Somebody Had to Replace Hornsby
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@big8dog887, via YouTube
Replacing Rogers Hornsby at second base is not a job anyone would envy. Hornsby hit .358 for his career, and in Chicago he was also the man filling out the lineup card.
Billy Herman got the job anyway. The Cubs bought him from Louisville in August 1931, and by 1932 he was their everyday second baseman, playing all 154 games, collecting 206 hits, and batting .314. Hornsby never played a game at second that season. By August he wasn't even the manager anymore, and the Cubs went on to win the pennant.
206
Billy Herman's hits in 1932, playing all 154 games at second base
What followed was one of the quietest Hall of Fame careers of the era. Ten straight All-Star selections. A .304 lifetime average. And glovework so steady that he still holds the National League record for putouts by a second baseman in a season.
Baseball has a way of coming full circle. A decade after Herman took over from Hornsby, the Cubs decided he'd lost a step and moved him out to make room for a younger second baseman. Herman went to Brooklyn and made three more All-Star teams.
Every great player is somebody's replacement. The best ones make you forget there was ever a question.
