Bill James AL 1940-1949 All Decade Team

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Catcher, Buddy Rosar



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rosar

Warren Vincent "Buddy" Rosar (July 3, 1914 in Buffalo, New York – March 13, 1994 in Rochester, New York), was an American professional baseball player.[1][2] He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1939 to 1951 for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Red Sox. Rosar was regarded as an excellent defensive catcher, setting a record for consecutive games without an error by a catcher.

Baseball career

Rosar was first discovered in 1934 when he was chosen to play in an All-Star game for Buffalo, New York amateur baseball players.[4] The wife of New York Yankees manager, Joe McCarthy, attended the game and was so impressed with Rosar's catching ability that she told her husband about him.[4] McCarthy sent Yankees' scout, Gene McCann to look at Rosar before the team signed him as an amateur free agent.[4] He played for the 1937 Newark Bears team that won the International League pennant by 25½ games to become known as one of the best minor league teams of all time.[5][6] Rosar hit .387 with the Bears in 1938 to win the International League batting championship.[7][8]

Rosar made his major league debut with the Yankees on April 29, 1939 at the age of 24.[1] From 1939 to 1942, he served as the Yankees' back up catcher to the future Hall of Fame inductee Bill Dickey.[9] By the middle of the 1940 season, Rosar was out-hitting Dickey with a .343 batting average compared to Dickey's .226 average although, he appeared in only half as many games as, the Yankees were reluctant to relegate Dickey to second string status.[10][11][12] On July 19, 1940, he hit for the cycle in a game against the Cleveland Indians.[13] Rosar appeared in 73 games in 1940 and set career-highs with a .298 batting average and a .357 on base percentage.[1] In 1941, he hit well above .300 until the final month of the season before tapering off to end the year with a .287 average in 67 games as, the Yankees won the American League pennant by 17 games over the Boston Red Sox.[14] Rosar made only one appearance in the 1941 World Series as a late-inning defensive replacement for Dickey in Game 2 as, the Yankees went on to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games.[15][16]

Despite being a second string catcher, American League managers chose Rosar to be a reserve player in the 1942 All-Star Game over all other starting catchers in the league, with the exception of Birdie Tebbetts of the Detroit Tigers, who was selected to start the game.[17] In July, 1942, Rosar asked Yankees manager, Joe McCarthy, for permission to travel to Buffalo to take examinations to join the Buffalo police force and, to be with his wife who was about to have a baby.[18] McCarthy refused to allow him to leave because Dickey was sidelined with an injury leaving only unseasoned rookie catcher Eddie Kearse available but, Rosar decided to leave without permission.[19] When he returned to the club three days later, he found that McCarthy had replaced him with Rollie Hemsley and sent Kearse to the minor leagues, relegating Rosar to third-string catcher.[18] Rosar had been seen as a successor to the aging Dickey but, after flaunting the authority of the Yankees management, he would be traded to the Cleveland Indians by the end of the season.

Although Indians manager, Lou Boudreau, named Gene Desautels as the Indians starting catcher at the beginning of the 1943 season, by the middle of the year Rosar was among the league leaders in hitting with a .313 average.[22][23] He was recognised by being named to his second All-Star team as a reserve in the 1943 All-Star Game.[24] He ended the season with a .283 batting average and 41 runs batted in.[1] He also led American League catchers in assists and in baserunners caught stealing.[25] In 1944, Rosar was assigned to a war job in Buffalo, New York before being transferred to another war job in Cleveland, leaving him available part time to the Indians.[26] He was again hitting among the league leaders with a .324 average in June before fading to finish the year with a .263 batting average.[1][27][28] After two seasons with the Indians, Rosar refused to play at the beginning of the 1945 season because of a salary dispute.[29] The Indians responded by trading Rosar to the Philadelphia Athletics for catcher Frankie Hayes on May 29, 1945.[21]

Rosar had one of his best seasons in the major leagues with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics in 1946, hitting for a .283 batting average and posted career-highs with 120 hits and 48 runs batted in.[1] He led American League catchers in assists, runners caught stealing, and fielding percentage, setting a record for errorless games by a catcher, posting a 1.000 fielding percentage in 117 games played as a catcher.[30][31] The next year he extended his perfect play to 147 games and, was selected to be the starting catcher for the American League in the 1947 All-Star Game.[3][31][32] The errorless games record has since been broken by several players.

Rosar was hitting for just a .216 batting average by mid-season in 1948 however, his defensive reputation won him the fans' vote as the American League's starting catcher in the 1948 All-Star Game.[33][34] During a three-season period between 1946 and 1948, Rosar committed only three errors.[1] By 1949, Mike Guerra had taken over as the Athletics starting catcher and, Rosar would be traded to the Boston Red Sox in October 1949.[21] With the Red Sox, he was the third string catcher behind Birdie Tebbetts and Matt Batts in 1950 and then to Les Moss in 1951 before being released in October 1951.

Career statistics

In 13 seasons, Rosar played in 988 games, with 836 hits for a .261 career batting average, along with 18 home runs and 367 runs batted in.[1] Despite his relatively low offensive statistics, Rosar's defensive skills earned him a place on the American League All-Star team five times during his career.[1] Rosar led all American League catchers in fielding percentage four years (1944, 1946–1948).[35] He also led the league three times in assists, twice in baserunners caught stealing and once in caught stealing percentage.[1] His 54.47% career caught stealing percentage ranks him third all-time behind only Roy Campanella and Gabby Hartnett.[36]

Rosar caught two no hitter games in his career, pitched by Dick Fowler in 1945, and Bill McCahan in 1947.[37] He has the best ratio of double plays to errors of any catcher in major league history.[38] Rosar holds the 20th Century career record for fewest passed balls per games caught (0.0300) with only 28 miscues in 934 games as catcher.[31] Rosar's .992 career fielding percentage was 10 points higher than the league average during his playing career, and at the time of his retirement in 1951, was the highest for a catcher in major league history.

