Player Profile: Billy Herman

William Jennings Bryan Herman was born on July 7th,1909 in New Albany Indiana. He was one of 10 children born to William and Elizabeth Herman. He was named after the former Secretary of State, and three-time Democratic nominee for President, William Jennings Bryan. He once commented that he was named after a loser, but he hoped it would not carry over to his baseball career. Bryan was also one of the prosecuting attorneys in the famous Scopes monkey trial in Tennessee.

The Hermans lived on a small farm in New Albany. William though made his living as a machinist in a factory in Louisville. Herman attended New Albany High School, but playing in the major leagues was the farthest thing from his mind. ” I was a sub on the team-a substitute 3rd baseman and SS. I never played regularly in high school“. At the conclusion of his junior year, he dropped out of high school and went to work in a Louisville veneer manufacturing plant. He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Jane Steptoe, in 1927. They had one son, Billy Jr. They would divorce in 1960.

Herman was playing for a church team in Louisville when he was noticed by Cap Neal, the general manager of the Louisville Colonels. A Class-AA team in the American Association. He signed for nothing. He later said he would have paid to sign. This was in 1928. He also said he was not any good. He was sent down by the Colonels to Decatur, a Class-B team, but he was sent back after a couple of days without even seeing the field.

The Colonels were out of town when he got back, so he hung around until Neal got back, and Neal sent him to Class-D Vicksburg. As low as you can get, and ” I couldn’t make it he said”. Neal saved his career by telling a little white lie, he told Vicksburg that no wonder he was not doing well, they had him playing SS, and his best position was second base. Herman had never played second in his life. He went back to Vicksburg, and although he did not do great, he did well enough to stay as their second baseman.

The next season he went back to Louisville and had a solid year. Despite his self-deprecating comments, his next two seasons were solid at the plate, and he was decent as a fielder. In 1931 he was hitting .350 through 118 games when he was purchased by the Chicago Cubs. That was on August 4th. On the 29th of August, he made his MLB debut at Wrigley Field and singled in his first at-bat off of Si Johnson.

The Cub’s second baseman in 1931 was Rogers Hornsby. He was also the manager. He could still hit the ball around the field hitting .331. He led the team in homers with 16 and RBIs with 90. Pretty decent for a 35-year-old. But in 1932 he turned over the starting 2nd base job to Herman after only 19 games. The Cubs were in second place with a 53-46 record when on August 2nd, Hornsby was fired and replaced by Charlie Grimm. There was some speculation that it was because of his gambling, but he and Bill Veeck said it was “philosophical issues”.

Herman was not sad to see the Rajah go. “He ignored me completely, I thought it was because I was a rookie, but then I saw he did that to everyone. He was just a cold human being”. He was a perfectionist and would chew players out when they made mistakes. Herman must not have been alone in his judgment because when it came time to divvy up World Series shares, they shut Hornsby out completely.

Herman’s defense was a huge plus as he had 527 assists. He hit .314 with 200 hits and drove in 51 runs. They met the Yanks in the World Series. The Yanks had little trouble beating them in 4. 1932 was the series where Babe Ruth allegedly called his shot. Herman disputed that. He always said that Ruth was pointing at the Cubs dugout. ” If Ruth had pointed at Center Field, he would have spent the rest of the series on his back.”

Herman was now entrenched in the lineup for the Cubs. Over the next two seasons, they finished in second place. In 1933 Herman accounted for 466 putouts at his keystone position, still an NL record. He continued to hit well even though he was sharing time at second with Augie Galan, a switch hitter. In 1934 he went to his first All-Star game. It would start a stretch of 10 straight years in the mid-summer classic.

By 1935 he was a fixture at the top of the Cubs order. Although he did not walk much, he always walked more than he struck out. He had a reputation as a good, smart, aggressive ballplayer both at bat and on the field. Winning was the only thing on their mind. This was the era when you had to earn your job with a team. Especially during the years of the depression. It was also the era of Al Capone. Capone would walk into Wrigley Field with all of his bodyguards like he was the President of the United States or something. One year Gabby Hartnett had his picture taken with Capone, the next year Judge Landis said players could not have their photos taken with people in the stands.

1935 was probably his best year, he led the league with 227 hits, and batted 341. His double-play partner was Billy Jurges. They both led their positions in four defensive categories. Assists, putouts, double plays, and fielding percentage. The Cubs went 22-3 in September to overtake the World Champion Cardinals and the Giants. They played the Tigers in the series. Lon Warnecke won two games, but the rest of the staff could not stop the powerful Tigers and they lost the series in six games. Herman hit .333 in the series and drove in 6 runs.

