Bob Meusel

Robert William Meusel
(Long Bob)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.
• High School Manual Arts High School
• Debut April 14, 1920
• Final Game September 26, 1930
• Born July 19, 1896 in San Jose, CA USA
• Died November 28, 1977 in Downey, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"He had lightnin' on the ball. - Casey Stengel, talking about Bob Meusel's famously strong arm

Bob Meusel was a key player on the New York Yankees teams of the 1920s. Based on the similarity scores method, two of the three most similar players are Hall of Famers: Chick Hafey and George Kelly.

Meusel, who was two years younger than Babe Ruth, made his major league debut with the Yankees in 1920 in the same year that Ruth came to the Yankees from the Boston Red Sox. Meusel and Ruth would play together in the Yankees outfield during all of the 1920s. Each one would play a lot of left and right but rarely center.

While Ruth was of course the bigger hitting star, Meusel was almost always in the top ten in slugging percentage, and led the 1925 American League in both homers and RBI (a year in which Ruth played only 98 games). Meusel was also second in the league in homers in 1921, and third in the league in RBI in each of 1921, 1924, and 1928. He was second in the league in steals in both 1924 and 1927. In spite of all that, though, he never figured prominently in MVP voting, finishing 18th in 1925 when his offense seemed to justify a much higher place.

He finished his major league career on the Cincinnati Reds in 1930, alongside a 35-year-old Harry Heilmann and a young Leo Durocher.

Meusel, although a very successful major leaguer, was considered lazy, someone who didn't live up to his true potential. A number of sources called him an "unpopular" player as well.

He played minor league ball on the west coast before and after his major league days.

He hit for three cycles in his career, a record he holds with John Reilly, Babe Herman and Adrian Beltre.

He is the brother of Irish Meusel; Bob and Irish met several times in World Series play. In the 1921 World Series, Bob batted cleanup, behind Babe Ruth. Although both Meusels played 11 seasons in the majors and hit around .310, they are not on each others' similarity scores lists. Bob had more at-bats and homers.

Notable Achievements

• AL Home Runs Leader (1925)
• AL RBI Leader (1925)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1921 & 1925)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1925)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 5 (1921, 1924, 1925, 1927 & 1928)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1921 & 1925)
• Won three World Series with the New York Yankees (1923, 1927 & 1928)

Records Held

• Most times hitting for the cycle, career, 3 (tied)

Related Sites

• Bob Meusel at the SABR Bio Project