Later life

After Rosar's baseball career, he was employed as an engineer at a Ford plant near his hometown of Buffalo.

Career statistics
Batting average .261
Hits 836
Runs batted in 367
Teams

New York Yankees (1939–1942)
Cleveland Indians (1943–1944)
Philadelphia Athletics (1945–1949)
Boston Red Sox (1950–1951)

Career highlights and awards

5× All-Star (1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948)
2× World Series champion (1939, 1941)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, First Baseman, George McQuinn



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McQuinn

George Hartley McQuinn (May 29, 1910 – December 24, 1978) was a left handed, Major League Baseball first baseman.

Early life

A native of Arlington, Virginia, and a graduate of Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia,

Baseball career

During his 12-year career, McQuinn played for the Cincinnati Reds (1936), St. Louis Browns (1938–45), Philadelphia Athletics (1946) and New York Yankees (1947–48), and was selected for the All-Star seven times.

In 1938 he had a .324 career-high batting average with 12 home runs, 42 doubles, 100 runs and 82 RBI (RBI). In 1939, his batting average was .316 with 101 runs scored, 94 RBI's, 37 doubles, 13 triples and 20 home runs. The following year he had 39 doubles, 10 triples and 16 home runs. In 1944, his opening-game home run gave the Browns their first victory and was their only home run in a World Series game.

In 1947, at the age of 36, McQuinn hit .304 with 13 home runs and 80 RBI's, and was nominated for the MVP Award. He retired the following year.

McQuinn was a career batting average was .276 hitter and a total of 135 home runs and 794 RBI's in 1550 games. After retiring, he was a manager in the farm system of the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, and scouted for the Washington Senators and Montreal Expos.

He was inducted into the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame in 1958 and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. He died in Alexandria, Virginia at the age 68.

Career statistics
Batting average .276
Home runs 135
Runs batted in 794
Teams

Cincinnati Reds (1936)
St. Louis Browns (1938–1945)
Philadelphia Athletics (1946)
New York Yankees (1947–1948)

Career highlights and awards

7× All-Star selection (1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948)
World Series champion (1947)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Second Baseman, Joe Gordon



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gordon

Joseph Lowell "Joe" 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).

Early life

Joe Gordon was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 18, 1915.[1] The family moved to Oregon, where he attended Jefferson High School.[2] After graduation, Gordon attended the University of Oregon,[1] where he also competed as a halfback on the football team as well as in gymnastics, soccer and the long jump. Not limiting himself to sports, he also played the violin in the college orchestra.[3] Playing on the Ducks baseball team during the 1934 and 1935 seasons, Gordon helped lead the team to a combined record of 30-14 - winning the Pacific Coast Conference's Northern Division both years.[2] Gordon hit .358 while at Oregon which ranks him tied for fourth in team history.[2] While in college, Gordon was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Yankees

After batting .418 in his sophomore year, he signed with the Yankees in 1936, with scout Bill Essick reporting: "(Gordon was) at his best when it meant the most and the going was toughest." After being assigned to the Yankees AA-level club, the Oakland Oaks, in the Pacific Coast League, Gordon proceeded to put up solid numbers in his first season in professional baseball, hitting .300 while spending the majority of time in the field at shortstop.[5] In 1937, Gordon was moved to the Newark Bears, another AA team in the International League and continued to excel, hitting .280 with 26 homeruns. His 1937 Bears' team is often regarded as the best minor league team in history with future all-stars George McQuinn, Charlie Keller, Tommy Henrich, Babe Dahlgren, and Spud Chandler joining Gordon to lead the team to an incredible 110 wins in 158 games.[6]

His success made 33 year old Tony Lazzeri expendable for the Yankees, who was released following the 1937 season,[7] and Gordon debuted with New York in April 1938. His 25 home runs as a rookie set an American League record for second basemen, surpassing Detroit Tiger Charlie Gehringer's previous record of 19. Gordon would hold the AL record for homeruns by a second baseman 64 years before being surpassed by Bret Boone's 36 homeruns in 2001.[5][8] Along with Jeff Heath of the Indians, who had batted .343, Gordon was one of the AL's top rookies, hitting .255 with 97 RBI and placing second to Gehringer in the AL with 450 assists as the Yankees won their third straight pennant. In the 1938 World Series sweep of the Chicago Cubs, he hit .400 and slugged .733. He had an RBI single, doubled, and recorded the final out in a 3-1 victory in Game 1. Gordon doubled in the first two runs in Game 2's 6-3 win. In Game 3, a 5-2 win, he had a solo home run to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth inning, and singled home two more runs in the sixth. He scored twice in an 8-3 win in the final Game 4 as New York took their third consecutive title.

1939 saw Gordon improve his batting average to .284 and top his own home run mark with 28. He led the AL in putouts, assists and double plays, and was second on the team to Joe DiMaggio and fifth in the league in both homers and RBI (111). On June 28 he hit three home runs; he made his first of nine All-Star teams, and finished ninth in the MVP vote. In the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds he hit only .143, but scored the first run in a 2-1 Game 1 victory. In Game 4, he drove in the tying run with one out in the ninth inning, and the Yankees scored three in the tenth to win 7-4 and complete another sweep for their unprecedented fourth straight championship. In 1940 Gordon again increased his home run total to 30 and was second on the team to DiMaggio in homers and RBI (103), leading the AL in assists and posting career highs in runs (112), triples (10), slugging average (.511), total bases (315) and stolen bases (18) while hitting .281. On September 8, he hit for the cycle. But the Yankees finished two games behind Detroit, in the only year between 1936 and 1943 that they lost the pennant.

