Known as “The Mechanical Man” because of his consistent play, Charlie Gehringer is the 40th inductee into the Hall of Immortals.
Gehringer played his entire 19-year career with the Detroit Tigers. Of the 2,221 games he played in the field, all but 15 came at positions other than second base.
At the plate he was equally consistent, batting over .300 in 13 of 16 full seasons, amassing more than 200 hit in 7 seasons, and driving in more than 100 runs 7 times. In 1937 he won the MVP award, hitting .371 with 209 hits and 133 runs scored. Amazingly he had an even better season the year prior when he batted .354, with 227 hits – including 60 doubles – with 144 runs scored and 116 RBIs, striking out 13 times in 731 plate appearances.
At the end of his career, Gehringer ended up with a .320 average and 2,839 hits with just 372 strikeouts in 10,245 plate appearances.
There is no doubt that Charlie Gehringer is an Immortal.
For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.
