{"id":25745,"date":"2017-04-05T13:36:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T17:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/?p=25745"},"modified":"2017-04-05T13:36:33","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T17:36:33","slug":"rip-roy-sievers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2017\/04\/rip-roy-sievers\/","title":{"rendered":"RIP Roy Sievers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roy Sievers dies; Ted Williams \u2014 and Hollywood \u2014 loved St. Louisan’s swing<\/strong><\/a> – St. Louis Post-Dispatch <\/em>
\nThe first Washington baseball player to lead a league in home runs, has died. Roy Sievers<\/strong> was traded to the Griffith franchise in 1954 after playing for his hometown St. Louis Browns since 1948. He was 1949 AL Rookie of the Year, the first to win that award.<\/p>\n

Primarily a leftfielder with the Senators, Sievers also played first base and occasionally third. Arguably the greatest #2 in D.C. sports history, he made three All-Star teams with Washington:<\/p>\n

In six seasons with Washington, Sievers averaged 30 home runs a year and had four 100-RBI seasons.<\/p>\n

His best season was 1957, when he clubbed 42 homers, beating out superstars Williams and Mickey Mantle for the American League home run title. Sievers, who had a .301 batting average that year, also led the AL with 114 RBIs.<\/p>\n

According to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Sievers thus became the first player in major-league history to win the home run and RBI titles in the same year for a last-place club…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sievers was even in a major motion picture: <\/p>\n

In the 1958 movie \u201cDamn Yankees,\u201d Sievers was the \u201cbatting\u201d double for Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter, who played the role of Joe Hardy. Whenever, Hunter \u2014 uh, Hardy \u2014 batted in the movie, it was actually Sievers swinging the bat. And for good reason.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Roy Sievers, Slugging Washington Senator in the \u201950s, Dies at 90<\/strong><\/a> – NY Times<\/em>
\nSievers was then vice-president Richard Nixon’s favorite Senator. After returning home from the kitchen debate with Nikita Khrushchev, Sievers was invited to a welcome-home party:<\/p>\n

At the time, the Senators were in the midst of a losing streak, and when he greeted Nixon, Sievers recalled, \u201cThe first thing he said was, \u2018What in the hell is wrong with the Senators?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said, \u2018Mr. Vice President, we\u2019re just not hitting good, the pitching\u2019s not good.\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019ll be out the next night.\u2019 Usually, when he came out we\u2019d win the ballgame. But we lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senators went on to drop 18 straight games.<\/p>\n

Beyond the ballpark, Sievers was part of the Singing Senators, organized by the team\u2019s broadcaster Bob Wolff. One day in June 1958, Wolff, playing the ukulele, appeared on the Washington Mall with Sievers, his fellow outfielders Jim Lemon and Albie Pearson and a couple of Senators pitchers and joined them in song for the NBC-TV \u201cToday\u201d program, hosted by Dave Garroway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Sievers also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated<\/em>, one of the few appearances by a D.C. baseball on the front of that magazine. The article was titled: ROY SIEVERS ON THE ART OF HITTING<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sievers was traded to Chicago after 1959 and finally experienced his first winning season with the White Sox and made another All-Star team. He then moved onto Philadelphia and stayed with the Phillies into the 1964 season. He returned to Washington with the expansion Senators, playing in 45 games in 1964-1965 before ending his career.<\/p>\n

Sievers is a member of the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame<\/a> as well as St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame<\/a> which provides the video below:<\/p>\n