Joe Medwick
From BR Bullpen
Joseph Michael Medwick (Ducky or Muscles)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 10", Weight 187 lb.
- Debut September 2, 1932
- Final Game July 25, 1948
- Born November 24, 1911 in Carteret, NJ USA
- Died March 21, 1975 in St. Petersburg, FL USA
Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1968
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[edit] Biographical Information
"(Medwick) was the meanest, roughest guy you could imagine. He just stood up there and whaled everything within reach. Doubles, triples, home runs- he sprayed 'em all over every park." - Leo Durocher, his teammate on the Gas House Gang
Joe Medwick played seventeen seasons in the major leagues, hitting .324. He won the 1937 National League Most Valuable Player Award and is a member of the Hall of Fame.
Medwick began his pro career in 1930. As a 19 year old with the Houston Buffaloes in 1931, he hit .305 with 126 RBIs and led the Texas League with 19 home runs. Back with Houston the next year, he put up even better numbers, hitting .354 with 26 homers, and by September, he was in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals. He quickly became a key part of the Gas House Gang and hit .379 in the 1934 World Series (he was also part of a very controversial play when he slid into Marv Owen).
In 1936, Medwick led the National League with 64 doubles, a NL record that stants to this day. He dominated the league the next year, when he was named MVP. He led the NL in a dozen offensive categories, including batting (.374) and RBI (154), and tied for the lead in home runs (31), becoming the National League's last Triple Crown winner to date.
Medwick was later traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers and helped them win the pennant in 1941, the first time they captured a flag in 21 years. After spending a few years with the wartime New York Giants and Boston Braves, he came back to Brooklyn for one year and then finished up his major league career with the Cardinals, where he had started. His last season, 1948, was the year that Stan Musial had his monster year for the Cardinals.
Medwick was a good all-around hitter, but was especially good with doubles, finishing with 540, which is currently # 25 on the all-time list (through 2007). The most similar player to Medwick, according to the similarity scores method, is Jim Bottomley, who was a veteran with the 1932 St. Louis Cardinals when Medwick was a rookie. Nine of the ten most similar players are in the Hall of Fame, with the one exception being Al Oliver.
Despite the efforts of revisionists to bowdlerize Medwick's nickname, he was known as "Ducky-Wucky" more often than "Ducky" while he was a player. A woman who had seen him swim said he swam like a duck, and the nickname "Ducky" arose, being turned usually into "Ducky-Wucky". While teammates stopped calling him that and preferred to call him "Muscles", the fans kept calling him "Ducky-Wucky".
Medwick's obituary says that he was controversial and might have been elected to the Hall earlier had he not antagonized sportswriters. The obituary also claims that he was beaned in 1940 and that his career declined after that.
One source: Joe Medwick obituary.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 10-time NL All-Star (1934-1942 & 1944)
- NL MVP (1937)
- NL Triple Crown (1937)
- NL Batting Average Leader (1937)
- NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1937)
- NL OPS Leader (1937)
- NL At Bats Leader (1937)
- NL Runs Scored Leader (1937)
- 2-time NL Hits Leader (1936 & 1937)
- 3-time NL Total Bases Leader (1935-1937)
- 3-time NL Doubles Leader (1936-1938)
- NL Triples Leader (1934)
- NL Home Runs Leader (1937)
- 3-time NL RBI Leader (1936-1938)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 3 (1935, 1937 & 1938)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1937)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 6 (1934-1939)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 6 (1934-1938 & 1941)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 4 (1935-1937 & 1939)
- Won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1934
- Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1968
| NL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 1937 | 1938 |
| Carl Hubbell | Joe Medwick | Ernie Lombardi |
[edit] Records Held
- Doubles, right handed batter, season, 64, 1936 (tied)
