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Jimmie Foxx
First baseman
Born: (1907-10-22)October 22, 1907 Sudlersville, Maryland
Died: July 21, 1967(1967-07-21) (aged 59) Miami, Florida
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
Philadelphia Athletics (1925–1935) Boston Red Sox (1936–1942) Chicago Cubs (1942, 1944) Philadelphia Phillies (1945)
Career highlights and awards
9× All-Star selection (1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941) 2× World Series champion (1929, 1930) 3× AL MVP (1932, 1933, 1938)
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that plateau at age 32 years 336 days, he held the record for youngest to reach 500 for sixty-eight years, until superseded by Alex Rodriguez in 2007.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.

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]

Jimmy Foxx 1933 Goudey baseball card.

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.

Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. All seven would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame.

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 with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Al Simmons

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:

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• 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]

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