RUDY YORK

By Robert Nishihara

Stats from www.baseball-reference.com

Whoever originally envisioned the concept of the designated hitter must have had Rudy York in mind.  Rudolph Preston York was born in Ragland, Alabama in 1913 and was also born to hit a baseball.  His 13-year big league career included 277 homers and a .483 career slugging average.  In his rookie season, 1937, York hit 35 homers in only 375 at-bats.

It was only when York decided to put on a glove and take the field on defense that the trouble started.  In fairness, York was a passable first baseman but was blocked on the depth chart for most of his career by another pretty decent power hitter, Hank Greenberg.  And to the Detroit Tigers great chagrin, his attempts at playing behind the plate were largely unsuccessful

So, the strapping power hitter with the Cherokee Indian nation in his lineage had the bat to be a star in the big leagues but didn't have a position on defense to play to give him the opportunity.  However, in 1940, the Tigers decided that the need for another player who could hit a baseball a long, long way with great frequency superceded the need for having a complete set of decent defenders.  In order to give York a significant number of plate appearances, the Tigers moved incumbent first baseman Greenberg to left field and put York at first.  Defensively, it wasn't a pretty sight.  The lumbering Greenberg made 15 errors in the outfield in 1940.  And York made an equal number of miscues at first.  The Tigers tied for last in the AL in fielding percentage that season.

However, the offense was terrifying to opponents.  Greenberg hit .340 with 41 homers and 150 RBI.  In turn, York clubbed 33 homers with 134 RBI and finished the year with a .316 average.

The two Goliaths lead the 1940 Tigers to the AL Pennant, but the Cincinnati Reds denied them a championship by winning the Series in seven games.

York, Greenberg, and the Tigers would turn the tables on the Chicago Cubs five seasons later.  In 1945, the Tigers would win the championship in seven games.

The following season, 1946, York was traded to the Boston Red Sox and helped New England's favorite sons get to another World Championship Series.  Though the Sox ended up falling to the Cardinals in seven games (via Slaughter's Mad Dash and Pesky's Pause), York did hit 2 homers in the Series and drive in 5.

After he retired following his successful playing career, York is on the record as having managed a single game for the Red Sox in 1959.  He lost.

Just goes to show you, Rudolph Preston York was truly born to hit a baseball.