Harry Heilmann- A Batting Title Every Other Year!

There has never been a player that benefited more from a switch in managers than Harry Heilmann. A member of the Detroit Tigers for six seasons before Ty Cobb took over as the new skipper in 1921, Harry Heilmann had been a steady but unspectacular player. But once Cobb was entrenched as the new filed boss, the first thing he did was take Harry Heilmann aside and give him some batting tips. That advice turned Harry Heilmann from just another face in the crowd into one of the greatest right-handed hitters that ever lived, and sent him eventually to the Hall of Fame.

Up until Cobb became the Tiger manager, Harry Heilmann's claim to fame had been saving a woman from drowning in the Detroit River in 1916. Harry Heilmann had come to Detroit at the age of 19 in 1914, and was essentially a man without a position. He could not crack the outfield corps of Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Bobby Veach, so Harry Heilmann was tried at first, where he proved to be an absolute butcher. The Tigers shuffled Harry Heilmann between the outfield and first base for most of his first four campaigns in the majors until deciding to bite the bullet and make him their full-time first sacker in 1919. Harry Heilmann led all first basemen in errors for two straight years, and at the plate he was capable, but had only hit over .300 twice in his first half dozen seasons.

Two things happened in 1921 that made Harry Heilmann a star virtually overnight. One was Cobb taking over as a player/manager and telling Harry Heilmann to change how he stood in the batter's box, use his wrists more to drive the ball, and develop the ability to hit from a crouch. The second thing that Harry Heilmann used to his advantage more than anyone else was baseball's adopting a livelier ball. In addition, the umpires were told to use fresh balls more, a direct result of Cleveland's Ray Chapman being killed by a Carl Mays pitch in 1920 that he more than likely had a hard time seeing as it crashed into his skull. Implementing his new batting stance, and with the outfielders now having to play deeper because of the new balls, Harry Heilmann exploded in 1921 for a .394 average and 139 runs batted in.