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{{Short description|American baseball player (1907–1991)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Luke Appling
|image=Luke Appling 1942.jpg
|caption=Appling with the Chicago White Sox, {{c.|1942}}
|position=[[Shortstop]]
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{birth date|1907|4|2}}
|birth_place=[[High Point, North Carolina]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1991|1|3|1907|4|3}}
|death_place=[[Cumming, Georgia]], U.S.
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=September 10
|debutyear=1930
|debutteam=Chicago White Sox
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=October 1
|finalyear=1950
|finalteam=Chicago White Sox
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.310
|stat2label=[[Hit (baseball)|Hit]]s
|stat2value=2,749
|stat3label=[[Home runs]]
|stat3value=45
|stat4label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat4value=1,116 
|teams=
;As player
* [[Chicago White Sox]] ({{mlby|1930}}–{{mlby|1943}}, {{mlby|1945}}–{{mlby|1950}})
;As manager
* [[Kansas City Athletics]] ({{mlby|1967}})
|highlights=
* 7× [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[1936 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1936]], [[1939 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1939]]–[[1941 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1941]], [[1943 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1943]], [[1946 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1946]], [[1947 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1947]])
* 2× [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|AL batting champion]] (1936, 1943)
* [[Chicago White Sox#Retired numbers|Chicago White Sox No. 4]] retired
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate = [[1964 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1964]]
|hofvote = 94.0% (seventh ballot)
}}
'''Lucius Benjamin Appling''' (April 2, 1907 – January 3, 1991), nicknamed "'''Old Aches and Pains'''", was an American professional [[baseball]] [[shortstop]] who played 20 seasons in [[Major League Baseball]] for the [[Chicago White Sox]] (1930–1950). He was elected to the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1964.

Born in North Carolina, Appling briefly attended [[Oglethorpe University|Oglethorpe College]]. He was signed by the minor league [[Atlanta Crackers]] in 1930 and debuted with the [[Chicago White Sox]] later that year. He interrupted his career to serve in [[World War II]] in 1944 and 1945. He played for Chicago until 1950, then was a minor league manager and major league coach for many years. He served one stint as an interim major league manager in 1967. He died in Georgia in 1991.

==Early life and career==
Appling was born in [[High Point, North Carolina]]. He attended Fulton High School in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. He later said that he had been lefthanded, a trait that he shared with his father, until he was in high school. At that point, he said that he became righthanded because he wanted to play shortstop.<ref name=Quotes>{{cite web|title=Luke Appling Quotes|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/luke_appling_quotes.shtml|publisher=[[Baseball Almanac]]|access-date=April 8, 2014}}</ref>

Appling attended [[Oglethorpe University|Oglethorpe College]] in Atlanta for two years. In 1930, the Oglethorpe baseball team was undefeated in a 15-game season; in his last game at Oglethorpe, Appling hit three home runs against [[Mercer University]].<ref name="Oglethorpe">{{cite web|title=Oglethorpe hosts family of baseball great and alum Luke Appling|url=http://source.oglethorpe.edu/2012/04/19/oglethorpe-hosts-family-of-baseball-great-and-alum-luke-appling/|publisher=[[Oglethorpe University]]|access-date=December 14, 2016|date=April 19, 2012}}</ref>
Appling signed with the [[Atlanta Crackers]] of the [[Southern Association|Southern League]] that year. He was a good hitter in his first year, but committed 42 errors in 104 games. The [[Chicago Cubs]] showed some interest at first, but decided not to sign him, and the White Sox ended up purchasing him from the Crackers for $20,000.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

==MLB playing career==

===Early career===
Appling appeared in only six games for the White Sox in 1930. He hit for a .232 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] in 96 games in 1931. In 1933 his average increased from .274 to .322 in his first of nine straight [[batting average (baseball)|.300 seasons]].<ref name=BR/> The White Sox lost more than 90 games in four of Appling's first five seasons with the team.<ref name=CHW/>

In 1936, Appling batted .388, with 124 [[runs batted in]], scored 111 times, recorded 204 hits, and had a team-record 27-game hitting streak. His batting average was good for the first AL batting title won by a shortstop. It was the highest batting average recorded by a shortstop in the 20th century.{{efn|Retroactively, due to the Negro leagues being deemed major league status, [[Willie Wells]] has the highest batting average for a shortstop for a major league shortstop of the 20th century, having batted .411 in 90 games for the [[St. Louis Stars (baseball)|St. Louis Stars]] in the 1930 [[Negro National League (1920–1931)|Negro National League]] season. At any rate, Appling's 1936 mark ranked the highest for all AL/NL shortstops in the 20th century. [[Nomar Garciaparra]] was the closest to Appling's mark, having batted .372 in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stathead.com/tiny/jv32z |title=For single seasons, from 1900 to 2000, Played at SS, in the regular season, sorted by descending Batting Average. |accessdate=July 15, 2025|website=[[Sports Reference|Stathead]]}}</ref>}} He finished second in the AL Most Valuable Player voting and earned his first [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] selection. He also turned a league-leading 119&nbsp;[[double play]]s.<ref name=BR>{{cite web|title=Luke Appling Statistics and History|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/applilu01.shtml|publisher=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref>

===Later career===
Appling hit .317 in 1937 as the White Sox finished in third place in the AL. He played in 81 games in 1938, missing much of the season with a broken leg.