In 1941 he batted .276 with 24 HRs and 87 RBI, scoring 104 runs and teaming with rookie shortstop Phil Rizzuto to lead the AL in double plays; Gordon placed seventh in the MVP vote as New York returned to the top of the standings. In the 1941 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers he played phenomenally, hitting .500 with stellar defense. In Game 1 he started the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, had an RBI single and was walked twice (once intentionally), and turned a double play with the tying run on first base to end a 3-2 win. In Game 2, he was walked three times, once intentionally, and had three double plays in a 3-2 loss. In Game 3 he tripled, walked and had four assists, one of them to end the 2-1 win. He doubled in two runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 to give the Yankees their final 7-4 lead, four batters after Dodger catcher Mickey Owen famously dropped a third strike which would have ended the game. And he drove in another run in the final 3-1 victory in Game 5. His five double plays (three of them in Game 2) remain a record for a five-game Series. After the Series, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy said, "The greatest all-around ballplayer I ever saw, and I don't bar any of them, is Joe Gordon."

Gordon led the Yankees to another pennant in his 1942 MVP season, edging Triple Crown winner Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox for the award. He batted .322, fourth in the AL, with 18 homers and 103 RBI, and finished sixth in the league in total bases (264) and slugging (.491) while he and Rizzuto again led the league in double plays. He had another poor World Series, however, batting just .095 in the five-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals – his only Series loss in six trips; he was picked off at second base in the bottom of the ninth in the last game. By his own lofty standards he had a subpar yet productive season in 1943, batting .249 with 17 HRs (5th in the AL), 69 RBI and 82 runs, and leading the AL in assists; despite his low batting mark, he was still among the league's top ten players in both slugging (.413) and on base percentage (.365), thanks to a career-best 98 walks (second in the AL).

In the World Series rematch with the Cardinals, he gave New York a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning of Game 1 – a 4-2 win – with a solo homer, and scored the first run in a 2-1 win in Game 4. He threw out the final batter of the Series with the tying runs on base in the 2-0 Game 5 victory, with the Yankees taking home another title. He again fielded brilliantly, setting still-standing records for a five-game Series of 20 putouts, 23 assists, 43 total chances, and a 1.000 fielding average; his 8 assists in Game 1 and 3 assists in the eighth inning of Game 5 are also records. Afterwards, he served in the U.S. Army in 1944-45 during World War II, missing those seasons. He returned in 1946 with a poor campaign, batting .210 with 11 HRs and 47 RBI. The Yankees, uncertain if he would return to his pre-war form, traded him to the Indians on October 11 for pitcher Allie Reynolds. Gordon departed New York after precisely 1,000 games and 1,000 hits.

Indians

While Reynolds would go on to win 131 games in eight seasons for the Yankees, Gordon proved resilient and kept his new team from regretting the deal. In 1947 he returned to his old levels of production, batting .272 and leading the club with 93 RBI, and again pacing the AL in assists. His 29 homers and 279 total bases were second in the league to Williams, and his .496 slugging average trailed only Williams and DiMaggio; Gordon again finished seventh in the MVP balloting. Additionally, he played a major role in befriending teammate Larry Doby,[9] the AL's first black player, who had been a second baseman in the Negro Leagues but became a center fielder with Cleveland. Over Doby's first two seasons, Gordon became close to the player who was theoretically there to replace him, and Doby would later refer to him as his first friend in white baseball; however, reports that Gordon deliberately struck out in Doby's first game to keep him from looking bad are erroneous.[10] 1948 was even better, as Cleveland won their first AL title since 1920. Batting .280, he was second in the league to DiMaggio with 32 home runs, which remained the AL's single-season mark for a second baseman until Bret Boone hit 36 in 2001. He again led the team with a personal high of 124 RBI, and was sixth in the league in slugging (.507). Gordon placed sixth in the MVP vote, won by teammate and manager Lou Boudreau. In the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves, batting cleanup, he had an RBI single and later scored to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead in Game 2; they went on to win 4-1. In the final Game 6, he homered to give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, and they went on to win 4-3 to capture the championship. His seven double plays in the Series are still the record for a six-game Series. In 1949 he slipped to a .251 average, though his 20 HRs and 84 RBI were still second on the team to Doby. His major league career ended in 1950 as he hit .236 with 19 HRs and 57 RBI.

Gordon was a career .268 hitter with 253 home runs, 975 RBI, 914 runs, 1,530 hits, 264 doubles and 89 stolen bases in 1,566 games. His .466 slugging average then placed him fifth among second basemen, behind Hornsby (.577), Gehringer (.480), Lazzeri (.467) and Nap Lajoie (.466), and only Hornsby had more homers among second basemen. Gordon might have had even higher batting totals had he played in other stadiums. His first several seasons were spent in Yankee Stadium, with its immense "Death Valley" in left field that frustrated right-handed power hitters; during his New York years, he hit 69 HRs at home and 84 on the road. Municipal Stadium in Cleveland was also an unhelpful venue, being hostile to power hitters on both sides of the plate. Over his career, he batted 23 points higher on the road (.279) than he did at home (.256). He was selected for the All-Star team nine times, in all but his first and last seasons. He was also selected to The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team in 1939-42 and 1947–48, and was runnerup to Gehringer in 1938 and to Billy Herman in 1943. In 2001 he was selected as one of the Indians' 100 greatest players.

Later years

Gordon next became a player-manager with the Pacific Coast League's Sacramento Solons in 1951-52. Showing he still had something in the tank, Gordon hit .299 with 43 homeruns and 136 RBI in 148 games in 1951, but tailed off badly in 1952, hitting only .246 with just 16 homeruns - his fewest since his WWII-shortened 1946 season.[5] His teams also performed poorly under his direction, winning just over 40% of their games in those two years.[5] Gordon then worked as a scout with the Tigers from 1953-1956. After returning to the PCL to manage the 1956 San Francisco Seals, winning a pennant in 1957, he would go on to manage for four different major league teams.

