| Gene Woodling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born:(1922-08-16)August 16, 1922 Akron, Ohio, U.S. | |
| Died: June 2, 2001(2001-06-02) (aged 78) Wadsworth, Ohio, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 23, 1943, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 15, 1962, for the New York Mets | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .284 |
| Home runs | 147 |
| Runs batted in | 830 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Eugene Richard Woodling (August 16, 1922 – June 2, 2001) was an American professionalbaseball player,coach andscout. He played inMajor League Baseball as anoutfielder between1943 and1962, most prominently as a member of theNew York Yankees dynasty that won five consecutiveWorld Series championships between 1949 and 1953.[1]
Woodling was a left-handed batter known as aline drive hitter who hit over .300 five times during his 17-year career and, had a .318 batting average during his five World Series appearances.[2] He excelled defensively, leading American League outfielders in fielding or tied for the lead four times, and never made more than three errors in a season during his tenure with the Yankees.[1] Woodling also played for theCleveland Indians,Pittsburgh Pirates,Baltimore Orioles,Washington Senators, and theNew York Mets in their expansion year of 1962. His baseball career was interrupted by his military service in the United States Navy during the Second World War.[2] After his playing career, he served several major league teams as a coach and a scout.[1]
Woodling was born on August 16, 1922, inAkron, Ohio, where his father worked in a rubber factory.[1][2][3] He played baseball at Akron East High School. Woodling also played semi-pro baseball for theGoodyear Rubber team while still in school, from 1937 to 1939, with a .452batting average one year.[3][4] In 2024, he was inducted into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame.[5]
Hisprofessional baseball career began in 1940 when he signed with the Indians' organization.[3] He was assigned to theMansfield Braves of theOhio State League in 1940, where he had a .398 batting average. In 1941, he was assigned to theFlint Arrows of theMichigan State League and hit .394.[6] He broke his leg early in the 1942 season, but in 1943 Woodling hit .344 for theWilkes-Barre Barons of theEastern League. He was called up briefly to the major leagues in September, where he hit .320 for Cleveland in 25 at bats.[3][6]
Woodling was drafted into theU.S. Navy duringWorld War II, in October 1943. He was sent to Naval Station Great Lakes, located in Illinois on Lake Michigan,[7] where he spent the year in "ship's company". During that time, he played baseball with other professional baseball players who had joined the Navy, as theGreat Lakes Blue Jackets, under Lieutenant CommanderMickey Cochrane (a Hall of Fame catcher).[8] The team included future Hall of Fame second basemanBilly Herman,[9]Al Glossop,Schoolboy Rowe andSi Johnson, winning 48 out of 50 games in 1944.[3] In February 1945, Woodling was sent on a tour of duty with theThird Fleet to theMarshall Islands,Guam,Saipan andLeyte in thePhilippines. Woodling was discharged from Naval service in January 1946.[3]
Woodling returned to baseball in 1946, at the major league level. He played 61 games for Cleveland, batting only .188.[6] He was traded to the Pirates in December forAl Lopez.[10] In 1947, he played for theNewark Bears of theInternational League inTriple-A baseball, batting .289.[6] At the end of the season, the Pirates traded Woodling to theSan Francisco Seals of thePacific Coast League (PCL), and he batted .386 in 1948.[6]The Sporting News named him Minor League Player of the Year.[2] While with the Seals, Woodling came under the hitting tutelage ofmanagerLefty O'Doul,[1] who as a major league player had a lifetime .349 batting average.[11] Woodling credited O'Doul with getting him back to the major leagues.[2]
Before coming to the majors for good in 1949, Woodling was a four-timeminor leaguebatting average champion.[1] He mostly played left field (1,208 games) when he entered the majors, but appeared in 325 contests inright field and played 93 games incenter.[citation needed]
On September 30, 1948, the Seals sold Woodling's rights to the Yankees.[10]Casey Stengel had been manager of theOakland Oaks of the PCL in 1948, and his team played against Woodling. He became the Yankees manager for the 1949 season, and was likely involved with the Yankees acquiring Woodling.[1][2]
