https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Jimmie-Foxx/
researched and compiled by Carrie Birdsong
As he had done many times in recent years, Jimmie Foxx
chose to spend the afternoon of July 21, 1967, with his younger brother,
Sam. The two men lived close by one
another in Miami, and often got together to reminisce about the elder Foxx’s
legendary career, in which he slugged 534 home runs, won three MVP awards, and
was elected into the Hall of Fame.
Foxx’s second wife, Dorothy, had passed away in 1966 and his family saw
him becoming lonelier and more depressed.
More and more, the time with his brother seemed to be the only thing to
bring a smile to a man renowned for his generosity and good nature.During dinner, Jimmie Foxx collapsed with an apparent
heart attack (he had suffered two others in recent years) and was rushed to
Miami Baptist Hospital, where attempts to revive him failed. An autopsy later revealed that Foxx had
choked to death, in a fashion similar to that of his wife several months
earlier. Broken-hearted, Sam Foxx died
just a few weeks later. The sad end to
Foxx’s life does not diminish what is in many ways a classic American
Story. He rose from a Maryland farm boy
who came from little to reach the heights of fame and fell back to earth
again. However, throughout it all he was
able to keep the personality and appeal that still drew praise from his former
teammates long after they played with him.
James Emory Foxx was born in Sudlersville, Maryland,
on October 22, 1907. His parents Dell
and Mattie were moderately successful tenant farmers. Dell Foxx had played baseball for a town team
in his youth and instilled a love for the game in his eldest child (brother Sam
would arrive in 1918). According to
family legend, Jimmie tried to run away and join the Army at the age of 10,
after hearing his grandfather’s military exploits in the Civil War. Young Jimmie did reasonably well in school,
but truly excelled in athletic pursuits, including soccer and track as well as
baseball. His many hours of work on the
family farm would build up a fabled physique that belied his average-sized 5
foot 11’ frame. He set several local
records in track events as a schoolboy, and always kept deceptive foot speed;
teammate Billy Werber, and ace base stealer himself, maintained that Foxx was
always one of the faster runners in the league.
In 1924, the expansion of the Eastern Shore League
brought a team to nearby Easton. The
franchise attracted added attention due to its player-manager, Frank “Home Run”
Baker, a future Hall of Famer and local hero from Trappe, Maryland. Foxx’s baseball exploits for Sudlerville High
quickly came to Baker’s attention, and he invited Foxx for a tryout. Showing up in a pair of overalls, the high
school junior told Baker he could catch for him if needed to do so and was
signed for a salary estimated at between $125 and $250 a month. Foxx played for Easton throughout the summer,
hitting .296 with 10 home runs. At the
end of July, the Philadelphia Athletics bought his contract, and he even went
up to the big club to watch the end of the regular season from the bench. After the season, he returned to Suldersville
and his senior year of high school – after all, the young slugger was only 16!
The schoolboy athlete did not finish that senior year,
leaving in the winter to attend spring training with the Athletics. Foxx stuck with the team as a pinch hitter
and reserve catcher, singling in his major-league debut against Washington’s
Vean Gregg on May 1, 1925. To get him
some more playing time, manager Connie Mack sent Foxx to Providence of the
Eastern League, where he hit .327 despite missing time with a shoulder
injury. He returned to the team in
September, although injuries continued to keep him on the bench. Still, he had a nifty .667 batting average in
his first 10 major-league games, certainly an auspicious debut. He stuck with the Athletics for the 1926
season, but again saw little playing time.
The team already had a gifted young catcher in Mickey Cochrane, which
relegated Foxx to pinch-hitting and spot duty in the outfield.
By 1927 Connie Mack was beginning to build a
powerhouse. The Ruth/Gehrig Yankees
still reigned supreme, and the Athletics were only able to finish a distant
second that season. Mack had carefully bought
younger players such as Foxx, Cochrane, pitcher Lefty Grove, and outfielder Al
Simmons, and brought in veterans Ty Cobb (in 1927) and Tris Speaker (in 1928)
to supply experience and guidance to his youthful stars. Foxx again spent most of the season on the
bench, hitting .323 in a limited role.