Gordon began began his major league managing career with the Indians in 1958, but had difficult relations with general manager Frank Lane, who publicly questioned his decisions. After Gordon announced late in 1959, with Cleveland in second place, that he would not return the next season, Lane fired him four days later. However Lane recanted and apologized after negotiations with Leo Durocher broke down and Gordon was rehired. But in the middle of the 1960 season, he was involved in a rare trade between managers, when the Indians traded him to the Tigers for their skipper Jimmy Dykes. After the season, Gordon was hired by the Kansas City Athletics for 1961. However, owner Charlie Finley fired him mid-year,[5] and Gordon became a scout and minor league instructor for the Los Angeles & California Angels from 1961 to 1968. In 1969, he had the distinction of managing his second team in Kansas City, this time with the expansion Royals, but lasted only one season with the 100-loss club before being fired again. Gordon later went into real estate, and died of a heart attack at age 63 in Sacramento, California.

On August 16, 2008, Gordon was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. Two of Gordon's grandchildren, Sue Arnold from Idaho and Mike Simpson from North Carolina, were present for his induction ceremony. On December 7, 2008, Gordon was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee with 10 out of 12 possible votes, 83.3%,[12] and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009; of the 20 candidates on two ballots, he was the only player to be selected. His only daughter, Judy Gordon of Idaho Falls, Idaho, gave his induction speech in Cooperstown in front of 21,000 people in attendance. "He (Joe) insisted against having a funeral," Judy said in the closing remarks of her speech. "And as such, we consider Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame as his final resting place to be honored forever."

On 29 April 2010, Wall Street Journal sports writer Russell Adams wrote a piece entitled "Who Is the Greatest Yankee?" Adams ranked Gordon as the 9th greatest Yankees position player in franchise history. He wrote "Gordon's great strength was defense — his range was the best of any of the 30 candidates we studied."

Career statistics
Batting average .268
Home runs 253
Runs batted in 975
Teams

As player

New York Yankees (1938–1943, 1946)
Cleveland Indians (1947–1950)

As manager

Cleveland Indians (1958–1960)
Detroit Tigers (1960)
Kansas City Athletics (1961)
Kansas City Royals (1969)

Career highlights and awards

9× All-Star selection (1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949)
5× World Series champion (1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1948)
1942 AL MVP

HOF,2009, Veterans Committee

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Third Baseman, Johnny Pesky



^Johnny Pesky in 1963

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Pesky

John Michael Pesky (born John Michael Paveskovich September 27, 1919, at Portland, Oregon), nicknamed "The Needle," is a retired American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He was a shortstop and third baseman during a ten-year Major League playing career, appearing in 1,270 games played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed the 1943–1945 seasons while serving in World War II.

Pesky has been associated with the Boston Red Sox for 60 of his 72 years in baseball — from 1940 through June 3, 1952; 1961 through 1964; and continuously since 1969. Pesky also managed the Red Sox from 1963–1964, and in September 1980. His biography is Mr. Red Sox by Bill Nowlin, published by Rounder Books.

A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, Pesky was a tough man for pitchers to strike out. He was the first AL player to score 6 runs in a 9 inning game. As a hitter, he specialized in getting on base, leading the American League in base hits three times - his first three seasons in the majors, in which he collected over 200 hits each year — and was among the top ten in on base percentage six times while batting .307 in 4,745 at bats as a Major Leaguer. He was also an excellent bunter who led the league in sacrifice hits in 1942.

He was a teammate and close friend of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio. Their friendship was chronicled in David Halberstam's book The Teammates.

In honor of Pesky, the right field foul pole at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, is known as Pesky's Pole, or the Pesky Pole. Former teammate and Sox broadcaster Mel Parnell named the pole after Pesky. The story goes that Pesky won a game for Parnell in 1948 with a home run down the short (302 feet/92m) right field line, just around the pole. Being that Pesky was a contact hitter who hit only 17 home runs—six of them at Fenway Park—in 4,745 at bats in the major leagues, it's quite possible that the home runs he hit there landed in close proximity to the pole. Research, however, shows that Pesky hit just one home run in a game pitched by Parnell, a two-run shot in the first inning of a game against Detroit played on June 11, 1950. The game was eventually won by the visiting Tigers in the 14th inning on a three-run shot by Tigers right fielder Vic Wertz and Parnell earned a no-decision that day.

Minor & major league manager

Pesky began his coaching career in the New York Yankees organization with the 1955 Denver Bears of the AAA American Association working under manager Ralph Houk. From 1956 through 1960, Pesky was a manager in the Detroit farm system, reaching the AA level with the Birmingham Barons and the Victoria Rosebuds. He then rejoined the Red Sox in 1961 as manager of their AAA farm club, the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League.

Pesky enjoyed two winning seasons in Seattle. At the close of the 1962 campaign, Boston owner Tom Yawkey elevated manager Pinky Higgins to the club's vacant post of general manager and personally appointed Pesky as Higgins' replacement. Although the selection of Pesky was a popular choice, the Red Sox were a second division team and notorious as a "country club" — a group of unmotivated players who did what they wanted, when they wanted. In addition, Higgins and Pesky were not particularly close, and the general manager would be accused of undermining Yawkey's hand-picked skipper.

A major off-season trade added slugging first baseman Dick Stuart to Pesky's maiden roster, and while Stuart would lead the American League with 118 runs batted in during '63, he was an atrocious fielder (nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove" and "Stonefingers") who would constantly defy Pesky's authority and make it difficult for him to control his players. Pesky's '63 club started quickly and briefly had pennant hopes, but lack of pitching soon doomed it to a second-division finish — 76-85, bad enough for seventh place. The 1964 Sox also languished deep in the nether regions of the AL, winning only 70 of the 160 games Pesky managed. With two games left in the season, he was replaced as manager by Billy Herman, the club's third-base coach and a friend of Higgins'.

