Backup Second Baseman
Bobby Doerr (with Red Sox from 1937-1944, 1946-1951)
.288/.362/.461, 1865 G, 8028 PA, 115 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Before joining the Red Sox, Bobby Doerr was teammates with Ted Williams on the San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League. The Sox were scouting Doerr when they noticed Williams and shook hands on a deal to purchase Williams’ contract at a later time. Doerr and Williams would remain lifelong friends.
Doerr joined the Red Sox in 1937. He was hit by a pitch in late April and played much of the season as a backup to Eric McNair. He ended up playing in 55 games and getting 170 plate appearances. He became the team’s regular second baseman in 1938 and would go on to make the all-star team nine times in his 14 years with the Sox. From 1938 to the end of his career in 1951, Doerr’s average season looked like this: 139 G, 604 PA, 82 R, 17 HR, 95 RBI, .289/.363/.464.
World War II cost Doerr the last month of the 1944 season and all of the 1945 season. The Red Sox were in the thick of the pennant race in 1944 and Doerr was having his best season when he left the team to serve. One of his teammates, pitcher Tex Hughson, was also called to action. Hughson was 18-5 at the time. The Red Sox went from 1.5 games behind in early September to 12 games out by the end of the season.
Doerr returned from the war in 1946 and helped lead the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time since 1918 with a season that saw him finish third in AL MVP voting (teammate Ted Williams won the award). The Red Sox lost the series to the Cardinals in seven games, but Doerr led the team with a .409/.458/.591 batting line (Williams hit .200).
A back injury in 1951 ended Doerr’s career early. He was just 33 years old at the time and was still an above average player. He retired to Oregon for the mid part of the 1950s but came back to work for the Red Sox as a roving instructor and scout in 1957. Doerr, along with Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky, was featured in the 2003 book by David Halberstam, The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.