Frank McCormick

Note: This page links to 1940 NL MVP Frank McCormick. For the former college coach, click here.

Frank Andrew McCormick
(Buck)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 205 lb.

• Debut September 11, 1934
• Final Game October 3, 1948
• Born June 9, 1911 in New York, NY USA
• Died November 21, 1982 in Manhasset, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Frank McCormick was a nine-time All Star who won the MVP award in 1940. He also had several other excellent seasons.

McCormick was part of an unusual play in the 1938 All-Star Game. He hit a single in the seventh inning. Leo Durocher came up next and did a sacrifice bunt. Jimmie Foxx picked up the ball and threw it into right field, where Joe DiMaggio was playing. (It being the All Star Game, DiMaggio was not in his usual center field.) DiMaggio threw the ball to home, over catcher Bill Dickey's head, and McCormick scored. Durocher never stopped running until he reached home.

In the 1940 World Series, won by McCormick's Cincinnati Reds over a Detroit Tigers team that featured Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, and Earl Averill, McCormick batted cleanup for the Reds.

He almost never struck out, with the highest single-season total coming in his MVP year, when he had only 26 strikeouts. Partly, he struck out seldom because he liked to hit the first pitch.

At the end of his career, he played for the "Spahn and Sain" 1948 Braves, going to the World Series with them. McCormick batted 5th in the 3rd game of the Series, and also pinch-hit in a couple other games.

According to similarity scores, the most similar player to McCormick is a Hall of Famer, George Kelly.

After his playing career ended, Frank McCormick was a minor league manager and a member of the Cincinnati Reds coaching staff in 1956 and 1957. He also served as a scout, coach, and broadcaster.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
1949	Quebec Braves	Canadian-American League	90-48	1st	none	League Champs
1950	Lima Phillies	Ohio-Indiana League	52-85	6th	Philadelphia Phillies
1951	Bradford Phillies	PONY League		--	Philadelphia Phillies	--	replaced by John Davenport June 22

Notable Achievements

• 9-time NL All-Star (1938-1946)
• NL MVP (1940)
• 2-times NL At Bats Leader (1938 & 1940)
• 3-times NL Hits Leader (1938-1940)
• NL Singles Leader (1938)
• NL Doubles Leader (1940)
• NL RBI Leader (1939)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1944)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 4 (1938-1940 & 1944)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 2 (1938 & 1939)
• Won a World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1940

NL MVP
1939	1940	1941
Bucky Walters	Frank McCormick	Dolph Camilli

Related Sites

• Frank McCormick at the SABR Bio Project