However, this season was significant in that he began playing first base
most of the time. Foxx settled in at
first base for the bulk of his career and was an underrated fielder with better-than-average range. He also occasionally
caught and sometimes manned third base, a position he played in several
All-Star games because of the presence of Lou Gehrig at first. In 1928 the A’s, a mixture of young stars and
old, gave the Yankees everything they could manage before falling just short of
the pennant. Foxx became a regular at
last, playing first and third and getting off to a torrid .407 start by
June. He cooled off in the second half
of the season, settling for .328, but was now clearly a rising star. In the offseason, he celebrated the turn in
his fortunes in two ways. He brought his
parents a new farm outside Suldersville, and he eloped with his girlfriend
Helen Heite, with whom he would have two sons and a tempestuous 14-year marriage.
In 1929 the Athletics blossomed into a legendary
juggernaut, romping to an easy pennant, finishing 18 games ahead of the
Yankees. Foxx, playing mostly at first
base now, had his first wonderful season.
Throughout August, he was leading the league in hitting at .390 and
running neck-and-neck with Ruth and Gehrig for the lead in home runs. A September slump cost him the batting title
to Lou Fonseca (Foxx ultimately finished 4th), but he still pounded
the ball to a .354 tune with 33 round-trippers.
His on-base percentage of .463 led the league. The A's advanced to the World Series to face
the Chicago Cubs.
Foxx’s first child, Jimmie Jr., was born just before
the Series and he told the press that he would hit a home run for him. He kept that promise by homering for the A’s
first run of the Series in Game One and also went deep in Game Two. Foxx delivered a key single in the famous
10-run rally that won the fourth game, and the A’s went on to win the Series in
five games. The championship season
brought plenty of attention to the 21-year-old slugger, and he was feted
royally in Sudlersville in celebration.
The 1930 season brought more of the same to Foxx and
the Athletics. The team took a bit
longer to put away its competition, this year coming from Washington, but it
repeated as American League champions. A
torrid early season was again the fashion for Foxx, as he hit 22 home runs, and
was one of four A’s players to have an on-base percentage over .420.
The 1930 World Series pitted the A’s against the St.
Louis Cardinals, and they battled to a 2-2 tie going into Game Five at
Sportsman’s Park. The game was scoreless
into the top of the ninth inning. With
one on, Foxx announced to his teammates that he would “bust up the game right
now.” He then went ahead to hit a
Burleigh Grimes pitch in the left-center-bleachers, giving the A’s the win and supplying
the impetus for them to wrap up the Series in Game Six. The game-winning home run gave Foxx one of
his proudest moments and he later cited the blow as one of the greatest moments
of his career.
Off the field, Foxx continued to enjoy his favored
childhood pastimes of hunting and fishing.
He often took extended hunting forays with his teammates in the
offseason, between barnstorming trips. Some
newspapers reported Foxx to be a moderate eater who watched his diet during the
season, but he also was known to tip the clubhouse boy famously for bringing
him huge meals before and after the games.
When he returned home to Maryland, he often indulged in backwoods
country feasts, including lifelong passions for Virginia ham and homemade peach
ice cream. He enjoyed movies and
collected autographed photos from his favorite stars, with Katharine Hepburn
tops on the list. (In 1996, a
Philadelphia newspaper ran an article linking Foxx romantically to actress Judy
Holliday, but this was later revealed to be a hoax.)
The press took a liking to Foxx, dubbing him with
various nicknames-“Double X,” – “The Maryland Strong Boy,” or simply “The
Beast.” He was often depicted as a
simple country boy, unaffected by the bright lights of the big city. Nonetheless, he did develop some expensive
big-city habits. Foxx spent large sums
on the best clothes money could buy, a tendency shared by his wife, Helen. He also had a fondness for personal grooming,
often visiting his manicurist during the season. As his salary grew, so too did his generosity
and profligate spending. The star
slugger gave handsome tips to everyone from the bellhop to the batboy, and he
insisted on picking up the entire tab at every dinner and outing. He was known
to literally give the shirt off his back if someone asked him for it. Many years later, Foxx’s former teammates and
opponents still spoke with reverence of his personal kindness and goodwill.
