Harry Heilmann

Harry Heilmann
Heilmann in a 1917 Bain News Service photo
Right fielder / First baseman
Born: (1894-08-03)August 3, 1894 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died: July 9, 1951(1951-07-09) (aged 56) Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 16, 1914, for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
May 31, 1932, for the Cincinnati Reds
MLB statistics
Batting average	.342
Hits	2,660
Home runs	183
Runs batted in	1,543
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Detroit Tigers (1914, 1916–1929) Cincinnati Reds (1930, 1932)
Career highlights and awards
4× AL batting champion (1921, 1923, 1925, 1927)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1952
Vote	86.8% (12th ballot)

Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers (1914, 1916–1929) and Cincinnati Reds (1930, 1932). He was a play-by-play announcer for the Tigers for 17 years from 1934 to 1950.

Heilmann won four American League batting championships, securing the honors in 1921, 1923, 1925 and 1927. He appeared in 2,147 major league games, including 1,525 games as a right fielder and 448 as a first baseman and compiled a career batting average of .342, the 12th highest in major league history, and third highest among right-handed batters. At the time of his retirement in 1932, Heilmann ranked sixth in major league history with 542 doubles and eighth with 1,543 RBIs. He remains one of only six players in American League history to hit .400 for a season, having accomplished the feat in 1923 with a .403 batting average. He also hit .394 in 1921. At his peak from 1921 to 1927, Heilmann compiled a .380 batting average, .452 on-base percentage, .583 slugging percentage, and averaged 116 RBI, 41 doubles, 11 triples, and 104 runs scored per season. From 1919 through 1930, Heilmann hit over .300 for 12 consecutive seasons. He also compiled six 5-hit games and 49 4-hit games in his 17-year major league career.^[1]

After retiring from baseball, Heilmann ran unsuccessfully for the office of Detroit City Treasurer and operated a semipro baseball team in 1933 and, in 1934, began a career as a radio broadcaster. From 1934 to 1941, he was play-by-play announcer for the Tigers on station WXYZ and the Michigan Radio Network, covering parts of Michigan located outside metropolitan Detroit, while rival Ty Tyson called games for station WWJ in Detroit exclusively. From 1942 to 1950, Heilmann was the exclusive radio voice of the Tigers throughout the state. Heilmann died from lung cancer in July 1951; he was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame six months later in January 1952 after garnering 86.75% of the votes.