhammad don't want to be forced to integrate. Integration is wrong. We don't want to live with the white man; that's all."[29] And in relation to inter-racial marriage: "No intelligent black man or black woman in his or her right black mind wants white boys and white girls coming to their homes to marry their black sons and daughters."[29] Indeed, Ali's religious beliefs at the time included the notion that the white man was "the devil" and that white people were not "righteous." Ali claimed that white people hated black people.
Ali converted from the Nation of Islam sect to mainstream Sunni Islam in 1975. In a 2004 autobiography, written with daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali, Muhammad Ali attributes his conversion to the shift toward Sunni Islam made by Warith Deen Muhammad after he gained control of the Nation of Islam upon the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975. Later in 2005 he embraced spiritual practices of Sufism.[30]
Vietnam War[link]
In 1964, Ali failed the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were sub-par. However, in early 1966, the tests were revised and Ali was reclassified as 1A.[13] This classification meant he was now eligible for the draft and induction into the U.S. Army during a time when the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. When notified of this status, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the United States Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector.[13] Ali stated that "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers." He famously said in 1966: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... They never called me nigger." Rare for a heavyweight boxing champion in those days, Ali spoke at Howard University, where he gave his popular "Black Is Best" speech to 4,000 cheering students and community intellectuals after he was invited to speak by sociology professor, Nathan Hare, on behalf of the Black Power Committee, a student protest group.[31][32]
Appearing shortly thereafter for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces on April 28, 1967 in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name. An officer warned him he was committing a felony punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Once more, Ali refused to budge when his name was called. As a result, he was arrested and on the same day the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title. Other boxing commissions followed suit. Ali would not be able to obtain a license to box in any state for over three years.[33]
At the trial on June 20, 1967, after only 21 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty.[13] After a Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. During this time, the public began turning against the war and support for Ali began to grow. Ali supported himself by speaking at colleges and universities across the country, where opposition to the war was especially strong. On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction for refusing induction by unanimous decision in Clay v. United States.[13] The decision was not based on, nor did it address, the merits of Clay's/Ali's claims per se; rather, the Government's failure to specify which claims were rejected and which were sustained, constituted the grounds upon which the Court reversed the conviction.[34]
Quotes about Vietnam war[link]
| “ | I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... they never called me nigger.[35] | ” |
| “ | No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end.[36] | ” |
| “ | Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?[35] | ” |
The Fight of the Century[link]
Main article: Fight of the Century
In 1970, while his case was still on appeal, Ali was allowed to fight again. On August 12, 1970, with the help of Leroy R. Johnson, a Georgia State Senator, he was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission.[37] In Atlanta on October 26, 1970, he stopped Jerry Quarry on a cut after three rounds. Shortly after the Quarry fight, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly denied a boxing license. Once again able to fight in New York, he fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December 1970. After a tough 14 rounds, Ali stopped Bonavena in the 15th, paving the way for a title fight against Joe Frazier, who was himself undefeated.
Ali and Frazier met in the ring on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. The fight, known as "The Fight of the Century," was one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of all time and remains one of the most famous. It featured two skilled, undefeated fighters, both of whom had legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown. Frank Sinatra—unable to acquire a ringside seat—took photos of the match for Life magazine. Legendary boxing announcer Don Dunphy and actor and boxing aficionado Burt Lancaster called the action for the broadcast, which reached millions of people. The fight lived up to the hype, and Frazier punctuated his victory by flooring Ali with a hard, leaping left hook in the 15th and final round. Frazier retained the title on a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.
Ali rebounded with six victories in 1972, notching wins over Floyd Patterson and Jerry Quarry. In 1972 Muhammad Ali won six boxing matches including one over light-heavyweight champion of the world Bob Foster.
In 1973, Ali fought Ken Norton, who had broken Ali's jaw and won by split decision over 12 rounds in their first bout in 1972. Ali won the rematch, by split decision, on September 10, 1973, which set up Ali-Frazier II, a nontitle rematch with Joe Frazier, who had already lost his title to George Foreman. The bout was held on January 28, 1974, with Ali winning a unanimous 12-round decision.
