| Luke Appling | |
|---|---|
 Appling with the Chicago White Sox,c. 1942 | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born:(1907-04-02)April 2, 1907 High Point, North Carolina, U.S. | |
| Died: January 3, 1991(1991-01-03) (aged 83) Cumming, Georgia, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 10, 1930, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 1, 1950, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .310 |
| Hits | 2,749 |
| Home runs | 45 |
| Runs batted in | 1,116 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Managerial record at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| As player As manager | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1964 |
| Vote | 94.0% (seventh ballot) |
Lucius Benjamin Appling (April 2, 1907 – January 3, 1991), nicknamed "Old Aches and Pains", was an American professionalbaseballshortstop who played 20 seasons inMajor League Baseball for theChicago White Sox (1930–1950). He was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
Born in North Carolina, Appling briefly attendedOglethorpe College. He was signed by the minor leagueAtlanta Crackers in 1930 and debuted with theChicago White Sox later that year. He interrupted his career to serve inWorld War II in 1944 and 1945. He played for Chicago until 1950, then was a minor league manager and major league coach for many years. He served one stint as an interim major league manager in 1967. He died in Georgia in 1991.
Appling was born inHigh Point, North Carolina. He attended Fulton High School inAtlanta,Georgia. He later said that he had been lefthanded, a trait that he shared with his father, until he was in high school. At that point, he said that he became righthanded because he wanted to play shortstop.[1]
Appling attendedOglethorpe College in Atlanta for two years. In 1930, the Oglethorpe baseball team was undefeated in a 15-game season; in his last game at Oglethorpe, Appling hit three home runs againstMercer University.[2]Appling signed with theAtlanta Crackers of theSouthern League that year. He was a good hitter in his first year, but committed 42 errors in 104 games. TheChicago Cubs showed some interest at first, but decided not to sign him, and the White Sox ended up purchasing him from the Crackers for $20,000.[citation needed]
Appling appeared in only six games for the White Sox in 1930. He hit for a .232batting average in 96 games in 1931. In 1933 his average increased from .274 to .322 in his first of nine straight.300 seasons.[3] The White Sox lost more than 90 games in four of Appling's first five seasons with the team.[4]
In 1936, Appling batted .388, with 124runs batted in, scored 111 times, recorded 204 hits, and had a team-record 27-game hitting streak. His batting average was good for the first AL batting title won by a shortstop. It was the highest batting average recorded by a shortstop in the 20th century. He finished second in the AL Most Valuable Player voting and earned his firstAll-Star Game selection. He also turned a league-leading 119 double plays.[3]
Appling hit .317 in 1937 as the White Sox finished in third place in the AL. He played in 81 games in 1938, missing much of the season with a broken leg.
In 1940, Appling hit .348 with a career-high 13triples.[3] Although the team finished fourth, they came closer to a league championship than at any point in his career, eight games behind the league championDetroit Tigers.[4] Appling won another batting title in 1943 with a .328 average and also led the league in OBP that year (.419).[3]
Appling missed the entire 1944 season due to military service in the United States Army, then returned in time to appear in only 18 games the next year.
He hit .309 in 149 games in 1946. Though his seventh and final All-Star Game selection came in 1947 when he hit .306, Appling hit .314 and .301 in 1948 and 1949, respectively.[3] Appling had remained a solid contributor into his forties, but White Sox ownership was dedicated to a youth movement and he retired after the 1950 season.
In 2,422 games over 20 seasons, Appling posted a .310batting average (2,749-for-8,856) with 1,319runs, 440doubles, 102triples, 45home runs, 1,116RBI, 179stolen bases, 1,302bases on balls, .399on-base percentage and .398slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .948fielding percentage playing primarily at shortstop, but also played at third, second and first base.[3]
Upon his retirement, Appling was the all-time leader for most games played and for double plays by a major league shortstop, and the all-time leader forputouts andassists by anAmerican League shortstop. These records were later broken byLuis Aparicio, who also spent the majority of his career with the White Sox. He made 643 errors and has the worst fielding percentage since 1910 of players with at least 1,900 games, but his speed and range made his defensive ability excellent nonetheless throughout his career.
Appling was a goodlead-off hitter who topped the .400 mark inOBP eight times (1935–1937, 1939–40, 1943, 1948–49) and drew over 100walks three times (1935, 1939, 1949), although he often batted third due to otherwise poor team hitting on the White Sox.
