Ernie Lombardi moved at the speed of a glacier. While that complete lack of speed should have made him a liability, Lombardi was one of the most skilled contact hitting Catchers ever as he secured ten .300 seasons, seven of which was as a Red, and one of which would win him the National League Batting Title, which occurred in 1938 (he would win another in Boston in ’42).
A career .311 hitter as a Red, Lombardi’s 1938 Batting Title propelled him to a National League MVP win that year. He was also a member of the 1940 World Series Championship Team and would enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
Not a bad career for someone who looked nothing like an athlete and more like Jimmy Durante!
In 1958, the Reds selected Lombardi as one of the five men comprising their inaugural Hall of Fame Class.
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