Nick Etten

Nick Etten drove in 107 runs for the New York Yankees' 1943 World Series championship team, then led the American League in home runs the following year and RBI the year after that. He played first base in the Bronx from 1943 to 1946, the exact stretch when the Yankees' real first basemen -- and outfielders, and shortstops -- were overseas. Someone had to hold the position down. Etten did, and he did it better than his name recognition today would suggest.

Path to the Bronx

Etten came up slowly. Born September 19, 1913, in Spring Grove, Illinois, he played at Villanova University before entering pro ball through the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Connie Mack's Athletics brought him to the majors on September 8, 1938, at age 24 -- already older than most rookies, and it showed in how little playing time he got. Two mostly-idle seasons in Philadelphia, then a swap to the crosstown Phillies for 1941 and 1942, where he finally played every day. The problem was who he played for (a team that finished last or close to it both years, the kind of club where a good first baseman's numbers vanish into the standings without anyone noticing).

The Yankees noticed. On January 22, 1943, they sent Al Gettel, Ed Levy, and $10,000 cash to Philadelphia for Etten -- then, in an odd bit of paperwork, brought Gettel and Levy right back two months later once they'd sent Tom Padden and Al Gerheauser to finish the deal. Whatever the mechanics, the outcome was simple: a first baseman who could actually hit was walking into a lineup that had just lost Joe DiMaggio to the Army Air Forces and was about to lose more.

Yankees Career

The 1943 season came first, and it set the tone. Etten drove in 107 runs -- a team-leading total, second in the league only to Detroit's Rudy York -- while playing a position that still belonged, in every fan's mind, to Lou Gehrig. Etten never pretended otherwise. He just hit behind Charlie Keller, drove in what Keller and the rest of the order left on base, and helped the Yankees win the pennant by 13.5 games and the World Series over the Cardinals in five.

He got better from there, which nobody expected. In 1944, with the talent pool drained further, Etten led the American League outright in home runs (22) and walks (97), hitting .293. Twenty-two homers doesn't sound like much now. In 1944 it was enough to top the league -- the lowest home run total to lead the AL since 1918, back when the dead ball was still legal. He hit seven of the 22 in September alone, closing out the year exactly when a cleanup hitter is supposed to.

1945 was his best all-around year, and the one history remembers least. Etten led the league in RBI with 111, finished second in home runs with 18, hit .285, and made his only career All-Star team. Snuffy Stirnweiss won the batting title that same season, and between the two of them -- a genuine wartime breakout -- the Yankees led the American League in runs scored despite finishing fourth. Etten was the only real power source McCarthy had.

Then the war ended, and so did the version of the league that made Etten an All-Star. In 1946, with the regulars back from service, he hit .234 with 9 home runs and 49 RBI in a part-time role. The pitching that came back wasn't the pitching he'd been feasting on. His window had been exactly three seasons wide, and it closed the moment the competition returned to full strength.

What Came After

The Yankees moved on to George McQuinn at first base for 1947, and Etten went back to Philadelphia -- the same Phillies who'd traded him away four years earlier, this time for good. It was his last big-league season. He died October 18, 1990, in Hinsdale, Illinois, at 77.

Key Moments

Etten's four years in the Bronx will always carry the qualifier -- wartime numbers, against wartime pitching, filling in for players who'd earned the job before Uncle Sam intervened. Fair enough. But somebody had to play first base for a Yankees team that still needed to win, and Etten led his league in home runs one year and RBI the next while doing it. He didn't choose the era. He just made the most of the one he got.