“Hornsby is the first player on the field, the last one off,” said St. Louis Cardinals manager, Branch Rickey, when speaking on his star second basemen in an interview with sports editor, Billy Evans, at the top of the 1923 MLB season. Mind you, the man receiving praise for his impeccable work ethic, had just wrapped up a season where he won the National League Triple Crown, and set the league’s new single-season home run record . Along with leading the NL in batting average (.410), home runs (42), and RBI (152), Hornsby, for the third-straight year, ranked first in all of the following categories: hits, doubles, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases. Simply put, he was the face of the NL, and had Babe Ruth not existed, would have been the poster child for the best ballplayer of the 1920s.
Baseball Icons: Rogers Hornsby