The Rumble in the Jungle[link]
Main article: The Rumble in the Jungle
In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Ali regained his title on October 30, 1974 by defeating champion George Foreman in their bout in Kinshasa, Zaire. Hyped as "The Rumble in the Jungle", the fight was promoted by Don King.
Almost no one, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton had given Ali four tough battles in the ring and won two of them, while Foreman had knocked out both of them in the second round. As a matter of fact, so total was the domination that, in their bout, Foreman had knocked down Frazier an incredible six times in only four minutes and 25 seconds.
During the bout, Ali employed an unexpected strategy. Leading up to the fight, he had declared he was going to "dance" and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and outbox him. However, in the first round, Ali headed straight for the champion and began scoring with a right hand lead, clearly surprising Foreman. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique, but failed to knock him out. He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's weakness: staying power. Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout, mostly within three rounds. Eight of his previous bouts did not go past the second round. Ali saw an opportunity to outlast Foreman, and capitalized on it.
In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes—inviting Foreman to hit him, while counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows to exhaust him mentally and physically. While Foreman threw wide shots to Ali's body, Ali countered with stinging straight punches to Foreman's head. Foreman threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds, but with decreasing technique and potency. Ali leaned on the ropes while covering up his body as Foreman threw punches that were deflected and didn't land squarely. The technique was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope".
By the end of the seventh round, Foreman was exhausted. In the eighth, Ali dropped Foreman with a combination at center ring and Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, Ali had regained the title.
The "Rumble in the Jungle" was the subject of a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film, When We Were Kings. The fight and the events leading up to it are extensively depicted in both John Herzfeld's 1997 docudrama Don King: Only in America and Michael Mann's 2001 docudrama, Ali.
The Thrilla in Manila[link]
Main article: Thrilla in Manila
In March 1975, Ali faced Chuck Wepner in a bout that inspired the original Rocky. While it was largely thought that Ali would dominate, Wepner surprised everyone by not only knocking Ali down in the ninth round, but nearly going the distance. Ali eventually stopped Wepner in the fading minutes of the 15th round. Following a title defense with Ron Lyle, in July Ali faced Joe Bugner, winning a 15 round decision.
On October 1, 1975, Ali fought Joe Frazier for the third time.[13] Taking place in the Philippines, the bout was promoted as the Thrilla in Manila[13] by Don King, who had ascended to prominence following the Ali-Foreman fight. The anticipation was enormous for this final clash between two great heavyweights. Ali believed Frazier was "over the hill" by that point. Ali's frequent insults, slurs and demeaning poems increased the anticipation and excitement for the fight, but enraged a determined Frazier. Regarding the fight, Ali famously remarked, "It will be a killa... and a chilla... and a thrilla... when I get the gorilla in Manila."
The fight lasted 14 grueling rounds in temperatures approaching 100 °F (38 °C). Ali won many of the early rounds, but Frazier staged a comeback in the middle rounds, while Ali lay on the ropes. By the late rounds, however, Ali regained control and the fight was stopped when Frazier was unable to answer the bell for the 15th and final round (his eyes were swollen shut). Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to continue.
Subsequent bouts and retirement[link]
In February 1976, Ali easily beat Jean-Pierre Coopman. In April 1976, he defeated Jimmy Young and then Richard Dunn the following month, which would turn out to be Ali's last knockout victory.
Following that fight, he staged an exhibition match with professional wrestler and martial artist Antonio Inoki.[38] Although widely perceived as a publicity stunt, the match against Inoki would have a long-term detrimental effect on Ali's mobility. Inoki spent much of the fight on the ground trying to damage Ali’s legs, while Ali spent most of the fight dodging the kicks or staying on the ropes.[39] At the end of 15 rounds, the bout was called a draw. Ali's legs, however, were bleeding, leading to an infection. He suffered two blood clots in his legs as well.[38]
In September 1976, at Yankee Stadium, Ali faced Ken Norton in their third fight, with Ali winning a close but unanimous 15-round decision. Soon after the fight, Ali temporarily quit boxing to spread the faith of Islam.[40]
In May 1977, Ali defended his title against Alfredo Evangelista. In September of that year he faced a battering 15 rounds with Earnie Shavers. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco left Ali's camp following the Shavers fight after being rebuffed for advising Ali to retire.
