Today's blog post has us taking a look at my 1950 "missing" Drakes card for Hall of Famer Luke Appling, part of my fun custom set produced in 2020 in deluxe "floating frame" packaging:
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One
of the All-Time great shortstops of the game who is sadly overlooked,
Appling was a two-time batting champ over his 20 year career, spanning
1930 through 1950, with pretty much two seasons lost to military service
in 1944 and 1945.
The six-time All-Star hit as high as .388
in 1936, which gave him the first of two batting championships, with his
second coming in 1943 when he hit .328.
Sadly for him, after
that second title he was shipped off to his military service before
coming back to hit .300+ the final five of his six Big League seasons.
By
the time he retired, he hit .310 over 2422 games, with 2749 hits in
8856 at-bats, finishing runner-up to two MVP Awards while garnering
support in nine other seasons.
In 1964 he was selected for the Hall of Fame , named to 189 of 201 ballots.
"Old Aches and Pains"!
