Luke Appling

Full Name: Lucius Benjamin Appling	Primary Position: SS
Height/Weight: 5' 10"/183	First Game: September 10, 1930
Birthdate: April 2, 1907	Final Game: October 1, 1950
Birthplace: High Point, North Carolina	MLB Experience: 20 years
Died: January 3, 1991
Deathplace: Cumming, Georgia
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography[]

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 shortstop 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.

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	GDP
1930	CHI	A	6	26	2	8	0	2	.308	.308	.385	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
1931	CHI	A	96	297	36	69	1	28	.232	.303	.313	13	4	29	27	1	3	9	0
1932	CHI	A	139	489	66	134	3	63	.274	.329	.374	20	10	40	36	0	3	9	0
1933	CHI	A	151	612	90	197	6	85	.322	.379	.443	36	10	56	29	0	2	6	0
1934	CHI	A	118	452	75	137	2	61	.303	.384	.405	28	6	59	27	0	5	3	0
1935	CHI	A	153	525	94	161	1	71	.307	.437	.389	28	6	122	40	0	7	12	0
1936	CHI	A	138	526	111	204	6	128	.388	.474	.508	31	7	85	25	1	6	10	0
1937	CHI	A	154	574	98	182	4	77	.317	.407	.439	42	8	86	28	1	4	18	0
1938	CHI	A	81	294	41	89	0	44	.303	.392	.350	14	0	42	17	1	1	1	0
1939	CHI	A	148	516	82	162	0	56	.314	.430	.368	16	6	105	37	0	9	16	11
1940	CHI	A	150	566	96	197	0	79	.348	.420	.442	27	13	69	35	1	3	3	11
1941	CHI	A	154	592	93	186	1	57	.314	.399	.390	26	8	82	32	1	2	12	10
1942	CHI	A	142	543	78	142	3	53	.262	.342	.341	26	4	63	23	3	4	17	7
1943	CHI	A	155	585	63	192	3	80	.328	.419	.407	33	2	90	29	1	1	27	13
1945	CHI	A	18	57	12	21	1	10	.368	.478	.526	2	2	12	7	0	1	1	0
1946	CHI	A	149	582	59	180	1	55	.309	.384	.378	27	5	71	41	0	6	6	15
1947	CHI	A	139	503	67	154	8	49	.306	.386	.412	29	0	64	28	1	4	8	15
1948	CHI	A	139	497	63	156	0	47	.314	.423	.354	16	2	94	35	0	3	10	17
1949	CHI	A	142	492	82	148	5	58	.301	.439	.394	21	5	121	24	0	6	7	23
1950	CHI	A	50	128	11	30	0	13	.234	.300	.320	3	4	12	8	0	4	2	7
Total			2422	8856	1319	2749	45	1116	.310	.399	.398	440	102	1302	528	11	74	179	129

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1930	CHI	A	SS	6	12	17	4	1	.879
1931	CHI	A	SS	76	147	232	42	37	.900
1931	CHI	A	2B	1	4	1	1	0	.833
1932	CHI	A	SS	85	195	287	37	66	.929
1932	CHI	A	2B	30	62	110	6	16	.966
1932	CHI	A	3B	14	13	22	6	2	.854
1933	CHI	A	SS	151	314	534	55	107	.939
1934	CHI	A	SS	110	243	341	34	55	.945
1934	CHI	A	2B	8	21	16	1	4	.974
1935	CHI	A	SS	153	335	556	39	93	.958
1936	CHI	A	SS	137	320	471	41	119	.951
1937	CHI	A	SS	154	280	541	49	111	.944
1938	CHI	A	SS	78	149	258	20	37	.953
1939	CHI	A	SS	148	289	461	39	78	.951
1940	CHI	A	SS	150	307	436	37	83	.953
1941	CHI	A	SS	154	294	473	42	95	.948
1942	CHI	A	SS	141	269	418	38	77	.948
1943	CHI	A	SS	155	300	500	36	115	.957
1945	CHI	A	SS	17	37	56	7	7	.930
1946	CHI	A	SS	149	252	505	39	99	.951
1947	CHI	A	SS	129	232	422	35	86	.949
1947	CHI	A	3B	2	1	1	0	0	1.000
1948	CHI	A	SS	64	133	210	20	50	.945
1948	CHI	A	3B	72	84	163	15	13	.943
1949	CHI	A	SS	141	253	450	26	95	.964
1950	CHI	A	1B	13	91	12	0	16	1.000
1950	CHI	A	2B	1	0	0	0	0	.000
1950	CHI	A	SS	20	37	50	3	13	.967
Total			2B	40	87	127	8	20	.964
Total			3B	88	98	186	21	15	.931
Total			1B	13	91	12	0	16	1.000
Total			SS	2218	4398	7218	643	1424	.948

Transactions[]

Sold by Atlanta (Southern Association) to Chicago White Sox (August 19, 1930).
Released by Chicago White Sox (November 9, 1950).

Luke Appling

Contents

Biography[]

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Fielding Stats[]

Transactions[]

Trivia[]

See also[]

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