Woodling played with six teams during his career, the longest term of service being with the Yankees for six years and 698 of the 1,763games played of his MLB career.[12] With them, Woodling had what was probably his best year, 1953. Although he only had 395at bats, he hit .306, and with 82walks led theAmerican League with a .429on-base percentage.[13][12] While Woodling was with the Yankees, the team won five consecutiveWorld Series (1949–53).[14]
During that time, Yankee manager Casey Stengel praised the outfielder's ability to run and throw.[citation needed] He considered Woodling his best defensive left fielder.[15] Woodling led AL outfielders in fielding percentage in 1952 and 1953.[2] Stengel generallyplatooned him[citation needed] with right-handerHank Bauer, but each averaged 400at bats per season. On one end, in 1949 Bauer had 349plate appearances in 103 games and Woodling had 357 plate appearances in 112 games. On the other end, in 1952, Bauer had 615 plate appearances in 141 games and Woodling had 471 in 122 games.[16][12] Woodling said that in fact Stengel platooned Woodling and Bauer less than commonly believed, and it had been exaggerated.[2] After his first year sharing time with Bauer,Johnny Lindell andCliff Mapes, his New York Times obituary describes him as being occasionally platooned.[1]
In the1949 World Series he hit .400 in three games, and in the1950 World Series, Woodling hit .429.[1][12] Woodling hit a solohome run in each World Series from 1951 through 1953.[12] In 1951, Woodling helpedAllie Reynolds secure his first of twono-hitters on the season, when he homered in a 1–0 win overBob Feller and the Indians.[17] In 1952, Woodling became the first player to pinch-hit a triple in the World Series.[18][15]
On November 17, 1954, a record 17-player deal took place between the Orioles and Yankees, involving Woodling, future 20-game winnerBob Turley andDon Larsen,[10][19] who would go on to pitch aperfect game in the1956 World Series for New York.[20] Woodling had been sidelined for the last part of the 1954 season with a badly sprained wrist, that was originally thought to be broken.[21]
Orioles and Indians career
In 1955, Woodling began the year hitting poorly for the Orioles, with a .221 batting average.[12] He was traded to theIndians along withBilly Cox from theOrioles forDave Pope,Wally Westlake and cash before the trade deadline on June 15, 1955.[22] He hit .278 for the Indians that year.[12] He played two more full seasons in Cleveland, setting career-highs in home runs (19),runs batted in (78), and batting (.321) in 1957.[12]
The Orioles managerPaul Richards then traded for Woodling again in April 1958, where Woodling played well from 1958 to 1960.[10][12] Woodling led the1959 Baltimore Orioles season with a .300 batting average, to go along with 14 home runs, 77 RBIs (runs batted in), 78 walks and 63 runs scored,[12] and he was named the Orioles Most Valuable Player.[23] Woodling considered 1959 his best year as a major league player.[2] He later was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1992,[24] and there is a plaque in his honor outsideOriole Park at Camden Yards.[23]
In December 1960, Woodling was taken in the expansion draft by the Washington Senators.[10] In 1961, at age 39, he batted .313 for the Senators in 110 games.[12] A few months before he turned 40, in June 1962, he rights were sold to theNew York Mets.[10] In their first year of existence, Woodling's old Yankees managerCasey Stengel was working on his latest project, as manager of the newborn Mets. Woodling would be managed by Stengel for the remainder of the 1962 season.[2] He was released before the 1963 season,[10] after publicly criticizing the front office's contract negotiations withMarv Throneberry.[25]
In his 17-season career, Woodling batted .284 with 147 home runs and 830 RBIs in 1,796 games. Woodling ended with a .386 on-base percentage and 1,585 careerhits in 5,587 at bats. He hit .300 or better five times. In five World Series, Woodling hit .318 (27-85). As an outfielder, he recorded a .989fielding percentage.[12]
Woodling was appointed on November 20, 1963, as the Orioles'first-base coach by former Yankees teammateHank Bauer, who had become the team's manager one day earlier.[26] He remained in that capacity through the1966 World Series Championship season and up until the announcement on September 28, 1967, that he would not be retained for the 1968 season.[27] He was also a scout for the Yankees and the Indians.[1]
After coaching and scouting he worked for Eaton Corp. selling millions of grips for aluminum baseball bats. During his career and after, Woodling had a large farm in Medina, Ohio, where he also raised Appaloosa horses.[28]
Woodling died on June 2, 2001, at the age of 78, in a nursing home inWadsworth, Ohio.[1]
· Baseball Almanac| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by | Baltimore Oriolesfirst base coach 1964–1967 | Succeeded by |