Down Memory Lane with the Foxx Family
By David Jordan
In the summer of 1924, Connie Mack purchased from the Easton club of the Eastern Shore League the contract of a broad-shouldered, muscular 16-year-old catcher named Jimmie Foxx. Foxx, a farm boy from Sudlersville, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, was recommended to Mack by his former Hall of Fame third baseman, Frank “Home Run” Baker, who managed the Easton team.
The young man needed further minor league seasoning in 1925 and was used sparingly by the Athletics in 1926, with Mickey Cochrane handling most of their catching. In 1927, Foxx was moved to first base and by 1928 was a regular at the position. It was not long before he became a consistent .300 hitter and a long-ball slugger of note. Jimmie Foxx was one of the stars of the great A’s pennant-winners of 1929, 1930, and 1931, averaging more than 33 home runs a year, and he batted .344 in the three World Series in which he played. By 1932, Foxx was established as the top right handed hitter in baseball, and his 58 home runs and 169 runs batted in led to his selection that year as the American League’s Most Valuable Player. The following year, Foxx won the AL Triple Crown, adding a batting title to his HR and RBI championships, and repeated as the league’s Most Valuable Player. After two more superb seasons and another home run title, Mr. Mack traded Foxx to the Boston Red Sox for a couple of players and $150,000 much-needed cash.
With Boston from 1936 to 1942, Jimmie Foxx retained his status as one of the American League’s most feared sluggers, hitting fifty homers in 1938 (picking up another MVP trophy that season) and leading the league with 35 home runs the next season.
In 1942, Foxx, in his eighteenth big league season and nearing the end of his career,was sold to the Chicago Cubs. He was out of baseball in 1943, returned briefly to the Cubs as a player-coach in 1944, and managed the Portsmouth team in the Piedmont League late in the season. In 1945, Jimmie returned to Philadelphia as a part-time player, pinch-hitter, and pitcher for the Phillies. It was the end of the line for the great right handed slugger. He managed and coached for several minor league clubs and a club in women’s baseball, was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1951, and died in 1967 in Miami. Old time Philadelphia fans remember Jimmie Foxx as one of the very best.
