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Tommy Henrich
Nickname(s): Old Reliable
Born: 1913

OF-1B 1937-42, 46-50 Yankees

Tommy Henrich's Teammates

  • All-Star in 1942, 47-50

GamesAverageHRRBI
Career 1284.282183795
World Series 21.26248

Books and articles about Tommy Henrich

Along with Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Keller, Henrich formed one of baseball's most acclaimed outfields for the Yankees before and after WWII. Commissioner Landis ruled Henrich a free agent in April 1937 after he had been illegally hidden in the Indians' farm system, and he signed with the Yankees, hitting .320 as a part-timer. He helped the team to six pennants, and although he played in only four WS because of injury and military service, he was a key figure in two of the most famous Series games. In 1941, he was the man whose third strike skipped past Mickey Owen, leading to a legendary Yankee rally. In 1949 he homered off Don Newcombe in the ninth inning of the first game to give Allie Reynolds a 1-0 victory.
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Matthew Fulling
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RELATED LINKS
» 1941: That Magificent Streak

Photos
» Photo: Mickey Owen drops the ball (1941)

Book Excerpts
» "[Henrich] was also a great ambassador for the game of baseball and a sensational storyteller": Carl Erskine
» "Tommy Henrich ended a long apprenticeship and replaced George Selkirk in the outfield": Dick Johnson and Glenn Stout
» Confessions Of A Baseball Purist, by Mark Hyman and Jon Miller
» The Toughest Outs from Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom

Around the Web
» Tommy Henrich from baseball-reference.com
» Tommy Henrich from thediamondangle.com

Jump directly to Library content from any website!

An excellent fielder, Henrich lived up to his "Old Reliable" nickname with his bat, hitting 22 homers in 1938 and 31 in 1941. After the war, he had his greatest season statistically in 1948, leading the AL in triples and runs scored, and batting .308 with 25 homers and 100 RBI. But he was probably more valuable in 1949, when his consistent clutch hitting helped keep the injury-racked Yankees in the pennant race. In 115 games, he hit 24 homers, batted in 85, and scored 90. He finished sixth in the MVP voting. (MC)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» April 14, 1937: Judge Landis declares Tommy Henrich a free agent, voiding his Cleveland contract. This is another of the cover-up situations Landis hated, and the balance of the scale for letting Cleveland keep Bob Feller. Henrich will sign with the Yankees 4 days later.

» May 11, 1937: White Sox P Monte Stratton allows seven hits in subduing the Yankees, 7–2. One of the hits is by Tommy Henrich, who goes 1-for-4 in his ML debut. Henrich, recently signed, was called up to take the place of Jake Powell, out with appendicitis.

» May 13, 1937: Joe DiMaggio replaces Lou Gehrig as the Yankees cleanup hitter and drives in three runs, as the Yankees trip the Browns, 4–2. Gehrig, hitting 5th gets a double after going hitless in his last 21 at bats. Tommy Henrich, making his 2nd appearance, bats third. He collects a pair of singles. Winning pitcher Lefty Gomez is the only Yankee without a hit.

» May 11, 1940: The Red Sox top the Yankees 9–8 with two runs in the bottom of the 11th after New York had taken the lead on Tommy Henrich's 2nd home run of the game. Manager Joe McCarthy benches Frankie Crosetti, hitting .150, but New York (6–8) still loses their 8th in a row at home to drop into last place. Meanwhile, Boston takes their 6th straight. With Crosetti's benching, he ends his consecutive games played at 420, the longest current streak in the majors.

» October 5, 1941: With 2 out in the 9th inning, Dodger C Mickey Owen drops a 3rd strike on Tommy Henrich, which would have given Brooklyn a 4-3 victory over New York. The Yankees then rally for a 7-4 win in the 4th game of the WS.

» May 11, 1946: The Red Sox lose their first game after 15 straight wins, as Tiny Bonham beats Tex Hughson and Boo Ferriss 2–0 before 52,011 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy Henrich hits a homer and accounts for both runs. The Red Sox are 21-4, four 1/2 games ahead of the Yanks. The 15-game streak is still a Red Sox record.

» October 1, 1947: New York's Allie Reynolds spaces 9 hits and coasts to a 10-3 victory. Tom Henrich's solo HR in the 5th puts the game away for the Yankees.

