Rabbit Maranville was the class clown of baseball: known for his on the field as well as his off the field antics, he was never one without a joke up his sleeve. A remarkable fielder both at shortstop and second base, Maranville's consistency and longevity (10,000 at-bats!) ensured him a shrine in the Hall Of Fame.
Walter James Vincent Maranville was born November 11, 1891, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Rabbit (who got his nickname from his excellent leaping ability and larger-than-average ears) played his first game on September 10, 1912. In 1914, Maranville (a lifetime .256 hitter) was batting cleanup for the last place Boston Braves. Then in July, the team began heating up: winning game after game, and eventually winning the pennant, going 34-10 over the final stretch. The Braves' phenomenal luck continued right into the World Series, when they swept Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, earning them the nickname the "Miracle Boston Braves". That year Maranville finished 2nd in the MVP voting, and he would finish in the top 10 in votes 5 times over his 23 year career. To celebrate their victory, the Braves went on a vaudeville tour of the East Coast. While demonstrating a steal, Maranville accidentally slid into the orchestra pit, breaking his leg (the first of 3 times this occurs.)
From 1914 to 1919, Maranville led the National League in putouts every year except 1918, where he served in the Navy during World War I. In 1921, he was traded to the rivaled Pittsburgh Pirates, where he was shifted to second base and continued to excel in the field.
Maranville was always a delight to watch on the field: he would pantomime anyone on the field deserving ridicule, and frequently had an extra pair of glasses on hand for a shortsighted umpire. Pictures of him around the Internet often show him at his goofiest, hamming it up for the camera. A fan favorite on the field, he was also a notoriously funny drunk off of it, swallowing goldfish, playing the banjo, and taking on all sorts of outrageous bets.
Not especially known for power, Maranville set a major league record in 1922 by batting 672 times without hitting a home run. Of Maranville's 28 lifetime home runs, 22 were inside the park jobs. In 1924, Maranville was traded to the Chicago Cubs and given the job of player-manager. However, his alcoholism had caught up with him, and he was relieved of his duties midseason, with the Cubs in last place. He spent the next few years moving from team to team (breaking his leg again in 1925), always helping out in the field. In 1929 he returned to his first team, the Boston Braves, and continued to be one of the league's best infielders. In 1933 he broke his leg sliding into second and never recovered. He retired in 1935, the all-time leader among shortstops in putouts, and a top 3 finisher in chances and assists.
Maranville continued to play and manage in the minors until 1938, when he settled down to retirement full-time, which he spent running the summer sandlot baseball programs for the New York Journal-American. Rabbit Maranville passed away January 5, 1954, in New York City. 3 months after his death, he was elected posthumously to the Major League Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Lifetime Statistics
YEAR TEAM G AB R H D T HR RBI SB CS BB K BA
1912 BSN NL 26 86 8 18 2 0 0 8 1 9 14 .209
1913 BSN NL 143 571 68 141 13 8 2 48 25 68 62 .247
1914 BSN NL 156 586 74 144 23 6 4 78 28 45 56 .246
1915 BSN NL 149 509 51 124 23 6 2 43 18 12 45 65 .244
1916 BSN NL 155 604 79 142 16 13 4 38 32 15 50 69 .235
1917 BSN NL 142 561 69 146 19 13 3 43 27 40 47 .260
1918 BSN NL 11 38 3 12 0 1 0 3 0 4 0 .316
1919 BSN NL 131 480 44 128 18 10 5 43 12 36 23 .267
1920 BSN NL 134 493 48 131 19 15 1 43 14 11 28 24 .266
1921 PIT NL 153 612 90 180 25 12 1 70 25 12 47 38 .294
1922 PIT NL 155 672 115 198 26 15 0 63 24 13 61 43 .295
1923 PIT NL 141 581 78 161 19 9 1 41 14 11 42 34 .277
1924 PIT NL 152 594 62 158 33 20 2 71 18 14 35 53 .266
1925 CHC NL 75 266 37 62 10 3 0 23 6 5 29 20 .233
1926 BRO NL 78 234 32 55 8 5 0 24 7 26 24 .235
1927 STL NL 9 29 0 7 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 .241
1928 STL NL 112 366 40 88 14 10 1 34 3 36 27 .240
1929 BSN NL 146 560 87 159 26 10 0 55 13 47 33 .284
1930 BSN NL 142 558 85 157 26 8 2 43 9 48 23 .281
1931 BSN NL 145 562 69 146 22 5 0 33 9 56 34 .260
1932 BSN NL 149 571 67 134 20 4 0 37 4 46 28 .235
1933 BSN NL 143 478 46 104 15 4 0 38 2 36 34 .218
1935 BSN NL 23 67 3 10 2 0 0 5 0 3 3 .149
CAREER 2670 10078 1255 2605 380 177 28 884 291 93 839 756 .258
* Bold denotes led league.
Sources
- TheBaseballPage.com - http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/maranvillerabbit/default.htm
- Baseball-Reference.com - http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maranvillera01.shtml
- BaseballLibrary.com - http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/ranville_Rabbit.stm
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