After winning consecutive World Series, the Athletics
had an even better regular season in 1931.
The team won 107 games and cruised to the pennant easily despite
competition from a Yankees team that scored nearly seven runs per game. Foxx continued to play a key role but was
hampered by serious knee and foot injuries, as well as the beginnings of sinus
trouble that would haunt him in later years.
Still, he hit 30 home runs and had 120 runs batted in, the third of 12
consecutive seasons of over 30 home runs.
In the World Series, the A’s again faced the Cardinals, but this time
Philadelphia was upset mainly because of the storied exploits of Cards outfielder
Pepper Martin. Foxx hit .348 in the
Series and smashed a ball completely out of Shibe Park in Game Four. In his three postseason appearances, Foxx hit
.344 with four home runs. However, the
1931 World Series was the last one for Foxx and the Philadelphia Athletics.
the 1932 campaign did not bring another pennant to
Philadelphia, but Foxx thrilled fans home and away by making an epic run at
Babe Ruth’s single-season record of 60 home runs. By the first week in May, he had belted 19
round-trippers, and he reached 41 by the end of July, a month ahead of Ruth’s
pace. In August, Foxx injured his thumb
and wrist in a household accident, and although he played through the injury
it hampered his power output. Going into
the last weekend of the season, Foxx had hit 56 homers, and he tried his best,
hitting two more in the final two games.
His total of 58 fell just short of Babe’s mark – but it is important
to note that conditions for Ruth were a little easier in 1927. In the intervening
five years, screens had been erected in St. Louis, Cleveland, and Detroit that
reduced the number of home runs in those ballparks. In an interview with Fred Lieb after the
season, Foxx said that he had lost 6 home runs to the screens in St. Louis
alone. In any event, 1932 stands as the
peak year of Foxx’s career. Aside from
his 58 round-trippers, he led the league with 169 runs batted in and narrowly
missed the batting title with a .364 mark.
After the season, he was named the American League’s Most Valuable
Player.
After the season, Mack began the dismantling of his championship
team. Declining attendance and personal
financial woes due to the Depression left Mack desperate for money, and he was
forced to sell off the only valuable asset he owned: the stars of his ball club. Al Simmons was the first to go, followed by
Grove, Cochrane, and other starters from the three pennant-winning teams. Only Foxx remained through the first three
seasons of Mack’s fire sale, and he put up three more great seasons throughout
it all. In 1933, the Athletics still had
enough left to finish third, helped in large part by Foxx’s second straight MVP
campaign. Playing through a series of
leg ailments, Foxx hit 48 home runs with a .356 average and 163 runs batted in,
giving him the Triple Crown that had narrowly evaded him in 1932. He was selected to play in the first All-Star
game, and he hit for the cycle against Cleveland on August 14. After the season, Foxx battled with Mack over
a pay raise (he eventually received a slight increase, to $18,000) and
published a book, How I Bat. The
ghostwritten volume attributed his batting success to developing his wrist
muscles and getting plenty of practice.
The Athletics further eroded in 1934, but again Foxx
provided them with most of their season’s highlights. For the third straight year, he hit over 40
home runs and even stole a career-high 11 bases. The most significant events of 1934 for Foxx
came after the season. In an exhibition
game in Winnipeg, a pitch thrown by minor-leaguer Barney Brown struck Foxx on
the forehead and knocked him unconscious.
He spent four days in the hospital and was considered “recovered” when
released. However, he suffered from
sinus problems for the rest of his life, which in turn led to extreme
difficulties on and off the field.
Despite this setback, Foxx was allowed to go with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig,
and other all-stars on a historic tour of Japan in November.
