Foxx Hunting

Last night, David Ortiz hit his 50th home run of the season, which put him in a tie for the most home runs in a season ever by a Red Sox player. Somewhat surprisingly, it was not Ted Williams', Carl Yastrzemski's, Jim Rice's, or even Manny Ramirez's record he equaled. The record was actually set by Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx in 1938. Foxx is best known for his time with the Philadelphia Athletics, but he spent more than six seasons of his twenty in Boston. In that time, Foxx put up the following numbers:

.320 batting average (sixth in Sox history entering 2006)
.429 on-base percentage (second behind Williams)
.605 slugging percentage (third behind Williams and Ramirez)
1.034 on-base plus slugging (second behind Williams)
222 home runs (seventh, but since passed by Ramirez)
788 runs batted in (sixth)
175 RBIs in 1938 (first in Sox history for one season)

When you consider some of the hitters that have played for the Sox during their storied history, Foxx accomplished quite a bit during his limited service in Boston. For Ortiz to break a record held for 68 years by such a tremendous hitter shows how great he has become in his own right. It should not be long before he holds the record by himself.