two time all star Charlie Maxwell The Tigers announced today that he has passed away. The longtime Detroit outfielder was 97 years old.
Maxwell, a lifelong Michigan resident, played college ball at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, primarily as a pitcher during that time. He was drafted into the Army in 1945 and served two years in the Army before being discharged and joining the Red Sox minor league system as a pitcher, although he only played in ten games before switching to an outfielder. Maxwell made his major league debut in three coffee games in 1950, walking and scoring but striking out three and giving no hits in nine at-bats.
Maxwell bounced between the major league Red Sox and the club’s minor league system, and had mediocre results at the major league level over the years, hitting just .203/.289/.285 in parts of four seasons with the club. , while finding himself unable to do so to secure a regular role. That all changed in 1955 when the Red Sox sold him to the Orioles. He only pitched four times in Baltimore before being sold a second time to his hometown Tigers. Maxwell’s career actually began the moment he set foot in Detroit. Although he only appeared in 55 games with the club during the 1955 season, he made the most of every opportunity given to him, posting a .266/.325/.541 slash line, including 18 home runs in 122 at-bats Base hit.
That power earned Maxwell the starting left field job with the Tigers the following year, and he responded with his first career All-Star selection. The slugger hit a stellar .326/.414/.534 with 28 homers and more walks (79) than strikeouts (74). While teammates performed well Alkaline and frank larry Although Maxwell’s stellar season was somewhat overshadowed, he still managed to earn some down-ballot consideration for the American League MVP award. For Maxwell, the 1956 season was in many ways the same as before. While his numbers (.276/.377/.482 in 138 games) were a step down from his first season as a regular, Maxwell was once again an All-Star and earned some down-ballot AL MVP consideration, Despite being beaten by teammates Kaline and Jim Bunning.
Back-to-back All-Star selections were the strongest of Maxwell’s career, and he found himself on par with some of the best players in the league at the time. He hit 52 home runs in those two seasons, which ranked 15th in the majors and sandwiched him between Hall of Famers Yogi Berra (54) and Kaline (50) on the league leaderboard. His 13.2% walk rate was the tenth-highest number in the majors over those two seasons, and with more advanced metrics like wRC+ in existence at the time, Maxwell’s 140 numbers those two years would put him within just a hair of Hall’s production. of frank robinson (141) Same period.
Maxwell’s efforts during the remainder of his tenure in Detroit never saw him dominate again, but he still managed to hit the plate with a solid .250/.348/.440 slash line with the Tigers from 1958 to 1961 own status. As he hit just .194/.273/.269 in 30 games with the club before being traded to the White Sox.
Maxwell enjoyed a late-career resurgence upon arriving in Chicago, slashing a respectable .269/.382/.441 in three seasons as a part-time player with the club before hanging up in two games in his age-37 season. Contest. Maxwell played in 1,133 games in the major leagues, hitting 532 home runs and 856 hits. He was a lifetime .264/.360/.451 hitter in 3,796 major league games. MLBTR expresses its condolences to Maxwell’s family, friends and loved ones.