To help cover the loss of Cochrane, Foxx returned to
his original position behind the plate to start the 1935 season. He had a strong arm and by all accounts managed
pitchers well, but eventually moved back to first and third because of injuries
to other players. The Athletics fell all
the way to the cellar, but not without another strong year from its last
remaining star. Foxx tied Hank Greenberg
for the league lead with 36 homers and finished only three points behind in the
batting title race. After the season,
the long-rumored trade of Foxx finally came to fruition. Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, who had
already bought Grove from Philadelphia and player-manager Joe Cronin from
Washington in recent years, paid Mack $150,000 for Foxx and pitcher Johnny
Marcum (two minor players, Gordon Rhodes and George Salvino were also included
in the deal). Foxx reacted positively to
the deal; no doubt helped by a $7,000 increase in salary.
The highlight of Foxx’s first season in Boston came on
June 16, when he hit a ball completely out of Comiskey Park. (In later years, pitchers Lefty Gomez and Ted
Lyons enjoyed spinning yarns about the tape measure shots Foxx hit off
them.) this was one of 41 home runs that
season, and although he did not lead the league in any of the power categories,
Foxx’s performance was one of the bright spots of a disappointing season for
the Red Sox. In 1937, sinus problems
brought his performance down dramatically.
Foxx went through homerless streaks of 16 and 24 games and hit a mere
.285, the lowest average of his career up to that date. Although he topped his Comiskey Park blast by
hitting a ball out of Fenway Park to the right of the center field flagpole
against the Yankees on August 12, speculation began that his career was on the
downslide.
In 1938, Foxx silenced his critics with one of his
greatest seasons. He proved that his
power had not diminished by hitting five home runs in the last week of the
exhibition season. In May, he hit 10
home runs and drove in a whopping 325 runs.
Other highlights followed, including a game on June 16 in which he was
walked six times, tying a major league record.
The Yankees eclipsed the Red Sox in the standings, and Foxx’s home run
totals came in second to Hank Greenberg’s run at Ruth’s record. Still, when the dust had settled over the
1938 season, Foxx had won two-thirds of another Triple Crown, batting .349 and
driving in 175 runs, the fourth-highest total of all time. Thirty-five of Foxx’s 50 home runs were hit
at friendly Fenway Park, setting up what was then a record for homers hit at
home. His RBI totals still stand as a
Boston Red Sox team record, and his home run total was not surpassed by a Red
Sox player until David Ortiz in the 2006 season. After the season, Foxx beat out Greenberg in
the voting to take home his third American League MVP award.
The 1939 season brought a new star to the Red Sox, a
raw rookie named Theodore Samuel Williams.
Williams had boasted to his new teammates, “Wait until Foxx sees me
hit!” – but he also looked to the veteran slugger as a mentor and even a father
figure. In later years, Williams told
his younger teammates stories about Foxx’s slugging and pointed out places in
the ballparks where Foxx had hit tape-measure home runs. The friendship between the two men lasted
until the end of Foxx’s life, and Ted remained close to his teammates’ family
until his death in 2002. Together the two
sluggers formed a powerful left/right combo that brought the Red Sox into
pennant contention for most of the 1939 season.
Foxx enjoyed another superb season, batting .360, second in the league,
and leading the AL with 35 home runs.
His great year concluded a remarkable decade in which he was arguably
the game’s dominant hitter. From 1930 through 1939, Foxx slugged 415 home runs
and drove in 1,403 runs.
During his years with the Red Sox, Foxx moved into a
hotel and was separated from his family for long periods. It was during this period that the first
signs of his drinking problems appeared.
Although known to imbibe occasionally, he was never reported to be a
heavy drinker during the early years of his career. After his beaning, his sinus problems brought
him acute pain – a pain that subsided with alcohol. Roommate Elden Auker recalled several nights
when Foxx would be plagued by severe nosebleeds. His ample free time in Boston led to
increased after-hours activities, and he bragged to Ted Williams about the
amount of scotch whiskey he could consume without being affected. A teammate of the Chicago Cubs remembered
that a walk back from the ballpark to the team hotel with Foxx was fraught with
dangerous opportunities, as the veteran enjoyed visiting each of his favorite
taverns along the way.
