Today on the blog we add the "Mechanical man" Charlie Gehringer, one of the most overlooked all-time greats of the game, to my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread:
I have
him shown here as a member of his first minor league team, the London
Tecumsehs, for whom he suited up in 1924 at the age of 21.
During
his time there he hit .292 before a late-season call-up to the Majors
for a five-game stint where he hit a blistering .462 with six hits in 13
at-bats.
The following year he began the season with Toronto
in the International league, where all he did was collect over 200 hits
while on his way to a .325 average before yet another Big League
call-up, the last of its kind since he was a Major leaguer for good from
here on out.
Gehringer would go on to one of the greatest
careers an infielder would have in the Major Leagues, all with the
Detroit Tigers, where he would take home the MVP Award in 1937, with
another nine top-10 MVP finishes thrown in.
Along the way the
man collected seven seasons of 200+ hits, seven 100+ RBI campaigns, 12
100+ runs scored, seven 40+ doubles with a high of 60 in 1936, while
making the first six All-Star games between 1933 and 1938.
By
the time he retired after the 1942 season, he racked up 2839 hits and a
.320 average over 2323 games, with 1775 runs scored and 1427 RBIs,
walking 1186 times with only 372 strikeouts!
Remember, this guy was a second baseman!
It is criminal how overlooked he is when the discussion for greatest second baseman of all-time comes up.
