On the blog today, we begin to spotlight my 1960's "career-cappers"
from a couple of years ago, a special one-off "pack" that was very fun
to create.
The first to get the spotlight, my 1960 capper for
Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter, who wrapped up a very nice 19-year career
in 1959 with the Milwaukee Braves:
Slaughter
actually started the season with the New York Yankees, for whom he
played since the middle of 1956, before landing in Milwaukee after being
selected off wavers in September.
The man was a long way from his star days with the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940's, but was still a useful bat off the bench.
Over
77 games in 1958 he hit .307 with 42 hits in 138 at-bats, while in his
final season, he hit only .171 combined, with 20 hits over 117 at-bats
in 85 games.
Originally up in 1938, he made a big impact the
following season when he hit .320 with a league-leading 52 doubles while
collecting 193 hits, driving in 86 while scoring 95.
Over the
following three seasons he did more of the same before being called to
military duty, missing the 1943 through 1945 seasons as many other stars
did, coming back in 1946 without skipping a beat, leading the N.L. with
130 RBIs while hitting .300, scoring a career-best 100 runs and
finishing third in the MVP race.
By the time he retired, he
finished with 2383 hits in 7946 at-bats, for an even .300 average with
413 doubles, 148 triples and 169 homers, while scoring 1247 runs and
driving in 1304, making ten All-Star teams and leaving us to wonder what
his final numbers would have been had he played three more full seasons
in his prime.
Though it took a while, he finally got his place in the Hall of Fame when selected by the Veteran's Committee in 1985. 