Although his drinking problem is a matter of record,
it is important to point out that Foxx was never noted for violent or aggressive
behavior. To the contrary, he was known
as a gentle peacemaker, often mediating disputes in card games and making sure
rookie roommate Dom DiMaggio got to bed on time. Tom Yawkey enjoyed Foxx’s company and shared
many of his favorite activities.
According to one story, the player avoided a fine from Joe Cronin for
missing a curfew when he returned to the hotel lobby in the early morning with
the owner in tow. Some have surmised
that the length of Foxx’s career was curtailed by his drinking, and it
certainly did not help. It seems much
more likely that it was diminished batting eye caused by the beaning and
related sinus problems that led to his decline.
Foxx also often played through injuries that would have sidelined other
players, and eventually, this took a toll as well.
Foxx stayed an all-star slugger in 1940 and 1941,
driving in over 100 runs both years and hitting a total of 55 home runs. His triple allowed longtime teammate Lefty
Grove to win his 300th game in 1941.
Foxx had been eclipsed by Williams as the team’s star and was showing
signs of slowing at the plate and in the field.
His sinus problem became more acute, and he began to wear eyeglasses off
the field to combat a decline in his vision.
In addition, he grew more critical of player-manager Joe Cronin. Although Foxx got along well with everybody,
he never had the respect for Cronin that he had for Mack, and some tension
developed (to his credit, Cronin interceded in Foxx’s life in later years with
offers of employment and financial aid).
When the 1941 season ended, it was no secret that Foxx’s days with the
Red Sox were coming to an end.
Off the field, Foxx’s marriage to Helen had
unraveled. According to Elden Auker, she
constantly harassed Foxx via phone over financial issues, while all the time
carrying on an extramarital affair.
Their divorce became final in early 1943, with Helen accusing Foxx of
selfishness and other forms of mental cruelty.
The acrimonious divorce resulted in a long estrangement between Foxx and
his two young sons, James Emory Jr. and W. Kenneth. Both were sent to military schools and
seldom if ever spoke to their father. Kenneth
did not reunite with his father until his stepmother’s funeral in 1966, and
Jimmie Jr. essentially disappeared in the 1950s after serving in the Korean
War. For many years his family believed
that he was deceased; however, he resurfaced in the Philadelphia area and
renewed contact with his siblings just a few years before he died in 2006.
As the 1942 season began, Cronin told Foxx that he
would have to win the first base job from young Tony Lupien. Despite breaking a toe in spring training,
Foxx outhit Lupien and started the season as a regular. Just as he was beginning to hit again, a
freak batting practice injury resulted in a broken rib. On June 1, the Red Sox placed Foxx on
waivers, and he was sold to the Chicago Cubs for a mere $10,000. The move caused great regret and sadness for
both Boston players and fans, but Foxx’s days as a productive player were
over. He hit only .205 for the Cubs the
rest of the year and announced his retirement at the end of the season.
He stayed out of baseball during 1943, a year
highlighted by his second marriage, to Dorothy Yard. Foxx and Dorothy enjoyed a warm and committed
relationship through thick and thin until her untimely death in 1966, and he
became a true father to her two children, John and Nanci, as well. In 1944, Foxx volunteered for the military but was rejected due to his sinus condition.
He returned to play a handful of games as a player-coach for the Cubs
and also became interim manager of Portsmouth in the Class B Piedmont League.