In February 1978, Ali lost the heavyweight title to 1976 Olympic Light-Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks. On September 15, 1978, Ali fought a rematch in the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome against Spinks for the WBA version of the Heavyweight title, winning it for a record third time. Ali retired following this victory on June 27, 1979, but returned in 1980 to face current champion Larry Holmes in an attempt to win a heavyweight title an unprecedented four times. Angelo Dundee refused to let his man come out for the 11th round, in what became Ali's only loss by anything other than a decision. The fight has been cited as a contributing factor in Ali's development of Parkinson's Disease.[41] Ali's final fight, a loss by unanimous decision after 10 rounds, was to up-and-coming challenger Trevor Berbick in 1981.
Ali's legacy[link]
Muhammad Ali defeated every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. Ali was named "Fighter of the Year" by Ring Magazine more times than any other fighter, and was involved in more Ring Magazine "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter. He is an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and holds wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees. He is one of only three boxers to be named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated.
In 1978, three years before Ali's permanent retirement, the Board of Aldermen in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, voted 6–5 to rename Walnut Street to Muhammad Ali Boulevard. This was controversial at the time, as within a week 12 of the 70 street signs were stolen. Earlier that year, a committee of the Jefferson County Public Schools considered renaming Central High School in his honor, but the motion failed to pass. At any rate, in time, Muhammad Ali Boulevard—and Ali himself—came to be well accepted in his hometown.[42]
In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study found that over 97% of Americans over 12 years of age identified both Ali and Ruth.[43]
He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
In retirement[link]
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984,[44][45] a disease to which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible than average.[46] Despite the disability, he remains a beloved and active public figure. In 1985, he served as a guest referee at the inaugural WrestleMania event.[47][48] In 1987 he was selected by the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution to personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in various high profile activities. Ali rode on a float at the 1988 Tournament of Roses Parade, launching the U.S. Constitution's 200th birthday commemoration. He published an oral history, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser, in 1991. That same year Ali traveled to Iraq during the Gulf War and met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to negotiate the release of American hostages.[49] Ali received a Spirit of America Award calling him the most recognized American in the world. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
He appeared at the 1998 AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final, where Anthony Pratt invited him to watch the game. He greets runners at the start line of the Los Angeles Marathon every year. Since 1994, Ali has hosted an annual charity event in Phoenix, Arizona called "Celebrity Fight Night", which has raised more than $70 million for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and other charities.[50]
In 1999, the BBC produced a special version of its annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony, and Ali was voted their Sports Personality of the Century,[51] receiving more votes than the other four contenders combined. His daughter Laila Ali became a boxer in 1999,[52] despite her father's earlier comments against female boxing in 1978: "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that... the body's not made to be punched right here [patting his chest]. Get hit in the breast... hard... and all that."[53]
On September 13, 1999, Ali was named "Kentucky Athlete of the Century" by the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Galt House East.[54]
In 2001, a biographical film, entitled Ali, was made, directed by Michael Mann, with Will Smith starring as Ali. The film received mixed reviews, with the positives generally attributed to the acting, as Smith and supporting actor Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations. Prior to making the Ali movie, Will Smith had continually rejected the role of Ali until Muhammad Ali personally requested that he accept the role. According to Smith, the first thing Ali said about the subject to him was: "Man, you're almost pretty enough to play me."[55]
On November 17, 2002, Muhammad Ali went to Afghanistan as "U.N. Messenger of Peace".[56] He was in Kabul for a three-day goodwill mission as a special guest of the UN.[57]
On January 8, 2005, Muhammad Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on November 9, 2005,[58][59] and the "Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold" of the UN Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin for his work with the US civil rights movement and the United Nations (December 17, 2005).
On November 19, 2005 (Ali's 19th wedding anniversary), the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth.
According to the Ali Center website, "Since he retired from boxing, Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry. Ali travels, on average, more than 200 days per year."
