35 Facts About Mel Ott

Mel Ott was an All-Star for 11 consecutive seasons, and was the first National League player to surpass 500 career home runs.

Mel Ott was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.

Mel Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.

Mel Ott already showed considerable power at a young age and was getting paid for it.

Mel Ott's team had a tradition of passing the hat whenever a player hit a home run that figured in a victory, meaning Ott was taking home money for playing baseball as early as 14.

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Mel Ott then found a job at a lumber company in Patterson, near Morgan City, where he became a sensation on the company baseball team.

Mel Ott was skeptical at first, so Williams bought Mel Ott a train ticket to New York.

Mel Ott had originally been a catcher, but McGraw concluded that Mel Ott was too small to be a major league catcher and converted him into an outfielder.

Mel Ott was both the youngest player to hit 100 home runs and the first National Leaguer to hit 500 home runs.

Mel Ott passed Rogers Hornsby to become the all-time NL home run leader in 1937 and held that title until Willie Mays passed him in 1966.

Mel Ott was noted for reaching base via the base on balls, or walk.

Mel Ott set the National League record for most walks in a doubleheader, with six, on October 5,1929, and did it again on April 30,1944.

Mel Ott tied an MLB record by drawing a walk in seven consecutive plate appearances.

Mel Ott twice scored six runs in a game, on August 4,1934, and on April 30,1944.

Mel Ott is the youngest major leaguer to ever hit for the cycle.

Mel Ott used a batting style that was then considered unorthodox, lifting his forward foot prior to impact.

Alvin Dark said that Mel Ott "lifted his lead foot right off the ground like he was getting ready to kick at a dog".

Mel Ott was a master at playing balls that bounced off the fences at the Polo Grounds, allowing him to garner 26 assists in 1929, his first full season as a full-time player.

Mel Ott played in the World Series in 1933,1936, and 1937, winning in 1933.

Mel Ott continued as a regular player for another five years, and remained productive at the plate for much of that time.

Mel Ott finished second in home runs and third in slugging percentage in 1944.

Mel Ott stayed on as manager until Leo Durocher replaced him midway through the 1948 season.

Giants' best finish during Mel Ott's tenure was third place in 1942, one of only three times he finished with a winning record.

Mel Ott spent the remaining two-and-a-half years of his contract helping his former teammate Carl Hubbell run the Giants' farm system.

Mel Ott was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951 with 87.

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Mel Ott was a National League All-Star for 11 consecutive seasons, from 1934 through 1944.

Mel Ott is one of only six National League players to spend a 20+ year career with one team.

Mel Ott was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Mel Ott spent the 1953 and 1954 seasons out of baseball for the first time since coming to New York in 1925.

From 1956 to 1958, Mel Ott teamed with Van Patrick to broadcast the games of the Detroit Tigers on radio and television.

Mel Ott was injured in an auto accident in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, in November 1958.

Mel Ott was transferred to a hospital in New Orleans, where he died a week later at the age of 49.

Mel Ott died in a similar manner to two other New York Giants Hall of Famers: Frankie Frisch in 1973 and Carl Hubbell in 1988.

Mel Ott is remembered in his hometown of Gretna, where a park is named in his honor.

Mel Ott is mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash, first published in Sport magazine in January 1949:.