Jimmie Foxx: A ‘Beast’ in Galesburg
From Matt McKinney at The Knox Student on October 3, 2012, with mention of SABR member John Bennett:
Jimmie Foxx was two decades past his prime.
He came to Galesburg a shadow of the man they once called “The Beast.”
But one could still see it: he was reminiscent of a lumberjack — bulging triceps, square jaw and a thick neck.
In his playing days, he crowded the plate and produced a short, yet brutal, swing.
For years, he was the most feared right-handed hitter in baseball.
But when he moved to the sleepy railroad town in western Illinois, Foxx faced something he rarely dealt with in his playing career: failure.
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“It’s a classic rise and fall story in American history,” John Bennett, a historian with the Society for American Baseball Research, who has studied Foxx’s life since 1993 said.
Foxx bounced between various towns, struggling to find meaning outside the game. He coached, worked in radio, cut meat and drove an oil truck. At one point, he even had a part-time job as a gas station attendant.
It was all the result of poor investments, careless spending and bad luck.
Read the full article here: http://wordpress.theknoxstudent.com/blog/2012/10/03/a-beast-in-the-burg/
Originally published: October 4, 2012. Last Updated: October 4, 2012.