At the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 2, 2007, Ali was an honorary captain for the Louisville Cardinals wearing their white jersey, number 19. Ali was accompanied by golf legend Arnold Palmer, who was the honorary captain for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.
A youth club in Ali's hometown and a species of rose (Rosa ali) have been named after him. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University's 260th graduation ceremony.[60]
Ali lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his fourth wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Ali.[61] They own a house in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is for sale. On January 9, 2007, they purchased a house in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky for $1,875,000.[62] Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late 20s.[63]
On August 17, 2009, it was voted unanimously by the town council of Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland to make Ali the first Freeman of Ennis. Ennis was the birthplace of Ali's great grandfather before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860s, before eventually settling in Kentucky.[64] On September 1, 2009, Ali visited the town of Ennis and at a civic reception he received the honour of the freedom of the town.[65]
Ranking in heavyweight history[link]
Ali is generally considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time by boxing commentators and historians. Ring Magazine, a prominent boxing magazine, named him number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.[66]
Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ESPN.com behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson.[67] In December 2007, ESPN listed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis.[68]
The Associated Press voted Ali the No. 1 heavyweight of the 20th century in 1999.[69]
Personal life[link]
Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Ali met his first wife, cocktail waitress Sonji Roi, approximately one month before they married on August 14, 1964.[citation needed] Roi's objections to certain Muslim customs in regard to dress for women contributed to the breakup of their marriage. They divorced on January 10, 1966.
On August 17, 1967, Ali married Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she, like Ali, converted to Islam and more recently to Sufism,[70] changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. They had four children: Maryum (b. 1968), Jamillah and Rasheda (b. 1970), and Muhammad Ali Jr. (b. 1972).[71] Maryam has a career as an author and rapper.[72]
In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porsche, an actress and model. By the summer of 1977, Ali's second marriage was over and he had married Veronica.[73] At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child. Their second daughter, Laila, was born in December 1977. By 1986, Ali and Veronica were divorced.
On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda ("Lonnie") Williams. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville. They have one son, Asaad Amin, who they adopted when Amin was five.[71][74][75][76][77]
Ali was a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey in the early 1970s.[78] Ali has two other daughters, Miya and Khaliah, from extramarital relationships.[71][79]
In the media and popular culture[link]
File:StangoAli.jpg
Pop art painting of Muhammad Ali by John Stango
Main article: Muhammad Ali in media and popular culture
As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. In 1963, he released an album of spoken word on Columbia Records titled I am the Greatest! He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on 37 different occasions, second only to Michael Jordan.[80] He appeared in the documentary film Black Rodeo (1972) riding both a horse and a bull. His autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975.[81] In 1977 the book was adapted into a film called The Greatest, in which Ali played himself and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. When We Were Kings, a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award,[82] and the 2001 biopic Ali garnered an Oscar nomination for Will Smith's portrayal of the lead role.[83]
For contributions to the entertainment industry, Ali was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.[84]
The Muhammad Ali Effect[link]
The Muhammad Ali Effect is a term used in psychology that was named after him when he stated, "I only said I was the greatest, not the smartest" in his autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story.[81] According to this effect, when people are asked to rate their intelligence and moral behavior in comparison to others, people will rate themselves as more moral, but not more intelligent than others.[85][86]
