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George Kell

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

George Kell is a finest baseball player in his epoch and was born on August 23, 1922 in Swifton, Arkansas. Kell was only 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 28, 1943 with the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team. A 5.09 feet tall contender with weight of 175 pounds saw many ups and downs in his professional stint that made him a potential player.

Kell remained the American League's premier third baseman long after the war had ended, and eventually earned a spot in the Hall of Fame. After two seasons as the Athletics' third baseman, Kell was drafted by the Detroit for Barney McCosky in May 1946 and became a perennial All Star. He finished the 1946 season at 0.322, his first of eight consecutive 0.300 seasons. He missed 57 games in 1948 due to injuries and had suffered earlier with a broken wrist.

In the 1949 season, Kell won his only batting title, and in the process denied Ted Williams his third triple crown. Kell hit 0.340 the following year, leading the American League with 218 hits and 56 doubles, but lost the batting title to Boston's Billy Goodman. After leading the league in hits and doubles once again in 1951, Kell was sent to Boston in June 1952 as a part of a nine man deal.

George Kell was as gifted in the field as he was at the plate, leading to the American League’s third baseman title seven times in fielding and four times each in assists and total chances. After ending his career as Baltimore's third baseman, Kell became a Tigers play by play man and was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1983. Kell is still admired as the potential player who can build up the team’s winning strategy single handedly.

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