Pesky then left the Red Sox for four seasons, and joined the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. From 1965 through 1967, he served as first-base coach for Pirate manager Harry Walker. There was rich irony in the fact that it was Walker who hit the single that scored Enos Slaughter with the winning run in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1946 World Series — the play on which Pesky was accused (wrongly, in many eyes) of "holding the ball" on a relay from the outfield, allegedly hesitating as Slaughter made his "mad dash" for home from first base. After Walker's firing in 1967, Pesky managed the Bucs' AAA farm club, the Columbus Jets of the International League, to a second-place finish in 1968.

Return to the Red Sox

After the 1968 season, Pesky returned to the Red Sox organization as a color commentator on the Sox' radio and television announcing crew. A few days after he took on the job, his old friend Ted Williams, newly named manager of the Washington Senators, asked Pesky to be his bench coach and top aide. Although tempted by Williams' offer, Pesky decided to remain in Boston.[2] He worked with Ken Coleman and Ned Martin on Boston's WHDH Radio and TV from 1969–71, then strictly on television with Coleman on WBZ-TV from 1972-74. He later served as analyst for selected games on radio with Joe Castiglione calling play-by-play.

In 1975, Pesky finally returned to uniform as a fulltime coach under manager Darrell Johnson. As in Pittsburgh, he worked at first base and, in his first season back on the field, the Bosox won the 1975 American League East title, swept the three-time world champion Oakland Athletics in the 1975 American League Championship Series, and battled the Cincinnati Reds in a thrilling, seven-game World Series. Pesky remained first-base coach under Johnson and his successor, Don Zimmer, before moving to a bench and batting coach role for Zimmer in 1980. The Red Sox had been contenders for most of the late 1970s, but in 1980 they stumbled to fourth place in the AL East, resulting in Zimmer's dismissal with five games left in the season. Pesky took command as interim pilot, and Boston lost four of five, to finish Pesky's career managing record at 147-179 (.451).

The following season, another old friend, Ralph Houk, became Boston's manager, and Pesky resumed his role as the club's batting and bench coach. He was especially valued by Sox slugger Jim Rice, with whom Pesky worked tirelessly. Pesky missed the entire 1983 season with a serious food allergy that caused severe weight loss, but once the source of the illness was discovered, he was able to return for a final season as a fulltime coach in 1984. In 1990, nearing age 71, he spent almost 2½ months as interim manager of Boston's top farm club, the Pawtucket Red Sox, when the team's skipper, Ed Nottle, was fired in June. But since 1985 he has been a special instructor and assistant to the general manager, suiting up before games to work with players.



1991-present

Intermittently, Pesky has since been allowed to sit on the Red Sox bench during games, but three times has been prevented from the task — once by his own general manager, Dan Duquette, a second time when the Baltimore Orioles complained to MLB, and a third time in March 2007, when Major League Baseball announced it would enforce limitations that only six coaches could be in uniform during a game. Pesky, as an instructor, was ineligible. On April 3, 2007, the North Shore Spirit, a now-defunct team in the Independent Can-Am League, in Lynn, Massachusetts invited Pesky to sit in their dugout – and serve as an honorary coach – anytime he wanted.

Pesky attended the 2004 World Series and, after the Game 4 triumph, was embraced by Boston players such as Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling as a living representative of star Red Sox players of the past whose teams fell short of winning the Fall Classic. He played a poignant and prominent role in the ceremony in which the World Series Championship Rings were handed out (April 11, 2005). With the help of Carl Yastrzemski, he raised the 2004 World Series Championship banner up the Fenway Park center field flagpole. Pesky also had the honor of raising the Red Sox' 2007 World Series Championship banner on April 8, 2008.

On his 87th birthday, September 27, 2006, the Red Sox honored Pesky by officially naming the right-field foul pole "Pesky's Pole." On September 23, 2008, the Red Sox announced that they would retire the No. 6 Pesky wore as a player to mark his 89th birthday and his long years of service to the club. (Pesky wore No. 22 as the team's manager in the 1960s, and No. 35 as a coach from 1975–1980. Although he reclaimed No. 6 and wore it from 1981–1984, before its retirement the number also was assigned to players such as Bill Buckner, Rick Cerone and Tony Peña.) [3] Pesky's is the sixth number retired by the Red Sox; his number retired was the 1st to break the Red Sox's code to have a number retired: being in the Baseball Hall of Fame and having spent at least 10 years with the Red Sox (Pesky wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame).[4] On September 28, 2008, his number was officially retired in a ceremony at Fenway Park.

A longtime resident of Boston's North Shore, Pesky is a visible member of the community, making personal appearances for the Red Sox. For years, he has been a commercial spokesman on television and radio for a local supplier of doors and windows, JB Sash and Door Company. The commercials are deliberately and humorously corny, with Pesky and the company's owner calling themselves "the Window Boys."[5]

On May 16, 2009 Pesky was given an honorary degree during Salem State College's 199th commencement ceremony.

Career statistics
Batting average .307
Hits 1,455
Runs batted in 404
Teams

As player

Boston Red Sox (1942, 1946–1952)
Detroit Tigers (1952–1954)
Washington Senators (1954)

As manager

Boston Red Sox (1963–1964, 1980)

Career highlights and awards

All-Star (1946)
Boston Red Sox #6 retired

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Shortstop, Luke Appling



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

With the Chicago White Sox

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).

Appling was famous among his teammates for complaining day in and day out about minor ailments such as a sore back, a weak shoulder, shin splints, or a sprained finger. While much of this complaining was probably for show, it earned him the moniker "Old Aches and Pains." He did suffer one serious injury: a broken leg that cost him much of the 1938 season.

