Billy Herman

William Jennings Bryan "Billy" Herman (July 7, 1909 – September 5, 1992) was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1930s and 1940s. He was known for his stellar defense and consistent batting. He still holds many National League (NL) defensive records for second basemen.

Biography

Early life

Born in New Albany, Indiana, in 1909, Herman attended New Albany High School.

Baseball career

Herman broke into the majors in 1931 with the Chicago Cubs and asserted himself as a star the following season, 1932, by hitting .314 and scoring 102 runs. His first at-bat was memorable. Facing Cincinnati Reds pitcher Si Johnson, Herman chopped a pitch into the back of home plate, which then bounced up and hit Herman in the back of the head, knocking him out.^[1] A fixture in the Chicago lineup over the next decade, Herman was a consistent hitter and solid producer. He regularly hit .300 or higher (and as high as .341 in 1935) and drove in a high of 93 runs in 1936.

After a sub-standard offensive year in 1940, Herman was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941. He had one of his finest offensive season in 1943, when he batted .330 with a .398 on-base percentage and 100 runs driven in.

Herman missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons to serve in World War II, but returned to play in 1946 with the Dodgers and Boston Braves (after being traded mid-season). At 37, he was considered prime managerial material by the new owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates. On September 30, 1946, Herman was traded to Pittsburgh with three marginal players (outfielder Stan Wentzel, pitcher Elmer Singleton and infielder Whitey Wietelmann) for third baseman Bob Elliott and catcher Hank Camelli. Herman was promptly named playing manager of the 1947 Pirates, but he was aghast at the cost—Elliott—the Pirates had paid for him. "Why, they've gone and traded the whole team on me", he said.^[2] Elliott won the 1947 NL Most Valuable Player award and led Boston to the 1948 National League pennant. Herman's 1947 Pirates lost 92 games and finished tied for seventh in the NL, and he resigned before the season's final game. (His last appearance as a Major League player was on August 1 of that year.)

Herman then managed in the minor leagues and became a Major League coach with the Dodgers (1952–57) and Braves (now based in Milwaukee) (1958–59)—serving on five National League pennant winners in eight seasons. Then he moved to the American League (AL) as the third-base coach of the Boston Red Sox for five years (1960–64), before managing the Red Sox to lackluster records in 1965 and 1966; his 1965 Boston club lost 100 games. After his firing by the Red Sox in September 1966, he coached for the California Angels (1967) and San Diego Padres (1978–79) and served in player development roles with the Oakland Athletics and the Padres.

Herman finished his career with a .304 batting average, 1163 runs scored, 47 home runs, 839 RBI, and 428 strikeouts. He won four NL pennants (in 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1941) but no World Series championships as a player (although he was a coach on the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers). His record as a Major League manager was 189-274 (.408). Herman holds the NL records for most putouts in a season by a second baseman and led the league in putouts seven times. He also shares the Major League record for most hits on opening day, with five, set April 14, 1936.

Later life

Herman moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida in 1968. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. He died of cancer in 1992.^[3]

Personal

Herman's granddaughter is Cheri Daniels, wife of former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.^[4]

References

↑ Mackin, Bob, "The Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records", Greystone Books, 2004.
↑ Boston Braves Historical Association Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 3, Autumn 2010
↑ "Billy Herman, 83; Ex-Cub and Dodger Was Hall of Famer". The New York Times. September 7, 1992. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
↑ Indiana First Lady bio

External links

Billy Herman at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Billy Herman managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com

Billy Herman at Find a Grave

Sporting positions
Preceded by Connie Ryan	Milwaukee Braves third-base coach 1958–1959	Succeeded by George Myatt
Preceded by Billy Jurges	Boston Red Sox third-base coach 1960–1964	Succeeded by Billy Gardner
Preceded by Salty Parker	California Angels third-base coach 1967	Succeeded by Rocky Bridges

Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 World Series Champions

1 Pee Wee Reese 4 Duke Snider 6 Carl Furillo 8 George Shuba 10 Rube Walker 12 Frank Kellert 14 Gil Hodges 15 Sandy Amorós 17 Carl Erskine 18 Jim Hughes 19 Jim Gilliam 23 Don Zimmer 30 Billy Loes 32 Sandy Koufax 34 Russ Meyer 36 Don Newcombe 37 Ed Roebuck 39 Roy Campanella 40 Roger Craig 41 Clem Labine 42 Jackie Robinson 43 Don Hoak 45 Johnny Podres (World Series MVP) 46 Don Bessent 48 Karl Spooner 54 Dixie Howell

Manager 24 Walter Alston Coaches 22 Billy Herman 31 Jake Pitler 33 Joe Becker

Regular season Rivalry Subway Series

Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1975

BBWAA Vote	Ralph Kiner (75.4%)

