"Baseball is my life. It's the only thing I know and care about."
Baseball player.
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175
Hit and threw right
played
Shortstop and
Second Base
Rogers Hornsby, known as the
Rajah, or the
Rajah of Swat, was born in
April 27, 1896 Winters,
Texas, and died
January 5, 1963, in
Chicago,
Illinois- in between he became perhaps the greatest hitter to ever play
deadball.
He did not drink, smoke, or go to the movies, in order to take care of himself and his hitter's eyes. He also read only
newspaper headlines. Nevertheless, he was a compulsive
gambler, and an argumentative, tempremental sort. It is said that he only cared about winning: he himself said
"I've cheated, or someone on my team has cheated, in almost every single game I've been in.".
He was once called a "liturgy of hatred". Despite that, he truly did love the game-
"It don't make no difference where I go or what happens, so long as I can play the full nine."
, and its more wholesome aspects-
"Any ballplayer that don't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a Communist."
He had a lifetime
batting average with a .358(only
Ty Cobb topped him), and his
slugging percentage was a cool .577.
He won the
Triple Crown in
1922 and
1925, and hit over
.400 in
1922,
1924, and
1925.
"I don’t like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the pitcher."
Seasonal Batting Averages:
1915 NL St Louis Cardinals .246
1916 NL St Louis Cardinals .313
1917 NL St Louis Cardinals .327
1918 NL St Louis Cardinals .281
1919 NL St Louis Cardinals .318
1920 NL St Louis Cardinals .370
1921 NL St Louis Cardinals .397
1922 NL St Louis Cardinals .401
1923 NL St Louis Cardinals .384
1924 NL St Louis Cardinals .424
1925 NL St Louis Cardinals .403
1926 NL St Louis Cardinals .317
1927 NL New York Giants .361
1928 NL Boston Braves .387
1929 NL Chicago Cubs .380
1930 NL Chicago Cubs .308
1931 NL Chicago Cubs .331
1932 NL Chicago Cubs .224
1933 AL St Louis Browns .325
1933 AL St Louis Browns .333
1934 AL St Louis Browns .304
1935 AL St Louis Browns .208
1936 AL St Louis Browns .400
1937 AL St Louis Browns .321
From
1925 to
1937 he was a
player/manager, in the
National League with
St Louis,
New York,
Boston, and
Chicago, and when as a player he jumped to the
American League he managed there too, with
St Louis until
1937. He also managed
St Louis again for half of
1952, before switching to the
National League one more time to manage
Cincinatti for the other half, then the full season in
1953.
He was elected to the
Hall of Fame in
1942.
Hall of Fame Index
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