• Great Fielding Shortstops

    Posted by on May 31st, 2012 · Comments (0)

    Here’s one cut at an all-time list -

    Rk Player Rfield From To Age G
    1 Mark Belanger 240 1965 1982 21-38 2016
    2 Ozzie Smith 239 1978 1996 23-41 2573
    3 Joe Tinker 180 1902 1916 21-35 1806
    4 Luis Aparicio 147 1956 1973 22-39 2601
    5 Art Fletcher 144 1909 1922 24-37 1533
    6 Marty Marion 130 1940 1953 22-35 1572
    7 Rabbit Maranville 130 1912 1935 20-43 2670
    8 Omar Vizquel 129 1989 2012 22-45 2927
    9 Jack Wilson 127 2001 2012 23-34 1359
    10 Lou Boudreau 118 1938 1952 20-34 1646
    11 Pee Wee Reese 117 1940 1958 21-39 2166
    12 Phil Rizzuto 116 1941 1956 23-38 1661
    13 Billy Jurges 113 1931 1947 23-39 1816
    14 Adam Everett 111 2001 2011 24-34 880
    15 Bobby Wallace 110 1901 1918 27-44 1743
    16 Ozzie Guillen 105 1985 2000 21-36 1993
    17 Roger Peckinpaugh 100 1910 1927 19-36 2011
    18 George McBride 99 1901 1920 20-39 1659
    19 Everett Scott 95 1914 1926 21-33 1654
    20 Dave Bancroft 93 1915 1930 24-39 1913
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 5/31/2012.

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    Billy Jurges had some interesting things happen to him:

    In 1932, Jurges played a central part in two seemingly unrelated acts. On July 6, his former girlfriend, lounge singer Violet Valli, called Jurges on the telephone, then entered his hotel room with a gun to attempt suicide. Jurges intervened and took a bullet in the hand and another through the ribs. There was a similar episode seventeen years later, also in Chicago, involving Eddie Waitkus (who, ironically, also played for the Cubs, but was then a Phillie), by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a young woman obsessed with him. It’s possible that the Jurges incident, rather than the Waitkus shooting, is the real inspiration for the novel and film The Natural.

    Jurges only missed three weeks, but the contending Cubs signed ex-Yankee shortstop Mark Koenig as insurance. Koenig, who went on to hit .353 the rest of the way, was voted a half-World Series share. The New York Yankees reacted strongly to this perceived “slight” and rode the Cubs unmercifully during the World Series, culminating in Babe Ruth’s “called shot” off of Charlie Root in Game 3.

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