Hall of Fame Inductee -
1986
National League MVP 1938
All-Star Selection 1936-1940, 42-43, 45 |
Ernie Lombardi Hall of Fame Inductee -
1986 National League MVP 1938 All-Star Selection 1936-1940, 42-43, 45 |
| Full Name: Ernesto Natali "Schnozz" or
"Bocci" Lombardi Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'3" Weight: 230 lbs. Born: Apr 06, 1908 in Oakland, CA Major League Debut: Apr 15, 1931 Died: Sep 26, 1977 in Santa Cruz, CA |
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CAREER STATISTICS - BATTING
TOTALS
| BATTING | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 |
TM Bro Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Bos NY NY NY NY NY |
LG NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
POS C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C |
G 73 118 107 132 120 121 120 129 130 109 117 105 104 117 115 88 48 |
AB 182 413 350 417 332 387 368 489 450 376 398 309 295 373 368 238 110 |
R 20 43 30 42 36 42 41 60 43 50 33 32 19 37 46 19 8 |
H 54 125 99 127 114 129 123 167 129 120 105 102 90 95 113 69 31 |
2B 7 22 21 19 23 23 22 30 26 22 12 14 7 13 7 4 5 |
3B 1 9 1 4 3 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 |
HR 4 11 4 9 12 12 9 19 20 14 10 11 10 10 19 12 4 |
RBI 23 68 47 62 64 68 59 95 85 74 60 46 51 58 70 39 21 |
TB 75 198 134 181 179 192 174 256 219 184 149 149 127 138 179 111 48 |
BB 12 41 16 16 16 19 14 40 35 31 36 37 16 33 43 18 7 |
IBB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
| Totals | G 1853 |
AB 5855 |
R 601 |
H 1792 |
2B 277 |
3B 27 |
HR 190 |
RBI 990 |
TB 2693 |
BB 430 |
IBB 0 |
|||
| BATTING | BASERUNNING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 |
TM Bro Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Bos NY NY NY NY NY |
LG NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
K 12 19 17 22 6 16 17 14 19 14 14 12 11 25 11 24 9 |
HBP 0 4 4 3 3 7 2 0 3 7 0 1 3 1 5 3 0 |
SH 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 1 |
SF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
GDP 0 0 26 24 11 15 12 30 24 18 19 17 18 23 12 8 4 |
SB 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 |
CS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
SB% 1.000 -.--- 1.000 -.--- -.--- 1.000 1.000 -.--- -.--- -.--- 1.000 1.000 1.000 -.--- -.--- -.--- -.--- |
AVG .297 .303 .283 .305 .343 .333 .334 .342 .287 .319 .264 .330 .305 .255 .307 .290 .282 |
OBP .340 .371 .322 .335 .379 .375 .362 .391 .342 .382 .325 .403 .347 .317 .387 .347 .325 |
SLG .412 .479 .383 .434 .539 .496 .473 .524 .487 .489 .374 .482 .431 .370 .486 .466 .436 |
AB/HR 45.5 37.5 87.5 46.3 27.7 32.3 40.9 25.7 22.5 26.9 39.8 28.1 29.5 37.3 19.4 19.8 27.5 |
AB/K 15.2 21.7 20.6 19.0 55.3 24.2 21.6 34.9 23.7 26.9 28.4 25.8 26.8 14.9 33.5 9.9 12.2 |
| Totals | K 262 |
HBP 46 |
SH 18 |
SF 0 |
GDP 261 |
SB 8 |
CS 0 |
SB% 1.000 |
BAVG .306 |
OBP .358 |
SLG .460 |
AB/HR 30.8 |
AB/K 22.3 |
||
| CAREER FIELDING STATISTICS |
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | POS | G | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
| 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 |
Bro Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Bos NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG |
NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C |
50 110 95 111 82 105 90 123 120 101 116 85 73 100 96 63 24 |
245 378 283 449 353 399 402 594 609 448 576 298 342 410 482 315 99 |
218 288 223 383 298 330 333 512 536 397 496 251 296 350 425 272 86 |
23 76 52 61 49 54 58 73 63 46 70 41 36 47 49 36 11 |
4 14 8 5 6 15 11 9 10 5 10 6 10 13 8 7 2 |
5 6 3 8 4 10 3 8 7 5 9 3 8 11 8 7 2 |
0.984 0.963 0.972 0.989 0.983 0.962 0.973 0.985 0.984 0.989 0.983 0.980 0.971 0.968 0.983 0.978 0.980 |
| Totals | G 1544 |
Ch 6682 |
PO 5694 |
A 845 |
E 143 |
DP 107 |
FPCT 0.979 |
|||
ALL-STAR STATISTICS -
BATTING TOTALS
| BATTING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1945 |
TM Cin Cin Cin Cin Cin Bos NY NY |
LG NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
G 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 |
AB 0 0 4 4 2 1 2 0 |
R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
H 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 |
2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
HR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
RBI 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 |
TB 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 |
BB 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
SB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
BAVG -.--- -.--- .500 .500 .500 .000 .000 -.--- |
SLG -.--- -.--- .500 .500 .500 .000 .000 -.--- |
AB/HR --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- |
AB/K --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- |
| Totals | G 5 |
AB 13 |
R 0 |
H 5 |
2B 0 |
3B 0 |
HR 0 |
RBI 1 |
TB 5 |
BB 1 |
K 0 |
SB 0 |
AVG .385 |
SLG .385 |
AB/HR --.- |
AB/K --.- |
||
WORLD SERIES STATISTICS - BATTING
TOTALS
| BATTING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1939 1940 |
TM Cin Cin |
LG NL NL |
G 4 2 |
AB 14 3 |
R 0 0 |
H 3 1 |
2B 0 1 |
3B 0 0 |
HR 0 0 |
RBI 2 0 |
TB 3 2 |
BB 0 1 |
K 1 0 |
SB 0 0 |
BAVG .214 .333 |
SLG .214 .667 |
AB/HR --.- --.- |
AB/K 14.0 --.- |
| Totals | G 6 |
AB 17 |
R 0 |
H 4 |
2B 1 |
3B 0 |
HR 0 |
RBI 2 |
TB 5 |
BB 1 |
K 1 |
SB 0 |
AVG .235 |
SLG .294 |
AB/HR --.- |
AB/K 17.0 |
||
| WORLD SERIES FIELDING |
| YEAR | TEAM | POS | G | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
| 1939 1940 |
Cin Cin |
C C |
4 1 |
24 4 |
22 4 |
1 0 |
1 0 |
0 0 |
0.958 1.000 |
| Totals | G 5 |
Ch 28 |
PO 26 |
A 1 |
E 1 |
DP 0 |
FPCT 0.964 |
||
| TEAM ABBREVIATION KEY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YEARS 1931 1932-1941 1942 1943-1947 |
TM Bro Cin Bos NY |
LG NL NL NL NL |
TEAM NAME Brooklyn Robins Cincinnati Reds Boston Braves New York Giants |
LEAGUE NAME National League National League National League National League |
Early on, Ernie Lombardi would be dubbed "Schnozz" or "Bocci," saluting his large nose and Italian heritage.
Ernie couldn't run, but he sure could hit! Ernie Lombardi's slowness afoot was legendary; but evertheless the Reds' catcher hit .306 over 17 seasons (ten times batting over .300), winning batting titles in 1938 and '42 and earning the N.L. MVP award in 1938. He held his hands low, with an interlocking golf grip and a quick stroke. A good handler of pitchers, he had an outstanding throwing arm from a crouch position, rifling the ball with a sidearm release.
