Vaughan was a perennial All-Star named to the National League team nine successive years. In 1941 he hit two All-Star home runs. His best years were spent in Pittsburgh, where his mentor, Honus Wagner, roomed with Vaughan while a Pirate coach. Vaughan's 1935 marks, a .385 batting average and .607 slugging average, remain team records. In addition to those league-leading numbers, his performance that year included 19 HR, 99 RBI, 108 runs, and only 18 strikeouts in 499 at-bats plus a league-high 97 walks. Unsurprisingly, he also led in on-base average (.491); from 1934 to 1936 he led in both walks and on-base average. His 1935 season earned him third place in the MVP voting, and he won TSN NL Player of the Year honors, at the time as prestigious as the more recently-introduced MVP award.
Vaughan led NL shortstops in errors in his first two seasons (46 each year) but exhibited good range. He settled down to become one of the league's better-fielding shortstops and led in putouts in 1936. By 1938 he may have been the best; from 1938 through 1940 he led three times in assists, twice in putouts, and once each in total chances per game, double plays, and errors.
Playing in spacious Forbes Field, Vaughan was in double figures in triples in all but one of his first nine seasons, and he led the league three times; he reached the 40-double plateau twice. He led in runs three times and topped 100 runs five times. First-place Brooklyn traded four players after the 1941 season to acquire Vaughan. After an off-year (.277, 82 runs) in 1942 while playing third base, he rebounded in 1943 to lead the NL with a career-high 20 stolen bases (at the age of thirty-one) and with 112 runs. He also had the best of his many excellent strikeout ratios, fanning just 13 times in 610 at-bats plus 60 walks, and hit .305.
Named for his home state of Arkansas, Arky Vaughan was a quiet, gentlemanly ballplayer whose demeanor was only twice disturbed; once by Dick Bartell and then by Leo Durocher. After Bartell had been hit in the head by a throw on a double-play attempt by Vaughan, he was quoted in the press as seeking revenge when the two teams played again. He backed down when a steely-eyed Vaughan walked up to him before the game and proposed they settle their differences under the stands.
Durocher pushed the reserved Vaughan too far. An argument between the Dodger manager and Bobo Newsome raged through the Dodger club house. Finally, Vaughan presented his rolled-up uniform to his manager with a suggestion he dispose of it in an impossible manner. Vaughan stalked out and the rest of the team was ready to follow. Relations were strained the rest of the 1943 season and, in 1944, Vaughan stayed on his California ranch, refusing to give as the reason his obvious loathing for Durocher or his wish to support the war effort by farming.
He remained away from baseball until 1947, the year of Durocher's suspension. Then, after three years of idleness, he hit .325 as a part-time outfielder, third baseman, and pinch hitter (10-for-26). Vaughan drowned in 1952, just forty years old, when a boat from which he was fishing capsized. The Veterans Committee selected him for the Hall of Fame in 1985. (JK)
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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»August 11, 1932:
Rookie SS Arky Vaughan makes a crucial error in the 10th inning, and the Cubs top the Pirates 3-2 to take first place.
»May 1, 1933: Earl Grace and Arky Vaughan slug grand slams for the Pirates and Bill Swift coasts to a 10–0 win over the Phillies.
»June 24, 1933: Arky Vaughan hits for the cycle, as the Pirates beat the Dodgers 15–3.
»June 10, 1935: Paul Waner, Arky Vaughan, and Pep Young hit successive home runs in the 8th inning off Al Hollingsworth in the Pirates 14–1 win against the Reds. Arky Vaughan's homer is his 2nd of the day as he continues to lead the N.L. in hitting with a .400+ average.
»May 13, 1937:
Carl Hubbell wins his 5th straight, and 21st over two seasons, stopping the National League-leading Pirates, 5–2. Arky Vaughan's two homers account for all the Pittsburgh scoring. Leading off, Dick Bartell hits his 4th homer in five days to continue his 12-game hitting streak, as the Giants hand reliever Waite Hoyt the loss.
»July 8, 1941:
At the All-Star Game at Briggs Stadium, Ted Williams,
hitting .405 at the break, homers off Chicago Cubs P Claude Passeau with two out and two on in the ninth inning to give the AL a dramatic 7-5 victory. Williams's 4 RBI are matched by NL SS Arky Vaughan,
who hits HRs in the seventh and eighth.
»May 31, 1942:
In Game One of a twinbill sweep at Brooklyn, Dixie Walker of the Dodgers is credited with an inside-the-park grand slam as the Braves aging Paul Waner searches for the ball under the bullpen bench. Walker follows Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, and Arky Vaughan over the plate. The Dodgers win, 10–2. Brooklyn wins the nitecap, 3–1, behind Whit Wyatt's 10th straight win over Boston.
»July 10, 1943:
Brooklyn scores 10 runs in the first and fourth innings as they whip the visiting Pirates 23-6. This follows a pregame attempted strike by the players following Leo Durocher's 3-game suspension of P Bobo Newsom for insubordination. Minutes before the game SS Arky Vaughan handed his uniform to Durocher and refused to play. Durocher called for volunteers to play, but by game time he had just a battery of Curt Davis and Bobby Bragan. Branch Rickey intervened, and Vaughan and the others agreed to play. Newsom, 9-4, will be traded to the Browns on July 15th.
»March 6, 1985: Enos Slaughter and Arky Vaughan are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.
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