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| Vic Wertz | |
|---|---|
| Right fielder / First baseman | |
| Born: February 9, 1925 York, Pennsylvania |
|
| Died: July 7, 1983 (aged 58) Detroit, Michigan |
|
| Batted: Left | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 15, 1947 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 19, 1963 for the Minnesota Twins | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .277 |
| Home runs | 266 |
| Runs batted in | 1,178 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
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Victor Woodrow Wertz (February 9, 1925 – July 7, 1983) was a Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder. He had a seventeen year career from 1947 to 1963. He was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Tigers in 1942 and played for the Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, all of the American League.
One of the most feared hitters in the American League throughout the 1950s, he finished in the Top 15 in MVP voting five times: 1949 (10th), 1950 (10th), 1956 (9th), 1957 (6th), and 1960 (14th).
Wertz was among the Top 10 in the American League in Home Runs in 1949 (20), 1950 (27), 1951 (27), 1952 (23), 1953 (19), 1956 (32), and 1957 (28). His 1956 total of 32 Home Runs was 2nd best in the AL. For his career, he hit 266 Home Runs and 1,178 RBIs with a .469 career slugging average and a .364 career on base percentage.
He was elected to the American League All-Star team four times (1949, 1951, 1952 and 1957). He missed part of the 1955 season when stricken with a nonparalytic form of polio but returned in 1956.
Wertz hit the long fly ball that Willie Mays caught in the 1954 World Series (see The Catch). It went over 450 feet to dead center of the Polo Grounds in New York, and a sportswriter said, "It would have been a home run in any other park, including Yellowstone."
He was a World War II veteran, worked in the Detroit area beer distribution business during and after his baseball career, was known for his baldness, and was very well liked by fans because of his winning personality.
See also
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- Hitting for the cycle
- 1950 Detroit Tigers season
References
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Baseball Library
- Vic Wertz at Find a Grave
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