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Roy Campanella Photo Gallery

Hall of Famer Roy Campanella Wins the First of Three MVP Awards!

 “I never want to quit playing ball. They’ll have to cut this uniform off of me to get me out of it.” -Roy Campanella

Over his 18-year Hall of Fame career (1937-1957, which includes his years in the Negro Leagues), Roy Campanella won the National League MVP award three times, the first coming 75 years ago today, on November 1, 1951. It was a great year for Campy, as he hit .325, with 33 home runs and 108 RBIs. 

1953: The best year of the three MVP seasons

As outstanding as his 1951 season was, his second MVP season, 1953, was the best of the three. That year, he started the season on a record pace. On May 10, 1953, Roy hit a double and a home run in a game against the Phillies at Ebbets Field. With those two hits, Campy drove in all five runs in the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory. The five tallies gave him more than 40 RBIs in the first 30 games of the season, a feat that wouldn’t be matched for 44 years until Tino Martinez did it in 1997 with the Yankees.

And after that great start to the 1953 season, what a year Campy put together! He hit .312, with 103 runs, a league-leading 142 RBIs, 41 home runs, a .395 on-base percentage, and a .611 slugging average. His 154 OPS+ placed him well above average among his major league contemporaries.

Out…By a Country Mile!

The featured photo above is one of my favorites. This is the final out in Game Four of the 1953 World Series. That’s Billy Martin going “airborne” after a collision at home plate with Campy, as teammates Gene Woodling (14) and Joe Collins (15) watch the play. Looks like Billy never even got close to the plate. He made an ill-advised attempt to score from second and was out easily, abruptly ending the game. Campy flicks Martin away like he’s a rag doll after he bounced off of  Campy’s right shin guard. Almost looks like Campy gave him a swift kick in the seat of the pants just to say “good riddance” and to teach him a lesson:

“Hey, Billy – Who do you think you are? You don’t pull stunts like that against Roy Campanella!”

Umpire Artie Gore had a nice view of the play and was about to thumb Martin out when he saw Campanella held on to the ball. By the look on his face, I have a hunch Billy learned a thing or two about trying to score on a close play against the great Roy Campanella!

Campy’s Hall of Fame Career

Campy played in his first game on April 20, 1948, a year after Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier. Over his ten years with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1948-’58), which was unfortunately cut short by his debilitating auto accident, the eight-time All-Star hit .276, with 1167 hits, 627 runs, 856 RBIs, 242 home runs, a .360 on-base percentage, and a .500 slugging average. In each of his three MVP seasons, he batted higher than .300, hit more than 30 home runs, and had more than 100 runs batted in. In 163 at-bats over 41 post-season games, he hit .257, with five home runs and 20 RBIs.

His 1949 All-Star selection made him one of the first four African-Americans honored, along with Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe and Larry Doby. He played in every All-Star game from 1949-’56. In 1950, he hit home runs in five straight games. Campanella caught three no-hitters during his career: Carl Erskine’s two on June 19, 1952, and May 12, 1956; and Sal Maglie’s on September 25, 1956. Defensively, he was one of the best ever. During his career, he threw out 57% of potential base stealers, the highest percentage by any catcher in major league history.

More Brooklyn Dodgers from BHCA

• The Origins of: “Nice Guys Finish Last!”
• “Words of Regret”: The Story of Giants’ Manager Bill Terry
• Brooklyn Says Good-bye to Ebbets Field

In 1955, he helped Brooklyn win its first-ever World Series championship. After the Dodgers lost the first two games of the series to the Yankees, Campanella hit a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning of Game Three. The Dodgers won that game, then got another home run from Campanella in a Game Four victory that tied the series. They went on to win the series in seven games, their first in four tries against the Yankees.

After he retired as a player, Campanella held positions in scouting and community relations with the Dodgers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. On June 4, 1972, the Dodgers retired Campanella’s uniform number 39 alongside Jackie Robinson’s number 42 and Sandy Koufax’s number 32.

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the Roy Campanella Wikipedia page.

Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com

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