Vic Wertz

Victor Woodrow Wertz

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 186 lb.
• High School Reading (PA) High School
• Debut April 15, 1947
• Final Game September 19, 1963
• Born February 9, 1925 in York, PA USA
• Died July 7, 1983 in Detroit, MI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Vic Wertz had a solid 17-year career in the major leagues from 1947 to 1963, hitting 266 home runs, appearing in 4 All-Star Games, and playing for most of 1954 on the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians team that won 111 games. His most memorable at-bat came during that year's World Series when Willie Mays made a spectacular catch of his long drive to dead-center in the Polo Grounds.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he signed with the Detroit Tigers as a 17-year-old in 1942, where he spent the bulk of his career. He missed most of the 1943 and all of the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to military service during World War II.

He played for the Winston-Salem Twins in 1942, and was briefly with the Buffalo Bisons in 1943 before going into the Army. While serving in the Pacific he played on a service team that included Enos Slaughter and Joe Gordon. Both Wertz and Slaughter were staff sergeants. In 1946 Wertz played again for Buffalo, hitting .301 with 19 home runs.

He came to the majors in 1947, when at age 22 he was the fourth outfielder on a Tigers team that featured George Kell and Hal Newhouser. The team finished 2nd in the American League and Vic hit .288.

He stayed with Detroit until halfway through the 1952 season. Peaks of success were in 1949, when he hit .304, with 20 homers and 133 RBI, and in 1950, when he hit .308 with 27 homers and 123 RBI. His 37 doubles in 1950 were second in the AL. He was named to the All-Star team in 1949, 1951 and 1952.

Wertz was traded to the St. Louis Browns in August of 1952. Although he had started slowly with Detroit, he finished up hitting .346 in 37 games for the Brow. The next year, 1953, he was a regular outfielder for them, along with Johnny Groth and Dick Kokos. Wertz hit .268 with 19 home runs. His 19 home runs led the team, while his .268 average was second among the regulars. The team lost 100 games.

The Browns moved to Baltimore, MD in 1954, and traded Wertz to Cleveland on June 1st, so he spent most of the season with the Indians, who won 111 games that year, instead of with the Orioles, who lost 100. Vic played a lot of first base in 1954 with the Indians, along with Bill Glynn. The Indians had an incredible pitching staff (team ERA of 2.78) along with great hitting performances by Larry Doby, Bobby Avila, and Al Rosen.In the 1954 World Series, Wertz was quite prominent. First, he hit .500 (going 8 for 16) as he batted fifth (cleanup once) in the lineup. Second, it was Wertz who hit the hard drive caught so famously by Willie Mays. He contracted polio during the 1955 season but came back the next year with one of his best years, hitting 32 home runs with 106 RBI in 1956.

Wertz stayed with Cleveland through the 1958 season. In 1957, he hit 28 home runs with 105 RBI, and was named to the All Star team again.

He then spent 1959, 1960 and part of 1961 with the Boston Red Sox. This was the Red Sox of the ageing-but-still-good Ted Williams, who slugged .645 in his last season in 1960, and of Pete Runnels, who was third in the AL in batting in 1959 and first in 1960. Wertz hit .282 with 19 home runs and 103 RBI in 1960. That year, he only scored 45 runs, the lowest single-season total for a hitter with over 100 RBI.

He came back to Detroit toward the end of 1961, and in 1962 hit .324 largely as a pinch-hitter at the age of 37. Norm Cash hit 39 home runs for the team, and Rocky Colavito hit 37 home runs. Al Kaline hit .304. Jim Bunning had 19 wins.

Released in May 1963 by the Tigers, he finished up with the Minnesota Twins, where Harmon Killebrew hit 45 home runs.

While Wertz rarely led the league in offensive categories, he was often in the top ten. He was in the top 10 in the league in home runs 7 times, and the top 10 in the league in RBI six times. His career OPS+ of 121 is quite good for a 17-year career.

The most similar players to Wertz, based on similarity scores, are no surprise. They are three sluggers - Roy Sievers, Rudy York, and Greg Luzinski.

After his career ended, he owned a Detroit, MI area beer distributor. He died at age 58 after suffering a heart attack.

Notable Achievements

• 4-time AL All-Star (1949, 1951, 1952 & 1957)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1949-1952, 1956 & 1957)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1956)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 5 (1949, 1950, 1956, 1957 & 1960)

Records Held

• Tied MLB record by hitting four doubles in a game, September 26, 1956

Sources

• Wertz in Wartime
• Baseball in Wartime May 2008

Related Sites

• Vic Wertz at the SABR Bio Project