I was looking at my Baseball calander and it spotlight Richie Ashburn this month. I had heard of him but had no clue about him so I read the article.
He played 15 year with a life time BA of .308. He averaged 88 runs, 39 RBI and 2 HR. I was not impressed.
Then I read he lead the league in BA twice and was 2nd in BA 4 times. Lead the league in BB and OBP 4 times. Lead the league in SB and triples once. He also played great D...leading the league in OF chances and PO 9 time and OF assists and DP 3 times.
As a lifelong Yankee,I used to root for the Phillies back in the 50s except the 50 WS.Ashburn did everything except hit for power was an outstanding leadoff man.I remember the whiz kids.SP Robin Roberts,Ken Heintzelman,Bob Miller & Russ Meyer,RP Jim Konstanty started the 1st game & lost 1-0,then Yanks won 2-1,3-2 before Whitey shut them out for 8 innings to finish them off.C.Andy Semineck,1B Eddie Waitkus who I believe was the foundation of the movie The Natural,2B Mike Goliat,SS Granny Hamner,3B Puddin Head Jones & the other 2 OFs,Del Ennis & Dick Sisler.
I really enjoy reading and talking about Baseball's past players, so this thread is right up my alley.
I didn't get into following Baseball until I was 9 years old, in 1961. That was the first year that Little League was played in our area, and our coach (my uncle) was a huge Baseball fan. I began hanging around him more and the love of the game wore off on me.
I missed out on seeing a lot of the old-timers play, but I did hear a lot about them, and when I started playing Strat-O-Matic I purchased a set of the all-time great teams and in doing this I learned a whole lot about these players who played the game in a much different way.
I've journeyed to Cooperstown just once in my life, I was there for 3 days and went to the HOF all 3 of those days. We're planning to do it again next year in late July. Anyone of you who would like to meet up there are more than welcome!!
______________2008 - 2018______________