Bill James bought Arky Vaughan back to light and named him the second greatest shortstop of all time in his last historical abstract, (hopefully not ever but just last for now). I actually don’t have him far away from that. First Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter basically earned their places after Bill ranked Vaughn second. Also, my formula is more career than Bill’s formula and Vaughan had a short career.
The reason why is unusual for a great player. Manager Leo Durocher said something about one of Arky’s teammates. Arky objected and turned in his uniform. He was convinced to come back and finished the season. However, he then retired at the age of 31. He came back after 3 seasons and played part time a couple of years.
The year he came back was 1947 the first year Jackie Robinson played in the majors. Jackie said Arky was one of the few players who try to make Jackie feel welcome on the team, something Jackie said he needed that first year. Apparently from everything I read that was the kind of guy Arky was, a truly nice guy who tried to do the right thing. Unfortunately, he died drowning trying to save someone else’s life. He was only 40 years old when he passed.
