Editing Joe Gordon (section)

==Playing career==
===New York Yankees===
After [[batting average (baseball)|batting]] .418 in his sophomore year, he signed with the Yankees in 1936, with scout Bill Essick reporting: "(Gordon was) at his best when it meant the most and the going was toughest." After being assigned to the Yankees AA-level club, the [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]], in the [[Pacific Coast League]], Gordon proceeded to put up solid numbers in his first season in professional baseball, hitting .300 while spending the majority of time in the field at shortstop.<ref name=brm>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gordon002jos|title=Joe Gordon Minor League Statistics & History|work=Baseball-Reference.com|access-date=April 19, 2012}}</ref> In 1937, Gordon was moved to the [[Newark Bears]], another AA team in the [[International League]] and continued to excel, hitting .280 with 26 home runs. His 1937 Bears' team is often regarded as the best [[Minor League Baseball|minor league]] team in history with future all-stars [[George McQuinn]], [[Charlie Keller]], [[Tommy Henrich]], [[Babe Dahlgren]], and [[Spud Chandler]] joining Gordon to lead the team to an incredible 110 wins in 158 games.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=26820 1937 Newark Bears Statistics – Minor Leagues] ''Baseball-Reference.com''</ref>

Gordon's success led to the release of 33-year-old [[Tony Lazzeri]] following the 1937 season,<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lazzeto01.shtml Tony Lazzeri Statistics and History] ''Baseball-Reference.com''</ref> and he made his debut with the Yankees in April {{Baseball year|1938}}. His 25 home runs as a rookie set an American League record for second basemen, surpassing [[Detroit Tigers|Detroit Tiger]] [[Charlie Gehringer]]'s previous record of 19. Gordon would hold the AL record for home runs by a second baseman 64 years before being surpassed by [[Bret Boone]]'s 36 home runs in 2001.<ref name=brm/> Along with [[Jeff Heath]] of the Indians, who had batted .343, Gordon was one of the AL's top rookies, hitting .255 with 97 RBI and placing second to Gehringer in the AL with 450 assists as the Yankees won their third straight pennant. In the [[1938 World Series]] sweep of the [[Chicago Cubs]], he hit .400 and slugged .733. He had an RBI single, [[double (baseball)|doubled]], and recorded the final out in a 3-1 victory in Game 1. Gordon doubled in the first two runs in Game 2's 6-3 win. In Game 3, a 5-2 win, he had a solo home run to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth inning, and singled home two more runs in the sixth. He scored twice in an 8-3 win in the final Game 4 as New York took their third consecutive title.

{{Baseball year|1939}} saw Gordon improve his batting average to .284 and top his own home run mark with 28. He led the AL in putouts, assists and double plays, and was second on the team to [[Joe DiMaggio]] and fifth in the league in both homers and RBI (111). On June 28 he hit three home runs; he made his first of nine [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] teams, and finished ninth in the MVP vote. In the [[1939 World Series|World Series]] against the [[Cincinnati Reds]] he hit only .143, but scored the first run in a 2-1 Game 1 victory. In Game 4, he drove in the tying run with one out in the ninth inning, and the Yankees scored three in the tenth to win 7-4 and complete another sweep for their fourth straight championship. In {{Baseball year|1940}} Gordon again increased his home run total to 30 and was second on the team to DiMaggio in homers and RBI (103), leading the AL in assists and posting career highs in [[run (baseball)|runs]] (112), [[triple (baseball)|triples]] (10), [[slugging average]] (.511), [[total bases]] (315) and [[stolen base]]s (18) while hitting .281. On September 8, he [[hitting for the cycle|hit for the cycle]]. But the Yankees finished two games behind Detroit, in the only year between 1936 and 1943 that they lost the pennant.

