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William Jennings Bryan Herman (July 7, 1909 – September 5, 1992) was an American second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1930s and 1940s. He reached the World Series four times (1932, 1935, 1938, 1941) but lost each time. Known for his stellar defense and consistent batting, Herman still holds many National League (NL) defensive records for second basemen and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
After a sub-standard offensive year in , Herman was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in . He had one of his finest offensive season in , when he batted .330 with a .398 on-base percentage and 100 runs driven in.
Herman missed the and seasons to serve in World War II, but returned to play in with the Dodgers and Boston Braves (after being traded mid-season). At 37, he was considered prime managerial material by the new owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates. On September 30, 1946, Herman was traded to Pittsburgh with three marginal players (outfielder Stan Wentzel, pitcher Elmer Singleton and infielder Whitey Wietelmann) for third baseman Bob Elliott and catcher Hank Camelli. Herman was promptly named playing manager of the 1947 Pirates, but he was aghast at the cost—Elliott—the Pirates had paid for him. "Why, they've gone and traded the whole team on me", he said.Boston Braves Historical Association Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 3, Autumn 2010 Elliott won the NL Most Valuable Player award and led Boston to the 1948 National League pennant. Herman's 1947 Pirates lost 92 games and finished tied for seventh in the NL, and he resigned before the season's final game. (His last appearance as a Major League player was on August 1 of that year.)
Herman then managed in the minor leagues and became a Major League coach with the Dodgers (1952–57) and Braves (now based in Milwaukee) (1958–59)—serving on five National League pennant winners in eight seasons. Then he moved to the American League (AL) as the third-base coach of the Boston Red Sox for five years (1960–64), before managing the Red Sox to lackluster records in and ; his 1965 Boston club lost 100 games. After his firing by the Red Sox in September 1966, he coached for the California Angels (1967) and San Diego Padres (1978–79) and served in player development roles with the Padres and Oakland Athletics.
Herman finished his 1,922-game big-league career with a .304 batting average, 1,163 runs scored, 2,345 hits, 486 doubles, 82 triples, 47 , 839 runs batted in, 737 bases on balls and 428 . Defensively, he recorded an overall .968 fielding percentage. He won four NL pennants (, , , and ) but no World Series championships as a player (although he was a coach on the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers). His record as a Major League manager was 189-274 (.408). Herman holds the NL records for most in a season by a second baseman and led the league in putouts seven times. He also shares the Major League record for most hits on opening day, with five, set April 14, 1936.
In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Herman as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Navy during World War II. According to his honorable discharge, he was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal. He held the rank of Specialist (A) Third Class at the time of his separation.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Billy Herman Oral History Interview (1 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital Collection
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