Joe Gordon
Joe Gordon | ||
---|---|---|
Runs batted in | 975 | |
Managerial record | 305–308 | |
Winning % | .498 | |
Teams | ||
As player
As manager
| ||
Career highlights and awards | ||
Member of the National | ||
Baseball Hall of Fame | ||
Induction | 2009 | |
Vote | 83.3% | |
Election method | Veterans Committee |
Joseph Lowell Gordon (February 18, 1915 – April 14, 1978), nicknamed "Flash", in reference to the comic-book character
Gordon was the outstanding player at his position during the 1940s, winning the
Early life
Gordon was born in Los Angeles, on February 18, 1915, to Benjamin Lowell Gordon (1875–1946) and Lulu Pearl Evans (1893–1984).
Yankees
After batting .418 in his sophomore year, he signed with the Yankees in 1936, with scout Bill Essick reporting: "(Gordon was) at his best when it meant the most and the going was toughest." After being assigned to the Yankees AA-level club, the Oakland Oaks, in the Pacific Coast League, Gordon proceeded to put up solid numbers in his first season in professional baseball, hitting .300 while spending the majority of time in the field at shortstop.[5] In 1937, Gordon was moved to the Newark Bears, another AA team in the International League and continued to excel, hitting .280 with 26 home runs. His 1937 Bears' team is often regarded as the best minor league team in history with future all-stars George McQuinn, Charlie Keller, Tommy Henrich, Babe Dahlgren, and Spud Chandler joining Gordon to lead the team to an incredible 110 wins in 158 games.[6]
Gordon's success led to the release of 33-year-old Tony Lazzeri following the 1937 season,[7] and he made his debut with the Yankees in April 1938. His 25 home runs as a rookie set an American League record for second basemen, surpassing Detroit Tiger Charlie Gehringer's previous record of 19. Gordon would hold the AL record for home runs by a second baseman 64 years before being surpassed by Bret Boone's 36 home runs in 2001.[5] Along with Jeff Heath of the Indians, who had batted .343, Gordon was one of the AL's top rookies, hitting .255 with 97 RBI and placing second to Gehringer in the AL with 450 assists as the Yankees won their third straight pennant. In the 1938 World Series sweep of the Chicago Cubs, he hit .400 and slugged .733. He had an RBI single, doubled, and recorded the final out in a 3-1 victory in Game 1. Gordon doubled in the first two runs in Game 2's 6-3 win. In Game 3, a 5-2 win, he had a solo home run to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth inning, and singled home two more runs in the sixth. He scored twice in an 8-3 win in the final Game 4 as New York took their third consecutive title.
In
Gordon led the Yankees to another pennant in his 1942 MVP season, edging
In the World Series rematch with the Cardinals, he gave New York a 2–1 lead in the fourth inning of Game 1 – a 4–2 win – with a solo homer, and scored the first run in a 2–1 win in Game 4. He threw out the final batter of the Series with the tying runs on base in the 2–0 Game 5 victory, with the Yankees taking home another title. He again fielded brilliantly, setting still-standing records for a five-game Series of 20 putouts, 23 assists, 43 total chances, and a 1.000 fielding average; his 8 assists in Game 1 and 3 assists in the eighth inning of Game 5 are also records. Afterwards, he served in the U.S. Army in 1944–45 during World War II, missing those seasons.
He returned to the Yankees in 1946, which turned out to be his most challenging year in major league baseball. Gordon was spiked in an exhibition game and severed a tendon in his hand, which required surgery, and he suffered a chipped bone in his finger. As the rest of the Yankees headed to The Bronx to begin the 1946 regular season, Gordon stayed behind in Florida for a month to recover. As Gordon told Oregonian sports editor L. H. Gregory, just two weeks after returning to the Yankees lineup, Gordon tore a leg muscle. He taped the leg and resumed playing, only to tear a muscle in his other leg. Following a brief break, Gordon re-tore a leg muscle and then fractured his thumb. Gordon played in just 112 games that year and stepped up to the plate just 376 times, nearly 170 fewer at bats than his pre-war 1943 season. As a result, he batted .210 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI, much to the displeasure of new Yankees president/general manager Larry MacPhail. With Gordon-ally Joe McCarthy resigning from the Yankees club in May 1946 and following his worst season in baseball, Gordon was in trouble. Trade rumors were rampant and MacPhail even consulted Gordon teammate DiMaggio about "Flash's" eventual trade for one of Cleveland's pitchers. Taking DiMaggio's advice, on October 11 MacPhail settled on Indians pitcher Allie Reynolds in exchange for Gordon, a move that benefited both clubs. Gordon departed New York after precisely 1,000 games and 1,000 hits: the only player in baseball history with those statistics.
