Tommy Henrich

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Tommy Henrich
Runs batted in
795
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Thomas David Henrich (February 20, 1913 – December 1, 2009), nicknamed "the Clutch" and "Old Reliable", was an

German descent.[1] He played his entire Major League Baseball career as a right fielder and first baseman for the New York Yankees (1937–1942 and 1946–1950). Henrich led the American League in triples twice and in runs scored once, also hitting 20 or more home runs four times. He is best remembered for his numerous exploits in the World Series; he was involved in one of the most memorable plays in Series history in 1941, was the hitting star of the 1947 Series with a .323 batting average, and hit the first walk-off home run in Series history in the first game of the 1949 World Series
.

Life and career

Henrich batted left and threw left. Throughout much of his career he claimed to have been born in 1916, saying later that this was to make up for the three years that he lost by playing

Joe McCarthy placed him third in the batting order; he batted .250 and had a solo home run late in Game 4 as the Yankees swept the Series. He did not appear in the 1937 or 1939 World Series
, also won by the Yankees.

Breaking out

Henrich broke out with a 1941 season in which he had a career-high 31 homers – third in the AL behind

couldn't handle the ball, which got past him (see photo); Henrich began to move toward first base almost as soon as he saw the ball had dropped sharply, and when he saw it get past Owen he took off running. DiMaggio then singled, and Keller doubled
to score both runners and take the lead; Gordon later doubled to bring in two more runs, and the Yankees had a 7-4 victory and a 3-1 Series lead. Henrich had a solo home run in Game 5 as the Yankees took the game 3-1, and won another championship.

Henrich made his first AL

slugging average (.485) and total bases (267). Again facing the Dodgers in the Series, he had a pair of RBI in the Game 1 victory, and a solo homer in the 10-3 Game 2 win. He came to the plate with the score tied 2-2, the bases loaded and two out in the fourth inning of Game 7, and drove in Phil Rizzuto
with the deciding run in a 5-2 win.

Henrich's best years

Henrich in 1948.

Henrich then enjoyed his best years, gradually moving from the outfield to

MVP voting. He was again sixth in the MVP balloting in 1949 after placing third in the AL in home runs (24) and slugging (.526), often getting crucial hits late in the season as the Yankees captured another flag under new manager Casey Stengel. The new skipper succeeded in getting Henrich to avoid outside curveballs by threatening to send him back to the minor leagues, and he picked up two RBI in a 5-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on the season's last day, giving New York the pennant by a single game. He caught the final out when Birdie Tebbetts hit a foul popup near first base. Meeting the Dodgers for a final time in the Series, he gave New York a 1-0 victory in Game 1 when he homered against Don Newcombe on a 2-0 pitch to lead off the ninth inning, the first walk-off home run
ever in the World Series. He scored twice in the 10-6 win in Game 5 as the Yankees again took the championship. Henrich was an All-Star in each of his last four seasons.

Retirement from baseball

Henrich retired after batting .272 with 6 home runs and 34 RBI in a 1950 season during which he was injured most of the year. In an 11-season career, he was a .282 hitter with a .491 slugging average, 183 home runs, 901 runs, 795 RBI, 1,297 hits, 269 doubles, 73 triples and 37

New York Giants (1957) and Detroit Tigers (1958–1959), and worked as a color commentator for ABC television's baseball coverage in 1965.[3]

In the early 1950s, Henrich had programs on WABC-TV and WCBS-TV, both in New York City. On January 16, 1954, he began a 15-minute program on ABC-TV at 6 o'clock Eastern Time on Saturdays.[4]

Later life and death

Henrich received the Pride of The Yankees Award in 1987, presented annually by the club to memorable figures in the organizations' history.

At his death Henrich was the fifth oldest living MLB player and was the last surviving member of the 1938 and 1941 World Champion New York Yankees. There were no living former baseball players who played on the winning team in an earlier World Series. He was also Lou Gehrig's final surviving teammate.

Henrich died at the age of 96 on December 1, 2009, after being weakened by a series of strokes he suffered in recent years. He is buried in Dayton National Cemetery.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-8093-2445-8
    . German Americans comprised 30 percent of the U.S. armed forces, among them such high-profile ballplayers as Charlie Gehringer, Tommy Henrich, Pete Reiser, and Red Ruffing.
  2. ISBN 0816017417
    .
  3. ^ Simon, Mark (July 2, 2003). "MLB - Living Legends: Keith Jackson". ESPN.com.
  4. ^ "Henrich's Web Spread". Variety. December 30, 1953. p. 29. Retrieved July 14, 2019.

External links

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