Deadball Era Heroes: Duffy Lewis

[Dead-Ball-Hitter]

He died penniless with no known living family and was buried in an unmarked grave just outside of Salem, New Hampshire. While alive, he was known to town folk as a kind man and a snazzy dresser and in his closet, after his passing, were found some seventy-two suits. Although living a robust 91 years, many had forgotten what a baseball star George “Duffy” Lewis was during the deadball era!

Lewis received some acclaim after his death in 1979 by repeated mention in the renown documentary, Baseball, by Ken Burns. He was the cleanup hitter for six years on early Red Sox teams, for a time batting behind the legendary Tris Speaker, with whom he had a thorny relationship. He became a three-time World Series Champ, batting .300 in aggregate over those championship series. Duffy was a lifetime .284 hitter, a dependable RBI man, a clutch hitter, and an unmatched left fielder! Duffy patrolled Fenway Park’s infamous left field, which had a 10-foot high embankment leading to “The Wall,” later known as the Green Monster. Many have said this was one of the most difficult fielding positions in baseball history as it required the fielder to routinely run uphill while looking backward to find the ball! So skillful was Lewis that left field was commonly referred to as “Duffy’s Cliff” until its re-scaling in the mid-1930’s.

After a career in the American League, Duffy “retired” to the very competitive Pacific Coast League where he was quite successful, hit over .400 one season, and was eventually elected to the PCL Hall of Fame. He remained around the game in the front office of the Braves until the early 1960’s. Always a legend in Boston, Duffy was called upon to throw out the first pitch in the most famous Red Sox game of the latter half of the 20th century: game 6 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 (the “Carlton Fisk waves the ball fair” game).

Duffy Lewis’ name appeared on 9 MLB Hall of Fame ballots, but he was never elected to Cooperstown.

The below card (T207) is viewed by many as Duffy’s rookie card: his first major league issue. There exists one known earlier minor league release, the T212 Obak issue (if anyone here has one, please post!).

At your convenience, consider posting your favorite Duffy Lewis card or item….