In {{Baseball year|1941}} he batted .276 with 24 home runs and 87 RBI, scoring 104 runs and teaming with rookie shortstop [[Phil Rizzuto]] to lead the AL in double plays; Gordon placed seventh in the MVP vote as New York returned to the top of the standings. In the [[1941 World Series]] against the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] he played phenomenally, hitting .500 with stellar defense. In Game 1 he started the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, had an RBI single and was [[base on balls|walked]] twice (once [[intentional base on balls|intentionally]]), and turned a double play with the tying run on first base to end a 3-2 win. In Game 2, he was walked three times, once intentionally, and had three double plays in a 3-2 loss. In Game 3 he tripled, walked and had four assists, one of them to end the 2-1 win. He doubled in two runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 to give the Yankees their final 7-4 lead, four batters after Dodger catcher [[Mickey Owen]] famously dropped a third strike which would have ended the game. And he drove in another run in the final 3-1 victory in Game 5. His five double plays (three of them in Game 2) remain a record for a five-game Series. After the Series, Yankees manager [[Joe McCarthy (manager)|Joe McCarthy]] said, "The greatest all-around ballplayer I ever saw, and I don't bar any of them, is Joe Gordon."

[[File:New York Yankees 1943 infield.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Gordon (left) with his Yankees infield teammates in 1943]]
Gordon led the Yankees to another pennant in his 1942 MVP season, edging [[triple crown (baseball)|Triple Crown]] winner [[Ted Williams]] of the [[Boston Red Sox]] for the award. He batted .322, fourth in the AL, with 18 homers and 103 RBI, and finished sixth in the league in total bases (264) and slugging (.491) while he and Rizzuto again led the league in double plays. He had another poor [[1942 World Series|World Series]], however, batting just .095 in the five-game loss to the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] – his only Series loss in six trips; he was [[pickoff|picked off]] at second base in the bottom of the ninth in the last game. By his own lofty standards, he had a subpar yet productive season in {{Baseball year|1943}}, batting .249 with 17 home runs (5th in the AL), 69 RBI and 82 runs, and leading the AL in assists; despite his low batting mark, he was still among the league's top ten players in both slugging (.413) and [[on-base percentage]] (.365), thanks to a career-best 98 walks (second in the AL).

In the [[1943 World Series|World Series]] rematch with the Cardinals, he gave New York a 2–1 lead in the fourth inning of Game 1 – a 4–2 win – with a solo homer, and scored the first run in a 2–1 win in Game 4. He threw out the final batter of the Series with the tying runs on base in the 2–0 Game 5 victory, with the Yankees taking home another title. He again fielded brilliantly, setting still-standing records for a five-game Series of 20 putouts, 23 assists, 43 total chances, and a 1.000 fielding average; his 8 assists in Game 1 and 3 assists in the eighth inning of Game 5 are also records. Afterwards, he served in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] in 1944–45 during World War II, missing those seasons.

He returned to the Yankees in 1946, which turned out to be his most challenging year in major league baseball. Gordon was spiked in an exhibition game and severed a tendon in his hand, which required surgery, and he suffered a chipped bone in his finger. As the rest of the Yankees headed to The Bronx to begin the 1946 regular season, Gordon stayed behind in Florida for a month to recover. As Gordon told ''Oregonian'' sports editor L. H. Gregory, just two weeks after returning to the Yankees lineup, Gordon tore a leg muscle. He taped the leg and resumed playing, only to tear a muscle in his other leg. Following a brief break, Gordon re-tore a leg muscle and then fractured his thumb. Gordon played in just 112 games that year and stepped up to the plate just 376 times, nearly 170 fewer at bats than his pre-war 1943 season. As a result, he batted .210 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI, much to the displeasure of new Yankees president/general manager Larry MacPhail. With Gordon-ally Joe McCarthy resigning from the Yankees club in May 1946 and following his worst season in baseball, Gordon was in trouble. Trade rumors were rampant and MacPhail even consulted Gordon teammate DiMaggio about "Flash's" eventual trade for one of Cleveland's pitchers. Taking DiMaggio's advice, on October 11 MacPhail settled on Indians pitcher [[Allie Reynolds]] in exchange for Gordon, a move that benefited both clubs. Gordon departed New York after precisely 1,000 games and 1,000 [[hit (baseball)|hits]]: the only player in baseball history with those statistics.

