During the recent Chicagoland Tournament, I went poking around in Pastor Rich’s box of APBA cards and dug this one up. It’s a winner. Harry “Slug” Heilmann’s card from 1923 is one of the best.
Heilmann managed to slug .632 (the stats differ depending on the source) for the Detroit Tigers while hitting only 18 homeruns. It surely didn’t hurt that he lead the majors with a whopping .403 average even beating out teammate and field manager Ty Cobb (rumor has it, that caused personal problems between the two).
In 1923, Heilmann collected 211 hits, drove in 115 runs and scored 121 himself. Despite the nickname “Slug”, he also tripled 11 times and stole 9 bases.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 Totals | 144 | 627 | 525 | 121 | 211 | 44 | 11 | 18 | 117 | 9 | 74 | 40 | .402 | .480 | .630 |
If Harry Heilmann’s 1923 card wasn’t so monstrous, it would probably be a candidate for a Weird Wednesday column. He’s one of the few starting players with a speed number and a single column 3 that is rated as a slow base runner.
Regardless of his speed, Heilmann’s hit numbers are quite formidable. They are 1-3-6-6-7-7-7-7-8-8-8-9-9-10. That last 7 gets to reside way up there at 51.
Fun numbers: 51-7, 61-9, 46-40
Definitely check out Heilmann’s bio on SABR’s website. It’s a very good read.
Great card. You mean Ty Cobb had a problem with another person?