Luke Appling
Lucius Benjamin Appling (April 2, 1907 - January 3, 1991) was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox.
Appling was born in High Point, North Carolina. He attended Oglethorpe College, but left during his sophomore year when he was signed by the Southern League Atlanta Crackers in 1930. He was a good hitter in his first year, but committed 42 errors in 104 games. The Chicago 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. He seemed a poor pickup initially, as his hitting fell off and his fielding failed to improve, but in 1933 he stopped trying to be a power hitter and had his first of nine straight .300 seasons.
Appling was a good leadoff hitter who topped the .400 mark in OBP eight times (1933-1934, 1937, 1940, 1943, 1947) and drew over 100 walks three times (1935, 1939, 1949), though he often batted third due to a lack of offensive talent on the White Sox. Indeed, this lack of talent insured that Appling, who spent his entire 20-year career with the White Sox, never had a chance to play in a World Series. His best season was 1936, when he batted .388, knocked in 124 runs (his only 100-RBI season), scored 111 times, recorded 204 hits, and had a team-record 27-game hitting streak. His .388 average was good for the first batting title ever won by a shrotstop and was the highest batting average recorded by a shortstop in the 20th century. Appling won another batting title in 1943 with a .328 average and also led the league in OBP that year (.419). Appling was selected to seven All-Star teams (1936, 1939-1941, 1943, 1946-47).
Appling was famous among his teammates for complaining day in and day out about minor ailments such as a sore back, a weak shoulder, or shin splints. While much of this complaining was probably for show, it earned him the moniker "Old Aches and Pains." He did suffer one serious injury: a broken leg that cost him much of the 1938 season.
Appling was well known for his ability to foul off pitches, leading to the story that he once fouled off 10 pitches in a row on purpose when ownership refused to give some baseballs to autograph because they were too expensive; he was supposedly never refused a ball again.
Appling remained a solid contributor into his forties, but ownership was dedicated to a youth movement and he retired after the 1950 season. At 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 for putouts and assists by an American League shortstop. These records were later broken by Luis Aparicio, who also spent the majority of his career with the White Sox.
Appling was a successful minor league manager after his playing days were over, winning pennants with Memphis in the Southern Association and Indianapolis of the American Association and being named minor league manager of the year in 1952; but his only chance to manage at the major league level was as a late-season replacement for Alvin Dark as manager of the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, leaving his major league managerial record at 10-30. He later worked as a batting instructor for the Atlanta Braves in the 1980s. At age 75, he appeared in an old-timers game and hit a home run off Warren Spahn.
Appling was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
He died in Cumming, Georgia at age of 83.
YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS
1930 Whitesox 23 6 26 2 8 2 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 2 0 .308 .385 .308 .692
1931 Whitesox 24 96 297 36 69 13 4 1 0.34 28 29 27 9 2 .232 .313 .303 .616
1932 Whitesox 25 139 489 66 134 20 10 3 0.61 63 40 36 9 8 .274 .374 .329 .703
1933 Whitesox 26 151 612 90 197 36 10 6 0.98 85 56 29 6 11 .322 .443 .379 .822
1934 Whitesox 27 118 452 75 137 28 6 2 0.44 61 59 27 3 1 .303 .405 .384 .788
1935 Whitesox 28 153 525 94 161 28 6 1 0.19 71 122 40 12 6 .307 .389 .437 .826
1936 Whitesox 29 138 526 111 204 31 7 6 1.14 128 85 25 10 6 .388 .508 .473 .981
1937 Whitesox 30 154 574 98 182 42 8 4 0.70 77 86 28 18 10 .317 .439 .407 .846
1938 Whitesox 31 81 294 41 89 14 0 0 0.00 44 42 17 1 3 .303 .350 .392 .742
1939 Whitesox 32 148 516 82 162 16 6 0 0.00 56 105 37 16 9 .314 .368 .430 .798
1940 Whitesox 33 150 566 96 197 27 13 0 0.00 79 69 35 3 5 .348 .442 .420 .862
1941 Whitesox 34 154 592 93 186 26 8 1 0.17 57 82 32 12 8 .314 .390 .399 .789
1942 Whitesox 35 142 543 78 142 26 4 3 0.55 53 63 23 17 5 .262 .341 .342 .682
1943 Whitesox 36 155 585 63 192 33 2 3 0.51 80 90 29 27 8 .328 .407 .419 .825
1945 Whitesox 38 18 58 12 21 2 2 1 1.72 10 12 7 1 0 .362 .517 .471 .989
1946 Whitesox 39 149 582 59 180 27 5 1 0.17 55 71 41 6 4 .309 .378 .384 .762
1947 Whitesox 40 139 503 67 154 29 0 8 1.59 49 64 28 8 6 .306 .412 .386 .797
1948 Whitesox 41 139 497 63 156 16 2 0 0.00 47 94 35 10 4 .314 .354 .423 .777
1949 Whitesox 42 142 492 82 148 21 5 5 1.02 58 121 24 7 12 .301 .394 .439 .833
1950 Whitesox 43 50 128 11 30 3 4 0 0.00 13 12 8 2 0 .234 .320 .300 .620
TOTALS 2422 8857 1319 2749 440 102 45 0.51 1116 1302 528 179 108 .310 .398 .399 .798
LG AVERAGE 8472 1226 2356 422 100 149 1.75 1139 965 754 107 75 .278 .404 .354 .758
POS AVERAGE 8344 1163 2262 406 87 90 1.07 986 943 719 114 80 .271 .373 .348 .720
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS
1930 Whitesox 3 -1 0 .357 4.33 10 2 .077 .154 .462 0 0 0 0 0 18 26 SS
1931 Whitesox 31 -15 -6 .328 3.46 93 18 .081 .202 .398 0 1 3 0 0 233 330 SS
1932 Whitesox 61 -8 3 .444 4.33 183 33 .100 .184 .423 0 0 3 0 0 366 532 SS
1933 Whitesox 103 13 26 .563 6.26 271 52 .121 .204 .482 0 0 2 0 0 428 670 SS
1934 Whitesox 75 3 14 .519 6.07 183 36 .102 .237 .477 0 0 5 0 0 321 516 SS
1935 Whitesox 101 11 22 .553 6.97 204 35 .082 .326 .513 0 0 7 0 0 377 654 SS
1936 Whitesox 134 54 65 .721 10.43 267 44 .120 .289 .583 0 0 6 0 0 334 617 SS
1937 Whitesox 110 15 25 .568 7.04 252 54 .122 .286 .525 0 1 4 0 0 406 665 SS
1938 Whitesox 43 -4 2 .456 5.35 103 14 .048 .184 .427 0 1 1 0 0 209 338 SS
1939 Whitesox 93 7 29 .537 6.56 190 22 .054 .271 .469 0 0 9 0 11 383 630 SS
1940 Whitesox 109 28 43 .630 7.59 250 40 .094 .212 .483 0 1 3 0 11 388 639 SS
1941 Whitesox 99 22 27 .613 6.27 231 35 .076 .221 .456 0 1 2 0 10 426 677 SS
1942 Whitesox 70 0 10 .499 4.53 185 33 .079 .217 .420 0 3 4 0 7 417 613 SS
1943 Whitesox 110 46 46 .731 7.16 238 38 .079 .265 .496 0 1 1 0 13 415 677 SS
1945 Whitesox 16 10 11 .863 11.37 30 5 .155 .379 .614 0 0 1 0 0 38 71 SS
1946 Whitesox 88 18 21 .601 5.56 220 33 .069 .194 .426 0 0 6 0 15 427 659 SS
1947 Whitesox 81 19 17 .620 5.85 207 37 .105 .237 .456 0 1 4 0 15 374 572 SS
1948 Whitesox 82 14 9 .585 6.07 176 18 .040 .241 .438 0 0 3 0 17 365 594 3B
