Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Luke Appling. He spent his entire twenty-two-year career with the Chicago White Sox. Appling is regarded as one of the few greatest players in White Sox franchise history and as one of the greatest Shortstops in terms of offense.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1930-43; 45-50):

.310 BA 2,749 HITS 45 HR 1,116 RBI .399 OBP 1,319 RUNS

  • 7x All-Star

As a Hitter

Despite playing his entire career on an inferior team and battling headaches and back, knee, and eye problems, Appling is one of the best offensive players in baseball history at his position. At the plate, he was an expert at getting on base. As a hitter, Appling hit .300 or higher sixteen times, winning the Batting Title twice in 1936 & 1943. On averaged Appling recorded 184 Hits per season. He was never an easy out for pitchers developing a reputation of constantly fouling off pitches until he got one he liked, as well as taking his Walks. For a career Appling drew 1,302 Walks while only striking out 528 times. 

As a Defender

Defensively for Appling at Shortstop there was good and bad. Spending 2,218 Games and 19,535.1 Innings, Appling ranks 5th all-time in Double Plays (1,424), 6th all-time in Assists (7,218), and 7th all-time in Putouts (4,398) among Shortstops. However, he also ranks 12th all-time in Errors (643), and his lifetime had a .948 Fielding Percentage -.03 below the league average. Appling may have been better suited defensively at a different position, but all in all, Appling was good enough defensively.

Best Years

Both seasons Appling won the Batting Title, he finished runner up in the MVP voting. Below are Appling best statistical years.

1933: .322 BA 197 HITS 6 HR 85 RBI .379 OBP 90 RUNS (151 Games)

1935: .307 BA 161 HITS 1 HR 71 RBI .437 OBP 94 RUNS (153 Games)

1936: .388 BA  204 HITS 6 HR 128 RBI .474 OBP 111 RUNS (138 Games)

1937: .317 BA 182 HITS 4 HR 77 RBI .407 OBP 98 RUNS (154 Games)

1939: .314 BA 162 HITS 0 HR 56 RBI .430 OBP 82 RUNS (148 Games)

1940: .348 BA 197 HITS 0 HR 79 RBI .420 OBP 96 RUNS (150 Games)

1941: .314 BA 186 HITS 1 HR 57 RBI .399 OBP 93 RUNS (154 Games)

1943: .328 BA 192 HITS 3 HR 80 RBI .419 OBP  63 RUNS (155 Games)

Legacy

Besides the lack of a team around him, as well as his constant nagging injuries, he missed the entire 1944 and most of the 1945 seasons for enlisting in the military for WWII. Considering that he was still in his prime, had he not missed that time, he likely would’ve reached the 3,000 Hit milestone. After him came Luis Aparicio, who was by far the better defending Shortstop. However, offensively, he was superior to Aparicio. It took until his seventh ballot, but in 1964, he received induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

References:

  1. Luke Appling Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/applilu01.shtml
  2. Berger, Ralph. Luke Appling via SABR: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/luke-appling/