#rickey alexander wilson

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"Best Summer Ever"

“Best Summer Ever”

I feel guilty when sharing my honest opinion about films like the musical “Best Summer Ever,” which simply isn’t a very good movie. It’s brimming with good intentions, and its positive representation of the differently-abled is to be commended, but that’s where the praise ultimately stops. This not-quite-unwatchable movie about true love doesn’t really have enough positives to recommend, but the…

[andreblogson]

1942

Rogers Hornsby

Hornsby put up joke numbers. That’s the only real way to describe it. 7 batting titles. Two Triple Crowns. 7 slash line Triple Crowns. He hit over .400 three different times, including .424 in 1924 with a .507 on-base percentage to boot. He had a .756 slugging percentage the following year. And in 1922, he hit .401 with 42 home runs. He’s the only player to ever do that. When a rookie pitcher complained about the strike zone while Hornsby was up to bat, umpire Bill Klem reportedly shot back, "Son, when you pitch a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know.”         

When you adjust for era (OPS+), Hornsby is still probably the 5th-greatest hitter of all time after Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and Lou Gehrig. And, I guess, depending on what Mike Trout ends up doing. Hornsby also has the second-highest career batting average after Ty Cobb. And JAWS ranks him as the greatest second baseman of all time. 

He was elite in 14 different seasons. And I have Hornsby winning the N.L. MVP in 1917, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929. That’s 10 times. He won two real MVP awards in 1925 and 1929. And despite all of that, Hornsby somehow fell short of 3000 hits and some of the other counting number stats the Hall of Fame voters love. 

He was apparently also a real sonofabitch. Hornsby managed multiple teams between 1925 and 1953, including the World Champion Cardinals of 1926. Hall of Famers who played for Hornsby include Jim Bottomley, Chick Hefey, Jesse Haines, Pete Alexander, Billy Southworth, Burleigh Grimes, Travis Jackson, Freddie Lindstrom, Edd Roush, Bill Terry, George Sisler, Kiki Cuyler, Gabby Hartnett, High Pockets Kelly, Hack Wilson, Billy Herman, Rick Ferrell and Satchel Paige. And yet nobody seemed to have liked him. In fact, it appears to be quite the contrary.  

He fought Branch Rickey in the St. Louis clubhouse in 1923 after questioning one of Rickey’s managerial decisions. Bill Veeck Sr. released him for sending a player out to argue a call for him in 1932. That year the Cubs made it to the World Series, but voted to not give him any of the World Series money. When Bill Veeck Jr. fired Hornsby as manager in 1952, the St. Louis Browns sent him an engraved trophy to thank him. That’s decades of pissing people off. 

Maybe he lost too much money gambling on horse races. Maybe the guy was just an asshole. But Rogers Hornsby could hit. And I guess at least he never went into the stands and beat up a guy with no hands. 

Snubs: 

If you’re going for just one player in 1942, yeah. Hornsby is a perfect choice.