Indians
While Reynolds would go on to win 131 games in eight seasons for the Yankees, Gordon proved resilient and kept his new team from regretting the deal. In
Gordon was a career .268 hitter with 253 home runs, 975 RBI, 914 runs, 1,530 hits, 264 doubles and 89 stolen bases in 1,566 games. His .466 slugging average then placed him fifth among second basemen, behind Hornsby (.577), Gehringer (.480), Lazzeri (.467) and Nap Lajoie (.466), and only Hornsby had more homers among second basemen. Gordon might have had even higher batting totals had he played in other stadiums. His first several seasons were spent in Yankee Stadium, with its immense "Death Valley" in left field that frustrated right-handed power hitters; during his New York years, he hit 69 home runs at home and 84 on the road. Municipal Stadium in Cleveland was also an unhelpful venue, being hostile to power hitters on both sides of the plate. Over his career, he batted 23 points higher on the road (.279) than he did at home (.256). He was selected for the All-Star team nine times, in all but his first and last seasons. He was also selected to The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team in 1939–42 and 1947–48, and was runner-up to Gehringer in 1938 and to Billy Herman in 1943. In 2001 he was selected as one of the Indians' 100 greatest players.[10]
Later years
Gordon next became a player-manager with the Pacific Coast League's (PCL) Sacramento Solons in 1951–52. Showing he still had something in the tank, Gordon hit .299 with 43 home runs and 136 RBI in 148 games in 1951, but tailed off badly in 1952, hitting only .246 with just 16 home runs – his fewest since his World War II-shortened 1946 season.[5] His teams also performed poorly under his direction, winning just over 40% of their games in those two years.[5] Gordon then worked as a scout with the Tigers from 1953 to 1955, and as a coach during the early months of the 1956 season. In mid-year he returned to the PCL to manage the 1956–57 San Francisco Seals, winning a pennant in 1957.
He then went on to manage for four different MLB teams. Gordon began his major league managing career with the Indians in 1958, but had difficult relations with general manager
On August 16, 2008, Gordon was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. Two of Gordon's grandchildren were present for his induction ceremony. On December 7,
Wall Street Journal sports writer Russell Adams wrote a piece titled "Who Is the Greatest Yankee?" Adams ranked Gordon as the 9th-greatest Yankees' position player in franchise history. "Gordon's great strength was defense — his range was the best of any of the 30 candidates we studied."[13]
In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Gordon as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Army Air Force during World War II.[14]
Managerial Record
Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
CLE | 1958 | 86 | 46 | 40 | .535 | Interim | – | – | – | |
CLE | 1959 | 154 | 89 | 65 | .578 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | |
CLE | 1960 | 95 | 49 | 46 | .516 | Traded | – | – | – | |
CLE total | 335 | 184 | 151 | .549 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
DET | 1960 | 57 | 26 | 31 | .456 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | |
DET total | 57 | 26 | 31 | .456 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
KCA | 1961 | 59 | 26 | 33 | .441 | Fired | – | – | – | |
KCA total | 59 | 26 | 33 | .441 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
KC | 1969 | 162 | 69 | 93 | .426 | 4th in AL West | – | – | – | |
KC total | 59 | 26 | 33 | .441 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
Total[15] | 613 | 305 | 308 | .498 | 0 | 0 | – |
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
- Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
References
- Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (2000). Kingston, New York: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.
- ^ a b "Joe Gordon Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
- ^ a b c "Portland native Joe Gordon elected to baseball's Hall of Fame". The Oregonian. OregonLive.com. December 8, 2008.
- ISBN 0-89204-280-X. Archived from the originalon 2016-03-10.
- ^ "Society of the Sigma". Magazine of Sigma Chi. 66 (4): XI. 1947.
- ^ a b c d "Joe Gordon Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ 1937 Newark Bears Statistics – Minor Leagues Baseball-Reference.com
- ^ Tony Lazzeri Statistics and History Baseball-Reference.com
- ^ Joe Morgan (2003-06-26). "Remembering Larry Doby's dignity, courage". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ Barbara and David P. Mikkelson (2006-01-02). "Larry Doby". snopes.com. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ "Top 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians Players". Cleveland State University Library. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ "FINLEY AND LANE AGREE ON CHANGE; Athletics' Officials Give Job to Bauer, 38, Ex-Yankee --Gordon to be Paid in Full". The New York Times. 20 June 1961.
- ^ "New York Yankees celebrate the election of Joe Gordon to the Hall of Fame" (Press release). New York Yankees. December 8, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "WWII HOF Players – Act of Valor Award". Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
- ^ "Joe Gordon Managerial Record". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
Further reading
- Anderson, Dave (December 13, 2008). "Gordon, Overlooked Yankee, Gets His Due". The New York Times.
- Carr, Samantha (December 8, 2008). "Gordon's Children Thrilled by Father's Election". baseballhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008.
- Song, Jina; Muder, Craig (November 7, 2008). "Gordon combined skills like few others". baseballhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008.
- Wancho, Joseph. "Joe Gordon". SABR.
- Career highlights at The Baseball Page via Wayback Machine
External links
- Joe Gordon at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- Joe Gordon at Baseball Almanac