Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Joe Sewell. In a 14-year career in the Majors, Sewell was a part of two historic teams, the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, in which he won a World Series for both teams. Sewell excelled at the plate while playing Shortstop and Third Base during his career. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1920-1933):

.312 BA 2,226 HITS 49 HR 1,054 RBI .391 OBP 1,141 RUNS

  • 2x World Series Champion (1920 & 1932)

As a Left-Handed hitter, Sewell was a pure contact hitter who, despite hitting less than 50 Home Runs in his career, did average 90 RBI a year. For nine consecutive seasons, not only did Sewell appear in at least 152 games, he did so by recording 167 or more Hits in all seasons. Nine times, seven of them consecutively, Sewell batted over .300. Over his career, Sewell drew 842 Walks while only striking out 114 times. That’s correct; of the 8,333 times Sewell walked up to the plate, 7,132 being At-Bats, he only struck out 114 times. On average, he only struck out once every 62.5 At-bats.

When we talk about players who were able to players who could put the bat on the ball consistently, no one did it better than Sewell. In 1929, Sewell set the record by going 115 consecutive games without striking out. That year, he struck out four times in 152 games and 578 At Bats. During his career, he never struck out more than 20 times in a season.

Defensively, Sewell was primarily a Shortstop during his playing days in Cleveland, spending 10,751 Innings there. He moved to Third Base when he went to the Yankees, spending 5,610 Innings there. While no Gold Glove awards were handed out back then, his career Fielding Percentage at both positions was above the league average throughout his career.

Let’s remember that most of Sewells’ career saw him playing Shortstop, the second most difficult position in baseball, and another one in Third Base. It’s really impressive what Sewell was able to do at the plate offensive playing those positions. Not to mention, he was extremely durable, playing 1,103 consecutive games. It would take until 1977, but Sewell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as he deserved.

References:

  1. Joe Sewell via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Sewell
  2. Joe Sewell Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/seweljo01.shtml