Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.
I feel like I have talked about Rothrock a lot lately, but that doesn't seem true. I did discuss him briefly when I was covering MVP voting from the 1920's, but that was not really that much. So, here we are.
Rothrock was a pretty good player developed by the Red Sox in the mid-1920's. He was extremely versatile and played every position at least once during his Major League career, though his pitching and catching stints were mercifully short. He only spent more than 100 games at each of the three outfield positions, but came up as an infielder.
He had some good seasons in the late 1920's with the Red Sox and received some MVP consideration in 1927 (.259/.302/.360) and 1929 (.300/.361/.408, six home runs, 59 RBIs, 24 stolen bases). He then had some injury problems in 1930 before rebounding with a .278/.343/.383 line in 1931.
Rothrock played in just 12 games with the Red Sox in 1932. He hit .208/.283/.229 with ten hits, three runs, a double, three stolen bases, before being traded to the White Sox. In late April, the two Sox teams engaged in a five-player deal sending Rothrock and Charlie Berry to Chicago in exchange for Smead Jolley, Bennie Tate and Johnny Watwood. Rothrock's numbers declined further the rest of the season and he did not play in the Majors again until 1934 when he re-emerged as a member of the Gashouse Gang Cardinals with one of his best seasons.
In his eight seasons in Boston, Rothrock hit .278/.335/.375 with 14 home runs, 172 RBIs and 57 stolen bases.
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