Jim Bottomley

Jim Bottomley
First baseman / Manager
Born: (1900-04-23)April 23, 1900 Oglesby, Illinois, U.S.
Died: December 11, 1959(1959-12-11) (aged 59) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
August 18, 1922, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
September 16, 1937, for the St. Louis Browns
MLB statistics
Batting average	.310
Hits	2,313
Home runs	219
Runs batted in	1,422
Teams
As player St. Louis Cardinals (1922–1932) Cincinnati Reds (1933–1935) St. Louis Browns (1936–1937) As manager St. Louis Browns (1937)
Career highlights and awards
2× World Series champion (1926, 1931) NL MVP (1928) NL home run leader (1928) 2× NL RBI leader (1926, 1928) St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1974
Election method	Veterans Committee

James Leroy Bottomley (April 23, 1900 – December 11, 1959) was an American professional baseball player, scout and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1922 to 1937, most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals where he helped lead the team to four National League pennants and two World Series titles.

Born in Oglesby, Illinois, Bottomley grew up in Nokomis, Illinois. He dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to raise money for his family. While he was playing semi-professional baseball, the Cardinals scouted and signed Bottomley before the 1920 season. He became an integral member of the Cardinals batting order, driving in 100 or more runs batted in between 1924 and 1929 as the team's cleanup hitter. In 1924, he established a major league record for driving in 12 runs in a nine inning game.^[1]

In 1926 he led the National League (NL) in runs batted in and total bases, helping the Cardinals win their first World Series championship. Bottomley was named the NL's Most Valuable Player in 1928 after leading the league in home runs, runs batted in and total bases. He won another World Series with the Cardinals in 1931. Bottomley hit above .300 nine times and had accumulated a .310 career batting average by the end of his sixteen-year major league career. He also played for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns and also served as player-manager for the Browns in 1937.

After finishing his playing career with the Browns, Bottomley joined the Chicago Cubs organization as a scout and minor league baseball manager. After suffering a heart attack, Bottomley retired to raise cattle with his wife in Missouri. Bottomley was nicknamed "Sunny Jim" because of his cheerful disposition. Bottomley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 by the Veterans Committee and to the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014.