In 1940, Appling hit .348 with a career-high 13 [[triple (baseball)|triples]].<ref name=BR/> Although the team finished fourth, they came closer to a league championship than at any point in his career, eight games behind the league champion [[Detroit Tigers]].<ref name=CHW>{{cite web|title=Chicago White Sox Team History & Encyclopedia|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/|publisher=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> Appling won another batting title in 1943 with a .328 average and also led the league in OBP that year (.419).<ref name=BR/>

Appling missed the entire 1944 season due to military service in the United States Army, then returned in time to appear in only 18 games the next year.

He hit .309 in 149 games in 1946. Though his seventh and final All-Star Game selection came in 1947 when he hit .306, Appling hit .314 and .301 in 1948 and 1949, respectively.<ref name=BR/> Appling had remained a solid contributor into his forties, but White Sox ownership was dedicated to a youth movement and he retired after the 1950 season.

===Career statistics===
In 2,422 games over 20 seasons, Appling posted a .310 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] (2,749-for-8,856) with 1,319 [[run (baseball)|runs]], 440 [[double (baseball)|doubles]], 102 [[Triple (baseball)|triples]], 45 [[home runs]], 1,116 [[Run batted in|RBI]], 179 [[stolen bases]], 1,302 [[bases on balls]], .399 [[on-base percentage]] and .398 [[slugging percentage]]. He finished his career with a .948 [[fielding percentage]] playing primarily at shortstop, but also played at third, second and first base.<ref name="BR" />

===Legacy===
Upon his retirement, Appling was the all-time leader for most games played and for double plays by a major league shortstop, and the all-time leader for [[putout]]s and [[assist (baseball statistics)|assist]]s by an [[American League]] shortstop. These records were broken by [[Luis Aparicio]], who also spent the majority of his career with the White Sox. He made 643 errors and has the worst fielding percentage since 1910 of players with at least 1,900 games, but his speed and range made his defensive ability excellent nonetheless throughout his career.

Appling was a good [[Batting order (baseball)|lead-off hitter]] who topped the .400 mark in [[on-base percentage|OBP]] eight times (1935–1937, 1939–40, 1943, 1948–49) and drew over 100 [[base on balls|walks]] three times (1935, 1939, 1949), although he often batted third due to otherwise poor team hitting on the White Sox.

He was well known for his ability to foul off pitches.  Charlie Metro testified to this reputation: "The old White Sox shortstop Luke Appling was a delight.  I've heard quite a few stories about Luke, but the one that always pleases me the most is about watching Luke take batting practice.  As extra guys with the Tigers, we wouldn't get too many swings in batting practice, if any, but we liked to go out to the ballpark early and watch them taking batting practice.  Luke was a star for the ball club, a good hitter, a good fielder, good at driving in runs, good everything, just a good, good ballplayer.  The White Sox then were noted for their stinginess.  You couldn't get a baseball out of them.  Luke was popular, and everybody wanted an autographed baseball from a big league club, and especially from a guy like Luke.  So he'd ask for the baseballs, and the White Sox management would send a message down, 'No!'  He couldn't get any baseballs for autographs.  So Luke would take batting practice early.  I don't know whether he hit third, fourth, or fifth, I forget, but he'd lead off the batting practice.  He could foul off every pitch.  He was noted for fouling off pitches.  He'd foul the balls into the grandstand, and the kids would grab the balls.  Luke would flip the bat and look up at the press box as if to say, 'Take that!'  I saw him do it once, and they talked about him doing that all the time.  I understand he got baseballs pretty much whenever he wanted.  It was either that, or he'd lose them all in batting practice."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metro |first1=Charlie |title=Safe by a Mile |date=2002 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-8281-8 |page=295}}</ref>

Appling was famous among his teammates for complaining about minor ailments such as a sore back, a weak shoulder, shin splints, or a sprained finger. While much of this complaining was probably for show it earned him the nicknames "Old Aches and Pains" and "Libby", the latter after blues singer [[Libby Holman]].<ref name=Memories>{{cite news|last=Holtzman|first=Jerome|title=His memories of Luke fill the old park|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/08/26/his-memories-of-luke-fill-the-old-park/|access-date=April 7, 2014|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=August 26, 1990}}</ref> "His constant stream of complaints might have become intolerable to his teammates if Appling had not developed a novel remedy," wrote [[Robert McG. Thomas Jr.]] of ''[[The New York Times]]''. "He simply took his misery out on opposing pitchers, rapping out 2,749 hits, all but 587 of them singles."<ref name="Thomas">{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Robert McG.|title=Luke Appling, ex-White Sox star in the Hall of Fame, is dead at 83|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/04/obituaries/luke-appling-ex-white-sox-star-in-the-hall-of-fame-is-dead-at-83.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 4, 1991}}</ref>

==Later life==
{{MLBBioRet
|Image  = SoxRetired04.PNG
|Name   = Luke Appling
|Number = 4
|Team   = Chicago White Sox
|Year   = 1975
|}}
[[File:Luke Appling HOF plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|right|110px|Appling's plaque at the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]]]]

Appling was a successful minor league manager after his playing days were over, winning pennants with Memphis in the Southern Association and Indianapolis of the [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]] and being named minor league manager of the year in 1952.

