Ival Richard Goodman (July 23, 1908 – November 25, 1984) was an
All-Star right fielder in
Major League Baseball who played for the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
(1935–1942) and
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
(1943–1944). Goodman, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed, helped lead the Reds to a
National League pennant in 1939 and a
World Series title in 1940, and he was elected to the
Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1959.
Cincinnati Reds years
The
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
purchased Goodman from the
St. Louis Cardinals on November 3, 1934 for $25,000. The decision paid immediate dividends. In his first season in the majors, Goodman appeared in 148 games, hitting .269 with 12 home runs and 72 runs batted in. Goodman also scored 86 runs and led the league with 18 triples. He led the league again the following season with 14 triples.
Goodman remained a fixture in the Reds lineup in the following years. In 1938 he set a since-broken Reds record with 30 home runs, which was second only to
Mel Ott's 36 that season, while scoring 103 runs (fourth in the NL) and driving in 92 (eighth in the NL). He was named to the NL
All-Star team that season.
In the Reds' pennant-winning 1939 season, Goodman hit a career-high .323 (sixth best in the NL) and was again named to the NL All-Star team. He also hit .333 in the
World Series that year, but the Reds lost to the
New York Yankees in an eventual four-game sweep.
The Reds rebounded in 1940, posting 100 wins for the first time in club history and winning their first World Series title since 1919, in what would be Goodman's final season as an everyday player. He hit .258 that year with 12 home runs and 78 runs scored. He also drove in five runs in the World Series that season.
Chicago Cubs years
Goodman appeared in just 42 games in 1941 and 87 games in 1942, and on November 14, 1942, the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
purchased him from the Reds. He hit .320 in 80 games for the Cubs in 1943, but appeared in just 62 games the following season, which would be his last in the majors.
Goodman died on November 25, 1984 in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
League leader
*
Triples
TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...
: 1935 (18) and 1936 (14)
*
Hit by pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...
: 1936 (9), 1938 (15) and 1939 (7)
Honors and awards
* NL All-Star: 1938 and 1939
*
Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Inductee: 1959
Career Statistics
In the 1939 and 1940 World Series, Goodman posted a .295 batting average (13-for-44) with 8 runs scored and 6 RBI.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
In baseball, a triple is recorded when the ball is hit so that the batter is able to advance all the way to third base, scoring any runners who were already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play. In Major League Baseball (ML ...
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Ival
1908 births
1984 deaths
Bartlesville Broncos players
Baseball players from Missouri
Chicago Cubs players
Chicago Cubs scouts
Cincinnati Reds players
Columbus Red Birds players
Dayton Indians players
Fort Smith Twins players
Houston Buffaloes players
Major League Baseball right fielders
National League All-Stars
Portsmouth Cubs players
Shawnee Robins players