Professional boxing record[link]
| 56 Wins (37 knockouts, 19 decisions), 5 Losses (4 decisions, 1 TKO), 0 Draws[1] | |||||||
| Res. | Opponent | Type | Round, Time | Date | Age | Location | Notes |
| Loss | Trevor Berbick | Decision (unanimous) | 10 (10) | 01981-12-11December 11, 1981 | &1000000000000003900000039 years, &10000000000000328000000328 days |  Nassau, Bahamas |
"Drama in the Bahamas"[87] |
| Loss | Larry Holmes | TKO (Corner Stoppage) | 10 (15) | 01980-10-02October 2, 1980 | &1000000000000003800000038 years, &10000000000000259000000259 days |  Las Vegas, NV |
Lost The Ring World Heavyweight title. For WBC World Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Leon Spinks | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01978-09-15September 15, 1978 | &1000000000000003600000036 years, &10000000000000241000000241 days | New Orleans, LA |
Won The Ring & WBA World Heavyweight titles; Vacated WBA title on 1979-09-06. |
| Loss | Leon Spinks | Decision (split) | 15 (15) | 01978-02-15February 15, 1978 | &1000000000000003600000036 years, &1000000000000002900000029 days | Las Vegas, NV |
Lost The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Earnie Shavers | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01977-09-29September 29, 1977 | &1000000000000003500000035 years, &10000000000000255000000255 days | New York City |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Alfredo Evangelista | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01977-05-16May 16, 1977 | &1000000000000003500000035 years, &10000000000000119000000119 days | Landover, MD |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Ken Norton | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01976-09-28September 28, 1976 | &1000000000000003400000034 years, &10000000000000255000000255 days | The Bronx, New York |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Richard Dunn | TKO | 5 (15) | 01976-05-24May 24, 1976 | &1000000000000003400000034 years, &10000000000000128000000128 days |  Munich, West Germany |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Jimmy Young | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01976-04-30April 30, 1976 | &1000000000000003400000034 years, &10000000000000104000000104 days | Landover, MD |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Jean-Pierre Coopman | KO | 5 (15) | 01976-02-20February 20, 1976 | &1000000000000003400000034 years, &1000000000000003400000034 days |  San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Joe Frazier | TKO | 14 (15), 0:59 | 01975-10-01October 1, 1975 | &1000000000000003300000033 years, &10000000000000257000000257 days |  Quezon City, Philippines |
"The Thrilla in Manila"; Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Joe Bugner | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01975-06-30June 30, 1975 | &1000000000000003300000033 years, &10000000000000164000000164 days |  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Ron Lyle | TKO | 11 (15) | 01975-05-16May 16, 1975 | &1000000000000003300000033 years, &10000000000000119000000119 days | Las Vegas, NV |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Chuck Wepner | TKO | 15 (15), 2:41 | 01975-03-24March 24, 1975 | &1000000000000003300000033 years, &1000000000000006600000066 days | Richfield, OH |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | George Foreman | KO | 8 (15), 2:58 | 01974-10-30October 30, 1974 | &1000000000000003200000032 years, &10000000000000286000000286 days |  Kinshasa, Zaire |
"The Rumble in the Jungle"; Won The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Joe Frazier | Decision (unanimous) | 12 (12) | 01974-01-28January 28, 1974 | &1000000000000003200000032 years, &1000000000000001100000011 days | New York City, NY |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title; Vacated title later in 1974. |
| Win | Rudi Lubbers | Decision (unanimous) | 12 (12) | 01973-10-20October 20, 1973 | &1000000000000003100000031 years, &10000000000000276000000276 days |  Jakarta, Indonesia |
|
| Win | Ken Norton | Decision (split) | 12 (12) | 01973-09-10September 10, 1973 | &1000000000000003100000031 years, &10000000000000236000000236 days | Inglewood, CA |
Won NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Loss | Ken Norton | Decision (split) | 12 (12) | 01973-03-31March 31, 1973 | &1000000000000003100000031 years, &1000000000000007300000073 days | San Diego, CA |
Lost NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Joe Bugner | Decision (unanimous) | 12 (12) | 01973-02-14February 14, 1973 | &1000000000000003100000031 years, &1000000000000002800000028 days | Las Vegas, NV |
|
