Skip to main content

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 59

By
Dick Bartell was a shortstop with the Phillies from 1931-1934. Nicknamed "Rowdy Richard", for his hustling nature and aggressiveness toward the opposing team, Bartell debuted with the Pirates at age 19 in 1927.

With Pittsburgh, Bartell became a regular, splitting time between second base and shortstop, and hit over .300 three straight seasons. After the 1930 season, Bartell was traded to Philadelphia for infielder Tommy Thevenow and pitcher Claude Willoughby. Bartell would continue his solid batting, as he hit over .300 while scoring over 100 runs twice (in 1932 & 1934) and made an all-star team (in 1933) in 4 seasons with the Phillies.

Bartell was likely best known for his efforts and his style of play around the second base bag. During an era when players regularly went hard into opposing infielders with their spikes upward, to get an advantage, Bartell was a master of that sort of cleat action. He was once identified as, "probably the most-hated gent in the National League," by a sports writer. The tough-nosed Bartell told the reporter, "I've never gone out of my way for trouble and I've never side stepped. If some of these guys around figure on getting tough, why, that'll be all right with me." A fiery guy who spoke like that today would surely be loved by Philadelphia phans.

Much like so many other players who excelled in a Phillies uniform during the 1930's, Bartell was shipped out of town to help pay bills. After the 1934 season, Bartell was traded to the Giants for 4 players and cash. Bartell would help the Giants go to two straight World Series in 1936 and 1937. In that 1937 pennant season, he made another all-star team and finished 6th in MVP voting with 14 homers, 62 RBI, 91 runs scored and a .306 batting avg.

Bartell would spend time with both Detroit and the Cubs before landing back with the Giants in 1941. In 1943 he began two years of military service, during World War II. Bartell returned to the Majors and played in 5 games in 1946, then retired from playing. He would go on to manage in the minors and coach for Detroit and Cincinnati.

-------------------------------

Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Patreon Exclusive: Logan O'Hoppe answers Nine Silly-ass Questions

By
Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Phillies catching prospect Logan O'Hoppe was the subject of a recent player feature I posted here three days early.  When I talked with Logan, he was kind enough to not only chat about some serious baseball related topics, he also had some fun with me and answered Nine Silly-Ass Questions! In this interview, the 20-year-old, who was an All-Star with Class A short-season Williamsport last year, offered his thoughts on his experiences playing in Australia last off-season, super powers, some surprising movies he's never seen, teammate Albertus Barber and plenty more.  Read ahead for some excerpts from this Silly-ass interview... -You can 4-for-4 and your team loses, or you can get hit in the groin and your team wins...which do you choose? I mean, if we win, then the whole team has a good night, so I have to go with that one.  That really benefits everybody. -Tell me, if you can, four words to describe Albertus Barber . One,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rappers in Phillies Caps

By
Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...
3 comments
Read more

Calling All (Sal's) Pals...

By
Phillies phans should remember Sal Fasano fondly. In 2006, Fasano was the Phillies' back up catcher who hit .243 and slugged 4 homers in 50 games played. Sal's unique mustache and tough guy vibe won over the Philadelphia crowds and a fan group called Sal's Pals was born. Prior to playing with the Phillies, Fasano debuted with the Royals, and made stops in Oakland, Colorado, Anahiem and Baltimore. Fasano was a true journeyman who had no qualms about his reserve role where ever he went. Today, Twitter user and Phillies phan Sara Scott passed along an article that I feel deserves mention here. SI.com's Jeff Pearlman detailed the Fasano family's struggles with health coverage for their 2 year old child, Santo, who suffers from a serious heart condition. The article can be found here . Santo's condition, hypoplastic heart syndrome, requires medical attention to help his underdeveloped heart to mature properly. To this point, Santo's surgeries have cost over $1 mi...
Post a Comment
Read more