 JOE GORDON RECEIVES A LONG OVERDUE ELECTION TO BASEBALL'S HALL OF FAME
He began his career in the shadow of such luminous stars as Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, yet Joe Gordon was a star in his own right, even if he was the second-most famous "Joe" on his own team. Gordon, nicknamed "Flash" because of sci-fi hero Flash Gordon, lived up to that nickname with defensive excellence that was sometimes overshadowed by his feats with the bat. Gordon passed away in 1978 but received a long overdue honor last week when the Veteran's Committee named him as its only choice for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2009. A native of Los Angeles, Gordon began his professional career as so many of his fellow Californians did in the 1930s, by playing in the Pacific Coast League. Joe joined the Oakland Oaks as a shortstop in 1936 and had himself a fine first season as a pro, hitting .300 with 33 doubles, 4 triples and 6 home runs. He also made 42 errors in 136 games at shortstop. Two moves - one geographic and the other on the baseball diamond, would put Gordon on the road to baseball immortality.
The New York Yankees, who had a minor league agreement with the Oaks, sent Gordon to the International League's Newark Bears for the 1937 season. The 1937 Newark Bears destroyed their International League competition, going down in history as one of the best teams ever. The team won 109 games, losing just 43 for a .717 winning percentage and finished 25 games ahead of second-place Montreal. The Bears also trounced their opposition in the postseason, defeating both Syracuse and Baltimore in four straight. In the "Little World Series" between the IL and American Association champions, the Bears fell behind three-nothing to Columbus before roaring back to take four straight and win in dramatic fashion. The Bears lineup was fearsome, featuring league batting champion Charlie "King Kong" Keller (.353), third baseman Babe Dahlgren (.340), first baseman George McQuinn (.330, 21 HR), catcher Willard Hershberger (.325), outfielder Bob Seeds (.305, 20 HR) and a 22-year-old transplanted shortstop at second base - Joe Gordon. It was with Newark that Gordon first showed the world his complete, well-rounded game. Gordon hit .280, but his power numbers shot up dramatically as he belted 33 doubles, 6 triples and 26 home runs, driving in 89 runs and scoring 109. The next year it was no surprise that Gordon was promoted to the big club in the Bronx. Leaving Keller behind in Newark for one more season, Gordon joined Joe McCarthy's New York Yankees in the midst of one of their patented dynastic runs, one that saw them reel off four straight World Championships from 1936 to 1939. The Yankees featured a fearsome lineup with the legendary Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe, Tommy Henrich and another Joe - DiMaggio at the heart of the order. The pitching was none too shabby either with Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing anchoring a staff that would combine for a league-best 3.91 earned run average. Gordon showed immediately that he belonged with the Bronx Bombers. Picking right up where he had left off in 1937, Gordon drove in 97 runs with 25 home runs while showing steady improvement afield. His batting average was a disappointing .255 and he struck out 75 times, but at age 23 - and playing in the middle infield - he was on the road to stardom. In 1939, the last of the four straight titles for McCarthy's Yanks, Gordon improved to a .284 average and cracked 28 homers while driving in 117 runs, helping to pick up the offense missing when Lou Gehrig fell fatally ill and was forced to retire. Gordon showed consistency in 1940 and '41, hitting .281 and .276 with 28 and 30 home runs. In 1942, Gordon had possibly his best season as a Yankee, winning the American League's Most Valuable Player Award with a .322 average, 18 home runs and 103 runs batted in. He also teamed with Phil Rizzuto to give the Yanks the league's most potent double-play combination. Gordon's win in the MVP vote was a bit controversial, though; seems there was a fellow in Boston named Williams who just happened to win the Triple Crown. He was no darling of the writers however, and finished second. After winning the MVP, Gordon opined that he'd be in the Navy come spring. There was a war on, after all. It turned out that he was a bit premature - 1943 saw him in uniform all right, but it was the pinstripes of the Yankees again. He had a somewhat disappointing follow-up to that MVP season, hitting just .249 with 17 homers and 69 runs batted