This was a great era for first basemen, maybe
the best in baseball history. Lou Gehrig is almost always regarded as the greatest first sacker in baseball history. Jimmie Foxx was in his prime, and the difference between him and Gehrig
was not large. Hal Trosky was an extra-base-hit machine whose 162 RBI this year were the most
by any AL player until Manny Ramirez had 165 in 1999. Zeke Bonura (whose
real name was Henry) was a contact hitter who had a short career, but
was able to produce a lot of runs without a lot of power. Hank Greenberg
was also in the league, but this year broke his leg early in the season.
Hal Trosky and Earl Averill gave the Cleveland Indians
a formidable one-two punch in their lineup. Averill was an important link in a chain of outstanding centre fielders the Indians have had, that also includes Tris Speaker, Larry Doby, Brett Butler, and Kenny
Lofton. Averill is in the Hall Of Fame; he did everything that Joe DiMaggio did, except not quite
as well. He had a late start to his career, and didn't reach the majors until he was 27; like DiMaggio, Averill played for the San Francisco Seals in the PCL before joining the Indians.
This was Averill's best season; he had DiMaggio-like numbers, batting .378 with 82 extra-base hits. Averill was 34 years old, and had only a couple of good years left. In his best years he was an outstanding player, a line drive hitter who batted .318 lifetime and managed to hit 238 homers in his career. But Averill's career was short for a Hall-Of-Famer; he really only had ten full seasons. He hung on long enough to bash out just over 2000 hits in his career
Averill had a son, also named Earl, who played for seven seasons in the majors. Trosky's son, also named Hal, played in the majors, but appeared in only two games. The elder Trosky (born Troyavesky) had a great start to his career; when he was 21 years old in 1934, Trosky had 35 homers and 142 RBI. This year, at age 23, he had his best season, setting career highs in batting average, homers and RBI. He remained a quality player for several more seasons, but retired at age 28, forced out of the game by migraine headaches. Trosky attempted a comebacks in both 1944 and 1946, but was never again a forceful hitter. He finished his career with 228 home runs.
Both Gehrig and Trosky had over 400 total bases; Trosky was the RBI champ, but Gehrig
led the league in slugging, homers, walks, runs produced and OPS. I
think Gehrig was clearly the best player of this group, and I would
rank Averill slightly ahead of Trosky and Jimmie Foxx.
Both Bill Dickey and Frankie Crosetti played for the Yankees;
with Gehrig and DiMaggio, they formed the heart of a lineup that
scored over 1000 runs. This was Crosetti's best year at the plate; "Crow"
spent all 17 years of his career with the Yankees, and led a mostly
charmed life. He wasn't much of a hitter, a career .245 hitter who
made himself useful by drawing walks and playing good defence. He was
a member of seven World Series champions; the Yankees were always
determined to stick with him, even when he played poorly. And just when
his career looked to be in danger after 1941, the war came, and his playing
time increased again.
Though Dickey was great, he missed a quarter of the season. Ahead of him, I'll take Charlie Gehringer and
Luke Appling. Their hitting numbers are difficult to distinguish
between, and both were superior defensive players. I'm picking
Gehringer slightly ahead of Appling; he played every game, whereas
Appling missed 15. Gehringer was third in the league in runs
produced, only one behind Bonura.
