He finished as baseball's all-time leader in games and double plays at shortstop (since broken). Legend has it Appling once fouled off 10 pitches just to provide souvenirs.

Shortstop Luke Appling, who at age 36 led the AL in hitting (.328) and on-base (.419) in the prior season and logged the highest MVP finish (second) of his career, was inducted into the Army at ...