Does being racist, getting divorced not once, not twice, not three times, don't even think he got divorced four times, but 5 times, having the nickname "country", serving in the military, and having a strong passion for baseball sound like someone you know? Then that person may just be Hall of Fame left fielder Enos Slaughter.
Born in 1916 in very rural North Carolina, Enos Slaughter made his Major League debut in 1938. He played the game very hard. Think of Pete Rose playing style but before Pete Rose played. Known for his slap hitter play style and very consistent playing ability, Enos was an everyday player for the St. Louis Cardinals for over a decade.
His playing career was interrupted early on when he went and served in the US Air Force during WWII. What was his job in the air force? Physical Education teacher. Did not even know that they had those in the military. I feel like a PE teacher for the military might be the most useless position in all of the military. But Enos still served so props for him. He just was not taking down fighter jets like Ted Williams was.
When Enos came back to baseball in 1946 he immediately led the league in RBIs and won the World Series against the Red Sox. If you are a real seam head you would know Enos Slaughter from "Slaughters Mad Dash" in game 7 of the World Series. For the not crazy baseball history nuts, here is what happened. Top of the 8th, 2 outs 3-3 tie game with Enos on first base after a single. A hit and run is called and Enos takes off. The ball is hit in the left-center field gap, but not past the fielders, just a measly blooper. Enos rounds 2nd and heads to 3rd. The 3rd base coach is telling Enos to stop, Enos runs through the stop sign and scores. Some say that shortstop, John Pesky did not throw the ball home due to the shock that he had seeing Enos run home. The reports of what happened are all conflicting with one another. Some say that Enos was waved home while others say that he was told to stop. In the video you can see that the 3rd base coach, is not really doing a whole lot of either of those 2 things. But whatever happened, one thing that is universally known is that Enos scored and the Cardinals won the World Series. 2 blogs in a row that I tell the story of how the Red Sox lost the World Series in heart breaking fashion lol.
Now the next season was a big one for baseball as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Enos, being from a rural area in North Carolina did not take well to Jackie Robinsons kind. During the season Enos and his teammate Terry Moore attempted to convince the Cardinals to forfeit games against the Dodgers as they did not want to play on the same field as Jackie. There attempt was not successful and the Cardinals would go on and play the Dodgers that season. One thing that Enos did do to Jackie though was purposely injure him. During a game, Enos slid into second base with his cleats up and made a 7 inch gash on Robinsons thigh. Enos would deny all of these claims however, saying that since he's a "southern boy" the media wants to pin him against the only black player in the league. I have played a few hundred of baseball games in my time and I have never seen anyone slide and hit a player in the thigh with a cleat. With the nickname "country"though, it is hard to deny what the evidence shows.
One fun fact about Enos is that he joined the Yankees later in his career, and was the starting left fielder when Don Larson threw his perfect game in the World Series. Not much is known about his 5 divorces though. I guess from doing some research I can see why one would want to divorce a guy like Enos. 5 divorces has to be some kind of record though for baseball players. Ill get back to you on that one it might take a bit of google searching.
Share with that weird family member that always has a new girl at the family function, is also a Air Force PE teacher that has a World Series ring and is a baseball Hall of Famer. If you do not have one of those, maybe a friend would work too.
That is todays Tea, with T
Comments