JIM BOTTOMLEY

James Leroy Bottomley came out of Oglesby, Illinois, in 1900, six-foot even and a hundred eighty pounds, a left-handed first baseman who threw left too. St. Louis called him Sunny Jim. He arrived with the Cardinals in 1922 and stayed a decade as the club's first-base anchor, the kind of hitter who put the ball where they weren't and never once made a speech about it.

The numbers piled up the way river towns pile up history — quietly, then all at once. In 1923, still a young regular, he hit .371. In 1925 he hit .367 with 227 hits and 128 runs batted in. In 1927 he drove in 124 and hit 15 triples. In 1928 he hit 31 home runs, 20 triples, drove in 136, scored 123, and batted .325. In 1929 he came back with 29 home runs and 137 driven in. A first baseman who ran the gaps and still found the seats.

He finished with Cincinnati and the St. Louis Browns, closing out in 1937. The career line reads .310 with a .369 on-base percentage and a .500 slug, 219 home runs, 1,422 runs batted in, 2,313 hits, 465 doubles, 151 triples across 1,991 games. He died in St. Louis in 1959. Sunny Jim. The bat fit him better than the nickname.