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Joe Morgan

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.

Joe Morgan was born on September 19, 1943, in Bonham, Texas. Morgan was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 21, 1963, with the Houston Colt .45s. Morgan was a rare commodity, a speedy second baseman with power. His height was five foot seven inches and weight is 150 pounds and was also one of the smallest number-three hitters in recent baseball history. Morgan ranks third all-time in walks behind Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. He is also the only second baseman to win consecutive MVP, most valuable awards awards, in 1975 and 1976. In the batter's box, Morgan would flap his front elbow distinctively as a timing device.

In 1975 Morgan led the NL, National League in walks for the third time with 132, while combining a 0.327 BA, batting average with 17 HR home runs, 94 RBI Runs Batted In, and 67 stolen bases. Morgan's MVP, most valuable award season sparked the team into the 1975 World Series against the Red Sox, one of the most exciting series ever played. Morgan, as usual, was in the thick of the excitement.

In 1976 Morgan topped his previous power totals with a career-high 27 HR home run, became only the fifth second baseman to drive in more than 100 runs and led the league in slugging average at 0.576. He also batted 0.320, stole 60 bases and had an on-base average of 0.516 to earn his straight second MVP, most valuable career.

In 1980 he went back to Houston, where he helped the Astros to a division title, and spent two years in San Francisco, almost leading the untalented Giants to a surprise pennant in 1982. Still productive, even if unable to match his earlier high standards, Morgan ended up on a geriatric Phillies team in 1983 with fellow Reds alumni Pete Rose and Tony Perez, making it as far as the World Series but losing in five games to Baltimore.

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