Frank McCormick Marquee

b. June 9, 1911 · Cincinnati Reds 1934, 1937–1945, Philadelphia Phillies 1946–1947, Boston Braves 1947–1948

He was 26 before Cincinnati made him a regular. There had been twelve games in 1934 and 24 in 1937, and then he led the National League in hits three years running: 209 in 1938, 209 again in 1939, and 191 in 1940. Nine other men in the record have led a league in hits three straight years.

He struck out 189 times in his career, in 5,723 at-bats. Among batters with 5,000 at-bats who began in 1920 or later, only Joe Sewell and Lloyd Waner struck out less often. In 1939 he went down sixteen times in 630 at-bats and drove in a league-leading 128 runs, and the Reds won the pennant.

In 1940 he led the league in doubles with 44 and was named Most Valuable Player, and Cincinnati won 100 games and the World Series. He was chosen for nine straight All-Star teams from 1938. He finished with 1,711 hits, 334 doubles and a .299 average across thirteen seasons, the last three of them in Philadelphia and Boston.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	9	1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946
Baseball Magazine All-Star	3	1938, 1939, 1943
Most Valuable Player	1	1940
The Sporting News All-Star	1	1940
The Sporting News Guide Most Valuable Player	1	1940

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1934	CIN	12	16	1	5	2	1	0	5	0	1	0	.313
1937	CIN	24	83	5	27	5	0	0	9	2	4	1	.325
1938	CIN	151	640	89	209	40	4	5	106	18	17	1	.327
1939	CIN	156	630	99	209	41	4	18	128	40	16	1	.332
1940	CIN	155	618	93	191	44	3	19	127	52	26	2	.309
1941	CIN	154	603	77	162	31	5	17	97	40	13	2	.269
1942	CIN	145	564	58	156	24	0	13	89	45	18	1	.277
1943	CIN	126	472	56	143	28	0	8	56	29	15	2	.303
1944	CIN	153	581	85	177	37	3	20	102	57	17	7	.305
1945	CIN	152	580	68	160	33	0	10	81	56	22	6	.276
1946	PHI	135	504	46	143	20	2	11	66	36	21	2	.284
1947	BSN/PHI	96	252	31	84	20	2	3	51	14	10	2	.333
1948	BSN	75	180	14	45	9	2	4	34	10	9	0	.250
Career	—	1534	5723	722	1711	334	26	128	951	399	189	27	.299

On this day & linked events

1911

Born June 9, 1911

New York, NY, USA

1982

Died November 21, 1982

1934

Major-league debut: Frank McCormick

Frank McCormick made a major-league debut on September 11, 1934.

1948

Final major-league game: Frank McCormick

Frank McCormick played a final major-league game on October 3, 1948.

Image: Cincinnati Reds - 1940 Team Issue, public domain