Bob Meusel

] The Yankees reached the World Series for the third year in a row, playing the Cardinals in a rematch from two years previously. In Game 1 of the Series, Meusel hit the only home run in his World Series career as the Yankees won the game and went on to sweep the series 4–0.cite news|author=Ray Corio|title=Question Box|work=The New York Times|page=C11|date=October 13 1986|accessdate=2007-08-06]

Prior to the start of the by|1930 season, the Yankees sold Meusel to the Cincinnati Reds, and he played in 110 games, hitting .289 with 10 home runs and 69 runs batted in. The Reds released Meusel after the season, and he went on to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association where he played the by|1931 season, hitting .283.cite web|url=http://stewthornley.net/notable.html|accessdate=2007-07-31|title=Notable Minneapolis Millers|author=Stew Thorley] He went back to the Pacific Coast League in by|1932, where he played 64 games with the Hollywood Stars, batting .329 with four home runs before retiring.cite book |title=The Pacific Coast League: A Statistical History, 1903-1957|author=Dennis Snelling|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=0786400455|pages=p. 210]

Meusel's major league career ended with 368 doubles, 94 triples, 156 home runs, a .497 slugging percentage, 1,067 runs batted in, 826 runs scored and 140 stolen bases. Most of his various Yankee career records for right-handed hitters were broken by Tony Lazzeri in the mid-1930s; Joe DiMaggio broke his marks for batting average, slugging average and doubles in the late 1940s.

Retirement

After retiring from baseball, Meusel worked as a security guard at a US Navy base for 15 years. He was in attendance when his former teammate Lou Gehrig made his famous "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech on July 4, by|1939.cite book |title=A Legend in the Making, The New York Yankees in 1939|author=Richard Tofel|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|isbn=1-56663-411-3 |pages=p. 138] He also appeared in the 1942 film "The Pride of the Yankees", as well as the 1948 film "The Babe Ruth Story", playing himself in a cameo role on both occasions.

Meusel died of natural causes at his home in Downey, California in 1977, and was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.

Legacy

Meusel received the most recognition for being a member of the "Murderers' Row" teams of the mid-1920s, which included Ruth, Gehrig, second baseman Tony Lazzeri and center fielder Earle Combs. He shares the record for the most times hitting for the cycle with three, tying the mark set by Long John Reilly in 1890; Babe Herman later tied the mark in 1933. Meusel had one of the strongest arms of the era; in his obituary, "The New York Times" called his throwing arm "deadly accurate". Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel, who played on the 1921 through 1923 Giants teams, said that he had never seen a better thrower.

Harvey Frommer described Meusel as a heavy drinker and womanizer who did not get along with his teammates. His manager Miller Huggins called him "indifferent". cite book |title=A Yankees Century, A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team|author=Harvey Frommer|publisher=The Berkley Publishing Group|isbn=0-425-18617-2|pages=p. 196] He was quiet and reserved, rarely giving newspaper interviews until his career was winding down.cite book |title=A Farewell to Heroes|author=Frank Graham|publisher=Southern Illinois Univ Press|isbn=0809324911|pages=p. 207] He was also known for his lazy attitude, such as refusing to run out ground balls, which many said kept him from achieving greatness. [Eig: p. 95.] Regularly among the league leaders in strikeouts, his 24 career strikeouts in the World Series were a record for right-handed hitters until Yankees Hank Bauer and Gil McDougald surpassed it in 1958.

Meusel was considered for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by its Veterans Committee in 1982, but the committee instead selected former commissioner Happy Chandler and former Giants shortstop Travis Jackson in its balloting.cite news|author=Joseph Durso|title=Chandler, Jackson to join Hall|work=The New York Times|page=B18|date=March 11 1982|accessdate=2007-08-06]

ee also

*List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
*List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
*List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
*List of Major League Baseball home run champions

Notes

External links

* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Bob_Meusel_1896 BaseballLibrary] - profile, career highlights and [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/sabr/tbi/M/Meusel_Bob.tbi.stm SABR bibliography]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041103085154/http://www.thejournalnews.com/100yanks/yankmeusel.html "The Journal News": Greatest Yankees] at the Internet Archive

Persondata
NAME = Meusel, Robert William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Meusel, Bob
SHORT DESCRIPTION = American baseballer
DATE OF BIRTH = 19 July 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH = San Jose, California
DATE OF DEATH = 28 November 1977
PLACE OF DEATH = Downey, California