Roy Sievers
From BR Bullpen
Roy Edward Sievers (Squirrel)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.
- Debut April 21, 1949
- Final Game May 9, 1965
- Born November 18, 1926 in St. Louis, MO USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Sievers was the first A.L. rookie of the year in 1949. A big slugger whose 318 career homers belie his true power due to the fact that he played for six years during his prime in cavernous Griffith Park in Washington. Sievers 20 or more homers in nine of his seventeen M.L. seasons. An outfielder/first baseman 19 years (1947-1965), 17 in the Majors (1949-1965) and three in the minors (1947-1948;1951).
A high school graduate, he starred in baseball and basketball. Growing up in St. Louis, only a few blocks from [[Sportsman's Park], he reportedly signed by the Browns for a pair of spikes. After two inury-prone seasons, he was traded to the Washington Senators by the Orioles for Gil Coan, where he became a bonafide star.
Sievers appeared as the swinging double for actor Tab Hunter in distance shots in the 1958 movie Damn Yankees. Hunter's character, Joe Hardy, was left-handed, so the right-handed Sievers was outfitted with a mirror-image Nats uniform and the film was reversed in production.
In1960 he was traded by Washington to the Chicago White Sox for Earl Battey, Don Mincher and $150,000. In November 1961 he was traded by the White Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies, where in 1963, he hit his 300th career home run. In July of 1964, Sievers was purchased by the Washington Senators from the Philadelphia Phillies. Sievers was released by the Senators in 1965, ending his baseball playing career at age 38.
In Washington, Sievers had become a favorite of Richard Nixon (then vice president), while driving in 100 or more runs and playing at least 144 games each year from 1954 through 1958. In 1957, though his club came in last, Sievers led the AL with 42 home runs and became the first Senator to win the RBI crown (114) since Goose Goslin in 1924. He tied an AL record in July and August of 1957 by homering in six consecutive contests - a mark since eclipsed by Don Mattingly. He remained productive through 1963 with the Phillies; that year, he matched Jimmie Foxx as the only player to pinch hit grand slams in both the AL and NL. In mid-1964 he was sold to the expansion Senators.
One of Sievers' biggest fans was then-Vice President Richard Nixon. In fact, when Nixon returned from debating Kruschev in Moscow, he sent word that he wanted Sievers to meet him at the airport. While assorted dignitaries waited for the future President, Nixon talked baseball with Squirrel.
In 1957, his best year in MLB, he had 42 home runs, 114 RBI in 152 games and finished third in the MVP ballot. Sievers coached for the Reds in 1966 and then managed in the minors for a few years after leaving M.L. baseball.
Eventually, he worked for the Yellow Freight Company in St. Louis until retiring in 1986. Sievers has been a hit in numerous old-timers games, clad in a replica St. Louis Browns uniform. In fact, he has received many offers to buy the uniform, which was a gift from Bing Devine.
[edit] Career highlights
- Set season and career records in home runs for the Senators: 42, in 1957 & 180, in 3547 at-bats
- In 1957, Sievers belted home runs in six straight games to tie an American League mark held by Ken Williams and Lou Gehrig. The major league record is eight, set by Dale Long in the National League (1956), and matched in the AL by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (1993).
- One of four players to hit pinch hit grand slam home runs in both Major Leagues – the other three are Glenallen Hill, Jimmie Foxx and Kurt Bevacqua.
- Hitting Streaks: 21 games (1960); 19 games (1961)
- Had ten walkoff homeruns in his career. Only Babe Ruth (12); Jimmie Foxx (12); Stan Musial (12; Mickey Mantle (12); Frank Robinson (12); and Tony Perez (11) have had more
- In 1957, he had 8 Consecutive home runs, the only ones for his team. This has been surpassed by only Babe Ruth (14); Goose Goslin (10); and Vic Wertz (9).
- Led Central Association in, games (125), hits (159), runs (121), home runs (34) and RBI (141, 1947
- Led Three-I League outfielders in assists (22), 1948
- Led American League in sacrifice flies (11), 1954
- Led American League in home runs (42), total bases (331), extra-base hits (70) and RBI(114), 1957
- Led American League in intentional walks (8), 1960
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1949 AL Rookie of the Year Award
- 4-time AL All-Star (1956, 1957, 1959 & 1961)
- AL Total Bases Leader (1957)
- AL Home Runs Leader (1957)
- AL RBI Leader (1957)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 9 (1954-1962)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1957 & 1958)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1957)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 4 (1954, 1955, 1957 & 1958)
[edit] Awards and honors
- Hall of Fame Voting: 1971 BBWAA 4 1.1% 1972 BBWAA 3 .8%
- TSN 1949 American League Rookie of the Year (first one)
- BBWAA 1949 American League Rookie of the Year (first one)
- In 1996, he was honored in the “Circle of Fame” at a Washington Redskins football game
- Forty years after his final major-league baseball game, he helped usher in the National League's newest franchise - the Washington Nationals
| AL Rookie of the Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 1949 | 1950 |
| ML Award | Roy Sievers | Walt Dropo |
[edit] Quotes
- Coaches in the organization tinkered with his batting style in an effort to hit more to right field; the result was a terrible sophoimore season. "I said I was going back to my own way of hitting and I never let anyone change me again".
- "Ted, you deprived me of my triple crown". Ted Williams was confused, until Sievers pointed out that although he had led the league in home runs and RBI in 1957 and had had his career high batting average, Williams had beaten him out by a mere 87 points.
- Casey Stengel once said that Sievers was "the sweetest right-handed swinger in the league."
- "Roy Sievers is a boy who symbolizes great character, sportsmanship and guts." ---Richard Nixon---
[edit] Further reading
- "Big Brown Squirrel" by Ed Scott, Baseball Digest (May 1950)
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Roy Sievers include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; and others The Pacific Coast League: A Statistical History, 1903-1957 by Dennis Snelling; Baseball:Biographical Encyclopedia by the Editors of Total Baseball; The Historical Register, compled by Bob Hoie & Carlos Bauer]]; The Texas League in Baseball, 1888-1958 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
