AL Player of the Week - Jimmie FoxxJimmie Foxx (HA2) was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. Foxx played for the Philadelphia Athletics for the first part of his career (1925-1935) before A's owner Connie Mack sold his contract to Boston, where he played from 1936-1942. He won back to back MVPs in 1932 and 1933 with the A's, and then again in 1938 with the Red Sox. He also won the triple crown in 1933 and came close several other times. He appeared in 9 All Star games, and doubtlessly would have appeared in many more had they existed at the beginning of his career. His lifetime BA was .325 (.303 neutralized) with 534 home runs.
Foxx was scouted by Frank "Home Run" Baker, an A's deadball era star who signed him for the A's just ahead of the New York Yankees. At the time Foxx was a catcher, but moved to accomodate teammate Mickey Cochrane. Although he played most of his games at first, Foxx also played third a fair amount, caught and played the outfield. He even did some pitching late in his career when he played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945.
In an era where few ballplayers lifted weights, Foxx was "all muscles." New York pitcher Lefty Gomez quipped that even Foxx's hair had muscles. Gomez is also known to have observed about Foxx, who was nicknamed "the Beast," that "he wasn't scouted - he was trapped." According to teammate Doc Cramer, Foxx once hit a homer into the left field third deck extension in Yankee Stadium so hard that "paint fell off it for 10 minutes." CWCI 308.
Foxx was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951.
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