1949 Whitesox 90 17 21 .597 6.31 194 31 .093 .329 .468 0 0 6 0 23 385 619 SS
1950 Whitesox 12 -10 -8 .249 2.97 41 7 .086 .195 .343 0 0 4 0 7 109 144 SS
TOTALS 1511 239 377 .577 6.26 3528 587 .088 .243 .470 0 10 74 0 129 6419 10243
LG AVERAGE 1285 0 0 .500 5.32 3424 671 .126 .244 .458 0 33 116 0 112 6419 9586
POS AVERAGE 1148 -140 0 .448 4.75 3111 583 .102 .219 .430 0 37 139 0 117 6419 9463
League Leadership Rankings
1932 AL ------------------------------- CAUGHT STEALING T10TH 8 WORST OPS 7TH .703
1933 AL ------------------------------- GAMES T9TH 151 AT BATS 4TH 612 HITS 6TH 197 SINGLES 4TH 145 DOUBLES T10TH 36 CAUGHT STEALING T4TH 11 AVERAGE 7TH .322 TOTAL BASES 9TH 271 PLATE APPEARANCES T9TH 670 OUTS 7TH 428
1935 AL ------------------------------- GAMES 2ND 153 WALKS 2ND 122 OBA 5TH .437 RUNS CREATED/GAME 10TH 6.97 SECONDARY AVERAGE 8TH .326 TOTAL AVERAGE 10TH .897
1936 AL ------------------------------- HITS 8TH 204 SINGLES T2ND 160 RBI 6TH 128 AVERAGE 1ST .388 OBA 2ND .473 OPS 6TH .981 RUNS CREATED 7TH 134 RCAA 6TH 54 RCAP T4TH 65 OWP 4TH .721 RUNS CREATED/GAME 4TH 10.43 TOTAL AVERAGE 4TH 1.085
1937 AL ------------------------------- GAMES T7TH 154 DOUBLES T6TH 42 WALKS T10TH 86 STOLEN BASES T4TH 18 CAUGHT STEALING 3RD 10 OBA 10TH .407
1939 AL ------------------------------- SINGLES 3RD 140 WALKS 3RD 105 STOLEN BASES T9TH 16 CAUGHT STEALING T7TH 9 OBA 7TH .430
1940 AL ------------------------------- HITS 4TH 197 SINGLES 2ND 157 TRIPLES 5TH 13 AVERAGE 2ND .348 OBA 5TH .420 RCAA 10TH 28 RCAP 4TH 43 OWP 9TH .630
1941 AL ------------------------------- GAMES T3RD 154 AT BATS 5TH 592 HITS 4TH 186 SINGLES 2ND 151 STOLEN BASES T8TH 12 CAUGHT STEALING 8TH 8 AVERAGE 10TH .314 OBA 10TH .399 RCAP 9TH 27 PLATE APPEARANCES 8TH 677
1942 AL ------------------------------- STOLEN BASES T5TH 17
1943 AL ------------------------------- GAMES T1ST 155 AT BATS 9TH 585 HITS 2ND 192 SINGLES 2ND 154 DOUBLES T5TH 33 RBI 10TH 80 WALKS T4TH 90 STOLEN BASES 4TH 27 CAUGHT STEALING T9TH 8 AVERAGE 1ST .328 SLG 10TH .407 OBA 1ST .419 OPS 5TH .825 RUNS CREATED 2ND 110 RCAA 2ND 46 RCAP 2ND 46 OWP 4TH .731 RUNS CREATED/GAME 2ND 7.16 TOTAL BASES 7TH 238 TOTAL AVERAGE 3RD .841 BPA 5TH .496 PLATE APPEARANCES 2ND 677
1946 AL ------------------------------- GAMES 10TH 149 AT BATS T5TH 582 HITS 3RD 180 SINGLES 2ND 147 WALKS 9TH 71 AVERAGE 6TH .309 OBA 6TH .384 GIDP T10TH 15 PLATE APPEARANCES T6TH 659 OUTS 10TH 427
1947 AL ------------------------------- SINGLES T7TH 117 DOUBLES T5TH 29 AVERAGE 8TH .306 OBA 10TH .386 RCAP T10TH 17 OWP 10TH .620
1948 AL ------------------------------- SINGLES 5TH 138 WALKS 7TH 94 STOLEN BASES T8TH 10 AVERAGE 9TH .314 OBA 3RD .423
1949 AL ------------------------------- WALKS 4TH 121 CAUGHT STEALING 2ND 12 OBA 2ND .439 RCAP T9TH 21 SECONDARY AVERAGE 9TH .329 TOTAL AVERAGE 10TH .818 GIDP T2ND 23
External links
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference
- Baseball History
- Baseball Library
- The Baseball Page
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1936 American League All-Stars
- 1939 American League All-Stars
- 1940 American League All-Stars
- 1941 American League All-Stars
- 1943 American League All-Stars
- 1946 American League All-Stars
- 1947 American League All-Stars
- Chicago White Sox players
- Major league shortstops
- 1907 births
- 1991 deaths