Vernon won the 1946 AL batting title with a .353 average, and again in 1953 with a .337 mark. Vernon edged out Al Rosen by .001, depriving the Cleveland slugger of a Triple Crown.
Vernon played 14 seasons (including a partial season) for Washington and later served as the expansion team version of the Senators manager for their first three seasons from 1961-63.
He played in 2409 games, but none of them in the postseason. The closest he came was in 1959 with the Milwaukee Braves, but that team lost a tiebreaker playoff series to the Dodgers.
I saw Mr. Vernon at a SABR meeting a couple of years ago outside of Philadelphia. What struck me was how tall he was-long, angular, and lean, with huge fingers, kind of like you'd expect.
When you think of all the history he saw and all the Presidents he met at all those openers-wow.
Bill James argued in one of his books that one of the reasons the Braves lost that was that Fred Haney gave a bunch of at bats to Mickey Vernon, who was at the end of the line.
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When you think of all the history he saw and all the Presidents he met at all those openers-wow.
RIP, Mr. Vernon.
For my Dad that was a heartbreaker.
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