At Home Plate - Vic Power: Golden Glove

At Home Plate

Written by Jim Amato (Contact & Archive) on August 13, 2008

Many consider former Cleveland Indian Vic Power one of the best fielding first basemen of all time. Vic was a pretty good hitter too. Power, a native of Puerto Rico broke in with the Athletics in 1954. In 1955 he showed he could handle the stick as well as the glove. He batted .319 while hitting 19 home runs and driving in 76. He also had a good year in 1956 hitting 14 homers and batting at a .309 clip. It was thought that since Vic had established he could hit Major League pitching, he would be traded to the Yankees. Many felt the the A's were just a " minor league " team for the Yankee organization. On several occasions the better players with the A's found their way to the Yankee roster.

Part way into the 1958 season, Power was sent to the Cleveland Indians. Overall, Vic had a successful season between the two teams belting sixteen out of the park and driving across eighty runs. He also bettered the .300 mark in batting average. Power stayed with the Tribe until he went to the Twins in 1962. Little by little his hitting numbers tailed off. In 1964 Vic went from Minnesota to the Angels to Philadelphia. In 1965 he went back to Angels where he finished his twelve year career.

Vic ended a very respectable .284 lifetime batting average. More impressive was fact that Vic played 1,304 games at first base with an astounding .994 fielding average.

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