in. But if it was guilt at not participating in the war effort that caused his down season, Gordon mitigated it by signing on for military service after the season and spent the 1944 and 1945 seasons serving his country. When Joe Gordon returned to the Yankees for the 1946 season he found it to be - as it was for many returning vets - difficult to get back into the swing of things. Gordon posted the worst season of his career, hitting just .210 with 11 homers and 47 RBIs in 112 games. It would be his last season as a Yankee. On October 11, Yankee GM Larry MacPhail dealt Gordon to the Cleveland Indians for fireballing right-hander Allie Reynolds. It was a deal which would work out well for both parties. Joe Gordon found working for Bill Veeck, Cleveland's owner-cum-showman, to be very fine indeed. In 1947, Gordon bounced back from his postwar lethargy and raised his batting average to .272 and also proved he could still swat the long ball, going yard 29 times. The Tribe finished 80-74 in '47, good for fourth in the league (the Yankees won the pennant), but Veeck had assembled the core of a great team. The pitching featured a pair of Bobs - Feller & Lemon (both destined for Cooperstown) while the lineup included shortstop-manager Lou Boudreau, Ken Keltner (famous for almost single-handedly snapping DiMaggio's hit streak in '41), Dale Mitchell, Hank Edwards and a 23-year-old who made a brief appearance with the big club named Larry Doby. As the opening of the 1948 season approached, most baseball fans were expecting the Yankees or Red Sox to battle for the pennant (they had finished 1-2 the previous two seasons) and few saw Cleveland as much of a threat. But the Tribe was for real. Rookie Gene Bearden and Bob Lemon each fashioned 20-win seasons, Feller still had enough fire in his right arm to win 19 himself and Veeck had pulled off a publicity stunt that turned out to be a benefit by adding Negro League legend Satchel Paige to the bullpen. The lineup was deep and potent as well, with Gordon leading the club in homers (32) and runs batted in (124) while providing stellar defense at the keystone, double-play partner Boudreau hit .355 and won MVP honors, Ken Keltner belted 31 home runs, and rookie outfielder Larry Doby hitting .301 and providing great defense. Still, with all that firepower and pitching, the Indians found themselves tied with the Red Sox when the sun set on the last day of the regular season - both were 96-58 (and with the third-place Yankees sitting at 94-60 the AL was very top heavy in '48). A one-game winner-take-all playoff was set up at Fenway Park. The Tribe won the game 8-3 to clinch their first pennant since 1920 and set up a World Series confrontation with the other Boston team - the Braves. The Braves featured the dynamic pitching duo of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain - the famed subjects of the "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" refrain heard around the Hub in those days. Unfortunately for Boston, the Indians could not only match Spahn & Sain, they had a trio of top-notch hurlers in Feller, Lemon and Bearden. The Indians triumphed in six games, and sixty years later at the time of this writing, this remains the last championship for the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately for Gordon, he did not have a particularly good Series, batting just .182, though his home run off Bill Voiselle in the sixth inning of the final game put the Tribe on top to stay. Joe would play two more seasons with Cleveland. In 1949 he hit .251 and his home run output dropped to 20. His skills continued to decline in 1950, when he hit just .236 and connected for 19 homers. He did not return to Cleveland in 1951, electing instead to go back to the Pacific Coast League, where he finished off his career with two final seasons near his California home. He had an outstanding campaign in the PCL in 1951, hitting 43 home runs and batting .299 for the Sacramento Solons, but that was Joe's last good season. In 1952 with the Solons, Gordon's average fell to .246 and he managed a mere 16 home runs. At the age of 37, Joe Gordon called it quits. He'd go on to manage the Indians, Tigers, A's and Royals, posting a 305-308 composite record as a skipper. What Gordon will be best remembered for was for becoming the first power-hitting second baseman. He retired as the all-time leader in home runs by a second baseman in the American League with 253 - and that record still stands, nearly sixty years after he last stepped onto a big league field. Congrats Joe on an honor long past due. |
