Vern Stephens
| Vern Stephens | |||
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| Shortstop | |||
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Born: October 23, 1920 McAlister, New Mexico |
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Died: November 3, 1968 (aged 48) Long Beach, California |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 13, 1941, for the St. Louis Browns | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| June 30, 1955, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .286 | ||
| Home runs | 247 | ||
| Runs batted in | 1,174 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Vernon Decatur Stephens (October 23, 1920 – November 3, 1968) was an American shortstop in professional baseball who played 15 seasons in the American League for four different teams. A native of McAlister, New Mexico, Stephens batted and threw right-handed. He was also nicknamed "Pop-up Stephens", "Junior", and "Buster".
One of the strongest-hitting shortstops in major league history, Stephens compiled a .286 batting average with 247 home runs and 1174 RBI in 1720 games. Breaking with American Major League baseball, Stephens signed a five-year contract with the Mexican League in 1946. He had been in Mexico only a few days when his father, a minor league umpire, and the Browns scout Jack Fournier drove down and brought him back to the United States.
Vern Stephens died of a heart attack in Long Beach, California at 48 years of age.
In August 2008, he was named as one of the ten former players who began their careers before 1943 to be considered by the Veterans Committee for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
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