Biography for Bobby Doerr

Picked up on the same scouting trip that former Red Sox general manager Eddie Collins discovered Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr would go on to play 14 years in Boston, averaging .288 at the plate but never batting below .270 in any season except for his shortened rookie campaign. Three times, he hit better than .300, batting .325 in 1944 while also leading the league with a slugging percentage of .528 that same year. He also holds the distinction of being the only Red Sox player to hit for the cycle twice, once in 1944 and nearly three years later to the day in 1947. He proved durable in the field as well, making an average of just under 140 starts at second each season, and his all-around play helped him earn five starts in nine All-Star appearances between 1941 and 1951. He missed one season due to World War II in 1945, then came back the following season, along with Williams and center field Dom DiMaggio, to help led his club to its first American League pennant in 28 years, batting .271 with 18 home runs and 116 RBI. Doerr collected his 2,000 hit in July of 1951 and retired a month later due to severe sacroiliac pain that put a premature end to his career, although Doerr later returned to baseball as a coach for Boston in the late 1960s. In 1986, led by the efforts of his former teammates, including the legendary Williams, the Special Veterans Committee elected Doerr into the Baseball Hall of Fame; two years later, Doerr became one of just five Red Sox players to have his number (1) retired by Boston.