Jimmie Foxx

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2⁄3 innings. [1] He retired at the end of the season.

Foxx finished his 20-year career with 534 home runs, 1,922 runs batted in, 1,751 runs scored, 2,646 hits, 458 doubles, 125 triples, 1,452 walks 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 set the record for the youngest player to reach 500 home runs at age 32 years and 338 days in the final week of the 1940 Major League Baseball season. It held until August 4, 2007, when it was broken by Alex Rodriguez at age 32 years and 8 days. During the 1930s, no one hit more home runs than Foxx's 415 between the Athletics and Red Sox. [41] Six years after retirement, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951. [1] [4]

Post-playing career

Foxx as head coach for the University of Miami in 1957 University of Miami baseball coach Jimmie Foxx with FSU coach Danny Litwhiler in Tallahassee, Florida (9772311054).jpg
Foxx as head coach for the University of Miami in 1957

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. [42] He took the team to the playoffs where they lost in the first round 2 games to 1 against the Rockford Peaches. The character of Jimmy Dugan in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own , played broadly by Tom Hanks, is loosely based on Foxx, though his players remember Foxx as having behaved significantly more gentlemanly to them, rather than the brusque manner Hanks showed his team. 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, before being let go following the 1957 season. [4]

A series of bad investments left Foxx broke by 1958. [43] The Red Sox responded by naming Foxx hitting coach of their Triple-A affiliate, the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, that season. [42] In the early 1960s, he lived in Galesburg, Illinois, where he was working as a greeter at a locally owned steakhouse. He eventually retired to suburban Cleveland in Lakewood and was employed by the Lakewood Recreation Department. His two children, a daughter and a son, also lived in Lakewood. His son, Jimmie Foxx, Jr., played football at Lakewood High School and Kent State University.

Death

Foxx died on July 21, 1967, at age 59 in Miami, Florida. [44] He became ill while eating dinner with his brother and was taken to a hospital where resuscitative efforts failed. An autopsy showed that Foxx had choked on a piece of food. The year before, Foxx's second wife, Dorothy, had also died of choking. [45] Foxx is buried at Flagler Memorial Park in Miami.

Legacy

Known as one of the greatest power hitters of all time, Ted Williams was quoted as saying in response to a question about Foxx breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, "What a man. And I'll bet he does it, too!" [35] However, long-standing chronic health problems, injuries, heavy drinking, and a marriage of constant abuse and harassment from his first wife all caused his career to be cut short in his 30s. [4] In 1940, Hall of Famer Joe Cronin said, "He's a marvel, isn't he? Tell me: who was a better all-around ball player than Foxxie? Why right now I'd say he was the best catcher in the American League…They can talk all they want to about some of those old time ball players being able to play different positions. I'll take Foxxie. They don't come any better." [35]

A statue of Foxx was erected in his hometown of Sudlersville, Maryland, on October 25, 1997. In 1999, he ranked number 15 on The Sporting News ' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, [46] and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Tom Hanks's 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. [43]

There is a Jimmie Foxx Street in San Antonio, Texas. [47]

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.

—Ogden Nash, Sport magazine (January 1949) [48]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Jimmie Foxx Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ "September 24, 1940 Game Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Jimmie Foxx". Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Jimmie Foxx at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by John Bennett, Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  5. ↑ Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 1
  6. 1 2 Millikin, Mark R., pp. 14
  7. ↑ Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 3
  8. ↑ Millikin, Mark R., pp. 15
  9. ↑ Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 8
  10. ↑ Millikin, Mark R., pp. 13
  11. 1 2 3 Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 12-14
  12. ↑ Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 4
  13. 1 2 Millikin, Mark R., pp. 48-49
  14. ↑ Daniel, H. Harrison, pp. 21
  15. ↑ Millikin, Mark R., pp. 54
  16. ↑ Millikin, Mark R., pp. 57
  17. ↑ "May 31, 1927 Game Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  18. ↑ "May 1, 1929 Game Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  19. ↑ "1929 Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Jimmie Fox: July 29, 1929". Time . Archived from the original on June 28, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  21. ↑ "May 30, 1930 Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  22. ↑ "1932 Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Major League League Leaders". Indianapolis Times . June 1, 1932. p. 8. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  24. ↑ "July 10, 1932 Game Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Contest Abounds in Unusual Feats". Evening Star . July 11, 1932. p. 11. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  26. ↑ "1932 AL Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Foxx and Klein to get Player Awards". Henderson Daily Dispatch . October 19, 1932. p. 8. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  28. ↑ "June 8, 1933 Game Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Foxx, New Ruler of Swat, Far Shy of Ruth in Personality, but a Greater Terror at Bat". Evening Star . August 15, 1933. p. C-1. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  30. ↑ "1933 Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  31. ↑ Jordan, David M., pp. 118
  32. 1 2 Jordan, David M., pp. 121-122
  33. ↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  34. ↑ Jordan, David M., pp. 123
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Real Jimmie Foxx". SABR . Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  36. ↑ Freedman, Lew, pp. 64
  37. ↑ "Jimmie Foxx Home Run Log". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  38. ↑ "1938 Batting Splits". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  39. ↑ "Red Sox Single Season Records". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  40. ↑ "Bosox, A's on Slugging Spree". Evening Star . September 25, 1940. p. A-14. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  41. ↑ "MLB Records by Decade". MLB.com . Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  42. 1 2 "James E. Foxx AAGPBL Player/Profile".
  43. 1 2 espn.com, Reel Life: 'A League of Their Own', accessed August 19, 2013.
  44. ↑ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  45. ↑ Edes, Gordon (September 12, 2006). "Foxx news channeling: Ortiz's run prompts a glance into history". Boston Globe. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  46. ↑ "100 Greatest Baseball Players by The Sporting News : A Legendary List by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com.
  47. ↑ Brown, Merrisa (September 30, 2014). "San Antonio street names and groupings". mysanantonio.com.
  48. ↑ "Baseball Almanac" . Retrieved January 23, 2008.

Further reading

Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Foxx (Boston Red Sox, 1936-37).jpg
Foxx with the Boston Red Sox c. 1936–1937
First baseman
Born:(1907-10-22)October 22, 1907
Sudlersville, Maryland, U.S.
Died: July 21, 1967(1967-07-21) (aged 59)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 1, 1925, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
September 23, 1945, for the Philadelphia Phillies
Achievements
Preceded by American League Triple Crown
1933		Succeeded by
Preceded by Hitting for the cycle
August 14, 1933		Succeeded by
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