The final go-round for Jimmie Foxx’s major league
career came in the city where he had starred for so long – Philadelphia. This time it was the Phillies, who were
looking to fill out their roster in the tight wartime era. Foxx was invited to spring training and after
hitting several home runs made the team as a pinch-hitter. By this time, he was having increasing
difficulty with his eyes and also suffered from shin splints and
bursitis. Tony Lupien, who had followed
Foxx at first base for the Red Sox, also played for the Phillies in 1945 and
remembers Jimmie as being particularly down on himself in this period. However, another teammate, Andy Sminick,
remembers Foxx as his usual fun-loving, generous self all year, often inviting
Andy to his home for big fried chicken dinners.
Foxx hit the last seven home runs of his career for
the Phillies, but what made his final season unique was his turn on the
pitching mound. Volunteering to help the
team out in any way he could, Foxx pitched 23 innings, with a 1-0 record and a
1.59 ERA. His high point on the mound
came in the second game of a doubleheader on August 19, when Foxx pitched
five no-hit innings in an emergency start.
(He had pitched once very briefly while with the 1939 Red Sox.) his last major league at-bat came against the
Dodgers on September 23. At the close of
the season, Foxx retired for good, with a .325 lifetime batting average, 2,646
hits, and 534 home runs – a total that was second to only Ruth until 1966. His total of 1,922 runs batted in still
ranked at 8th all-time in 2008.
The end of his playing career stood for a dramatic
transition in Foxx’s life. He was now
happily remarried with a new son, also named Jimmie Jr., but his divorce from
Helen had been damaging to his finances, and he had lost thousands in an
investment in a Florida golf course that closed because of World War II
restrictions. For the rest of his life,
he struggled mightily at times to find a steady career outside of baseball, yet
his teenage rise to the majors had left him with little preparation to do
so. He took a turn in the Red Sox radio
booth in 1946, but his Maryland accent did not win over many listeners. He also spent brief periods as a minor-league
manager and coach in St. Petersburg in 1947 and Bridgeport, Connecticut in
1949, and worked for a trucking company and beer distributor.
Foxx had received Hall of Fame votes as far back as
1936 when active players were eligible (he came in fourth then among active
players behind Rogers Hornsby, Mickey Cochrane, and Lou Gehrig.) However, he fell short of the needed vote
totals in six other regular and run-off elections until 1951. Foxx was named on 79.2% of the ballots and
earned election along with the leading vote-getter Mel Ott. in a brief speech, he merely noted that he
was proud to be a member and proud to have his old manager, Connie Mack on
hand. After the ceremony, he spent most
of his time under a tree signing autographs.
Foxx generally enjoyed giving autographs throughout his life, although
toward its end he sometimes had to use a rubber stamp to keep up with all of
the many requests forwarded to his home.
His family members remember frequent occasions when he would leave the
table at restaurants to accommodate his fans.
Foxx got back into baseball in 1952 in an unusual
manner when he was invited to manage the Fort Wayne Daisies – a team in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. He succeeded fellow Hall of Famer Max Carey,
who had become the league president and was offered a $3,600 salary with
bonuses. By all accounts, Foxx's time with
the Daisies was an enjoyable one. With
daughter Nanci helping out as a batgirl, the team improved attendance and made
the playoffs. In 1992, the film A
League of Their Own based the team’s manager (played by Tom Hanks_
loosely on Foxx, although the women who played for him remember him only as a
true gentleman in every way. Foxx did
not return to the Daisies for the 1953 season, with his only complaint being
the many long bus rides.
After his turn with the Daisies, the retired slugger
continued to drift from job to job. At
various times, he worked as a car salesman, for an oil company, and even as a
coal truck driver. An ambitious venture
in which Foxx was to do public-service work with inner-city youths did not get
off the ground. In 1956, he returned to
Florida and spent two seasons as a head baseball coach at the University of
Miami and as a hitting instructor for the minor league Miami Marlins. After the 1957 season, he was let go from
both positions and found himself bankrupt and unemployed. Invited to speak at the Boston Writers Dinner
in January 1958, Foxx admitted that he was broke and unable to pay his way
there. All his baseball earnings, he
announced, were long gone. After his
financial problems were shown, Foxx received many offers of employment and even
cash donations (which he then donated to the Jimmy Fund). Soon, a good fit was found. After a meeting with Cronin in Boston, Foxx
accepted a job as the hitting instructor for the Red Sox’s Triple-A farm team,
the Minneapolis Millers.
