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Luke Appling was a Hall of Fame shortstop who played his entire career with the Chicago White Sox.
Appling was born in High Point, NC, but moved to Atlanta with his family as a child. Luke graduated from Fulton High School, where he played baseball. He attended Oglethorpe College, where he also played fullback on the football team, but left during his sophomore year when he was signed by the Southern League's Atlanta Crackers in 1930. He was a good hitter in his first year but committed 42 errors in 104 games. The Chicago Cubs showed some interest at first but decided not to sign him, and the White Sox ended up purchasing him
Luke Appling was a Hall of Fame shortstop who played his entire career with the Chicago White Sox.
Appling was born in High Point, NC, but moved to Atlanta with his family as a child. Luke graduated from Fulton High School, where he played baseball. He attended Oglethorpe College, where he also played fullback on the football team, but left during his sophomore year when he was signed by the Southern League's Atlanta Crackers in 1930. He was a good hitter in his first year but committed 42 errors in 104 games. The Chicago Cubs showed some interest at first but decided not to sign him, and the White Sox ended up purchasing him from the Crackers for $20,000. He was signed by the husband-wife scouting team of Roy and Bessie Largent and made his major league debut on September 10, 1930. He seemed a poor pickup initially, as his hitting fell off and his fielding failed to improve, but in 1933 he stopped trying to be a power hitter and enjoyed his first of nine straight .300 seasons.
Appling was a good leadoff hitter who topped the .400 mark in OBP eight times (1933-1934, 1937, 1940, 1943, 1947) and drew over 100 walks three times (1935, 1939, 1949), though he often batted third due to a lack of offensive talent on the White Sox. Indeed, this lack of talent insured that Appling, who spent his entire 20-year career with the White Sox, never had a chance to play in a World Series. His best season was 1936, when he batted .388, knocked in 124 runs (his only 100 RBI season), scored 111 times, recorded 204 hits, and had a team-record 27-game hitting streak. His .388 average was good for the first batting title ever won by a shortstop and was the highest batting average recorded by a shortstop in the 20th century. Appling won another batting title in 1943 with a .328 average and led the league in OBP that year (.419). Appling was selected to seven All-Star teams (1936, 1939-1941, 1943, 1946-47).
Appling remained a solid contributor into his forties, but ownership was dedicated to a youth movement and he retired after the 1950 season. At his retirement, Appling was the all-time leader for most games played and double plays by a major league shortstop, and the all-time leader for putouts and assists by an American League shortstop. These records were later broken by Luis Aparicio, who also spent the majority of his career with the White Sox.
Appling was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. The ChiSox retired his number 4 during the 1975 season. Luke died in Cumming, GA, at the age of 83 in 1991.
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