Last week when Albert Pujols hit his 500 th home run they listed the youngest players to reach that mark, listing Jimmie Foxx as the 2nd youngest. Some 32 years & 10 months. And it got me thinking, He had 500 home runs while still being under the age of 33, how the hell did he only manage to hit 34 more home runs for the rest of his career? I mean the guy was a HR hitting machine. Clearly he was on his way to setting many records. So I checked him out, first on the numbers at baseball reference. There I saw that his career seemed to take a MAJOR nose dive after the 41 season, and I thought.....Military right? Wrong. there seemed to be no explanation for it. Many attributed it to a drinking problem while others claim it was due to an on going sinus condition. It seemed like such a shame to go out as a shell of his former self. BTW: he ended his brilliant career as a pitcher.
My father was a Red Sox Fan, Foxx & Teddy Ballgame were his favorites. I heard some pretty good stories about the "rivalry" in the '30's and '40's. Allegedly when Foxx entered a bar was "line 'em up the double XX is here.
Yeah & ironically a year earlier his wife also died from chocking. Foxx was only 59 at the time of his death.
