#126 Fred Hutchinson

#126 Fred Hutchinson
Progress: 1st of this card
253 of 407  62% complete
How acquired: $4.79 on eBay
Condition: Very Good
In 1952 Fred Hutchinson would serve as a player/manager for the Tigers, and would do so again in 1953, before retiring as a player and acting as just the manager in 1954.  After his tenure as Tigers manager, Hitchinson managed both the Cardinals and the Reds, winning the NL Pennant with the Reds in 1961.  In his final season with the Reds in 1964, he would be forced to leave the team due a battle with cancer.  He returned briefly later in the season, only to be forced to take leave again, dying three weeks later.  Sport Magazine named him "Man of the Year," for 1964.  The following season, in 1965, MLB started giving out the "Hutch Award" for the player that best exemplifies the "Fighting Spirit" of Hutchinson.  Mickey Mantle won the inaugural award.  In 1999 Seattle named Hutchinson "Seattle's Athlete of the Century."

This card is in pretty decent shape.  The crease actually looks worse in the scan than it does in hand.  Hutchinson wasn't a name I knew before looking him up, but he put together a pretty decent ten year career as a player.  I'm guessing his numbers look better in retrospect through the advanced stats lens than they did in his era.  Four times he led the league in walks per nine innings, and strike outs to walks ratio, and also added a "WHIP" title in 1949, which I would wager nobody was tracking back then (I'm not a huge fan of it today either).

Stats: 10 seasons, All-Star, 95 wins, 71 losses, 3.73 ERA, 81 CG, .263 avg. and 171 hits as a batter
12 seasons as a manger, 830 wins, 827 loses, 1961 NL Pennant with Cincinnati

Best Hall of Fame Showing: 5.0% 1964

Hutchinson Award Winners
1965: Mickey Mantle
1966: Sandy Koufax
1967: Carl Yastrzemski
1968: Pete Rose
1969: Al Kaline
1970: Tony Conigliaro
1971: Joe Torre
1972: Bobby Tolan
1973: John Hiller
1974: Danny Thompson
1975: Gary Nolan
1976: Tommy John
1977: Willie McCovey
1978: Willie Stargell
1979: Lou Brock
1980: George Brett
1981: Johnny Bench
1982: Andre Thornton
1983: Ray Knight
1984: Don Robinson
1985: Rick Reuschel
1986: Dennis Leonard
1987: Paul Molitor
1988: Ron Oester
1989: Dave Dravecky
1990: Sid Bream
1991: Bill Wegman
1992: Carney Lansford
1993: John Olerud
1994: Andre Dawson
1995: Jim Abbot
1996: Omar Vizquel
1997: Eric Davis
1998: David Cone
1999: Sean Casey
2000: Jason Giambi
2001: Curt Schilling
2002: Tim Salmon
2003: Jamie Moyer
2004: Trevor Hoffman
2005: Craig Biggio
2006: Mark Loretta
2007: Mike Sweeney
2008: Jon Lester
2009: Mark Teahen
2010: Tim Hudson
2011: Billy Butler
2012: Barry Zito
2013: Raul Ibanez
2014: Alex Gordon
2015: Adam Wainwright
2016: Dustin McGowan