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Tommy Henrich

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Full Name: Thomas David Henrich Primary Position: OF,1B
Height/Weight: 6' 0"/180 First Game: May 11, 1937
Birthdate: February 20, 1913 Final Game: October 1, 1950
Birthplace: Massillon, Ohio MLB Experience: 11 years
Bat/Throw: Left/Left
Rate this Player
2.25
(16 votes)

Contents

  • 1 Biography
  • 2 Statistics
    • 2.1 Batting Stats
    • 2.2 Fielding Stats
  • 3 Transactions
  • 4 External links
  • 5 Trivia
  • 6 Video Gallery
  • 7 Picture Gallery
  • 8 See Also
  • 9 Categories

[edit] Biography

Thomas David Henrich (born February 20, 1913 in Massillon, Ohio), nicknamed "Old Reliable," is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1950. He led the American League in triples twice and in runs 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 1949's Game 1.

Henrich batted and threw left-handed. 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 softball instead of baseball. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1934, but was ruled a free agent in April 1937 after he and his father wrote to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who decided that the Indians had illegally concealed him in their farm system. He debuted with the Yankees – his longtime favorite team – in 1937, hitting .320 in 67 games, and gradually replaced George Selkirk in right field. In his first four seasons he posted productive if unspectacular totals, peaking with 22 home runs and 91 runs batted in in 1938 and batting .307 in 1940. But on a team which featured Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and Joe Gordon, Henrich's contributions were of a decidedly supporting nature as he competed for playing time with Selkirk and Charlie Keller. In the 1938 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, manager 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.

Henrich broke out with a 1941 season in which he had a career-high 31 homers – third in the AL behind Ted Williams and Keller – and was fifth in the league with 106 runs. Facing the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, he singled and scored in a 2-run eighth inning in Game 3, and New York hung on to win 2-1. But one of the most famous moments in postseason history occurred when he came to the plate with two out in the ninth inning of Game 4; Brooklyn had a 4-3 lead, one out away from tying the Series. Henrich swung at a full-count breaking curveball for strike three, but catcher Mickey Owen 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.

He made his first AL All-Star team in 1942, but again didn't appear in the World Series. He went on to miss the 1943 through 1945 seasons while serving in the Coast Guard during World War II. Upon returning in 1946 he batted only .251, but finished among the league's top ten players in walks (87), runs (92), homers (19) and RBI (83). With Dickey and Gordon gone, he began to bear a greater share of the responsibility for the team's offense in 1947, and came through quite effectively as he formed one of the game's great outfields with Keller in left field and DiMaggio in center. He led the AL with 13 triples and was second with 109 runs and 98 RBI; he was also third in doubles (35) and fourth in 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 then enjoyed his best years, gradually moving from the outfield to first base. He hit .308 with 25 HRs and 100 RBI in 1948, leading the league in triples (14) and runs (138) and finishing second in doubles (42) and total bases (326) and third in slugging (.554); he tied an AL record with four grand slams, and placed sixth in the MVP voting. He was again sixth in the MVP balloting in 1949 after placing third in the AL in HRs (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 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on the season's last day, giving New York the pennant by a single game. 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.

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, 1297 hits, 269 doubles, 73 triples and 37 stolen bases in 1284 games. He was dubbed "Old Reliable" – after a train which ran from Ohio to Alabama – by Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen for his knack of getting a hit just when it was needed. He later became a coach with the Yankees (1951), New York Giants (1957) and Detroit Tigers (1958-59).

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Batting Stats

Year Team G AB R H HR RBI AVG OBP SLG 2B 3B BB SO HBP SH SB IBB GDP
1937 NY A 67 206 39 66 8 42 .320 .419 .553 14 5 35 17 0 1 4 0 0
1938 NY A 131 471 109 127 22 91 .270 .391 .490 24 7 92 32 2 10 6 0 0
1939 NY A 99 347 64 96 9 57 .277 .371 .429 18 4 51 23 1 7 7 0 4
1940 NY A 90 293 57 90 10 53 .307 .408 .539 28 5 48 30 2 3 1 0 6
1941 NY A 144 538 106 149 31 85 .277 .377 .519 27 5 81 40 5 8 3 0 6
1942 NY A 127 483 77 129 13 67 .267 .352 .431 30 5 58 42 5 9 4 0 3
1946 NY A 150 565 92 142 19 83 .251 .358 .411 25 4 87 63 7 12 5 0 6
1947 NY A 142 550 109 158 16 98 .287 .372 .485 35 13 71 54 3 5 3 0 9
1948 NY A 146 588 138 181 25 100 .308 .391 .554 42 14 76 42 4 5 2 0 14
1949 NY A 115 411 90 118 24 85 .287 .416 .526 20 3 86 34 5 0 2 0 7
1950 NY A 73 151 20 41 6 34 .272 .382 .536 6 8 27 6 0 0 0 0 7
Total 1284 4603 901 1297 183 795 .282 .382 .491 269 73 712 383 34 60 37 0 62

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year Team POS G GS INN PO A ERR DP TP PB SB CS PkO AVG
1937 NY A OF 59 0 0 90 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .970
1938 NY A OF 130 0 0 239 14 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 .984
1939 NY A 1B 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1939 NY A OF 88 0 0 205 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .991
1940 NY A OF 76 0 0 147 10 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 .969
1940 NY A 1B 2 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1941 NY A OF 139 0 0 280 13 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 .980
1942 NY A OF 119 0 0 219 10 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 .987
1942 NY A 1B 7 0 0 59 3 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1946 NY A OF 111 0 0 224 10 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 .992
1946 NY A 1B 41 0 0 364 22 5 35 0 0 0 0 0 .987
1947 NY A 1B 6 0 0 59 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1947 NY A OF 132 0 0 278 13 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 .983
1948 NY A 1B 46 0 0 352 21 6 41 0 0 0 0 0 .984
1948 NY A OF 102 0 0 216 8 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 .978
1949 NY A OF 61 0 0 110 5 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 .958
1949 NY A 1B 52 0 0 445 28 2 64 0 0 0 0 0 .996
1950 NY A 1B 34 0 0 224 7 3 23 0 0 0 0 0 .987
Total 1B 189 0 0 1510 82 16 178 0 0 0 0 0 .990
Total OF 1017 0 0 2008 96 40 27 0 0 0 0 0 .981

[edit] Transactions

  • Signed as an amateur free agent by Cleveland Indians (1934).
  • Granted free agency (April 14, 1937).
  • Signed by New York Yankees (April 19, 1937).
  • Released by New York Yankees (December 28, 1950).

[edit] External links

  • Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics
  • BaseballLibrary - career highlights
  • The Sporting News: Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments - The Dropped Third Strike (#23)

[edit] Trivia

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This page was last modified 17:29, 8 November 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.

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