Vic Wertz Marquee

b. February 9, 1925 · Detroit Tigers 1947–1952, 1961–1963, St. Louis Browns 1952–1953, Baltimore Orioles 1954, Cleveland Indians 1954–1958, Boston Red Sox 1959–1961, Minnesota Twins 1963

In the first game of the 1954 World Series he hit a ball 420 feet to center field at the Polo Grounds and Willie Mays caught it over his shoulder with his back to the plate. The catch is the most famous defensive play the game has, and Wertz is the man on the other end of it, which is a strange thing to be known for by someone who drove in 133 runs in a season.

Polio was diagnosed in the summer of 1955 and cost him most of that year. He came back in 1956 to hit 32 home runs and drive in 106 for Cleveland, and 28 more the following season. Seventeen seasons gave him 1,692 hits, 266 home runs, 1,178 runs batted in and a .277 average, with four All-Star selections.

He had four hits in that first game against the Giants, and the ball Mays caught was not one of them. Cleveland lost the Series in four. Nine writers' ballots gave him no more than five votes. He died in 1983, at fifty-eight.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	4	1949, 1951, 1952, 1957
Baseball Magazine All-Star	2	1949, 1950

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1947	DET	102	333	60	96	22	4	6	44	47	66	2	.288
1948	DET	119	391	49	97	19	9	7	67	48	70	0	.248
1949	DET	155	608	96	185	26	6	20	133	80	61	2	.304
1950	DET	149	559	99	172	37	4	27	123	91	55	0	.308
1951	DET	138	501	86	143	24	4	27	94	78	61	0	.285
1952	DET/SLB	122	415	68	115	20	3	23	70	69	64	1	.277
1953	SLB	128	440	61	118	18	6	19	70	72	44	1	.268
1954	BAL/CLE	123	389	38	100	15	2	15	61	45	57	0	.257
1955	CLE	74	257	30	65	11	2	14	55	32	33	1	.253
1956	CLE	136	481	65	127	22	0	32	106	75	87	0	.264
1957	CLE	144	515	84	145	21	0	28	105	78	88	2	.282
1958	CLE	25	43	5	12	1	0	3	12	5	7	0	.279
1959	BOS	94	247	38	68	13	0	7	49	22	32	0	.275
1960	BOS	131	443	45	125	22	0	19	103	37	54	0	.282
1961	BOS/DET	107	323	33	84	16	2	11	61	38	44	0	.260
1962	DET	74	105	7	34	2	0	5	18	5	13	0	.324
1963	DET/MIN	41	49	3	6	0	0	3	7	6	6	0	.122
Career	—	1862	6099	867	1692	289	42	266	1178	828	842	9	.277

On this day & linked events

1925

Born February 9, 1925

York, PA, USA

1983

Died July 7, 1983

1947

Major-league debut: Vic Wertz

Vic Wertz made a major-league debut on April 15, 1947.

1947

Vic Wertz Hits for the Cycle, 1947

Vic Wertz hit for the cycle for the Detroit Tigers against the Washington Senators on September 14, 1947.

1959

Pumpsie Green Breaks the Red Sox's Color Line

Elijah "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first Black player to appear for the Boston Red Sox, the last major league team to integrate, more than twelve years after Jackie Robinson's debut.

1963

Final major-league game: Vic Wertz

Vic Wertz played a final major-league game on September 19, 1963.

Image: Bowman Gum, public domain