Veterans Committee	Earl Averill Bucky Harris Billy Herman

Negro League Committee	Judy Johnson

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	John Carmichael James Isaminger

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Cummings Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young

Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Piazza Santop Schalk D. White

First basemen	Anson Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas

Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Grant Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst

Third basemen	Baker Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Santo Schmidt Traynor J. Wilson

Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Outfielders	Aaron Ashburn Averill Bell Brock W. Brown Burkett Carey Charleston Clarke Clemente Cobb Combs Crawford Cuyler Dawson Delahanty DiMaggio Doby Duffy Flick Goslin Griffey Gwynn Hafey Hamilton Heilmann Henderson Hill Hooper Irvin R. Jackson Kaline Keeler Kelley K. Kelly Kiner Klein Mantle Manush Mays McCarthy Medwick Musial O'Rourke Ott Puckett J. Rice S. Rice F. Robinson Roush Ruth Simmons Slaughter Snider Speaker Stargell Stearnes Thompson Torriente L. Waner P. Waner Wheat B. Williams T. Williams H. Wilson Winfield Yastrzemski Youngs

Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda López Mack McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams

Executives / pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Dreyfuss R. Foster Frick Giles Gillick Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley O'Malley Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey

Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

Pittsburgh Pirates managers

Al Pratt (1882–1883)
Ormond Butler (1883)
Joe Battin (1883–1884)
Denny McKnight (1884)
Bob Ferguson (1884)
George Creamer (1884)
Horace Phillips (1885–1889)
Fred Dunlap (1889)
Ned Hanlon (1889)
Guy Hecker (1890)
Bill McGunnigle (1891)
Ned Hanlon (1891)
Tom Burns (1892)
Al Buckenberger (1892–1894)
Connie Mack (1894–1896)
Patsy Donovan (1897)
Bill Watkins (1898–1899)
Patsy Donovan (1899)
Fred Clarke (1900–1915)
Nixey Callahan (1916–1917)
Honus Wagner (1917)
Hugo Bezdek (1917–1919)
George Gibson (1920–1922)
Bill McKechnie (1922–1926)
Donie Bush (1927–1929)
Jewel Ens (1929–1931)
George Gibson (1932–1934)
Pie Traynor (1934–1939)
Frankie Frisch (1940–1946)
Spud Davis (1946)
Billy Herman (1947)
Bill Burwell (1947)
Billy Meyer (1948–1952)
Fred Haney (1953–1955)
Bobby Bragan (1956–1957)
Danny Murtaugh (1957–1964)
Harry Walker (1965–1967)
Danny Murtaugh (1967)
Larry Shepard (1968–1969)
Alex Grammas (1969)
Danny Murtaugh (1970–1971)
Bill Virdon (1972–1973)
Danny Murtaugh (1973–1976)
Chuck Tanner (1977–1985)
Jim Leyland (1986–1996)
Gene Lamont (1997–2000)
Lloyd McClendon (2001–2005)
Pete Mackanin (2005)
Jim Tracy (2006–2007)
John Russell (2008–2010)
Clint Hurdle (2011–)

Boston Red Sox managers

Jimmy Collins (1901–1906)
Chick Stahl (1906)
Cy Young (1907)
Bob Unglaub (1907)
George Huff (1907)
Deacon McGuire (1907–1908)
Fred Lake (1908–1909)
Patsy Donovan (1910–1911)
Jake Stahl (1912–1913)
Bill Carrigan (1913–1916)
Jack Barry (1917)
Ed Barrow (1918–1920)
Hugh Duffy (1921–1922)
Frank Chance (1923)
Lee Fohl (1924–1926)
Bill Carrigan (1927–1929)
Heinie Wagner (1930)
Shano Collins (1931–1932)
Marty McManus (1932–1933)
Bucky Harris (1934)
Joe Cronin (1935–1947)
Joe McCarthy (1948–1950)
Steve O'Neill (1950–1951)
Lou Boudreau (1952–1954)
Pinky Higgins (1955–1959)
Rudy York (1959)
Billy Jurges (1959–1960)
Del Baker (1960)
Pinky Higgins (1960–1962)
Johnny Pesky (1963–1964)
Billy Herman (1964–1966)
Pete Runnels (1966)
Dick Williams (1967–1969)
Eddie Popowski (1969)
Eddie Kasko (1970–1973)
Eddie Popowski (1973)
Darrell Johnson (1974–1976)
Don Zimmer (1976–1980)
Johnny Pesky (1980)
Ralph Houk (1981–1984)
John McNamara (1985–1988)
Joe Morgan (1988–1991)
Butch Hobson (1992–1994)
Kevin Kennedy (1995–1996)
Jimy Williams (1997–2001)
Joe Kerrigan (2001)
Grady Little (2002–2003)
Terry Francona (2004–2011)
Bobby Valentine (2012)
John Farrell (2013–)
Torey Lovullo (2015)

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