| Win | Bob Foster | KO | 7 (12) | 01972-11-21November 21, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000309000000309 days | Stateline, NV |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 7 (12) | 01972-09-20September 20, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000247000000247 days | New York City, NY |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Alvin Lewis | TKO | 11 (12), 1:15 | 01972-07-19July 19, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000184000000184 days |  Dublin, Ireland |
|
| Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 7 (12), 0:19 | 01972-06-27June 27, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000162000000162 days | Las Vegas, NV |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | George Chuvalo | Decision (unanimous) | 12 (12) | 01972-05-01May 1, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000105000000105 days |  Vancouver, Canada |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Mac Foster | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01972-04-01April 1, 1972 | &1000000000000003000000030 years, &1000000000000007500000075 days |  Tokyo, Japan |
|
| Win | Jürgen Blin | KO | 7 (12), 2:12 | 01971-12-26December 26, 1971 | &1000000000000002900000029 years, &10000000000000343000000343 days |  Zurich, Switzerland |
|
| Win | Buster Mathis | Decision (unanimous) | 12 (12) | 01971-11-17November 17, 1971 | &1000000000000002900000029 years, &10000000000000304000000304 days | Houston, TX |
Retained NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Jimmy Ellis | TKO | 12 (12), 2:10 | 01971-07-26July 26, 1971 | &1000000000000002900000029 years, &10000000000000190000000190 days | Houston, TX |
Won vacant NABF Heavyweight title. |
| Loss | Joe Frazier | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01971-03-08March 8, 1971 | &1000000000000002900000029 years, &1000000000000005000000050 days | New York City, NY |
"The Fight of the Century"; Lost The Ring World Heavyweight title. For WBA & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Oscar Bonavena | TKO | 15 (15), 2:03 | 01970-12-07December 7, 1970 | &1000000000000002800000028 years, &10000000000000324000000324 days | New York City, NY |
Retained The Ring World Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 3 (15) | 01970-10-26October 26, 1970 | &1000000000000002800000028 years, &10000000000000282000000282 days | Atlanta, GA |
Retained The Ring World Heavyweight title. |
| Win | Zora Folley | KO | 7 (15), 1:48 | 01967-03-22March 22, 1967 | &1000000000000002500000025 years, &1000000000000006400000064 days | New York City, NY |
Retained The Ring, WBC & WBA World Heavyweight titles; Stripped of titles on 1967-04-28. |
| Win | Ernie Terrell | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01967-02-06February 6, 1967 | &1000000000000002500000025 years, &1000000000000002000000020 days | Houston, TX |
Retained The Ring WBC & won WBA World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Cleveland Williams | TKO | 3 (15) | 01966-11-14November 14, 1966 | &1000000000000002400000024 years, &10000000000000301000000301 days | Houston, TX |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Karl Mildenberger | TKO | 12 (15) | 01966-09-10September 10, 1966 | &1000000000000002400000024 years, &10000000000000236000000236 days | Frankfurt, West Germany |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Brian London | KO | 3 (15) | 01966-08-06August 6, 1966 | &1000000000000002400000024 years, &10000000000000201000000201 days |  London, England |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 6 (15), 1:38 | 01966-05-21May 21, 1966 | &1000000000000002400000024 years, &10000000000000124000000124 days | London, England |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | George Chuvalo | Decision (unanimous) | 15 (15) | 01966-03-29March 29, 1966 | &1000000000000002400000024 years, &1000000000000007100000071 days | Toronto, Canada |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 12 (15), 2:18 | 01965-11-22November 22, 1965 | &1000000000000002300000023 years, &10000000000000309000000309 days | Las Vegas, NV |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Sonny Liston | KO | 1 (15), 2:12 | 01965-05-25May 25, 1965 | &1000000000000002300000023 years, &10000000000000128000000128 days | Lewiston, ME |
Retained The Ring & WBC World Heavyweight titles. |
| Win | Sonny Liston | TKO | 7 (15) | 01964-02-25February 25, 1964 | &1000000000000002200000022 years, &1000000000000003900000039 days | Miami Beach, FL |
Won The Ring, WBA & WBC World Heavyweight titles; Stripped of WBA title on 1964-06-19. |
| Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 5 (10), 2:15 | 01963-06-18June 18, 1963 | &1000000000000002100000021 years, &10000000000000152000000152 days | London, England |
|
| Win | Doug Jones | Decision (unanimous) | 10 (10) | 01963-03-13March 13, 1963 | &1000000000000002100000021 years, &1000000000000005500000055 days | New York City, NY |
|
| Win | Charley Powell | KO | 3, 2:04 | 01963-01-24January 24, 1963 | &1000000000000002100000021 years, &100000000000000070000007 days | Pittsburgh, PA |