===Cleveland Indians===
[[File:Joe Gordon bowman.jpg|thumb|1950 Joe Gordon baseball card]]
While Reynolds would go on to win 131 games in eight seasons for the Yankees, Gordon proved resilient and kept his new team from regretting the deal. In {{Baseball year|1947}} he returned to his old levels of production, batting .272 and leading the club with 93 RBI, and again pacing the AL in assists. His 29 homers and 279 total bases were second in the league to Williams, and his .496 slugging average trailed only Williams and DiMaggio; Gordon again finished seventh in the MVP balloting. Additionally, he played a major role in befriending teammate [[Larry Doby]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=1572794&type=columnist |title=Remembering Larry Doby's dignity, courage |access-date=2007-11-29 |author=Joe Morgan |date=2003-06-26 |work=ESPN.com}}</ref> the AL's [[baseball color line|first black player]], who had been a second baseman in the [[Negro league baseball|Negro leagues]] but became a [[center fielder]] with Cleveland. Over Doby's first two seasons, Gordon became close to the player who was theoretically there to replace him, and Doby would later refer to him as his first friend in white baseball; however, reports that Gordon deliberately [[strikeout|struck out]] in Doby's first game to keep him from looking bad are erroneous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/doby.asp |title=Larry Doby |access-date=2007-11-29 |author=Barbara and David P. Mikkelson |date=2006-01-02 |publisher=snopes.com}}</ref> 1948 was even better, as Cleveland won their first AL title since 1920. Batting .280, he was second in the league to DiMaggio with 32 home runs, which remained the AL's single-season mark for a second baseman until [[Bret Boone]] hit 36 in {{Baseball year|2001}}. He again led the team with a personal high of 124 RBIs, and was sixth in the league in slugging (.507). Gordon placed sixth in the MVP vote, won by teammate and manager [[Lou Boudreau]]. In the [[1948 World Series]] against the [[Boston Braves (baseball)|Boston Braves]], batting cleanup, he had a RBI single and later scored to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead in Game 2; they went on to win 4-1. In the final Game 6, he homered to give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, and they went on to win 4-3 to capture the championship. His seven double plays in the Series are still the record for a six-game Series. In {{Baseball year|1949}} he slipped to a .251 average, though his 20 home runs and 84 RBI were still second on the team to Doby. His major league career ended in {{Baseball year|1950}} as he hit .236 with 19 home runs and 57 RBI.

Gordon was a career .268 hitter with 253 home runs, 975 RBI, 914 runs, 1,530 hits, 264 doubles and 89 stolen bases in 1,566 games. His .466 slugging average then placed him fifth among second basemen, behind Hornsby (.577), Gehringer (.480), Lazzeri (.467) and [[Nap Lajoie]] (.466), and only Hornsby had more homers among second basemen. Gordon might have had even higher batting totals had he played in other stadiums. His first several seasons were spent in [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]], with its immense "Death Valley" in left field that frustrated right-handed power hitters; during his New York years, he hit 69 home runs at home and 84 on the road. [[Cleveland Stadium|Municipal Stadium]] in Cleveland was also an unhelpful venue, being hostile to power hitters on both sides of the plate. Over his career, he batted 23 points higher on the road (.279) than he did at home (.256). He was selected for the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] team nine times, in all but his first and last seasons. He was also selected to ''The Sporting News'' Major League All-Star Team in 1939–42 and 1947–48, and was runner-up to Gehringer in 1938 and to [[Billy Herman]] in 1943. In {{Baseball year|2001}} he was selected as one of the Indians' 100 greatest players.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clevelandmemory.org/indians100/ |title=Top 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians Players |access-date=2007-11-29 |publisher=Cleveland State University Library }}</ref>