Jim Northrup , photo by mvsportsmemorabilia.

“One thing you could depend on, Northrup was going to put the bat on the ball in some kind of way. And 1968, that was his year. He was tough all year. He let you know that he was there.”
~Gates Brown

Wikipedia says that Jim Northrup was born in Breckenridge, Michigan in 1939. Samara over at Roar of the Tigers marked his passing today, as did the Detroit Tigers who say:

Northrup played parts of 12 seasons in the Majors, mostly with the Tigers. He made his big league debut in 1964.

…Northrup’s most memorable years were with Detroit, especially in 1968. He hit .264 with 21 home runs and 90 RBIs that season and shined in Game 7 of the World Series. With two outs in the seventh inning, Northrup tripled off St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson to bring in Norm Cash and Willie Horton.

Dick Tracewski, a reserve infielder on that club who also went on to coach with the Tigers, told the Free Press that Northrup’s famous triple was “the biggest hit that’s ever been gotten for the Detroit Tigers. He won the World Series for us.”

Get his stats at BaseballReference.com. You’ll probably enjoy these columns by David Mayo and Mike Mowry as well as this 3 part video interview with Jim Northrup by From Glory Days.

Check it out bigger and see a few more in their slideshow.