Eddie Stanky
Edward Raymond Stanky

Bats Right
Throws Right
Height 5'8
Weight 170

Born September 3, 1916
Philadelphia, PA
Died June 16, 1999
Fairhope, AL (Heart Attack)

Batting  

 Year Ag Tm     G   AB    H  2B  3B  HR    R  RBI   BB    K HBP  IW  SB  CS    BA  lgBA   SLG lgSLG   TB 
+-----------+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
 1943 26 NDA   60  149   34   3   0   3   21    9   28   20   0   0   0   1  .228  .262  .309  .403   46 
 1944 27 NDA   78  200   53   8   7   4   32   21   38   25   2   1   3   1  .265  .266  .435  .402   87 
 1945 28 NDA  146  466  117  33   2   6   72   64   97   41   3   1   2   0  .251  .268  .369  .383  172 
 1946 29 NDA  141  495  133  22   3   6   82   59   97   85   5   0  13   4  .269  .268  .362  .395  179 
 1947 30 NDA  154  447  114  12   3   6   69   45   81   50   9   0   4   2  .255  .281  .336  .422  150 

 1948 31 NDA   95  269   82  11   1   1   53   23   85   20   0   0   3   2  .305  .273  .364  .404   98 
 1949 32 NDA  136  537  155  14   6  11  118   68  122   49   1   5   0   0  .289  .274  .399  .406  214 
 1950 33 NDA  153  588  143  25   6   1   94   47  128   87  11   0   5   1  .243  .272  .311  .406  183 
 1951 34 NDA  145  551  160  22   0  19   90   60   79   84   5   0   3   2  .290  .264  .434  .398  239 
+-----------+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
  9 Seasons  1108 3702  991 150  28  57  631  396  755  461  36   7  33  13  .268  .271  .402  .397 1368  
+-----------+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
 154 Gm  Avg  154  515  138  21   4   8   88   55  105   64   5   1   5   2  .268  ----  .370  ----  190       
 Career High  154  588  160  33   7  19  118   68  128   87  11   5  13   4  .290  ----  .434  ----  239 
+-----------+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
 Year Ag Tm     G   AB    H  2B  3B  HR    R  RBI   BB    K HBP  IW  SB  CS    BA  lgBA   SLG lgSLG   TB 

Postseason Batting

 Year Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB    H  2B  3B  HR    R  RBI   BB    K HBP  IW  SB  CS    BA   SLG   TB 
+------------------+--+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+----+
 1943 NDA HAR   W    4    9    1   1   0   0    1    2    1    1   0   0   0   0  .111  .222    2
 1945 NDA HAR   W    5   17    4   0   0   0    2    1    2    1   0   0   0   0  .235  .235    4
 1946 NDA PAW   W    2    8    1   0   0   0    3    0    2    0   0   0   1   0  .125  .125    1
 1947 NDA BRK   L    5   16    5   2   0   0    4    1    2    4   0   0   0   0  .313  .438    7
 1948 NDA BRK   L    7   20    5   1   1   0    1    3    4    4   0   0   0   0  .250  .400    8
 1949 NDA FRE   W    7   24    7   0   1   0    7    2   11    6   0   0   0   1  .292  .375    9
+------------------+--+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+----+
               4-2  30   94   23   4   2   0   18    9   22   16   0   0   1   1  .245  .330   31
+------------------+--+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+----+

WLser shows whether the player's team Won or Lost the series.


Appearances on Leaderboards and Awards  

Stats are Year-Value-Rank

Runs
1949-118-4

Stolen Bases
1946-13-8
1950-5-10


Transactions

January 1, 1943: Drafted 1st round (5th overall) by North Dallas.


Biography
Stanky, nicknamed ``The Brat,'' played 11 seasons in the majors and had a career batting average of .268. He led the NL in walks three times and in runs scored once.

He played on pennant winners with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Boston Braves in 1948 and the New York Giants in 1951.

When Bobby Thomson hit his pennant-winning homer for the Giants in 1951, Stanky ran out of the dugout and jumped on the back of manager Leo Durocher, who was coaching third base.

Stanky ended his career as a player-manager for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953, and later managed the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers. He managed the Rangers for just one game in 1977, then quit because he was homesick.

His record as a major league manager was 467-435.

Stanky also was a successful coach at the University of South Alabama, where he compiled a 488-193 record during his 14-year tenure. After taking over the school's lowly baseball program in 1969, he led the Jaguars to five NCAA tournaments, two Sun Belt Conference titles and two No. 1 rankings.

``I had played in beautiful parks with beautiful locker rooms,'' Stanky said. ``At South Alabama, I inherited a rock pile for a ball field, with no dugouts, a four-foot-high fence around it and no grass on the infield.''

Stanky helped change all that by putting a much improved product on the field.

``He brought the University of South Alabama from just about point-zero to a national power in three or four years,'' said South Alabama coach Steve Kittrell, who played for Stanky at the school for three seasons. ``He put South Alabama on the map athletically.''

Stanky briefly left the school to manage the Rangers in June 1977. The Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 10-8 in his first game, but Stanky resigned the next day in Minneapolis.

Eddie Robinson, who was then the Rangers' executive vice president, was in his hotel room when he got a call that morning from Stanky.

``I said, `Hey. You want to have a cup of coffee?''' Robinson recalled.

``He said, `I'm at the airport.'

``I said, `Why are you at the airport?'

``He said, `I can't take the job. I'm getting on an airplane. I'm homesick for my family.' Then he hung up.''

Stanky then flew back to Mobile, where he got his old job back at South Alabama.

``The (Texas) players just joked about it,'' said Tom Grieve, a former Rangers player who is now a broadcaster for the team. ``The players started saying, `Gee. What if we would have lost that game? What would he have done then?'''

Stanky, who missed the 1980 season at South Alabama after undergoing open heart surgery, was a tough, demanding coach.

``He was hard to play for,'' said Pete Phillips, who played under Stanky at South Alabama. ``He accepted no excuses, but he showed responsibility for us as a ballplayer and as a person.''

Stanky, who retired in 1983, was an old-style ballplayer who wasn't afraid of new ideas. He advocated the adoption of the designated hitter -- now used in the American League and the NCAA -- more than 20 years before it was approved.

Stanky was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.

Source: AP (June 6, 1999)



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