In ’51, Marion did not play, guiding the Redbirds to a 3rd place finish as he concentrated solely on his managerial duties.
247 in 106 games, the 32-year old Marion was asked to manage the Cardinals, taking over for Eddie Dyer. 357 in his only loss in the Fall Classic, in 1943.Īfter the 1950 season, in which he hit. He performed pretty well in the World Series, driving in 11 runs in 23 games and batting. They were the best team in baseball during the World War II years, and Marion was one of their stars. The Cardinals won four pennants in a five-year stretch with Marion in the middle of the infield.
#Hall of fame shortstop full
Marion received MVP votes in seven of his 11 full seasons. 250-270 with 5-10 homers and finish high in MVP tallying if they were considered good with the glove and their team won (it happened every year). Back then, the importance of a shortstop was seen as critical to success. Like many other shortstops of his era who played on winning clubs, Marion received MVP consideration nearly every season. He was a #8 or #7 hitter his entire career, even in 1944 when he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award while hitting. He was a low-average hitter who didn’t walk much and only hit 36 homers in his entire 13-year career – or about 4-5 months worth for a slugger. He once led the NL in doubles and he paced the league in sacrifice hits twice, but besides that he never sniffed the air of the league leaders with the stick. Marion was never a very good hitter – in fact he was well below average during his career. Both Maz and the Wizard of Oz are in the Hall of Fame based almost solely on their defensive ability, and if Marty is to earn a plaque in Cooperstown that will also have to be the route he takes. Modern statistical analysis continues to shine a light on the importance of defensive play, and Marion stands out among players at his position, as Bill Mazeroski did at second and Ozzie Smith did at shortstop. Shortstop,” which summed up his brilliance at the position.ĭue to that excellence in the field, Marion has another shot at the Hall of Fame (he’s appeared on the ballot before), but this time he may have as strong a case as he’s ever had.
But the nickname that was he most coveted was simply, “Mr. Marty was also dubbed “Slats” due to his wiry, pencil-thin, 6’2, 175-pound frame. Perhaps Marion wasn’t human – one of the nicknames his teammates bestowed upon him was “The Octopus” due to his long reach and the way he seemed to have eight arms while gobbling up groundballs. “The guy isn’t human,” Pirates manager Frankie Frisch complained. Within four years he was starting at short for the Redbirds and earning rave reviews around the National League. But when his high school teammate inked a contract, Marty was convinced that he too might want to give the National Pastime a whirl. Marion’s goal was to be a mechanical draftsman. After being spotted at the tryout by the Cardinals scouts, he was offered a deal based on his stellar play in the field, but Marty didn’t want to forego his college plans. But he had to be coaxed into signing that first contract in 1936. Gold Gloves were not awarded in Marion’s time, but had they been he surely would have won at least seven or eight of them. “When I was one the mound with Marty behind me,” Cardinals pitcher Murry Dickson said, ” I knew that if the ball was hit on the ground to my right, he was going to get his glove on it.” Though he looked like he wouldn’t be a good fit for the position, in fact he developed into the best defensive shortstop of his era. But Marion was one of the first of a new breed of shortstops who emerged in the late 1930s and 1940s.
In fact Scooter and Pee Wee and Rabbit were names given to famous shortstops in that mold. For most of baseball history, shortstops had been small men who scooted around the infield. He looked like the guy who should be counting the ticket sales, not the guy who was responsible for fielding hard-hit grounders in the middle of the diamond. Marion never looked like a shortstop – he was tall and skinny with bony elbows and knees. If neither of those things happen, we aren’t discussing the Hall of Fame merits of Marion, who went on to star for the Cardinals in the 1940s. And if it hadn’t been for that same friend being signed to a minor league deal, the 17-year old Marion probably never would have penned his name on a contract. If it hadn’t been for a sense of loyalty to one of his best friends in high school, Marty Marion probably never would have went to an open tryout held by the St.
#Hall of fame shortstop series
This is the fourth in a ten-part series looking at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Pre-Integration Era Ballot.
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