Jimmie Foxx
First Baseman
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB Debut
May 1, 1925 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Final game
September 23, 1945 for the Philadelphia Phillies
Career Statistics
AVG	.325
HR	534
RBI	1922
Teams
Philadelphia Athletics (1925-1935) Boston Red Sox (1936-1942) Chicago Cubs (1942, 1944) Philadelphia Phillies (1945)
Career Highlights and Awards
American League MVP: 1932, 1933, 1938 Led the league in home runs: 1932 (58), 1933 (48), 1935 (36), 1939 (35) Led the league in RBIs: 1932 (169), 1933 (163), 1938 (175) Led the league in batting average: 1933 (.356), 1938 (.349) Led the league in runs scored: 1932 (151) Lifetime batting average: .325

James Emory Foxx (October 22 1907 – July 21 1967) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who was one of the greatest right-handed power hitters to ever play the sport. Foxx was the second major league player to hit 500 career home runs, and at age 32 years, 336 days, is the second youngest ever to reach that mark, behind only Alex Rodriguez.

Although Foxx's name appears both as Jimmy Foxx and Jimmie Foxx in newspaper accounts, box scores, baseball cards, and other records, Foxx generally signed his name "Jimmie."

Born in Sudlersville, Maryland, Foxx (nicknamed "Double X", "The Beast", and "The Maryland Strongboy") played baseball in high school and dropped out to join a minor league team managed by former Philadelphia Athletics great Frank "Home Run" Baker. Foxx had hoped to pitch or play third base, but since the team was short on catchers, Foxx moved behind the plate. He immediately drew interest from the Athletics and New York Yankees. Foxx signed with the A's and made his major league debut in 1925 at age 17.

The A's catching duties were already capably filled by future Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane, so by 1927, Foxx was splitting time between catching, first base, and the outfield. In 1929, installed as the A's regular first baseman, Foxx had his breakthrough year, batting .354 and hitting 33 home runs. In 1932, Foxx hit 58 home runs. He followed up in 1933 by winning the Triple Crown with a batting average of .356, 163 RBIs, and 48 home runs. He won back-to-back MVP honors in 1932 and 1933. He became the only righthanded-hitter, and the only hitter other than Babe Ruth to have 40 or more home runs 3 consecutive years before World War II (58-1932, 48-1933, 44-1934).

Foxx was one of the three or four most feared sluggers of his era. The great Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez once said of him, "He has muscles in his hair." In 1937 Foxx hit a ball into the third deck of the left-field stands at Yankee Stadium in New York, a very rare feat because of the distance and the angle of the stands. Gomez was the pitcher who gave it up, and when asked how far it went, he said, "I don't know, but I do know it took somebody 45 minutes to go up there and get it back."

When the Great Depression fully hit in the early 1930s, A's owner Connie Mack was unable to pay the salaries of his highly paid stars and was obliged to sell off a number of them, including the great pitcher Lefty Grove. In 1936, Mack sold Foxx's contract to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000 following a contract dispute.

Foxx played six years in Boston, including a spectacular 1938 season in which he hit 50 home runs, drove in 175 runs, batted .349, won his third MVP award, and narrowly missed winning the Triple Crown. In 1939 he hit .360, his second all-time best annual batting average. His 50 home runs would remain the single-season record for the Red Sox until David Ortiz hit 54 in 2006.

Foxx's skills diminished significantly after 1941. Some sources attribute this to a drinking problem, while others attribute it to a sinus condition. He split the 1942 season between the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, playing mostly a reserve role. He sat out the 1943 season and appeared only in 15 games in 1944, mostly as a pinch hitter.

He wound up his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945 as a jack of all trades, filling in at first and third, pinch hitting, and even pitching nine games, compiling a surprising 1-0 record and 1.59 ERA over 22 2/3 innings. Interestingly, the man who was so often called the right-handed Babe Ruth throughout his career was the opposite of Ruth in this regard as well. Ruth began his big-league career as a pitcher; Foxx ended his big-league career as one.

Jimmie Foxx finished his 20-year, 2317-game career with 534 home runs, 1922 runs batted in, and a .325 batting average. He won a total of three MVP awards. His 12 consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs was a major league record broken by Barry Bonds in 2004. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951 wearing a Red Sox cap. He was elected with Mel Ott. At the end of his career, his 534 home runs placed him second only to Ruth on the all-time list, and first among right-handed hitters. He retained these positions until Willie Mays passed Foxx for 2nd place on the all-time homer list in 1966. Foxx was one of 4 players with 500 or more home runs to start and end his career with different teams in the same City (Philadelphia Athletics & Phillies). The others were Babe Ruth (Boston Red Sox and Braves), Willie Mays (New York Giants and Mets), and Hank Aaron (Milwaukee Braves and Brewers).

A series of bad investments left Foxx broke by 1958. He worked as a minor league manager and coach after his playing days ended, including managing the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan in the movie A League of Their Own was largely based on Foxx, but the producers took a number of liberties in creating the role.

Foxx died at age 59 in Miami, Florida, apparently by choking to death on a bone. He is buried at Flagler Memorial Park in Miami, Florida. A statue of Foxx was erected in his hometown on October 25, 1997.

In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Because of space limitations the Irish team, including Foxx as first baseman, was omitted.

Foxx was immortalized in the poem "Lineup for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash thus:

X is the first
Of two X's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
With his powerful soxx.


In 1999, he ranked number 15 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
• 500 home run club
• 50 home run club
• List of Major League Baseball RBI Records
• List of MLB individual streaks
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• Triple Crown

Notes and references

External links

• Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Biography at The Baseball Biography Project

Accomplishments

Preceded by Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig American League Home Run Champion 1932-1933 Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Preceded by Lou Gehrig American League RBI Champion 1932-1933 Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Preceded by Lefty Grove American League Most Valuable Player 1932, 1933 Succeeded by Mickey Cochrane Preceded by Ty Cobb American League Triple Crown 1933 Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Preceded by Dale Alexander American League Batting Champion 1933 Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Preceded by Lou Gehrig American League Home Run Champion 1935 (with Hank Greenberg) Succeeded by Lou Gehrig Preceded by Charlie Gehringer American League Most Valuable Player 1938 Succeeded by Joe DiMaggio Preceded by Charlie Gehringer American League Batting Champion 1938 Succeeded by Joe DiMaggio Preceded by Hank Greenberg American League RBI Champion 1938 Succeeded by Ted Williams Preceded by Hank Greenberg American League Home Run Champion 1939 Succeeded by Hank Greenberg

•  • [ e] 500 home run club
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