|
| Win | Archie Moore | TKO | 4 (10), 1:35 | 01962-11-15November 15, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000302000000302 days | Los Angeles, CA |
|
| Win | Alejandro Lavorante | KO | 5 (10), 1:48 | 01962-07-20July 20, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000184000000184 days | Los Angeles, CA |
|
| Win | Billy Daniels | TKO | 7 (10), 2:21 | 01962-05-19May 19, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000122000000122 days | New York City, NY |
|
| Win | George Logan | TKO | 4 (10), 1:34 | 01962-04-23April 23, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &1000000000000009600000096 days | New York City, NY |
|
| Win | Don Warner | TKO | 4, 0:34 | 01962-03-28March 28, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &1000000000000007000000070 days | Miami Beach, FL |
|
| Win | Sonny Banks | TKO | 4 (10), 0:26 | 01962-02-10February 10, 1962 | &1000000000000002000000020 years, &1000000000000002400000024 days | New York City, NY |
|
| Win | Willi Besmanoff | TKO | 7 (10), 1:55 | 01961-11-29November 29, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000316000000316 days | Louisville, KY |
|
| Win | Alex Miteff | TKO | 6 (10), 1:45 | 01961-10-07October 7, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000263000000263 days | Louisville, KY |
|
| Win | Alonzo Johnson | Decision (unanimous) | 10 (10) | 01961-07-22July 22, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000186000000186 days | Louisville, KY |
|
| Win | Duke Sabedong | Decision (unanimous) | 10 (10) | 01961-06-26June 26, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000160000000160 days | Las Vegas, NV |
|
| Win | LaMar Clark | KO | 2 (10), 1:27 | 01961-04-19April 19, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &1000000000000009200000092 days | Louisville, KY |
|
| Win | Donnie Fleeman | TKO | 7 (8) | 01961-02-21February 21, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &1000000000000003500000035 days | Miami Beach, FL |
|
| Win | Jim Robinson | KO | 1 (8), 1:34 | 01961-02-07February 7, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &1000000000000002100000021 days | Miami Beach, FL |
|
| Win | Tony Esperti | TKO | 3 (8), 1:30 | 01961-01-17January 17, 1961 | &1000000000000001900000019 years, &100000000000000000000000 days | Miami Beach, FL |
|
| Win | Herb Siler | KO | 4 (8) | 01960-12-27December 27, 1960 | &1000000000000001800000018 years, &10000000000000345000000345 days | Miami Beach, FL |
|
| Win | Tunney Hunsaker | Decision (unanimous) | 6 (6) | 01960-10-29October 29, 1960 | &1000000000000001800000018 years, &10000000000000286000000286 days | Louisville, KY |
|
See also[link]
- List of heavyweight boxing champions
- List of North American Muslims
- List of people from Louisville, Kentucky
- List of WBA world champions
- List of WBC world champions
- Notable boxing families
- Conscientious Objector
Notes[link]
- ^ a b "Muhammad Ali – Boxer". Boxrec.com. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=000180&cat=boxer. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ a b "Muhammad Ali Biography". Biography.com. January 17, 1942. http://www.biography.com/articles/Muhammad-Ali-9181165?part=0. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ "Muhammad Ali – Biography of Muhammad Ali – Page 2". History1900s.about.com. http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/muhammadali_2.htm. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ Cagle, Jess (December 17, 2001). "Ali: Lord of the Ring". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001498,00.html. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ BY: Interview by Deborah Caldwell. "Muhammad Ali has embraced Sufi Islam and is on a new spiritual quest". Beliefnet.com. http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2005/02/Muhammad-Alis-New-Spiritual-Quest.aspx. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
- ^ Plimpton, George (June 14, 1999). "MUHAMMAD ALI: The Greatest". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991256,00.html#ixzz1WkE11Voo. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ "BACKTALK; Today's Athletes Owe Everything to Ali – Page 3 – New York Times". The New York Times. April 30, 2000. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/30/sports/backtalk-today-s-athletes-owe-everything-to-ali.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ "Muhammad Ali". ESPN. January 20, 2012. http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/topics/_/page/muhammad-ali. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
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References[link]
- Hauser, Thomas (October 21, 2004). Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-738-9. OCLC 56645513. http://books.google.com/?id=UkFxgibeS1AC.
