1904
Born October 5, 1904
Longview, TX, USA
Sam West Marquee
b. October 5, 1904 · Washington Senators 1927–1932, 1938–1941, St. Louis Browns 1933–1938, Chicago White Sox 1942
He hit .333 in 1931 and .300 or better in seven seasons, finishing at .299 with 1,838 hits, 347 doubles, 101 triples and 696 walks. He was chosen for four All-Star teams in the 1930s, when there were sixteen clubs and one team per league.
Sixteen seasons were divided between Washington and the St. Louis Browns, and he played center field for both about as well as anyone in the league — the fielding is what the writers of the period wrote about, and the numbers that survive support them.
Washington traded him to St. Louis in 1933 in a five-player deal and traded to get him back in 1938. He was thirty-seven when he stopped. The 1948 ballot gave him one vote of 121. He died in 1985, at eighty-one.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 4 | 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937 |
| Baseball Magazine All-Star | 2 | 1933, 1934 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | WSH | 38 | 67 | 9 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 1 | .239 |
| 1928 | WSH | 125 | 378 | 59 | 114 | 30 | 7 | 3 | 40 | 20 | 23 | 5 | .302 |
| 1929 | WSH | 142 | 510 | 60 | 136 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 75 | 45 | 41 | 9 | .267 |
| 1930 | WSH | 120 | 411 | 75 | 135 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 67 | 37 | 34 | 5 | .328 |
| 1931 | WSH | 132 | 526 | 77 | 175 | 43 | 13 | 3 | 91 | 30 | 37 | 6 | .333 |
| 1932 | WSH | 146 | 554 | 88 | 159 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 83 | 48 | 57 | 4 | .287 |
| 1933 | SLB | 133 | 517 | 93 | 155 | 25 | 12 | 11 | 48 | 59 | 49 | 10 | .300 |
| 1934 | SLB | 122 | 482 | 90 | 157 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 55 | 62 | 55 | 3 | .326 |
| 1935 | SLB | 138 | 527 | 93 | 158 | 37 | 4 | 10 | 70 | 75 | 46 | 1 | .300 |
| 1936 | SLB | 152 | 533 | 78 | 148 | 26 | 4 | 7 | 70 | 94 | 70 | 2 | .278 |
| 1937 | SLB | 122 | 457 | 68 | 150 | 37 | 4 | 7 | 58 | 46 | 28 | 1 | .328 |
| 1938 | SLB/WSH | 136 | 509 | 68 | 155 | 27 | 7 | 6 | 74 | 47 | 30 | 2 | .305 |
| 1939 | WSH | 115 | 390 | 52 | 110 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 52 | 67 | 29 | 1 | .282 |
| 1940 | WSH | 57 | 99 | 7 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 0 | .253 |
| 1941 | WSH | 26 | 37 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 | .270 |
| 1942 | CHW | 49 | 151 | 14 | 35 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 31 | 18 | 2 | .232 |
| Career | — | 1753 | 6148 | 934 | 1838 | 347 | 101 | 75 | 838 | 696 | 540 | 53 | .299 |
On this day & linked events
1985
Died November 23, 1985
1927
Major-league debut: Sam West
Sam West made a major-league debut on April 17, 1927.
1942
Final major-league game: Sam West
Sam West played a final major-league game on September 24, 1942.
Image: Goudey, public domain