Editing Luke Appling (section)

==Later life==
{{MLBBioRet
|Image  = SoxRetired04.PNG
|Name   = Luke Appling
|Number = 4
|Team   = Chicago White Sox
|Year   = 1975
|}}
[[File:Luke Appling HOF plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|right|110px|Appling's plaque at the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]]]]

Appling was a successful minor league manager after his playing days were over, winning pennants with Memphis in the Southern Association and Indianapolis of the [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]] and being named minor league manager of the year in 1952.

Beginning in 1954, he managed the unaffiliated [[Richmond Virginians]], a Class AAA team in the International League which affiliated with the [[New York Yankees]] in 1958 but after 1964 moved and became the [[Toledo Mud Hens]].

Appling's only chance to manage at the major league level was as a late-season replacement for [[Alvin Dark]] as manager of the [[Kansas City Athletics]] in 1967, which resulted in his major league managerial record of just 10-30.

Appling was a major league coach for the [[Cleveland Indians]], [[Detroit Tigers]], [[Baltimore Orioles]], Athletics and White Sox during the 1960s and early 1970s.<ref name=LAT/>

Though Appling received only two [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] votes when he appeared on the ballot in 1953, he was eventually elected in 1964. No candidate had received enough votes for induction based on the initial 1964 election; however, Appling was named on the most ballots and he defeated [[Red Ruffing]] in a subsequent runoff vote.<ref name="HOF">{{cite web|title=Luke Appling|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/appling-luke|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=October 10, 2016}}</ref>

In 1970, the Chicago chapter of the [[Baseball Writers' Association of America]] named Appling the greatest player in the history of the White Sox.<ref name=LAT>{{cite news|title=Hall of Fame Shortstop Luke Appling Dies : Baseball: The former Chicago White Sox player was 83. He had a .310 batting average over 21 major-league seasons|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-03-sp-10878-story.html|access-date=April 7, 2014|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 3, 1991}}</ref> In 1981, [[Lawrence Ritter]] and [[Donald Honig]] included him in their book ''The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time''.

On July 19, 1982, Appling played in the initial 1982 Cracker Jack Old Timers game (1982-1990) at [[Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium]] in Washington, D.C., where the then 75-year-old Hall of Fame shortstop hit a [[home run]] off [[Warren Spahn]] in the first inning into the left field bleachers, the ball having traveled 265 feet.<ref name=LAT/> RFK Stadium was in football configuration at the time, resulting in a short left-field fence.

In 1989, ''[[The New York Times]]'' profiled the then 82-year-old Appling, who had been an annual Spring Training coach with the [[Atlanta Braves]] for 14 years and was also serving as a minor league coach during the season.<ref name=Aches>{{cite news|title=Old Aches and Pains|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/26/sports/old-aches-and-pains.html|access-date=April 7, 2014|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 26, 1989}}</ref>

On January 3, 1991, two days after retiring from the Atlanta coaching staff, Appling was in a hospital in [[Cumming, Georgia]], suffering from an [[abdominal aortic aneurysm]]. He died during emergency surgery.<ref name=Thomas/>

"Old Aches and Pains" was interred in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, Mausoleum Chapel West in Cumming, Georgia.

Pitcher [[Eddie Lopat]] remembered Appling, saying, "I played with him and against him, and he was the finest shortstop I ever saw. In the field, he covered more ground than anyone in the league. As a hitting shortstop, there was no one in his class."<ref name=LAT/>

In 1999, he was named as a finalist to the [[Major League Baseball All-Century Team]].

In 2013, the [[Bob Feller Act of Valor Award]] honored Appling as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Army during World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://actofvaloraward.org/hof-players/|title=WWII HOF Players – Act of Valor Award|access-date=2021-08-18|archive-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008204152/https://actofvaloraward.org/hof-players/|url-status=dead}}</ref>