Jimmie Foxx

Maryland Historical Society

Few Maryland-born athletes can match the career resumé of baseball's Jimmie Foxx. Born in 1907 and raised in Sudlersville, Queen Annes County, Foxx first gained local notoriety by starring in track and baseball while still in high school. At age 15 he was discovered by former major leaguer Frank "Home Run" Baker, who at the time was managing a minor league team in Easton. Purportedly Baker felt young Foxx had major league potential because the youngster was so strong that he could lift a bale of hay with each hand. After a stay of less than two years in the minor leagues, at age seventeen Foxx was promoted to the Philadelphia Athletics in the major leagues. Connie Mack, the owner and manager of the Athletics, converted Jimmie Foxx from a catcher to a first baseman, and after several years as a reserve, Foxx became a regular by 1928.

The 1930s were the prime years of Foxx's career as he garnered most valuable player awards in 1932, 1933 and 1938. During that decade he led the league in batting (1933 and 1938) and in home runs on four occasions (1932, 1933, 1935 and 1939). His efforts were rewarded with a Most Valuable Player award in 1933 as a result of a .356 batting average, 48 home runs and 163 runs batted in. Tales of Foxx's power bordered on the mythological. He was said to have hit a baseball out of Chicago's Comiskey Park, where the outfield seats were configured in a double-decker layout. An equally impressive tale concerning Yankee Stadium held that one of Foxx's home runs actually broke a seat in the outfield. In all, Foxx drove in at least one hundred runs in thirteen seasons during his career.

Toward the end of his career, Foxx was traded from the Athletics to the Boston Red Sox, and he mentored a young Ted Williams. After briefly retiring in 1942, Foxx came back for short stints with the Cubs and the Phillies before he retired permanently in 1945. Several failed business ventures while outside of baseball forced Foxx to return to the game as both a coach of the Milwaukee Brewers (American Association) and a minor league manager. In 1951 he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame with career totals of 534 home runs and 1,922 runs batted in. He died at the age of sixty in 1967.