Nickname: "Sam"

Born in Morocco in 1890 and passed away in 1974 in Maryland. Of his 20 year major league career 19 years were spent with the Washington Senators of the American League and his last season with Cleveland. He played for the Senators from 1915-33, and climaxed his career in 1934 with the Indians. Sam began his career as a pitcher but because he was such a good hitter was moved to the outfield where he was immediately successful. In 1917, his first full season as an outfielder, he hit .302 and stole 35 bases. He never hit below .293 and averaged a sparkling .322 for his career playing in 2,404 games. In 1920 he put together a banner season putting together a 29 game hitting streak, leading the league in stolen bases with 63, and putouts with 454. He recorded 211 hits, the first of seven straight 200 hit seasons. He led the league in hits in the ’24 and ’26 seasons with 216, and led the league in triples in 1923 with 18. He led the Senators to three World Series appearances compiling a .302 batting average for the classic. Sam is probably best remembered for his controversial catch during the ’25 Series when he caught a ball tumbled over the right-field fence, emerged with the ball in glove and the out was declared. In 1930, at forty years of age he had 207 hits becoming the only player to collect 200 hits at that age. In 1963 he was inducted into the National Hall of Fame.