Happy Belated Birthday to the late and great Hall of Fame player and manager Billy Herman. Over his 15-year playing career, mainly for the Chicago Cubs, Herman was known for playing a good defensive Second Base while being exceptionally consistent as a contact hitter.

Career Statistics (1931-43; 46-47):

.304 BA, 2,345 HITS, 47 HR, 839 RBI, .367 OBP, 1,163 RUNS

  • 10x All-Star

It took little time for Herman to make his mark on the Chicago Cubs; in 1932, his first entire season as a ballplayer, Herman recorded over 200 Hits and 100 Runs in 154 games. In 1935-36, he hit 57 Doubles in both seasons. In all but two years of his career, Herman played well above a Hit per game pace; that’s consistent. In the field, Herman still holds the National League record for the most Putouts in a season at second base. He also led the league in putouts seven times in his career. In 1941, he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he’d spend the next few seasons, then he missed the entire 1944 & 1945 seasons due to WWII, serving in the Navy. The season before he enlisted, Herman batted .330 with a .398 OBP and drove in 100 Runs. It’s clear that regarding the prime of his career, he left some meat on the bone to serve in the Navy.

Herman appeared in the World Series four times, three with the Cubs and one with the Dodgers, but never won as a player. After his playing career ended, Herman was a Manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox. He was also a member of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers coaching staff in which they beat the Yankees to win the 1955 World Series. While it took until 1975 and the Veteran Ballot, Herman was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

References:

  1. Billy Herman Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hermabi01.shtml
  2. Billy Herman via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Herman