Remembering Jim Northrup

Jim Northrup, one of the heroes of the 1968 World Series Champion Detroit Tigers and a versatile team mainstay for eleven seasons, died this year on June 8th. He was 71 years old.

On The Way Up. A Michigan native, Jim Northrup was proficient in several sports. In addition to baseball, he excelled at football, basketball, golf and track. Shunning offers to play professional football, he chose to pursue a career in baseball, signing a contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1961. He worked his way up through their minor league chain, and was called up to the big club in late 1964. A  backup in 1965, he won a starting spot in the Tigers outfield in 1966. From that point on, Northrup was a quality big-league player.

The Championship Season.  Northrup’s sterling performance in 1968 was a major factor in the team’s success. He led the team in hits (153) and RBI’s (90), and was among the league leaders in a host of offensive categories including doubles, extra-base hits and total bases. His skill in the field was pivotal as well. During those stretches when Al Kaline was injured and unable to play, Northrup moved from center over to right field and didn’t miss a beat, turning in an exceptional performance.

Let The Slams Be Grand. Northrup hit five grand slams that year. The three that were hit in one week are highlighted on the Topps Greatest Moment card shown above. On June 24th, in a game against the Indians in the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, two of those blows came in successive innings. I was in that old yard, catching a game there in 1963, and let me tell you, it was huge. If you hit a home run there, you earned it. In the top of the fifth, Northrup crushed an Eddie Fischer pitch for the first one. The second blast, in the top of the sixth, came off Billy Rohr. That’s eight runs batted in on just two swings; it doesn’t get any better than that. Back in Detroit five days later, his third grand slam of the week came at the expense of Chicago White Sox pitcher Cisco Carlos.

World Series Heroics.  Northrup, by that time in the habit of hitting grand slams, mashed another one in game six of a tense world series against the St. Louis Cardinals. You can see the pleasure it gave him in the photo to the left, which appropriately enough shows him coming back to earth. In the pivotal seventh game, Northrup knocked in two decisive runs with a triple off future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson that went well over Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood’s head. Even though Flood slipped briefly on the play, I don’t believe any center fielder alive would have caught that one. Northrup’s offensive totals for those seven games were impressive, providing additional evidence that when his team needed a big hit, he would provide it.

A n Outstanding Teammate. I remember Jim Northrup as a terrific player, big and strong, and a solid clutch performer. His teammates agreed. Gates Brown, another outfielder on the team, commented on his grit and dependability. “He was going to put the bat on the ball in some kind of way. And 1968, that was his year. He was tough all year.” Bill Freehan, the team’s catcher, said “he was a great family friend. He was my Tigers roommate and a great competitor.” Hall of Fame right fielder Al Kaline recalled him as an “outstanding, great Tiger player.”

Now Coming To Bat In The Bottom Of The Ninth. “I was born to play baseball,” Northrup once said. All of us who had the privilege to watch him know that he did it very well. I can still see him, coming to bat, confident, fearless, ready. Win the game for us, Jim Northrup, one last time.