Famed for his long hits, lead feet, and large nose, Lombardi was one of baseball's top catchers during the 1930s and 1940s. The only catcher to win two batting titles, his consistently high batting averages were achieved despite his legendary lack of speed. Contemporary Billy Herman said later: "I don't think anybody could top him. But he was so slow afoot that those infielders could play him so deep that he just didn't have any place to hit the ball. He had to hit it over the fence or against the fence or just too hard for anybody to be able to make a play." Lombardi's powerful line smashes were legendary; he hit with his fingers interlocked so he could grip his bat, the league's heaviest, closer to the end. Lombardi broke into baseball with Oakland of the Pacific Coast League at age eighteen. After being sent out to Ogden for seasoning, he had three outstanding seasons, catching 120, 164, and 146 games and hitting .377, .366, and .370. The Dodgers bought his contract in 1931, but though he hit a strong .297, they traded him to Cincinnati in a six-player deal in March 1932.
His greatest years were with the Reds, catching over 100 games for ten straight seasons and hitting .300 in seven. Twice he led NL catchers in fielding. In 1938, he won the NL MVP award by becoming only the second catcher to ever lead a major league in hitting (.342), while cracking 19 homers and driving in 95 runs. That season he caught Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters. He was a mainstay for the 1939 Reds pennant winners and 1940 World Champions.
The 1939 WS saw an incident that haunted his career. In the 10th inning of the fourth and final game, Yankee Charlie Keller crashed into him in a close play at the plate. Lombardi was stunned and another Yankee run scored while he lay on the ground. Newspapers unfairly called it "Lombardi's Swoon."
Sold to the Braves in 1942, he won his second batting title (.330) and then spent his final five ML seasons with the Giants.
In his later years,
he was bitter because he was not named to baseball's Hall of Fame. Eight years after
his death, he was enshrined by the Veterans Committee.
Ernie Lombardi fit the catcher stereotype-big and slow-but his measured manner behind the plate and on the baselines disappeared when he came to bat. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound righthander hit ferocious line drives that struck fear into opposing fielders. A career .306 hitter, in 1938 Lombardi led the National League with a .342 batting average.
The Oakland native broke in with Brooklyn in 1931 and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds the following year. The league quickly learned to play infielders on the outfield grass because Lombardi could never beat out a grounder, and the distance gave the fielders more time to react to his wicked line drives. Lombardi once confessed that shortstop "Pee Wee Reese was in the league three years before I realized he wasn't an outfielder." Pitchers did not have the luxury of playing deep against Lombardi, and in 1937 he lined a ball back at the Chicago Cubs' Larry French that broke three of the pitcher's fingers.
Capable of getting very hot at the plate, on May 8, 1935, Lombardi hit a double in each of four consecutive innings off four different pitchers. And on May 9, 1937, he tallied six hits in six at bats. In 1938 he caught both of Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters, but Lombardi also led the league in passed balls in nine separate seasons.
The lingering memory of his defensive abilities is the "Lombardi
Swoon" in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the 1939 World Series,
when the New York Yankees' Charlie Keller scored on Joe DiMaggio's
hit. Keller knocked Lombardi senseless when he crossed home plate.
Lombardi, though stunned, did recover in time to grab the ball and make a
lunging tag, which Joe D eluded with a beautiful hook slide.
It was an awfully hot day
in Cincinnati and I was feeling dizzy…. When Keller came in he
spun me around at the plate and I couldn't get up," Lombardi later
explained. Lombardi has been unfairly maligned for this play all these years, primarily due to Grantland Rice having written about the event and describing Lombardi as lying semi-unconscious and letting Joe D circle the bases (which was entirely untrue!).
Following a poor 1941 season, Cincinnati General Manager Warren Giles sold Lombardi to Boston. Lombardi had feuded publicly with Giles over salary, calling Giles "the old goat," but with the Braves the catcher made his former boss look bad the next year by hitting .330. In 1943 Boston traded Lombardi to the Giants, and in 1947 he retired.
After a 1953 suicide attempt, seven years as a press box attendant
in San Francisco, and a job in a gas station, Lombardi died in
1977 at the age of 69. Giles, an influential Hall of Fame member,
successfully lobbied against admitting Lombardi to Cooperstown,
but the Veterans Committee elected the catcher posthumously in
1986-after Giles died.