Appling was well known for his ability to foul off pitches, leading to the story that he once fouled off 10 pitches in a row on purpose when ownership refused to give some baseballs to autograph because they were too expensive; he was supposedly never refused a ball again.

Appling remained a solid contributor into his forties, but ownership was dedicated to a youth movement and he retired after the 1950 season. At his retirement, Appling was the all-time leader for most games played and for double plays by a major league shortstop, and the all-time leader for putouts and assists by an American League shortstop. These records were later broken by Luis Aparicio, who also spent the majority of his career with the White Sox. He made 643 errors, and has the worst fielding percentage since 1910 of players with at least 1900 games.

As coach and manager

Appling was a successful minor league manager after his playing days were over, winning pennants with Memphis in the Southern Association and Indianapolis of the American Association and being named minor league manager of the year in 1952; but his only chance to manage at the major league level was as a late-season replacement for Alvin Dark as manager of the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, leaving his major league managerial record at 10-30. He was a major league coach for the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Athletics and White Sox during the 1960s and early 1970s, and worked as a batting instructor for the Atlanta Braves in the 1980s.

On July 19, 1982, Appling played in an old-timers' game at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. Appling, then 75 years old, hit a 250-foot (76 m) home run off Warren Spahn. Spahn applauded as Appling rounded the bases.

In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. In 1999, he was named as a finalist to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

He died in Cumming, Georgia at the age of 83.

Career statistics
Batting average .310
Hits 2,749
Runs batted in 1,116
Teams

As player

Chicago White Sox (1930–1950)

As Manager

Kansas City Athletics (1967)

Career highlights and awards

7× All-Star selection (1936, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947)
Chicago White Sox #4 retired

HOF, 1964, BBWAA, 84%

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Left Fielder, Charlie Keller



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Keller

Charles Ernest "Charlie" Keller (September 12, 1916 - May 23, 1990) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1939 through 1952, Keller played for the New York Yankees (1939–43, 1945–49, 1952) and Detroit Tigers (1950–51). A native of Middletown, Maryland, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Career

For much of ten American League seasons, Keller joined with Joe DiMaggio and Tommy Henrich to form one of the best-hitting outfields in baseball history. A splendid all-round athlete at the University of Maryland, where he earned a degree in agricultural economics in 1937, Keller joined the Yankees in 1939 and quickly became the regular left fielder, with Henrich patrolling right field and DiMaggio in center.

Through of his career, Keller was a feared slugger and a competent fielder. In his rookie season he hit .334 with 11 home runs and 83 RBI in 111 games. He hit three homers and batted .438 as the Yankees swept four games from the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.

In his sophomore season, Keller hit .286 with 21 home runs, 93 RBI, 18 doubles and 15 triples. His most productive season came in 1941, when he hit .298 and posted career-highs in home runs (33), RBI (122), and triples (15).

Following service with the United States Merchant Marine in 1944 and 1945, Keller returned as a regular with the Yankees for the 1946 season. He collected 30 home runs, 29 doubles, and 10 triples, the second of his two 30-20-10 seasons.

Keller played part-time from 1947 to 1949 while troubled by a ruptured disc in his back. He was released by the Yankees before the 1950 season and signed a two-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, serving mostly as a pinch-hitter. In 1952 he re-signed with New York in September, appearing in two games, then was released in October, marking the end of his career.

Legacy

In a 13-season career, Keller was a .286 hitter with 189 home runs and 760 RBI in 1170 games. A five-time All-Star selection, he compiled a career .410 on base percentage and a .518 slugging average for a combined .928 OPS. In his four World Series appearances, he batted .306 with five home runs, and 18 RBI in 19 games.

His career Adjusted On-base Percentage plus Slugging (OPS+) of 152, the sum of his On-base percentage plus Slugging Average adjusted for era, stadium, and other cross-time considerations, places him number 28 on the all-time list, ahead of a retinue of dozens of Hall of Famers that includes Honus Wagner, Mike Schmidt, and Reggie Jackson.

Beginning with his first of two 30-20-10 seasons in 1941 only three other players have matched the feat: Joe DiMaggio (who had done it twice before that), Willie Mays, and Duke Snider. The list of players who managed it only once - which includes Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Rudy York, Ernie Banks, Dick Allen, Mike Schmidt, Andre Dawson, Dave Parker, Nomar Garciaparra, Vladimir Guerrero, and Jimmy Rollins - gives some indication of the power and versatility Keller brought to the game.

Following his retirement as a player, Keller founded Yankeeland Farm[1] and had a successful career as a horse breeder – pacers and trotters – near his hometown of Middletown, Maryland. He named many of his horses after the franchises he played for: Fresh Yankee, Handsome Yankee, Yankee Slugger and Guy Yankee. He also benefited by owning syndicated shares of several stallions, which entitled him to free stud fees.

Charlie Keller died in Frederick, Maryland, at age of 73.

He was inducted into the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982.

Facts

Because of his strength, Keller was dubbed "King Kong Keller", a nickname he never liked and seldom answered to.

In the third game of the 1939 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Keller became the first rookie to hit two home runs in a World Series game. Fellow Yankee Tony Kubek and St. Louis Cardinal Willie McGee would accomplish this same feat in the 1957 World Series against the Milwaukee Braves and the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers respectively; coincidentally, their feats would also occur in a Game 3. Both Kubek and McGee would also accomplish their feats at Milwaukee County Stadium. In Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves accomplished the feat by hitting 2 homeruns at the old Yankee Stadium.

Keller got his start in baseball with the semi-pro Kinston Eagles. He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.

Despite his power and high batting average, Keller was the first Yankees player to strike out over 100 times in a single season, whiffing 101 times in 1946.

Brother Hal Keller played catcher for the Washington Senators from 1949 to 1952, going on to serve in front-office positions with the Senators/Texas Rangers (1961–1978), and Seattle Mariners (1979–1985). He served as the Mariners' Vice President, Baseball Operations/General Manager from 1984 to 1985.