- Schulke, Flip; Matt Schudel (2000). Muhammad Ali: The Birth of a Legend, Miami, 1961–1964. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-20340-5. http://books.google.com/?id=5h2JHAAACAAJ.
External links[link]
 |
Book: Muhammad Ali |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Muhammad Ali |
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Muhammad Ali |
- Official website
- Muhammad Ali at the Internet Movie Database
- Barrow Neurological Institute: Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center
- Professional boxing record for Muhammad Ali from BoxRec
- WLRN: Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami
- Life Magazine: Cassius Clay: Before He Was Ali (photo essay)
- BoxRec: list of world heavyweight champions?
- BoxRec: list of world P4P champions?
- William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services: Ancestry of Muhammad Ali
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sonny Liston |
WBA Heavyweight boxing champion February 25, 1964 – June 19, 1964 (Stripped) |
Succeeded by Ernie Terrell filled vacancy |
| WBC Heavyweight boxing champion February 25, 1964 – March 11, 1969 (Stripped) |
Succeeded by Joe Frazier filled vacancy |
|
| Preceded by Ernie Terrell |
WBA Heavyweight boxing champion February 6, 1967 – April 28, 1967 (Stripped) |
Succeeded by Jimmy Ellis filled vacancy |
| Preceded by Leotis Martin (Vacated) |
NABF Heavyweight boxing champion December 17, 1970–1971 (Vacated) |
Succeeded by George Foreman filled vacancy |
| Preceded by George Foreman (Vacated) |
NABF Heavyweight boxing champion Ju1y 26, 1971 – March 31, 1973 |
Succeeded by Ken Norton |
| Preceded by Ken Norton |
NABF Heavyweight boxing champion September 10, 1973–1974 (Vacated) |
Succeeded by Ken Norton filled vacancy |
| Preceded by George Foreman |
WBA Heavyweight boxing champion October 30, 1974 – February 15, 1978 |
Succeeded by Leon Spinks |
| WBC Heavyweight boxing champion October 30, 1974 – February 15, 1978 |
||
| Preceded by Leon Spinks |
WBA Heavyweight boxing champion September 15, 1978 – September 6, 1979 (Vacated) |
Succeeded by John Tate filled vacancy |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by none |
United Press International Athlete of the Year 1974 |
Succeeded by João Carlos de Oliveira |
| Preceded by O.J. Simpson |
Hickok Belt Winner 1974 |
Succeeded by Pete Rose |
| Preceded by Dick Tiger |
Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1963 |
Succeeded by Emile Griffith |
| Preceded by Joe Frazier |
Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year Shared award with Carlos Monzon 1972 |
Succeeded by George Foreman |
| Preceded by George Foreman |
Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1974, 1975 |
Succeeded by George Foreman |
| Preceded by Carlos Zarate |
Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1978 |
Succeeded by Sugar Ray Leonard |
| Preceded by Willie Pastrano |
BWAA Fighter of the Year 1965 |
Succeeded by Dick Tiger |
| Preceded by George Foreman |
BWAA Fighter of the Year 1974, 1975 (shared award with Joe Frazier) |
Succeeded by U.S. Olympic Boxing Gold Medalists – Sugar Ray Leonard, Leo Randolph, Howard Davis, Jr., Leon Spinks and Michael Spinks |
| Olympic Games | ||
| Preceded by Antonio Rebollo |
Final Summer Olympic Torchbearer Atlanta 1996 |
Succeeded by Cathy Freeman |
|
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|
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|
|||||
|
||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ali, Muhammad |
| Alternative names | Clay, Cassius Marcellus, Jr. |
| Short description | American boxer, world heavyweight champion, Olympic gold medalist; anti-Vietnam War activist |
| Date of birth | January 17, 1942 |
| Place of birth | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Muhammad_Ali
Related pages:
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http://cs.wn.com/Muhammad Ali
http://id.wn.com/Muhammad Ali
http://es.wn.com/Muhammad Ali
http://nl.wn.com/Muhammad Ali
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http://fr.wn.com/Mohamed Ali (boxe anglaise)
http://de.wn.com/Muhammad Ali
http://ru.wn.com/Али, Мохаммед
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
