| Joe Medwick | |
|---|---|
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| Left fielder | |
| Born: November 24, 1911 Carteret, New Jersey |
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| Died: March 21, 1975 (aged 63) St. Petersburg, Florida |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| September 2, 1932 for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 25, 1948 for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .324 |
| Home runs | 205 |
| Hits | 2,471 |
| Runs batted in | 1,383 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1968 |
| Vote | 84.81% (eighth ballot) |
Joseph Michael Medwick (November 24, 1911 – March 21, 1975), nicknamed "Ducky", was an American Major League Baseball player . A left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals during the "Gashouse Gang" era of the 1930s, he also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1940-43, '46), New York Giants (1943-45), and Boston Braves (1945). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1968, receiving 84.81% of the votes.
Medwick was born to Hungarian immigrants and grew up in Carteret, New Jersey. He made his debut with the Cardinals in 1932. Fans nicknamed him "Ducky" and "Ducky Wucky" because of his waddle, but his build led to the nickname of "Muscles," which meant that none of his teammates dared to use the name "Ducky" to his face. His hard-charging style of play got him pulled out of the seventh game of the 1934 World Series by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, when Detroit Tigers fans started pelting him with garbage after he slid hard into third base on a triple. (Audio) Landis also ordered Tigers third baseman Marv Owen, into whom Medwick had slid, benched.
A ten-time All-Star, he played for seventeen seasons, finishing with a lifetime .324 batting average. He won the National League Triple Crown and the NL Most Valuable Player in 1937, remaining the last National League player to win a triple crown. Medwick holds the major league record for consecutive seasons with 40 or more doubles, set from 1933 through 1939.
Medwick helped lead the Dodgers to a pennant in 1941, but had lost much of his dominance after being nearly killed by a beanball thrown at him by a former Cardinal teammate six days after his 1940 trade. He eventually returned to St. Louis to finish his career with the Cardinals in 1947 and 1948.
During a USO tour by a number of players in 1944, Medwick was among several individuals given an audience by Pope Pius XII. Upon being asked by the Pope what his vocation was, Medwick replied, "Your Holiness, I'm Joe Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."
Medwick died of a heart attack in St. Petersburg, Florida at age 63.
Medwick was one of three players born in New Jersey to be elected to the Hall of Fame, and one of five to have attended school in the state—in each case, the only one from the central part of the state. At Number 79, he was the highest-ranking New Jersey native to have made The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players in 1999. That same year, he was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
He was elected New Jersey athlete of the century at century's end.
See also
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- List of Major League Baseball doubles records
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- Hitting for the cycle
- Triple Crown
- List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball home run champions
- List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
- List of Major League Baseball triples champions
External links
- Baseball Hall of Fame – Member biography
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Wally Berger |
National League RBI Champion 1936-1938 |
Succeeded by Frank McCormick |
| Preceded by Carl Hubbell |
National League Most Valuable Player 1937 |
Succeeded by Ernie Lombardi |
| Preceded by Chuck Klein |
National League Triple Crown 1937 |
Succeeded by none |
| Preceded by Paul Waner |
National League Batting Champion 1937 |
Succeeded by Ernie Lombardi |
| Preceded by Mel Ott |
National League Home Run Champion 1937 (with Mel Ott) |
Succeeded by Mel Ott |
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