Wore #99 for the Yankees in 1952.

Career statistics
Batting average .286
Home runs 189
Runs batted in 760
Teams

New York Yankees (1939–1949)
Detroit Tigers (1950–1951)
New York Yankees (1952)

Career highlights and awards

5× All-Star (1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947)
4× World Series champion (1939, 1941, 1943, 1958)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Center Fielder, Stan Spence



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Spence

Stanley Orville Spence (March 20, 1915 - January 9, 1983 ) was a Major League Baseball center fielder who played from 1940 through 1949 for the Boston Red Sox (1940–41,1948–49), Washington Senators (1942–47) and St. Louis Browns (1949). Spence batted and threw left-handed. He was born in South Portsmouth, Kentucky.

A part-time player for the Boston Red Sox during two years, Spence played his first full-season for the Washington Senators in 1942 and he responded ending third in the American League batting race with a .323 average behind Ted Williams (.356) and Johnny Pesky (.331). His most productive season came in 1944, when he hit .316 and posted career-highs with 18 home runs and 100 runs batted in. After serving in World War II in 1945, he returned to the Senators a year later and hit a career-high 50 doubles with 10 triples and 16 home runs. Spence did a second stint with Boston and ended his majors career with the St. Louis Browns. A four-time All-Star in 1942, 1944, 1946 and 1947, he also was considered in the MVP vote in 1942 and from 1945-47.

Spence hit a pivotal single in the 1947 Major League All-Star Game at Wrigley Field. Prior to his at-bat, former teammate Bobby Doerr singled, stole second, and then took third on pitcher Johnny Sain's errant pickoff attempt. Spence's pinch single resulted in the final margin of 2-1.

In a nine-season career, Spence was a .282 hitter with 95 home runs and 575 RBI in 1112 games.

In 1983, Spence was one of the initial four inductees in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Pat Crawford, Charlie Keller and George Suggs were the others.

Spence died in Kinston, North Carolina, at age 67.

Career statistics
Batting average .282
Hits 1090
Runs batted in 575
Teams

Boston Red Sox (1940-1941, 1948-1949)
Washington Senators (1942-1944, 1946-1947)
St. Louis Browns (1949)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Right Fielder, Tommy Henrich



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Henrich

Thomas David "Tommy" Henrich (February 20, 1913 – December 1, 2009), nicknamed "The Clutch" and "Old Reliable", was a Major League Baseball right fielder. He played his entire baseball career for the New York Yankees (1937–1942 and 1946–1950). He led the American League in triples twice and in runs scored once, also hitting 20 or more home runs four times. He is best remembered for his numerous exploits in the World Series; he was involved in one of the most memorable plays in Series history in 1941, was the hitting star of the 1947 Series with a .323 batting average, and hit the first walk-off home run in Series history in 1949's Game 1.

Life and career

Henrich batted left and threw left. Throughout much of his career he claimed to have been born in 1916, saying later that this was to make up for the three years that he lost by playing softball instead of baseball. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1934, but was ruled a free agent in April 1937 after he and his father wrote to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who decided that the Indians had illegally concealed him in their farm system. He debuted with the Yankees – his longtime favorite team – in 1937, hitting .320 in 67 games, and gradually replaced George Selkirk in right field. In his first four seasons he posted productive if unspectacular totals, peaking with 22 home runs and 91 runs batted in in 1938 and batting .307 in 1940. But on a team which featured Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and Joe Gordon, Henrich's contributions were of a decidedly supporting nature as he competed for playing time with Selkirk and Charlie Keller. In the 1938 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, manager Joe McCarthy placed him third in the batting order; he batted .250 and had a solo home run late in Game 4 as the Yankees swept the Series. He did not appear in the 1937 or 1939 World Series, also won by the Yankees.

Breaking out

Henrich broke out with a 1941 season in which he had a career-high 31 homers – third in the AL behind Ted Williams and Keller – and was fifth in the league with 106 runs. Facing the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, he singled and scored in a 2-run eighth inning in Game 3, and New York hung on to win 2-1. But one of the most famous moments in postseason history occurred when he came to the plate with two out in the ninth inning of Game 4; Brooklyn had a 4-3 lead, one out away from tying the Series. Henrich swung at a full-count breaking curveball for strike three, but catcher Mickey Owen couldn't handle the ball, which got past him (see photo[dead link]); Henrich began to move toward first base almost as soon as he saw the ball had dropped sharply, and when he saw it get past Owen he took off running. DiMaggio then singled, and Keller doubled to score both runners and take the lead; Gordon later doubled to bring in two more runs, and the Yankees had a 7-4 victory and a 3-1 Series lead. Henrich had a solo home run in Game 5 as the Yankees took the game 3-1, and won another championship.

He made his first AL All-Star team in 1942, but again didn't appear in the World Series. He went on to miss the 1943 through 1945 seasons while serving in the Coast Guard in Sault Ste Marie MI during World War II. While there, he volunteered as the girls high school basketball coach at Loretto Catholic High School. Upon returning in 1946 he batted only .251, but finished among the league's top ten players in walks (87), runs (92), homers (19) and RBI (83). With Dickey and Gordon gone, he began to bear a greater share of the responsibility for the team's offense in 1947, and came through quite effectively as he formed one of the game's great outfields with Keller in left field and DiMaggio in center. He led the AL with 13 triples and was second with 109 runs and 98 RBI; he was also third in doubles (35) and fourth in slugging average (.485) and total bases (267). Again facing the Dodgers in the Series, he had a pair of RBI in the Game 1 victory, and a solo homer in the 10-3 Game 2 win. He came to the plate with the score tied 2-2, the bases loaded and two out in the fourth inning of Game 7, and drove in Phil Rizzuto with the deciding run in a 5-2 win.

