Rabbit Maranville | |||
---|---|---|---|
Shortstop / Second baseman | |||
Born: Springfield, Massachusetts |
November 11, 1891|||
Died: January 6, 1954 Woodside, Queens, New York |
(aged 62)|||
|
|||
MLB debut | |||
September 10, 1912, for the Boston Braves | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 29, 1935, for the Boston Braves | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .258 | ||
Home runs | 28 | ||
Runs batted in | 884 | ||
Hits | 2605 | ||
Teams | |||
|
|||
Career highlights and awards | |||
|
|||
Member of the National | |||
Baseball Hall of Fame | |||
Inducted | 1954 | ||
Vote | 82.94% (14th ballot) |
Walter James Vincent Maranville (November 11, 1891 – January 6, 1954), better known as Rabbit Maranville due to his speed and small stature — 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) tall and 155 pounds (70 kg; 11 st 1 lb) — was a Major League Baseball shortstop. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which wasn't broken until 1986 by Pete Rose.
Maranville finished third in the MVP voting in his first full season, playing for the Boston Braves as a 21-year-old in 1913 even though his batting average was just .247 in 143 games with two homers. The following year, Maranville was the runner-up in the MVP voting to teammate Johnny Evers as the Braves won the National League pennant and then went on to sweep the powerful Philadelphia A's in the World Series. That year, Maranville was the Braves' cleanup hitter, despite batting just .246 and hitting four home runs. Even at age 41, when Maranville batted .218 in 143 games and hit no homers, he finished in a tie for 12th in the MVP voting.
Over a lengthy career which spanned both the dead ball and live-ball era, Maranville played for the Boston Braves (1912–1920, 1929–1933, 1935), Pittsburgh Pirates (1921–1924), Chicago Cubs (1925), Brooklyn Robins (1926) and St. Louis Cardinals (1927–1928). He retired having compiled a .258 batting average, 2,605 hits, 1,255 runs, 28 home runs, 884 RBI and 291 stolen bases. As a shortstop, he finished his career with a positional record 5,139 putouts. He won his only World Series championship in 1914 as a member of the Braves, and won his only other National League championship in 1928 as a member of the Cardinals.