DID YOU KNOW... Debs' father, who was active in the labor movement, named his son out of admiration for turn-of-the-century American labor leader Eugene V. Debs. Whats more, another member of the extended family was 9 year major league pitcher William Jennings Bryan "Slim" Harriss (was this family a bunch of Populists, or what?). Harriss won 19 games for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925. (source: Dale Tervooren)

Debs C. "Tex" Garms Career Highlights: Won National League batting title in 1940 with a .355 batting average. On June 15, 1938, ended Johnny Vander Meer's string of 21 - 2/3 hitless innings which included two consecutive no-hit games. Said Vander Meer afterward: "I could've walked over and handed Debs a twenty-dollar bill, because that foolishness had to stop sooner or later." (source: Earl Gustky, LA Times, 6/15/98) Appeared in two World Series (1943 & 1944), going 0 for 7. Placed 2nd in batting average and 3rd in RBIs on the 1942 Sacramento Solon team that won the Pacific Coast League championship. Was only the ninth man in major league history to produce 50 career pinch hits.

CAREER MAJOR LEAGUE STATISITICS
Minor League Statistics in italics
==========================================================================
YEAR TM/L      G   AB   R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   AVG  OBP  SLG SB CS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1932 StL-A    34  134  20  38   7  1  1   8  17   7  .284 .364 .373  4  3
1933 StL-A    78  189  35  60  10  2  4  24  30  21  .317 .416 .455  2  5
1934 StL-A    91  232  25  68  14  4  0  31  27  19  .293 .372 .388  0  0
1935 StL-A    10   15   1   4   0  0  0   0   2   2  .267 .353 .267  0  0
1936 SAn-T
1937 Bos-N   125  478  60 124  15  8  2  37  37  33  .259 .317 .337  2
1938 Bos-N   117  428  62 135  19  1  0  47  34  22  .315 .371 .364  4 
1939 Bos-N   132  513  68 153  24  9  2  37  39  20  .298 .350 .392  2  
1940 Pit-N   103  358  76 127  23  7  5  57  23   6 *.355 .395 .500  3    
1941 Pit-N    83  220  25  58   9  3  3  42  22  12  .264 .331 .373  0   
1942 Sac-PC  160  606  86 190  27 13  7  96          .314      .436 15
1943 StL-N    90  249  26  64  10  2  0  22  13   8  .257 .299 .313  1     
1944 StL-N    73  149  17  30   3  0  0   5  13   8  .201 .265 .221  0   
1945 StL-N    74  146  23  49   7  2  0  18  31   3  .336 .452 .411  0
1946 SD-PC   142  466  48 126  14  3  1  44          .270      .320 16 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total  12   1010 3111 438 910 141 39 17 328 288 161  .293 .355 .379 18  ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Fielding: OUTFIELD
====================================================
 YEAR    TM/L      PC     G      PO    A     E   DP 
----------------------------------------------------
 1932   StL-A     .953    33     79     3    4    1 
 1933   StL-A     .960    47     91     5    4    1 
 1934   StL-A     .942    56    111     2    7    0 
 1935   StL-A     .800     2      4     0    1    0 
 1937   Bos-N     .977    81    168     1    4    0 
 1938   Bos-N     .985    63    126     6    2    2 
 1939   Bos-N     .964    96    183     6    7    2 
 1940   Pit-N     .946    19     32     3    2    0 
 1941   Pit-N     .957    24     45     0    2    0 
 1943   StL-N     .980    47     93     3    2    0 
 1944   StL-N    1.000    23     34     0    0    0 
 1945   StL-N    1.000    10      7     1    0    0 
----------------------------------------------------
Total   12        .966   501    973    30   35    6 
----------------------------------------------------
 THIRDBASE
----------------------------------------------------
 1937   Bos-N     .971    36     32    68    3    2 
 1938   Bos-N     .942    54     48    98    9    6 
 1939   Bos-N     .958    37     31    83    5    5 
 1940   Pit-N     .964    64     65   123    7   15 
 1941   Pit-N     .911    29     28    44    7    1 
 1943   StL-N     .851    23     18    22    7    5 
 1944   StL-N     .968    21     14    16    1    1 
 1945   StL-N     .956    32     23    42    3    4 
----------------------------------------------------
Total   8         .947   296    259   496   42   39 
----------------------------------------------------
 SECONDBASE
----------------------------------------------------
 1938   Bos-N       --     1      0     0    0    0 
----------------------------------------------------
 SHORTSTOP
----------------------------------------------------
 1943   StL-N    1.000     1      1     0    0    0 
----------------------------------------------------

* indicates league leadership in category.

DID YOU KNOW... Debs' would not have qualified for his batting title under the current criteria which requires a player to have 502 plate appearances over a 162-game schedule. Even prorating the minimum down for the sake of the 154-game schedule played back then doesn't do the trick. However as pointed out by reader Art McDonald*, there need be no shame in Debs' failure to achieve the 400 at bat minimum held to by the rival American League in 1940. For even if Debs' had gone hitless in the 42 at bats needed to achieve the minimum, his batting average would still have surpassed Stan Hack of the Cubs (his nearest National League challenger) by a margin of .3175 to .3167. *Art is the author of the new book, This Date in New York Yankee Hating, which may be obtained at a bookstore near you or directly through his website.

CREDITS
Many thanks to Brett Freedman at The Yaz Page for dredging up the portrait of Debs and to Ted Hathaway at Baseball On The Net for the one of Debs on the roof with his bats. Also, thanks to Gregg DeNeui for handling this page's scanning needs. My most special thanks go out to Debs' grandson and second-cousin, Kennon Garms and Dale Tervooren, respectively, for their personal contributions to the factual content of this site.



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