He was well known for his ability to foul off pitches. Charlie Metro testified to this reputation: "The old White Sox shortstop Luke Appling was a delight. I've heard quite a few stories about Luke, but the one that always pleases me the most is about watching Luke take batting practice. As extra guys with the Tigers, we wouldn't get too many swings in batting practice, if any, but we liked to go out to the ballpark early and watch them taking batting practice. Luke was a star for the ball club, a good hitter, a good fielder, good at driving in runs, good everything, just a good, good ballplayer. The White Sox then were noted for their stinginess. You couldn't get a baseball out of them. Luke was popular, and everybody wanted an autographed baseball from a big league club, and especially from a guy like Luke. So he'd ask for the baseballs, and the White Sox management would send a message down, 'No!' He couldn't get any baseballs for autographs. So Luke would take batting practice early. I don't know whether he hit third, fourth, or fifth, I forget, but he'd lead off the batting practice. He could foul off every pitch. He was noted for fouling off pitches. He'd foul the balls into the grandstand, and the kids would grab the balls. Luke would flip the bat and look up at the press box as if to say, 'Take that!' I saw him do it once, and they talked about him doing that all the time. I understand he got baseballs pretty much whenever he wanted. It was either that, or he'd lose them all in batting practice."[5]
Appling was famous among his teammates for complaining about minor ailments such as a sore back, a weak shoulder, shin splints, or a sprained finger. While much of this complaining was probably for show it earned him the nicknames "Old Aches and Pains" and "Libby", the latter after blues singerLibby Holman.[6] "His constant stream of complaints might have become intolerable to his teammates if Appling had not developed a novel remedy," wroteRobert McG. Thomas Jr. ofThe New York Times. "He simply took his misery out on opposing pitchers, rapping out 2,749 hits, all but 587 of them singles."[7]
Appling was a successful minor league manager after his playing days were over, winning pennants with Memphis in the Southern Association and Indianapolis of theAmerican Association and being named minor league manager of the year in 1952.
Beginning in 1954, he managed the unaffiliatedRichmond Virginians, a Class AAA team in the International League which affiliated with theNew York Yankees in 1958 but after 1964 moved and became theToledo Mud Hens.
Appling's only chance to manage at the major league level was as a late-season replacement forAlvin Dark as manager of theKansas City Athletics in 1967, which resulted in his major league managerial record of just 10-30.
Appling was a major league coach for theCleveland Indians,Detroit Tigers,Baltimore Orioles, Athletics and White Sox during the 1960s and early 1970s.[8]
Though Appling received only twoBaseball Hall of Fame votes when he appeared on the ballot in 1953, he was eventually elected in 1964. No candidate had received enough votes for induction based on the initial 1964 election; however, Appling was named on the most ballots and he defeatedRed Ruffing in a subsequent runoff vote.[9]
In 1970, the Chicago chapter of theBaseball Writers' Association of America named Appling the greatest player in the history of the White Sox.[8] In 1981,Lawrence Ritter andDonald Honig included him in their bookThe 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
On July 19, 1982, Appling played in the initial 1982 Cracker Jack Old Timers game (1982-1990) atRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., where the then 75-year-old Hall of Fame shortstop hit ahome run offWarren Spahn in the first inning into the left field bleachers, the ball having traveled 265 feet.[8] RFK Stadium was in football configuration at the time, resulting in a short left-field fence.
In 1989,The New York Times profiled the then 82-year-old Appling, who had been an annual Spring Training coach with theAtlanta Braves for 14 years and was also serving as a minor league coach during the season.[10]
On January 3, 1991, two days after retiring from the Atlanta coaching staff, Appling was in a hospital inCumming, Georgia, suffering from anabdominal aortic aneurysm. He died during emergency surgery.[7]
"Old Aches and Pains" was interred in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, Mausoleum Chapel West in Cumming, Georgia.
PitcherEddie Lopat remembered Appling, saying, "I played with him and against him, and he was the finest shortstop I ever saw. In the field, he covered more ground than anyone in the league. As a hitting shortstop, there was no one in his class."[8]
In 1999, he was named as a finalist to theMajor League Baseball All-Century Team.
In 2013, theBob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Appling as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Army during World War II.[11]
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| National | |
| Other | |