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 Wally Berger Photo Gallery
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Another Edition of “Baseball’s Forgotten Stars”:

Wally Berger

A few years ago, I worked on player identifications for the Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Baseball Collection. In this SABR project, I helped identify ballplayers in almost 3000 old baseball photos from the 1930s and ’40s. While working on the project, I soon realized there were many fine ballplayers from this era whose names and accomplishments have been lost over the passage of time.

With today’s post, I’ll continue featuring a forgotten star from one of baseball’s  Golden eras. Each post turns the spotlight for a brief moment on a long-forgotten player who was a recognized star in his day.  I’ll be featuring many of the fine ballplayers from decades gone by who were overshadowed by the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Feller, Hubbell, and Greenberg.

Today I’ll turn the baseball spotlight on the 1930s star, Wally Berger. I’d guess many of you may not be familiar with him. What if I told you this player’s stats compare favorably to at least three Hall-of Famers: Hack Wilson, Chick Hafey, and Larry Doby. That’s pretty good company. He was a star player on some pretty miserable Braves teams. In 1935, his best year, the Braves had the fourth-most losses in major league history. Yet he’s been lost to history and is a virtual unknown to all but the most informed baseball historians. 

Wally Berger is a long-overlooked star who played for the Braves (1930-’37), Giants (1937-’38), Reds (1938-’40), and Phillies (1940). Wally was born in Chicago but was raised in San Francisco, where he was a teammate of Joe Cronin at Mission High School. Over his 11-year career, the 6’2” slugger hit for a career .300 average, with 298 home runs, 898 RBIs, a .359 on-base percentage, and a .522 slugging average. His 138 OPS+ places him well above average for major leaguers of his era (100 being the major league average). He was the seventh player in baseball history to hit 200 home runs. 

In the featured photo above, we see Wally Berger in 1935 with his new Braves teammate, Babe Ruth. 

Wally Berger had one of the greatest rookie years ever, hitting 38 home runs which set a major league record that stood for 56 years. It was a National League record until broken by Cody Bellinger in 1987. His average that year was .310, and his 119 RBIs were also a National League rookie record until 2001. He is one of only three players to hit 20 or more home runs in his rookie year before July, and he still holds the record for being the fastest player to hit 20 home runs (51 games).

One of the league’s top sluggers of the early 1930s, Wally Berger was the National League’s starting centerfielder in the first All-Star game (1933), and was selected for the first four All-Star games (1933-37). Of the 18 starters in the 1934 World Series, Berger is the only one not in the Hall of Fame. His best year was 1935, when he hit .295 and led the league in home runs (34), RBIs (130), and outfield putouts (458). He appeared in the 1937 World Series with the Giants, and 1939 World Series with the Reds.

In 1933 Wally finished third in the Most Valuable Player voting after hitting 27 home runs (half the Braves’ total), which was second behind Chuck Klein’s 28. That same year, Babe Ruth named Wally Berger as his centerfielder on his annual selection of the game’s best players. Eddie Mathews broke Berger’s Braves’ franchise record of 38 home runs in 1953, and surpassed his franchise record of 199 home runs in 1957.

Following his retirement as a player, he was a scout for the Yankees and managed in their minor league system. Wally Berger passed away in 1988 at age 83.

Let’s take a minute to remember a pretty good player from the 1930s whose accomplishments have largely been lost over the passage of time, Wally Berger.

 

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Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from Wally Berger Wikipedia page

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