Hal Trosky: A Baseball Biography

by William H. Johnson

Overview

Hal Trosky played first base (and was team captain) for the Cleveland Indians during the Great Depression. His career stretched from the heyday of Babe Ruth through the end of World War II. It was a time when the American League had perhaps the three greatest ever first basemen—Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg—whose feats consigned Trosky to the footnotes of history. Yet at his peak he played comparably to other pros, leading the American League in RBIs in 1936.

Trosky left baseball at 34, his career cut short by migraine headaches, and was elected to the Indians' All-Time team in 1969. Drawing on family archives and exhaustive research, this first ever biography covers his early years in Iowa, his Major League career and his post-baseball life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476666457
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	03/06/2017
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

SABR member William H. Johnson is a retired naval flight officer. He has coauthored a book, and written an array of newspaper and magazine articles, on the story of baseball in eastern Iowa. He lives in Shalimar, Florida.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Baseball Beginnings
2. Welcome to Cleveland
3. Rookie
4. Sophomore Slump
5. At the Apex
6. Years of Stability
7. Disaster
8. Cleveland Sunset
9. White Sox Years
Appendix: Trosky’s Memorable Games
Trosky Meets the Babe—September 17, 1933
Trosky’s First Big Game—May 30, 1934
Trosky Switches Sides—September 15, 1935
Nine Consecutive Hits—September 13–16, 1936
Playing for the Pennant—September 27, 1940
Trosky’s Final Game—September 27, 1946
Career Statistics
A Note on Sources
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

exceptionally informative...recommended”—Midwest Book Review; “Johnson brings to readers the successes and setbacks of a potential Hall of Famer, first baseman Hal Trosky, who excelled for the Cleveland Indians during the Great Depression, when he was compared with the likes of Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. Johnson carefully portrays Trosky’s baseball career, including the down periods when the slugger suffered from migraine headaches and when he led the Tribe through the 1940 ‘Cry Baby Rebellion’ against manager Oscar Vitt. Readers will enjoy this most interesting period in the Tribe’s history and Trosky’s role as the team’s captain.”—James E. Odenkirk, Tribes and Tribulations: The Early Decades of the Cleveland Indians.

From the Publisher