The "Say Hey Kid" spent just 35 games in Minneapolis in 1951, but he left quite the impression. His Batting Average of .477 was impressive - he averaged 2 hits per game played. He also scored more than a run per game. He hit 8 Homers for the Millers before the Giants called him up.
Here's an article on his time in MN from a book called
Swinging for the Fences: Black Baseball in Minnesota .
The "past year" stats are from his rookie season in New York - the lifetime stats are his time in the Minor leagues (1950 in Trenton and 1951 in Minneapolis).
He's also featured with the Millers on a card from the Ted Williams Company. Ted also had a brief stay in Minneapolis.
Hey! those are sweet cards of THE KID!
ReplyDeleteThose are two nice cards... I added the top one to my COMC shopping cart.
ReplyDeleteBack when the Giants were looking to leave New York, they were also considering a move to Minneapolis if the Dodgers didn't want to move west with them. I sometimes wonder what baseball would be like now if we had the Minneapolis Millers instead of the San Francisco Giants.
I've never seen these before - excellent finds!
ReplyDeleteOh man, those are great! I think Willie earned a call up after averaging 2 hits a game.
ReplyDeleteGreat Willie cards
ReplyDelete