February 18, 1915: Joe Gordon Is Born

February 18, 1915, 100 years ago: Joseph Lowell Gordon is born in Los Angeles. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, graduating from the city's Jefferson High School, and playing on their undefeated State Championship football teams of 1931 and 1932. But it would be in baseball that he became nationally known. Other notable Portland Jefferson graduates include baseball star Pete Ward; football stars Arnie Weinmeister, Terry Baker, Mel Renfro, and basketball star Ime Udoka.

Like a lot of people with the name Gordon, his nickname became "Flash," after Flash Gordon, the science fiction character of the 1930s and '40s. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he signed with the Yankees as a free agent in 1936, and batted .300 for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. He helped the Newark Bears win the 1937 International League Pennant, helping them to be regarded as one of the best minor-league teams of all time.

The Yankees sold their aging 2nd base star, Tony Lazzeri, to make room for Gordon. He made his major league debut on April 18, 1938. Batting 8th, and wearing the Number 6 that Lazzeri had worn, and which he would wear throughout his Yankee tenure, he went 0-for-4, as the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-4 at Fenway Park. He rebounded, batting .255, hitting 25 home runs and driving in 97 runs. If there had been an American League Rookie of the Year award at the time, he would have won it.

He became one of the best-hitting 2nd basemen of all time, and was a sensational fielder, too. A 9-time All-Star, he won the World Series with the Yankees in 1938, '39, '41 and '43, and was named Most Valuable Player of the American League in 1942. He batted a career-high .322, with 18 homers and 103 RBIs. Ted Williams of the Red Sox won the Triple Crown that season, and Yankee-Haters still say he was robbed of the MVP that season. There's no question that Williams had the superior statistics; but it's "Most Valuable Player," not "Most Outstanding Player," and Gordon led his team to the Pennant, and Williams didn't.

Despite calling his center fielder, Joe DiMaggio, "the perfect ballplayer," Yankee manager Joe McCarthy said, "The greatest all-around ballplayer I ever saw, and I don't bar any of them, is Joe Gordon."

Gordon missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons, serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, as did DiMaggio. After the 1946 season, the Yankees traded him to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Allie Reynolds. This was a great trade for both teams, as Reynolds helped the Yankees win 6 of the next 7 World Series, and Gordon helped the Indians win the other, in 1948 -- still their last.

Gordon last played in the major leagues in the 1950 season, leaving with a lifetime batting average of .268, 1,530 hits including 253 home runs, 2nd among 2nd basemen only to Rogers Hornsby at that point, and 975 RBIs. In 1951, he became player-manager for the PCL's Sacramento Solons, batting .299 with 43 home runs and 136 RBIs. But the next year, 37 years old, he tailed off, and called it a career.

He served the Detroit Tigers as a scout from 1953 to 1955, then went back to the PCL, managing the San Francisco Seals. In 1957, he led them to the Pennant. The team was then moved to Salt Lake City to make room for the New York Giants' move to San Francisco.

In 1958, Gordon was hired to manage the Indians. In the middle of the 1959 season, their general manager, Frank Lane, who didn't get along with Gordon, fired him, and then, after 4 days of trying and failing to hire Leo Durocher, offered Gordon his job back. In the middle of the 1960 season, Lane traded managers with the Detroit Tigers: Gordon went to Detroit, and their manager, Jimmy Dykes, went to Cleveland. Gordon finished the 1960 season with the Tigers, and managed the Kansas City Athletics for 2 months in 1961, before A's owner Charlie Finley, who might have been crazier than Lane, fired him.

Gordon went back to the West Coast, and became a scout for the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He remained with them until the expansion year of 1969, when he became the 1st manager of the Kansas City Royals. After 1 season, he was tired of baseball, and went into real estate.

For nearly 40 years, he was married to Dorothy Crum, a Los Angeles native, and they had 2 children. On April 14, 1978, at his home in Sacramento, Joe Gordon died of a heart attack. He was only 63 years old.

Joe Gordon is arguably the greatest 2nd baseman in Yankee history. Despite this, they have never given him a Plaque in Monument Park. His Number 6 is retired, but for later manager Joe Torre. The Indians have elected him to their team Hall of Fame, although the Number 4 he wore with them remains in circulation. In 2008, through the Veterans Committee, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Tom Gordon, a later relief pitcher who spent some time with the Yankees, has also bee nicknamed "Flash" Gordon. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not related to Yankee Legend Joe Gordon.