July 28th, 1934 - NL Player of the Week - Ernie Lombardi

NL Player of the Week

Ernie Lombardi

"Ernie Lombardi travels light...He carries nothing but a blue serge suit, a well-worn cap, a small leather bag, the biggest schnozzola ever seen in baseball circles and a .370 batting average."

-Quentin Reynolds, World Telegraph


Ernie Lombardi (HA22) was what our traditional notion of a great catcher. According to historian Bill James, he was a huge man with "huge arms and wrists like giant power cables that snapped around an unnaturally large bat, the heaviest used by anu player of his time, and flicked the ball effortlessly wherever he wanted it to go." Because his knees were so low to the ground, his center of gravity, ideal for a catcher, made him "surely" the slowest person to ever play major league baseball, according to James.

Lombardi came up through the Brooklyn organization. However, with Al Lopez behind the plate, and Del Bissonette at first, there was little room for someone with Lombardi's speed, despite his excellent hitting skills. The legendary Brooklyn manager, Wilbert Robinson, developed the idea of putting Lombardi on the mound at the end of his rookie season in 1932, and Lombardi showed some talent there in practice. When Robinson retired at the end of the 1932 season, however, he was replaced by Max Carey, for whom speed was a key weapon. Accordingly, Lombardi did not fit in with his new manager's scheme, and found himself part of a 6 player swap with Cincinnati.

Lombardi did not make a big impression with the Reds in 1933 or 1934, but in 1935 he caught the fans' attention when he hit four doubles in a single game early in the season. From then on, he was a .300+ hitter each year, hitting moon shot homers out of Crosley field, which was not a home run hitters' park. A favorite target was the roof of the laundry past the left field fence. An oversized character off the field, Lombardi emerged as the most popular player to ever call Crosley Field home. After severl years of fueding with Reds' management over money, Lombardi blossomed under the guidance of Reds' skipper Bill McKechnie who took the team over in 1938, and would guide them to a pennant in 1939 and a world championship in 1940. Lombardi would be the MVP in 1938, and began to develop his defensive skills.

Lombardi became much more than a baseball player, but a local idol as well. Women adored him, and would do anything for a glimpse as if he were a movie star. Lombardi, a shy man who lived with his sister, would outwait them in the clubhouse, drinking beer until he could slip away.

For some reason, Lomardi's entry in Bill James is among the longest (about 10 pages), and is highly entertaining for anyone looking for more information. If you don't know what I'm referring to when I say "Bill James," click here.