Vintage Fridays: Jim Gentile, 1963 Topps #260

How do you know that Jim Gentile was a beast of a man, intent on punishing baseballs with malice aforethought? Two bats. Not one, but two. Also, check out those short sleeves. He's halfway to a Kluszewski.

Jim Gentile, 2004 Maryland Lottery #36

Chris Davis has had a rough go of things for the past 14 months or so, but today was a good day. He gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead with a fourth-inning two-run homer off of Astros starter Collin McHugh, immediately following a double steal by Adam Jones (second base) and Jimmy Paredes (home plate!). After some shaky infield defense by the O's contributed to a game-tying three-run rally by Houston in the seventh, Crush put Baltimore on top for good an inning later, blasting reliever Tony Sipp's first pitch of the game deep into the right field bleachers. That's 10 home runs in 2015 for Davis, and 124 in his O's tenure, spanning an even 500 games. As Press Box writer Paul Folkemer (@PaulWFolk) tweeted during today's game, Davis passed Lee May (123 HR) and caught Diamond Jim Gentile on the team's all-time homer leaderboard. Only 14 players have more round-trippers in an Orioles uniform. Now Chris will set his sights on Paul Blair, whose 126 four-baggers are well within reach.

Jim Gentile, 1982 TCMA Baseball's Greatest Sluggers #37

July was a rough month for Chris Davis, despite getting voted in as a starter for his first career All-Star Game. The slugging O's first baseman didn't do a whole lot of slugging, when it came right down to it. With two games left in the month, "Crush" has an ugly batting line of .202/.277/.476. He has struck out 39 times in 94 plate appearances with just six walks, and has set an unfortunate team record with whiffs in each of his last 22 games. He's homerless in ten games since the All-Star break, and has gone deep "only" six times in 23 July games. Maybe he just needs to turn the page on the 2013 calendar.

If Chris is looking for inspiration, Baltimore's surprise slugger of yesteryear can offer some. In Jim Gentile's eye-popping 1961 season, he had the best August in Orioles' history. Playing 31 games in the dog days of summer, "Diamond Jim" batted .347/.492/.832(!) with 30 RBI. He blasted 15 home runs in 101 at-bats and struck out only 15 times while taking 25 walks. Gentile was also hit by five pitches that month; if opposing pitchers were trying to bust him inside or knock him off of the plate, they didn't have much luck.

Tomorrow, the basement-dwelling Houston Astros are coming to town. Hopefully they've got the prescription for what ails Chris Davis.

Vintage Tuesday: Jim Gentile, 1960 Topps #448

Vintage Tuesday, you ask, eyes agog? That's right...some rules are made to be broken. But don't worry; Vintage Fridays will continue this week and every week. This is a one-time thing. Onward...

It may have taken 50 years, but Jim Gentile has been vindicated.

You may remember 1961 as the year that "Diamond Jim" made a run at the American League's Most Valuable Player Award by finishing fifth in batting average (.302), third in on-base percentage (.423), third in slugging (.646), third in home runs (46), and second in runs batted in (141). All those gaudy numbers and nothing to show for it. It's a shame he couldn't have eked out just one more RBI to catch league leader and MVP winner Roger Maris, isn't it?

Hold the phone.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)'s Records Committee has discovered that an extra RBI was erroneously given to Maris on July 5. It has been determined that his total should have been 141, not 142, and therefore SABR, the Elias Sports Bureau, and the various online baseball encyclopedias are now acknowledging Gentile as the co-RBI leader of the American League for the 1961 season. You can read all about it on the Baseball Reference Blog.

Congratulations, Jim! It's not every day that a 76-year-old wins an RBI crown.

Jim Gentile, 1985 Topps Woolworth's All-Time Record Holders #15

Should you ever doubt that I have enough material to keep this blog going for several more years, consider this: I've been at it for nearly two years now, and this is the first card I've posted of Jim Gentile. That might speak more to my negligence than anything else, but there you have it.

I've noticed that among the more "experienced" Orioles fans that I know, "Diamond Jim" is an overwhelming favorite. It's not hard to see why. Thought first base is known as a position for power hitters, the O's had not had a first sacker reach double digits in home runs in the team's first six years in Baltimore. But manager Paul Richards rescued Gentile from the Dodgers organization, where he had been moldering in the minors for eight years despite putting up some big numbers (to be fair, they had a guy named Gil Hodges blocking his path). He paid immediate dividends, socking 21 homers and driving in 98 runs in his first full season in the big time while reaching base at a .403 clip. He was an All-Star and a Rookie of the Year runner-up. But Jim was just getting started.

In 1961, offense was up all over baseball, but even in that context Gentile had the greatest season ever by an Oriole first baseman. The totals were eye-popping: 46 home runs, 141 RBI, and .302/.423/.646 AVG/OBP/SLG. If it weren't for a couple of guys named Maris and Mantle, the 6'4" first baseman would likely have been the league's MVP. He hit his homers with a total of 46 runners on base, the highest total since Babe Ruth knocked in 48 in 1921. He hit five grand slams (two in consecutive innings on May 9), setting an A.L. record that was eventually surpassed by Don Mattingly in 1987. His 1.069 OPS is still a team record for a single season, and his RBI total wasn't surpassed until Rafael Palmeiro scraped by in 1996.

Though his production fell off over the next two years, Jim was still an above-average hitter, and he led the club with 57 total longballs over that span. Though the club traded him to Kansas City prior to the 1964 season, the soft-spoken giant made a big impact in just four years in Charm City. Boog Powell, Eddie Murray, and Palmeiro may have stayed longer, but Diamond Jim was the one who paved the way.