Major League Playing Career
After playing with the Milwaukee Grays in 1878 and the Worcester Ruby Legs, Bennett played eight seasons with the Detroit Wolverines from 1881-1888. He played with the Wolverines during every season that the franchise existed and became the most popular baseball player in 19th Century Detroit.
In the first season of major league baseball in Detroit, Bennett hit .301 and led the team with 64 RBIs, 18 doubles, 7 home runs, and a .478 slugging percentage. He also finished among the National League leaders in home runs (2nd), RBIs (2nd), slugging percentage (4th), and extra base hits (4th). He is also credited with being the first baseball player ever to take a curtain call that season.
In 1882, Bennett hit .301 for the second consecutive season and led the Wolverines in batting average (.301), on base percentage (.340), slugging percentage (.450), hits (103), and RBIs (51).
In 1883, Bennett raised his average to .305 and led the Detroit team in batting average (.305), on base percentage (.350), slugging percentage (.474), doubles (34), home runs (5), and RBIs (55).
In 1884, Bennett led the Wolverines in slugging percentage (.378) for the fourth consecutive year. He was the team's #1 slugger for the first four years of the franchise's existence. He also led the team in on base percentage (.334) for the fourth consecutive year.
In 1885, despite the addition of Sam Thompson, Bennett once again led the team in RBIs (60), on base percentage (.356), doubles (24), triples (13), and extra base hits (42). However, he finished second in slugging percentage behind Sam Thompson. In the first five years of major league baseball in Detroit, Bennett was the top slugger and the most popular player.
In 1886, Bennett's seven years as a major league catcher began to take a toll, as his offensive production fell off substantially. But with sluggers Dan Brouthers, Sam Thompson, and Hardy Richardson in the lineup, the Wolverines were a greatly improved team, finishing with a record of 85-38 and finishing in second place to the Chicago White Stockings.
Though he shared catching duties in 1887 with Charlie Ganzel, Bennett was with the Wolverines in 1887 when they won the National League pennant and then defeated the St. Louis Browns in the World Series. In the 1887 World Series, Bennett had 9 RBIs, 11 hits, and scored 6 runs.
The 1888 season was the last year for the Detroit franchise in the National League, and Bennett was with the team throughout its existence. The only other player who was with the team for all eight years of its existence was center fielder Ned Hanlon.
Bennett played his last five major league seasons with the Boston Beaneaters. He played with the Beaneaters in their 1892 World's Championship Series victory over the Cleveland Spiders.
Read more about this topic: Charlie Bennett
Famous quotes containing the words major, league, playing and/or career:
“Power is not of a man. Wealth does not center in the person of the wealthy. Celebrity is not inherent in any personality. To be celebrated, to be wealthy, to have power requires access to major institutions.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery....Child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)