Episode 24
The original hit king - Gorgeus George Sisler
On January 24, 1939, the baseball writers select EddieCollins, Willie Keeler and George Sisler to the Hall of Fame.
George Sisler never played on a pennant winner and he wasn't a slugger, but in spite of that he earned a reputation as the best first baseman in the first 30 years of the 20th century. The greatest player in St. Louis Browns' history, he twice batted over .400, and his 257 hits in 1920, hitting 420 for the season, his hit record remained a modern major league record. later broken by Ichiro Suzuki
That same year, the lefty-swinging Sisler hit in 41 consecutive games, an American League record that stood until surpassed by Joe DiMaggio. Sisler, who attended the University of Michigan, where he played for Branch Rickey,
Factoid
On September 1, 1918, Sisler hit a double off Ty Cobb. Cobb was making his first major league appearance on the mound. Sisler also pitched in the game for St. Louis, pitching a scorless 9th in the Browns win. He made 24 apperances over his career with a 2.35 ERA and has a shutout to his credit in 1916.
Collins batted an even .333 for his career, collected 3,315 hits and stole 744 bases as. A member of four World Championship teams, Eddie Collins was a winner with a confident and aggressive style of play. He played 25 years in the major leagues and was considered the finest second baseman of his time. He led his league in fielding nine times, and he accepted more chances, had more assists, and made more putouts than any other pivot man in history. He was one of the best performers in World Series play, hitting .328 with 42 hits and 14 stolen bases in 34 games.
Eddie Collins buried his bats during the off-season in shallow holes in his backyard that he called "graves" in order to keep them "lively."
Keeler, who “hit ’em where they ain’t”, batted .341 and collected 2,932 hits. A master with a bat, Willie Keeler was a demon at the top of the lineup for Ned Hanlon's Orioles in the 1890s. Keeler led his team to four pennants, two each in Baltimore and Brooklyn, winning two batting titles. As a member of the 1890s Orioles' teams that revolutionized the way baseball was played, Keeler was adroit at laying down a bunt, chopping the ball into the ground to beat it out for an infield hit, performing the suicide squeeze, and parlaying the double steal. Keeler's 44-game hitting streak in 1897 was a record until surpassed by Joe DiMaggio in 1941.
He is highlighted on the January 1 podcast –
the Brooklyn Millionaire
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