Jigger Statz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jigger Statz |
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Statz in 1922
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| Outfielder | |||
| Born: October 20, 1897 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Died: March 16, 1988 (aged 90) Corona del Mar, California, U.S. |
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| debut | |||
| July 30, 1919, for the New York Giants | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| September 30, 1928, for the Brooklyn Robins | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .285 | ||
| Home runs | 17 | ||
| Runs batted in | 215 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Arnold John "Jigger" Statz (born October 20, 1897 – died March 16, 1988) was an American professional baseball player. He was also a manager and a scout. Jigger Statz played as an outfielder. He played in 683 games in Major League Baseball (MLB). But he had an even longer and more famous career in minor league games. He played almost 2,800 minor league games!
Jigger Statz is one of only nine players known to have made at least 4,000 hits in both major and minor leagues combined. He was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He threw and batted with his right-handed hand. He was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds.
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Jigger Statz's Early Life
Jigger Statz went to the College of the Holy Cross. This college is in Worcester, Massachusetts. His family had moved there from Illinois when he was young. He played baseball for two years at Holy Cross. Then he joined the U.S. Navy during World War I. Even though he signed with the New York Giants in 1919, Statz kept studying. He graduated from Holy Cross in 1921.
Playing in the Major Leagues
Jigger Statz played in the major leagues for eight seasons. This was from 1919 to 1928. He played for teams like the Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, Boston Red Sox, and Brooklyn Robins.
His best season was in 1923 with the Chicago Cubs. That year, he played in all 154 games. He had a .319 batting average. This means he got a hit almost 32% of the times he tried. He also hit 10 Home runs and had 70 runs batted in.
A Minor League Legend
Jigger Statz played 18 seasons in the minor leagues. All of these seasons were for the Los Angeles Angels. This team was in the top-level Pacific Coast League (PCL). Many players had long minor league careers back then. But Statz's numbers were even better than most. He had a total of 4,093 hits in both major and minor leagues. Only Pete Rose has played more total games than Statz.
Statz had a very special career in the Pacific Coast League. He holds many PCL records. These include:
- Most games played (2,790)
- Most hits (3,356)
- Most doubles (597)
- Most triples (136)
- Most runs scored (1,996)
His career batting average in the PCL was .315. The year after he stopped playing, he was honored. He was one of the first players chosen for the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.
Amazing Hit Record
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Jigger Statz is one of only nine players known to have made at least 4,000 combined hits. This includes hits from both the major and minor leagues. The other players on this special list are Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Ichiro Suzuki, Hank Aaron, Minnie Miñoso, Julio Franco, Derek Jeter, and Stan Musial. Some other players, like Jake Beckley and Sam Crawford, might also have reached 4,000 hits. But we don't have all the information for some of their minor league seasons.
After His Playing Days
After he stopped playing baseball, Jigger Statz became a manager. He managed for five years in the minor leagues. He was the player-manager for the Los Angeles Angels from 1940 to 1942. A player-manager is someone who plays on the team and also manages it. Later, he managed the Visalia Cubs in the California League from 1948 to 1949.
Jigger Statz even appeared in a movie! He played himself in the 1929 Paramount film, Fast Company. In 1952, he helped with another movie called The Winning Team. This movie was about the famous baseball player Grover Cleveland Alexander. It starred Ronald Reagan. Statz was a technical advisor, meaning he helped make sure the baseball parts looked real.
