TW Hit List - Jimmie Foxx

“If you asked the baseball gods to design the perfect power hitter, they would probably just point to Jimmie Foxx and say, ‘It’s already been done.’” So says Mr. Ted Williams. There is no doubt that “Double XX” was one of greatest pure power hitters of all time. From 1929 to 1940, he averaged 40 home runs a season and hit over 100 RBI’s each year. He finished with a career 1.038 OPS and .325 batting average. Williams says nobody knew he knew hit ‘em as hard with the possible exception of Mantle, saying they sounded like cherry bombs when he hit them out. Indeed, Foxx was knows as the “Beast”, at least to opposing pitchers and there may have been no pitcher more affected than the great Lefty Gomez of the Yankees. It is said Foxx once hit a ball thrown by Gomez into the upper left-field stands of Yankee stadium so hard that the ball broke a seat in the next to last row just to the left of the bullpen area. Whether true or not, Gomez did not forget: "I was pitching one day when my glasses clouded up on me. I took them off to polish them. When I looked up to the plate, I saw Jimmie Foxx. The sight of him terrified me so much that I haven't been able to wear glasses since." When Yankee manager Joe McCarthy asked what pitch he threw him, Gomez said, "It was the greatest pitch I ever threw-for the first 60 feet.”

One of the aspects of our beloved game that separates it from the rest is its history and lore. And if Foxx could inspire such fear in a pitcher of Gomez’ caliber, we should be remiss not to include another tale. In a key situation, Gomez shook off the first sign from catcher Bill Dickey. He continued to shake off Dickey’s signs until Dickey called time and strode to the mound. "I've gone through every pitch you have! What do you want to throw to him?" he demanded. "Nothing," said Gomez. "I figure if I wait a while, maybe he’ll get a phone call.”

When he retired, he only trailed Ruth for all-time home runs. But Foxx said he did not go after home runs. “But if I had broken Ruth's record, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Oh, it might have put a few more dollars in my pocket, but there was only one Ruth.” Interestingly, his first home run came against the Yankees during a double-header in which Ruth homered in both games. But the farmhand from Maryland who was known by his Red Sox teammates as a low-ball hitter and a high-ball drinker, deservedly cemented his own place in baseball history.