Jimmy Foxx.

[amothegreat]

I've never been able to explain how Jimmy Foxx could be the fastest (until Alex Rodriguez last year) to 500 hrs (32 yrs) and yet go on to hit 34 Hrs the rest of his career. It doesn't make sense to me. What the hell happen? Did he just get hurt all of the sudden? There must be some oldtimer out there that could of possibly seen him play and explain to this new generation of baseball fanatics what the hell happened?

[AutographCollector]

I've never been able to explain how Jimmy Foxx could be the fastest (until Alex Rodriguez last year) to 500 hrs (32 yrs) and yet go on to hit 34 Hrs the rest of his career.

Some sources attribute this to a drinking problem, while others attribute it to a sinus condition. If it were my guess, I would say the drinking caused his career to decline hitting wise.

[ElHalo]

Drinking happened to him, as happened to a lot of players of his era. See the Waner brothers, Hack Wilson, etc., etc.

[hellborn]

Ted Williams truly admired and was in awe of Foxx, but wrote frankly about his drinking problem. I think that Ted mentioned Jimmie bragging about being able to drink 20 of the little hard liquor bottles you used to get on airplanes without even being drunk, but wrote that he knew right then that Foxx was not going to be able to sustain his greatness with habits like that.

[KCGHOST]

Didn't Lefty Gomez say something about Foxx like "Even his hair has muscles"?

[hellborn]

Gomez had a bunch of great quotes about Foxx...
my favorite was from a time he had to face Jimmie with men on, and he just kept holding the ball, holding the ball. The catcher (Dickey) finally went out to the mound and asked what was up. Gomez replied that he didn't want to throw the ball at all, and said, "Who knows? He might get a phone call or something."
Lefty also said that he brought a pair of glasses to the mound, put them on, saw Jimmie Foxx standing there in the batter's box, and was so scared that he never put them on again.

I think that Foxx was the epitome of strength in baseball in his time, like Frank Thomas was in the '90s. Somebody once asked Jimmie how much air he put in his biceps, and he just deadpanned, "35 pounds."

[lovethegame]

My Dad grew up in Hells Kitchen New York and it wasn't a Yankee or Giant or even a Bum he idolized it was XX
Pop said noone hit it harder or cleaner then Foxx
Makes you wonder what he and Mantle could have done sans booze

[JimmieFoxxFan]

as you can tell by my user name, i agree with your pop

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

I appreciate Foxx's achievement over A-Rod's. Although A-rod did it faster, Foxx played in an era where brute strength made you a slugger. There were no specialized bats, training techniques, personal trainers, and absolutely no possibilities for PEDs.

Unfortunately, Foxx was a heavy drinker. I rank him as the second-greatest slugger despite this.