Scott Fennessy passed on a monster card of a player I had barely heard of and I’m not sure why. I’m pretty well versed in baseball history but he really didn’t cross my radar. He played for 13 seasons, led the American League in a couple of categories and batted over .300 several seasons.
His name is Jeff Heath and his 1938 card is quite interesting.
In 1938, Canadian-born Jeff Heath hit .343 with 21 home runs for Cleveland. More interesting, he legged out 18 triples to lead the league. With his 31 doubles, that gives him 70 extra-base hits in 538 plate appearances and a .602 slugging percentage.
Heath drove in 112 runs and scored 104 for Cleveland. At the end of the 1938 season, he came in 11th in the AL MVP voting which Jimmie Foxx ultimately won.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 Totals | 126 | 120 | 538 | 502 | 104 | 172 | 31 | 18 | 21 | 111 | 3 | 33 | 55 | .343 | .383 | .602 |
Jeff’s Jive
Heath’s power numbers on his 1938 card are ones like I’ve seen on no other card. He has five of them, 1-3-4-4-6. Specifically, the two 4 combination is very rare but with the 3, it is one-of-a-kind.
Why?
It’s mostly because of Heath’s 18 triples. The 3 is a triple with Bases Empty and the 4 is a triple with a runner on first and also a runner on second. If Cleveland runners get on base ahead of Heath, he could get lucky and get a few extra homers, too. A 4 is a dinger with runners on first and second.
Don’t forget that Heath hit .343 in 1938. That means he has a 55-7 and a 15-7.
Heath preferred to hit his way on base the old-school way and only received two 14s. That said, he only has three 13s on his card. He does have two 31s on his card but personally, I wouldn’t recommend employing the hit and run with him, though. Those 4s get turned into singles.
Jeff Heath of 1938 is fast and an OF-2 so he won’t hurt you too much in that area.
I’ve said this before but I credit APBA with my knowledge of baseball history. Even further, if there is a gap of professional baseball in which I haven’t replayed or at least seen the APBA set, that era is somewhat foreign to me. That might be the case with Jeff Heath. I do have the 1941 season (which Heath played) somewhere. I never explored it as much as say, 1930 or 1949. Time to dig that 1941 set out.
Have any of you replayed seasons with Jeff Heath?
Thanks, Scott!
Heath was also super unlucky in that, with the Braves on the way to the World Series in 1948, he suffered a gruesome leg injury and was unable to play in the Fall Classic.