Beginning in 1954, he managed the unaffiliated [[Richmond Virginians]], a Class AAA team in the International League which affiliated with the [[New York Yankees]] in 1958 but after 1964 moved and became the [[Toledo Mud Hens]].

Appling's only chance to manage at the major league level was as a late-season replacement for [[Alvin Dark]] as manager of the [[Kansas City Athletics]] in 1967, which resulted in his major league managerial record of just 10-30.

Appling was a major league coach for the [[Cleveland Indians]], [[Detroit Tigers]], [[Baltimore Orioles]], Athletics and White Sox during the 1960s and early 1970s.<ref name=LAT/>

Though Appling received only two [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] votes when he appeared on the ballot in 1953, he was eventually elected in 1964. No candidate had received enough votes for induction based on the initial 1964 election; however, Appling was named on the most ballots and he defeated [[Red Ruffing]] in a subsequent runoff vote.<ref name="HOF">{{cite web|title=Luke Appling|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/appling-luke|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=October 10, 2016}}</ref>

In 1970, the Chicago chapter of the [[Baseball Writers' Association of America]] named Appling the greatest player in the history of the White Sox.<ref name=LAT>{{cite news|title=Hall of Fame Shortstop Luke Appling Dies : Baseball: The former Chicago White Sox player was 83. He had a .310 batting average over 21 major-league seasons|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-03-sp-10878-story.html|access-date=April 7, 2014|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 3, 1991}}</ref> In 1981, [[Lawrence Ritter]] and [[Donald Honig]] included him in their book ''The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time''.

On July 19, 1982, Appling played in the initial 1982 Cracker Jack Old Timers game (1982-1990) at [[Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium]] in Washington, D.C., where the then 75-year-old Hall of Fame shortstop hit a [[home run]] off [[Warren Spahn]] in the first inning into the left field bleachers, the ball having traveled 265 feet.<ref name=LAT/> RFK Stadium was in football configuration at the time, resulting in a short left-field fence.

In 1989, ''[[The New York Times]]'' profiled the then 82-year-old Appling, who had been an annual Spring Training coach with the [[Atlanta Braves]] for 14 years and was also serving as a minor league coach during the season.<ref name=Aches>{{cite news|title=Old Aches and Pains|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/26/sports/old-aches-and-pains.html|access-date=April 7, 2014|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 26, 1989}}</ref>

On January 3, 1991, two days after retiring from the Atlanta coaching staff, Appling was in a hospital in [[Cumming, Georgia]], suffering from an [[abdominal aortic aneurysm]]. He died during emergency surgery.<ref name=Thomas/>

"Old Aches and Pains" was interred in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, Mausoleum Chapel West in Cumming, Georgia.

Pitcher [[Eddie Lopat]] remembered Appling, saying, "I played with him and against him, and he was the finest shortstop I ever saw. In the field, he covered more ground than anyone in the league. As a hitting shortstop, there was no one in his class."<ref name=LAT/>

In 1999, he was named as a finalist to the [[Major League Baseball All-Century Team]].

In 2013, the [[Bob Feller Act of Valor Award]] honored Appling as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Army during World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://actofvaloraward.org/hof-players/|title=WWII HOF Players – Act of Valor Award|access-date=2021-08-18|archive-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008204152/https://actofvaloraward.org/hof-players/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* {{bbhof|appling-luke}}
{{Baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br=a/applilu01|fangraphs=1000284|brm=applin001luc}}
* {{baseball-reference manager|applilu01}}
* {{findagrave}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061112233352/http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Appling.Luke.Obit.html The Deadball Era]

{{AL batting title}}
{{Athletics managers|width=100}}
{{Chicago White Sox retired numbers}}
{{Chicago White Sox HOF}}
{{1964 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appling, Luke}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:American League All-Stars]]
[[Category:American League batting champions]]
[[Category:Atlanta Braves coaches]]
[[Category:Atlanta Crackers players]]
[[Category:Baltimore Orioles coaches]]
[[Category:Baseball players from High Point, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Chicago White Sox coaches]]
[[Category:Chicago White Sox players]]
[[Category:Cleveland Indians coaches]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers coaches]]
[[Category:Kansas City Athletics coaches]]
[[Category:Kansas City Athletics managers]]
[[Category:Kansas City Athletics scouts]]
[[Category:Indianapolis Indians managers]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball players with retired numbers]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball shortstops]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball third base coaches]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Oakland Athletics scouts]]
[[Category:Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels baseball players]]
[[Category:Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels football players]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]