The Philadelphia Athletics Slugger Jimmie Foxx
The imposing figure on the mound was familiar to the Shibe Park faithful, but not in the uniform he currently wore and not in the position he was playing. It was 1945. Jimmie Foxx had returned to Philadelphia, but this time with the Phillies (who were calling themselves the Blue Jays informally). World War II was still raging. Although President Franklin Roosevelt insisted that baseball continue during the war, it ranks had been depleted. With the likes of Ted Willliams, Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio joining the war effort, many teams struggled to put players on the field. Many older players, like Foxx, found their career extended as a result. Foxx, known in his prime as The Beast or Double X, saw his skills begin to diminish around 1941. He played for the Cubs for a few years mostly as a pinch hitter, before joining the Phillies. Now he was being asked to round out the Phillies' pitching staff as the season, and Foxx's playing career...