Although he seldom took batting practice, saying that
he “couldn’t do it” anymore, Foxx was well-liked and admired by the Millers
players. One player he befriended was
Bill Monbouquette, a young pitcher on the brink of a solid major-league career
that included a no-hitter for the Red Sox in 1962. Monbouquette remembers Foxx as a generous and
giving man, “one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” Both pitchers and hitters picked his brain
constantly for tips and advice, and Foxx was always glad to advise. During the season, Foxx surprised
Monbouquette’s while on the way to Fenway Park old-timers game. “I just wanted to let them know you were
doing okay,” Foxx told the young pitcher on his return.
However, Foxx’s tenure with the Millers lasted only a
single season. Art Schult, the Millers
catcher, recalled that the players “idolized” Foxx, but that he did not get
involved in the politics of the game with management. During the season, he was twice hospitalized
with high blood pressure and other ailments.
Expecting to return to the Millers for 1959, Foxx was instead given his
release by the Red Sox at the end of the 1958 season. The official reason given was that the team,
for financial reasons, wanted to hire someone to do double duty as a player and
coach.
The real reason, however, had more to do with Foxx’s
off-the-field habits. Gene Mauch, the
Millers’ manager in 1958, recalled jumping at the chance to hire Foxx, a
boyhood favorite and felt he could help out the team’s hitters. Sadly, things did not go as planned. According to Mauch, “By then, Jim had a bad
drinking problem and was seldom at the park on time to be of help. I idolized the man and kept him away from
scrutiny. At the end of the season,
Cronin gave him his money and sent him home – it was so sad.” Foxx’s drinking habits were also rumored to
have led to the end of his coaching in Miami and may have affected his
employment elsewhere. His alcohol use
may have stemmed from his sinus injury and worsened by his good-time lifestyle
in Boston. However, at this point, Foxx’s
drinking was related as much as anything to the loss of his baseball
career. Daughter Nanci believes his
drinking problems had a lot to do with the emptiness he felt in adjusting to
normalcy once his playing days had ended.
The ill-fated season in Minneapolis was Foxx’s last
job in baseball. He did occasionally
appear at old-timers’ games and was interviewed when Willie Mays passed him on
the all-time home run list (Foxx applauded Mays, saying it was great to see it
done by a fellow right-handed hitter). A
restaurant bearing his name in Illinois quickly went under, and he continued to
move around, bouncing from work with a sporting goods store in Lakewood, Ohio,
to several part-time jobs in Florida when he returned there in 1964. His son, Jimmie Jr. II, stayed in Ohio to
pursue an athletic career at Kent State University. Health problems continued to plague the elder
Foxx; he suffered two minor heart attacks, and his mobility was lessened by a
back injury suffered in a fall.
In May 1966, he suffered a terrible personal blow when
his wife, Dorothy, died of asphyxia.
Throughout the good years and bad, the two had a strong and devoted
marriage, and after her passing, depression seemed to get the better of
Foxx. He returned to Maryland one last
time in August 1966 to surprise a fan, Gil Dunn, who had written him concerning
a memorabilia display in his drugstore near Sudlersville. The slugger again gave Dunn a variety of
uniforms, equipment, and trophies, and with brother Sam in tow made the rounds
of his old hometown one final time. The
locals had turned a cold shoulder to Foxx in his retirement years; a strong sign
of this came when several local establishments refused to cash a $100 check,
later proven good in a neighboring town.
Less than a year later he was dead at 59 and was buried next to Dorothy
in Miami’s Flagler Memorial Park Cemetery.
