Top 50 Sox Seasons #22: Jimmie Foxx, 1939

.360/.464/.694, 1.158 OPS, 563 PA, 168 H, 89 BB, 35 HR, 105 RBI, 324 TB, 13.3 AB/HR, 188 OPS+
All-Star, MVP – 2

This was Foxx’s other great season in Boston – the one with the 12th-best single-season OPS+ in Red Sox history. The one tied for most runs created by any Boston hitter in a season. The one that ranks fourth in Sox history in slugging, 12th in OBP, 12th in batting and fifth in OPS. Coming off Foxx’s record-setting 1938, however, the season was destined to be overshadowed. And it was, even though he did finish second in MVP voting.

Foxx missed significant time with a stomach ailment diagnosed in September as appendicitis, for which Foxx underwent surgery and missed the final month of the season – likely costing him a 40-homer season, as well as the league leadership in runs, total bases and extra-base hits. The illness also likely cost him his fourth MVP, as news reports had pegged him the favorite in early August. Nevertheless, Foxx was still so dominant that he led the league in home runs with one to spare despite not hitting one after Sept. 1.

Key game: April 26. With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Foxx crushes Joe Krakauska’s first pitch over the left-field wall (not yet known as the Green Monster) for a 6-5 walkoff win over the Senators. The ball lands on a roof across Landsdowne Street, more than 450 feet away from home plate.