Baseball Hall of Immortals – Inductee #56: Rogers Hornsby

The first man to win 2 league MVP awards is the 56th inductee into the Baseball Hall of Immortals. 

Rogers Hornsby set the bar for second basemen for years to come.  Over the course of 23 seasons (the last several as a player-manager), Hornsby achieved a lifetime batting average of .358, second only to Ty Cobb, and the highest by any right-handed hitter.  He would lead the National League in hitting 7 times, including a period of six straight years where he averaged .402, setting the modern single season mark of .424 in 1924.

Amazingly, even though he led the league in hits, runs, average, and walks that year, he still finished 2nd in MVP voting (Dazzy Vance would win the award with a 28-6 record).

Hornsby would finish his career with just under 3,000 hits, 301 homeruns, and almost the same number of runs scored and RBIs (1,579 and 1,584 respectively).

A master with the bat, there is no doubt that Rogers Horsnby is an Immortal.

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For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.