In the years since Foxx’s death, a gradual
re-appreciation of his achievements has elevated his status. As a member of baseball’s 500 Home Run Club,
Foxx memorabilia fetches top dollar on the collector circuit. The Babe Ruth Hall of Fame and Museum has
devoted exhibit space to Foxx, thanks in part to donations from Gil Dunn. In the past few years, Foxx has been honored
by the Oakland Athletics and was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame,
each time with daughter Nanci proudly on hand to accept for him. He was one of the first players chosen by old
teammate Ted Williams to be enshrined in his own Hitters Hall of Fame. Foxx even made it onto a U.S. postage stamp
in the summer of 2000. In September
2006, Foxx returned to the Fenway limelight once again. David Ortiz, another perpetually smiling Red
Sox slugger, broke his 68-year team home run record with Nanci in attendance.
Perhaps the greatest tribute though, came from his
hometown of Sudlersville, Maryland. A
monument to Foxx was erected in celebration of his 80th birthday in
1987, and after 10 years of fundraising, a bronze life statue was unveiled on
October 25, 1997, in the center of his hometown. The Maryland Strong Boy had come home for
good.
Sources:
"My research on Jimmie Foxx’s life began about the same time I joined SABR in 1993. Writing
this biography entailed the use of primary, secondary, and interview sources. In
addition, I am grateful to the aid of Mark Armour, Harrison Daniel, Peter Golenbock, Bob
Gorman, Mark Hodermarsky, Bill Nowlin, Fred Schuld, and Dick Thompson (among others)
in the preparation of this narrative."
1. Auker, Elden. Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms.
Triumph Books, 2000.
2. Canaday, Nanci (as told to John Bennett). “My
Dad- Jimmie Foxx”, The National Pastime,
Number 19, 1999.
3. Daniel, W. Harrison, Jimmie Foxx: The Life and
Times of a Baseball Hall of Famer McFarland,
1996.
4. DiMaggio, Dominic, and Bill Gilbert. Real
Grass, Real Heroes: Baseball’s Historic 1941
Season. Kensington, 1991.
5. Golenbock, Peter. Fenway: An Unexpurgated
History of the Boston Red Sox. Douglas
Charles, 1991.
6. Hall of Fame Files, Jimmie Foxx (volumes
1, 2, 3), National Baseball Hall of Fame and
Library, Cooperstown, New York.
7. Gorman, Bob. Double X: The Story of
Jimmie Foxx, Baseball’s Forgotten Slugger
B. Goff, 1990.
8. Linn, Ed. The Great Rivalry. Ticknor and
Field, 1991.
9. Millikin, Mark. Jimmie Foxx: The Pride of
Sudlersville. Scarecrow Press, 1998.
10. Williams, Ted, with John Underwood. My
Turn At Bat: The Story of My Life. Fireside,
1988.
11. Werber, Bill. Memories of a Ballplayer.
SABR Press, 2001.
12. In particular, I wish to cite the three
biographies of Jimmie Foxx, all of which
have their own special strengths. They were
extremely useful resources and should be the
first place for a Foxx enthusiast to go.
13. I was able to interview the following former
players by phone mail, and/or in person
between 1993-200, several of whom are directly
quoted within:
A. Elden Auker.
B. Dom DiMaggio.
C. Bob Doerr
D. Bob Feller
E. David “Boo” Ferriss
F. Tom Henrich
G. Tony Lupien
H. Gene Mauch
I. Lenny Merullo
J. Bill Monbouquette
K. Johnny Pesky
L. Art Schult
M. Andy Seminick
N. Charlie Wagner
O. Bill Werber
P. Alma Ziegler
"Last and certainly not least, I wish to personally note and thank the aid of Jimmie’s daughter, Nanci Foxx Canaday, who has been instrumental in my research on Foxx for 10 years now. Along with her husband, Jim, she welcomed me into her Florida home for an interview on June 30, 2000, and continues an annual correspondence. Nanci supplies living proof of Jimmie’s best qualities, and none of my work would have happened without her help."
Full Name: James Emory Foxx.
Born: October 22, 1907, at Sudlersville, MD (USA).
Died: July 21, 1967, at Miami, FL (USA).