Henrich's best years

Henrich then enjoyed his best years, gradually moving from the outfield to first base. He hit .308 with 25 HRs and 100 RBI in 1948, leading the league in triples (14) and runs (138) and finishing second in doubles (42) and total bases (326) and third in slugging (.554); he tied an AL record with four grand slams, and placed sixth in the MVP voting. He was again sixth in the MVP balloting in 1949 after placing third in the AL in HRs (24) and slugging (.526), often getting crucial hits late in the season as the Yankees captured another flag under new manager Casey Stengel. The new skipper succeeded in getting Henrich to avoid outside curveballs by threatening to send him back to the minor leagues, and he picked up two RBI in a 5-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on the season's last day, giving New York the pennant by a single game. Meeting the Dodgers for a final time in the Series, he gave New York a 1-0 victory in Game 1 when he homered against Don Newcombe on a 2-0 pitch to lead off the ninth inning, the first walk-off home run ever in the World Series. He scored twice in the 10-6 win in Game 5 as the Yankees again took the championship. Henrich was an All-Star in each of his last four seasons.



^ Henrich in 1948.

Retirement from baseball

Henrich retired after batting .272 with 6 home runs and 34 RBI in a 1950 season during which he was injured most of the year. In an 11-season career, he was a .282 hitter with a .491 slugging average, 183 home runs, 901 runs, 795 RBI, 1297 hits, 269 doubles, 73 triples and 37 stolen bases in 1284 games. He was dubbed "Old Reliable" – after a train which ran from Ohio to Alabama – by Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen for his knack of getting a hit just when it was needed. He later became a coach with the Yankees (1951), New York Giants (1957) and Detroit Tigers (1958–59), and worked as a color commentator for ABC television's baseball coverage in 1965.

Later life and death

Henrich received the Pride of The Yankees Award in 1987, presented annually by the club to memorable figures in the organizations' history.

At his death Henrich was the fifth oldest living MLB player and was the last surviving member of the 1938 World Champion New York Yankees. There were no living former baseball players who played on the winning team in an earlier World Series. He was also Lou Gehrig's final surviving teammate.

Tommy Henrich died at the age of 96 on December 1, 2009, after being weakened by a series of strokes he suffered in recent years.

Career statistics
Batting average .282
Home runs 183
Runs batted in 795
Teams

New York Yankees (1937–1942, 1946–1950)

Career highlights and awards

5× All-Star selection (1942, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950)
5× World Series champion (1938, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1951)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Pitcher, Dutch Leonard



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_L...ded_pitcher%29

Emil John "Dutch" Leonard (March 25, 1909 - April 17, 1983) was an American professional baseball player. He played in in Major League Baseball as a right-handed knuckleball pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1933–36), Washington Senators (1938–46), Philadelphia Phillies (1947–48), and Chicago Cubs (1949–53). He was born in Auburn, Illinois, home of the Trojans.

In a 20-season career, Leonard posted a 191-181 record with 1170 strikeouts and a 3.25 ERA in 3218.1 innings. He was a six-time All-Star selection.

On July 4, 1939 Leonard pitched a complete game and the Washington Senators defeated the New York Yankees in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. After the conclusion of the first game, Lou Gehrig gave his famous "luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech.

During the 1945 season, Leonard was part of what is possibly the only 4 man rotation in baseball history to have been all knuckleball pitchers.

Leonard died in Springfield, Illinois at age of 74.

Leonard's nickname 'Dutch' was also taken in his honor by crime novelist Elmore Leonard, and was tattooed as such during his time in the SeaBees.

Career statistics
Win–Loss record 191–181
Earned run average 3.25
Strikeouts 1,170
Teams

Brooklyn Dodgers (1933–1936)
Washington Senators (1938–1946)
Philadelphia Phillies (1947–1948)
Chicago Cubs (1949–1953)

Career highlights and awards

5× All-Star selection (1940, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1951)

[Old Sweater]

Second Team, Pitcher, Tiny Bonham



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Bonham

Ernest Edward (Tiny) Bonham (August 16, 1913 – September 15, 1949) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1940 to 1949, he played for the New York Yankees (1940–46) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1947–49). Bonham batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Ione, California.

Career

In a 10-season career, Bonham posted a 103-72 record with 478 strikeouts and a 3.06 ERA in 1551.0 innings pitched.

Bonham was a skilled master of the pitching trade who kept opposing batters off balance with a baffling assortment of deliveries. He started his professional baseball career with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League in 1935. He worked his way up through the New York Yankees minor league system until 1940, when he was summoned from Triple-A Kansas City to anchor a weak Yankees pitching staff.

Remaining with the Yankees until 1946, Bonham was a pitching mainstay of manager Joe McCarthy's pennant-winning combinations between 1941 and 1943. Bonham supplied his team with the decisive complete game 4-hit 3–1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game Five of the 1941 World Series played at Ebbets Field. But Bonham was ill-fated in his other Series starts, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1942 and 1943, both times by 4–3 scores. His most productive season came in 1942, when he led the American League with 21 wins, six shutouts, 22 complete games and a .808 winning percentage. He made the All-Star team that season and again in 1943.

Hampered by a chronic back ailment during his last few years with the Yankees, which were interrupted by a brief time in the Army in 1944, Bonham was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1947 season. Although his physical condition was such that he could not be counted on regularly, Bonham provided three solid seasons for the Pirates.

After an 1-4 start in 1949, Bonham won six straight games for a floundering Pittsburgh club, including an 8–2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on August 28, his final game. Eighteen days later Bonham died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of 36, following an appendectomy and stomach surgery.

Career statistics
Win–loss record 103–72
Earned run average 3.06
Strikeouts 478
Teams

New York Yankees (1940–1946)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1947–1949)

Career highlights and awards

2× All-Star selection (1942, 1943)
2× World Series champion (1941, 1943)