Enos Slaughter

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Enos Bradsher Slaughter (Country)

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 5' 9", Weight 192 lb.

Debut April 19, 1938
Final Game September 29, 1959
Born April 27, 1916 in Roxboro, NC USA
Died August 12, 2002 in Durham, NC USA

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1985

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[edit] Biographical Information

Enos Slaughter was a Hall of Fame player who had a 19-year career with a .300 lifetime batting average.

However, he probably lost his best years to service in World War II. Serving in the Army Air Corps (predecessor of the Air Force), he missed all of the major league seasons of 1943 to 1945, when he was ages 27-29, prime ages for ballplayers. He had hit .318 before he left in 1942, and he hit .300 when he came back in 1946, finishing third in the NL MVP voting, thus making it likely that he would have had three very good seasons if military service had not intervened.

He was an All-Star in both 1942 and 1946, before and after the War. He was in the top three in the MVP voting both years, and he played on the World Series winning Cardinals both years as well.

According to the similarity scores method, the most similar player to Slaughter is Mickey Vernon, another player who missed time due to World War II.

Slaughter is now best remembered for one spectacular play: in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1946 World Series, he raced home from first base on a soft hit to the left-center field gap by teammate Harry Walker, scoring the winning run against the Boston Red Sox. The play is known as Slaughter's mad dash, but has tended to distract from the fact that he was a multi-dimensional player, hitting for both power and average for a very long time.

"I give it everything I've got. Always have played that way and I'll do it as long as I can. Anyone who don't should be sellin' peanuts up in the stands." -Enos Slaughter

Slaughter was the head coach at Duke University from 1971 to 1977.

[edit] Notable Achievements

10-time NL All-Star (1941, 1942 & 1946-1953)
NL Hits Leader (1942)
NL Total Bases Leader (1942)
NL Singles Leader (1942)
NL Doubles Leader (1939)
2-time NL Triples Leader (1942 & 1949)
NL RBI Leader (1946)
100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1946, 1950 & 1952)
100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (1942, 1946 & 1947)
Won four World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals (1942 & 1946) and the New York Yankees (1956 & 1958)
Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1985