» May 31, 1948: The Senators, fresh from four wins over the Red Sox, drop a pair to the host Yankees before 62,626. Spec Shea allows just two hits in coasting in the opener, 10–0. The Yanks collect 16 hits, including homers by Tommy Henrich and George McQuinn. The Yanks take the nitecap, 5-4, as Red Embree makes a rare start. Bobby Brown makes seven straight hits in the two games, making out his first and last at-bats.

» August 17, 1948: Tom Henrich hits his 4th grand slam of the season, off the Senators Sid Hudson, to join Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and York—and, later, Al Rosen and Ray Boone—for the American League record. Henrich, who broke in with the Yankees in 1937, had never hit a grand slam before this season. Bob Porterfield wins for New York, 8–1.

» May 5, 1949: Before the start of a series with the Yanks, the White Sox abandon their trick LF fence. The 5-foot chicken wire fence, erected to cut the distance by 20 feet, resulted in 11 home runs in eight games, but opponents hit seven of them. The American League will subsequently rule that fences cannot be moved more than once a season. The Yanks still win today, 7–5, to go 13–3. Tommy Henrich has the only homer, while Johnny Lindell, Yankee left fielder, twice makes catches that would've cleared the wire fence. Allie Reynolds, with help from Joe Page, is the winner.

» October 5, 1949: In the Series opener at the stadium, the New York Yankees and Allie Reynolds beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 1-0 on Tommy Henrich's 9th-inning HR off Don Newcombe. Newcombe had struck out 11 and walked none before Henrich's blast. Allie Reynolds gives up only 2 hits and fans 9.

» April 18, 1950: At Fenway, Happy Chandler gives Ted Williams his MVP Award, and then Governor Paul Dever tosses out the first ball. To the delight of 31,822 fans, Boston rips starter Allie Reynolds with a five-run 4th inning to drive the Chief from the game and take a 9–0 over the Yankees. But the Yanks score four in the 6th off Mel Parnell and then, down 10–4, New York unloads for nine runs in the 8th. 2B Billy Martin (2-for-2) becomes the first player in history to get two base hits in one inning in his first ML game. He doubles against Mel Parnell on his first at bat in the 8th inning, and singles off Al Papai. Walt Masterson gives up Tommy Henrich's 2nd triple of the game before giving way to four more Sox hurlers. Boo Ferriss, pitching in his last game, allows the last two runs in the 9th inning as the Yanks chalk up a 15–10 win, the biggest blown lead the Sox have ever had at Fenway (June 4, 1989, they'll blow a 10-run lad at home). DiMaggio, Berra, Vern Stephens, and Doerr each have three hits. Don Johnson is the winner, his last one for New York, with Joe Page pitching a perfect 8th and 9th in relief.

» June 23, 1950: Eleven home runs—a ML record—drive in all the runs scored in a 10–9 Tiger win over the Yankees before 51,000 Detroit fans. Detroit has four home runs in the 4th inning as Dizzy Trout, Gerry Priddy, Vic Wertz, and Hoot Evers connect. Pitcher Dizzy Trout's home run, off Tommy Byrne, is his 2nd lifetime grand slam. Hoot Evers hits another home run, an inside-the-park 2-run game winner in the 9th off Joe Page to win it. For New York, Hank Bauer connects for two homers, including one in the 4th inning. Joe DiMaggio, Jerry Coleman, Yogi Berra, and pinch hitter Tommy Henrich also belt round trippers. It is the first time that nine different players connect for homers in a game.

» July 3, 1950: With rookie Joe Collins not hitting and Tommy Henrich still injured, Casey Stengel asks Joe DiMaggio to play 1B in an experiment. In the 7–2 loss he handles 13 cleanly but is clearly not happy with the move. After this one-game experiment, Joe returns to the outfield.

» December 18, 1950: Yankee great Tommy "Old Reliable" Henrich calls it a career as a player. He accepts a coaching position with the Yankees.

» May 2, 1961: In their first appearance in Minnesota, the Yankees top the transplanted Washington team, 6–4. Mickey Mantle's grand slam in the 10th inning off Camilo Pascual, is the big blow. Luis Arroyo picks up the save after the Twins score 2. Mick's extra inning grand slam is the 6th by a Yankee, joining Wally Pipp (1923), Babe Ruth (1925), Bob Meusel (1929), and Joe DiMaggio and Tommy Henrich (1948).