Has anyone heard of Tommy Holmes? Was he good?

Question

I heard he was a good hitter...what team did he play for?

Answer 1

He was a decent player, he made the all star team twice... in 1945 and 1948... generally , the overall quality of major league baseball was lower than usual during the 40s, as a lot of great players took time out to serve during WWII.

Homes finished in the top 10 in batting 5 times, and led the NL in slugging pct in 1945. He also led the league in hits twice.

He was born in 1917 and is apparently still alive, according to baseball-reference.com... the site does not list a date of death.

Holmes is not well remembered today by any means, but he is best 'known' for holding the NL record for the longest hitting streak with 37, in 1945... this NL record was later broken by Pete Rose (44 games) in 1978.

He came up in the Yankee farm system, but was traded to the Braves when he got to the bigs.

Despite having missed playing for the Yankees, he did play in two World Series, in 1948 for the Braves (lost to Cleveland) and 1952 for the Dodgers (lost to Yankees).

Holmes played for the Braves (Boston) from 1942 through 1951, and played his final season in 1952 for the Dodgers.

Wikipedia states that Holmes was the NL MVP in 1945, but Phil Cavarretta actually won the award... (there may have been a couple of MVP awards given out in those days, one from the Sporting News and one from the BBWAA).

Answer 2

Tommy was an outstanding baseball player. He played 10 seasons with the Boston Braves 1942-51 and his final season in 52 with the Brooklyn Dodgers compiling 1507 hits 88 homers and a .302 batting average.

Answer 3

He played for the Boston Braves from 1942 to 1952. He had one good year, not great, but good. Overall, though, he was not a good hitter.

Answer 4

Never heard of him...sorry.