Over the next couple of years, Herman established himself as the best second baseman in the league. His manager, Grimm, said he was a better second baseman than Frankie Frisch. He hit over .300 in six of his first eight seasons as a starter. The 1938 season mirrored the 32 season because the Cubs were tied with the Reds for third when management decided to replace Grimm with Gabby Hartnett. Unlike replacing the taciturn Hornsby, fans wondered why Grimm was being replaced. The explanation was he not getting the most out of his players.

On the 26th of September, the Cubs were 1 1/2 games back of the Pirates. But a three-game sweep put the Cubs up, and Pittsburgh could not recover. They would finish two back. The Cubs faced the Yanks in the series again, and once again they got swept. ” We came, we saw, we went home,” said 1st baseman Rip Collins.

Jurges was traded that winter, breaking up one of the best keystone combos in the league. Dick Bartell came from the Giants as his replacement. The Cubs sank in the standings. At 30 years of age, Billy showed no signs of slowing down. He hit .307 and led the league in triples with 18,. Herman was the king of the second basemen. In 1940 Wrigley hired Jim Gallagher as the Cubs’ general manager. Gallagher was a Chicago sportswriter who was always critical of the Cubs front office. Wrigley offered him the job saying ” If you think you know so much, you run the club”.

In 1941 Gallagher traded Herman to the Dodgers for Johnny Hudson, Charlie Gilbert, and $65,000. Durocher really wanted Herman to help his young SS, Pee Wee Reese. The Dodgers won the pennant, and Herman was up against the Yankees again. The Yanks won the series in 5 games. Billy was 1-12 against the Yanks in series play.

Billy was once again right in the middle of things in 1942. By August, the Dodgers were cruising, ahead of the Cardinals by 10 games. Larry McPhail came into the clubhouse and chewed the whole team out, including Durocher, about their drinking, card playing, etc. He said to them you are not going to win the pennant, the Cardinals are. St. Louis went 43-8 over their last 51 games and finished with 106 wins to the Dodgers 104.

If anyone was worried that Herman was slowing down, he put that to rest in 1943, hitting .330 and driving in 100 runs, a career-high, while hitting only 2 homers. With WWII in full swing, players were starting to be drafted into the service. Herman was classified 1-A. Instead of waiting to be drafted, Billy joined the United States Navy. After his initial training at Great Lakes, he was sent to Pearl Harbor. He spent much of his time playing baseball on base teams located on the Pacific Islands. He missed the 44 and 45 seasons. He was discharged from the Navy on December 16th, 1945.

He returned to the Dodgers for the 46 season, but Eddie Stanky had taken over second base, so on the 15th of June, he was sent to the Braves for C Stew Hofferth. Between the two teams, he hit .298 and drove in 50 runs playing back up at 2nd and 3rd base.

Billy had a desire to manage in the majors. He had wanted to manage the Cubs but the opportunity never came. On September 30, 1946, he was on the move again, part of a seven-player deal with the Pirates. Once there he signed a two-year contract to be a player-manager. The Pirates were in rebuilding mode, so not much was expected. Under Herman, they finished in last place with a 61-92 record. 32 games behind the Dodgers who won the 47 pennant. He resigned as manager on the 25th of September, 1947. The Pirates’ front office was not placing all the blame on Herman for the results, but the parting seemed mutual.

He retired as an active player after the 47 season and finished with a .304 average, 2,345 hits, 486 doubles, and 839 RBIs. His fielding pct was .967. For you youngins, that was how they measured defense back in the day. Un-deterred by the Pirate’s bad season, Billy would spend the next 16 years either managing in the minors or coaching in the majors. He spent 1948 with Minneapolis, then went to Oakland in 1950. From 1952-to 57 he coached for the Dodgers. 38-59 with the Braves, moving to the Red Sox in 60 to 64. With two games left in the regular season in 64, he replaced Johnny Pesky as the skipper on an interim basis. He was then hired for the head job for 1965-66. But the Sox went 62-100, 40 games back of the Twins. 66 was no better, the Sox were fighting the Yankees, Senators, and Athletics for the cellar at 64-82. Herman was fired on the 8th of September and replaced by Pete Runnels, His managerial record was 189-274.

He resurfaced as a coach for the Angels in 1967. He then moved to Northern California and became a scout for the Oakland A’s from 68-74. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on August 19th, 1975. ” I expected it sooner, not later,” said Herman. “But I’ll take it. Sure it’s a thrill. It’s very satisfying; particularly when you look at all the outstanding ballplayers there have been who aren’t in”.

He returned to coaching, joining Roger Craig’s staff in San Diego in 77and 78. He then retired to Florida with his wife Frances whom he had married in 1961, He played a lot of golf and had a 3 handicap and he also enjoyed playing bridge. Fishing was also one of his hobbies. Billy passed away on Sept 5, 1992, in Palm Beach Florida from cancer. He wasn’t a Dodger very long, but he had an impact on the Dodger teams he played and coached for.