Jimmy Bloodworth

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James Henry Bloodworth (July 26, 1917 – August 17, 2002) was a second baseman for the Washington Senators (1937 and 1939-41), Detroit Tigers (1942-43 and 1946), Pittsburgh Pirates (1947), Cincinnati Reds (1949-50) and Philadelphia Phillies (1950-51). He was born in Tallahassee, Florida.

He helped the Phillies win the 1950 NL Pennant.

He led the American League in Grounding into Double Plays (29) in 1943.

In 11 seasons he played in 1,002 Games, had 3,519 At Bats, 347 Runs, 874 Hits, 160 Doubles, 20 Triples, 62 Home Runs, 451 RBI, 19 Stolen Bases, 202 Walks, .248 Batting Average, .292 On-base percentage, .358 Slugging Percentage, 1,260 Total Bases and 51 Sacrifice Hits.

Legend has it that his friendship with the legendary songwriter Jimmy Burke inspired the song "Apalachicola, FLA" from Hope and Crosby's 1947 movie "Road to Rio" He died in Apalachicola, Florida.

Jimmy Bloodworth was a patient at Weems Hospital in Apalachicola shortly before his death. Sensing that his time was near, he summoned his son Leon. He then requested that to be taken home and fed his favorite: steak dinner. Mr. Bloodworth passed shortly thereafter. He will be sorely missed, but he did say goodbye to all of us.