Rick Ferrell Marquee Hall of Fame 1984

b. October 12, 1905 · St. Louis Browns 1929–1933, 1941–1943, Boston Red Sox 1933–1937, Washington Senators 1937–1941, 1944–1945, 1947

He was the American League's catcher in the first All-Star Game, in 1933, and was picked eight times in all. Over eighteen seasons for the Browns, the Red Sox and the Senators he batted .281 with 1,692 hits and 734 runs batted in. His best year with a bat was 1932, at .315; he never hit more than eight home runs in a season.

Washington built a wartime rotation on the knuckleball and handed it to him. Dutch Leonard, Roger Wolff, Mickey Haefner and Johnny Niggeling each started twenty-five games or more in 1945. He finished with 1,806 games caught, the American League record until Carlton Fisk passed it in 1988.

His brother Wes was a pitcher in the same league at the same time, won 193 games and hit 38 home runs, ten more than Rick hit in eighteen years. The writers gave Rick one vote in each of the three years he appeared on their ballot. The Veterans Committee elected him in 1984.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	8	1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1944, 1945

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1929	SLB	64	144	21	33	6	1	0	20	32	10	1	.229
1930	SLB	101	314	43	84	18	4	1	41	46	10	1	.268
1931	SLB	117	386	47	118	30	4	3	57	56	12	2	.306
1932	SLB	126	438	67	138	30	5	2	65	66	18	5	.315
1933	BOS/SLB	140	493	58	143	21	4	4	77	70	23	4	.290
1934	BOS	132	437	50	130	29	4	1	48	66	20	0	.297
1935	BOS	133	458	54	138	34	4	3	61	65	15	5	.301
1936	BOS	121	410	59	128	27	5	8	55	65	17	0	.312
1937	BOS/WSH	104	344	39	84	8	0	2	36	65	22	1	.244
1938	WSH	135	411	55	120	24	5	1	58	75	17	1	.292
1939	WSH	87	274	32	77	13	1	0	31	41	12	1	.281
1940	WSH	103	326	35	89	18	2	0	28	47	15	1	.273
1941	SLB/WSH	121	387	38	99	19	3	2	36	67	26	3	.256
1942	SLB	99	273	20	61	6	1	0	26	33	13	0	.223
1943	SLB	74	209	12	50	7	0	0	20	34	14	0	.239
1944	WSH	99	339	14	94	11	1	0	25	46	13	2	.277
1945	WSH	91	286	33	76	12	1	1	38	43	13	2	.266
1947	WSH	37	99	10	30	11	0	0	12	14	7	0	.303
Career	—	1884	6028	687	1692	324	45	28	734	931	277	29	.281

On this day & linked events

1905

Born October 12, 1905

Durham, NC, USA

1995

Died July 27, 1995

1929

Major-league debut: Rick Ferrell

Rick Ferrell made a major-league debut on April 19, 1929.

1947

Final major-league game: Rick Ferrell

Rick Ferrell played a final major-league game on September 14, 1947.

Image: Goudey, public domain