Charlie played with Al Kaline and was a two-time All-Star in 1956 and 1957, his peak years in the game.
WIKI:
Charles Richard Maxwell (April 8, 1927 – December 27, 2024), sometimes known as "Sunday Charlie", "The Sabbath Slugger", and "Paw Paw", was a left-handed American baseball player who played principally as a left fielder. A native of Michigan, he played professional baseball for 18 seasons, including 14 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox (1950–52, 1954), Baltimore Orioles (1955), Detroit Tigers (1955–62) and Chicago White Sox (1962–64).
Maxwell was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, he finished among the American League (AL) leaders with a .534 slugging percentage (third in the AL behind Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams); a .326 batting average (fourth in AL behind Mantle, Williams, and Detroit teammate Harvey Kuenn); a .414 on-base percentage (fourth in the AL); and 96 runs (fourth in the AL). He led all American League outfielders in fielding percentage in 1957 (.997) and 1960 (.996), committing only one error in each year. He also finished among the top five home run hitters in the American League in 1956 (28) and 1959 (31).
For his 14 years in the major leagues, Maxwell compiled a .264 batting average, a .360 on-base percentage, and a .451 slugging percentage with 148 home runs, 484 walks, and 532 RBIs. He appeared in 1,133 games, including 781 in left field, 56 in right field, and 43 at first base. He posted a .988 career fielding percentage.
Over the course of his career, Maxwell hit 40 of his 148 home runs (27%) on Sundays. When asked how he was able to hit so many home runs on Sundays, Maxwell replied, "I don't know how but I sure wish I could find out so I cold do it on the other days of the week."
Maxwell's other nicknames included "The South Paw From Paw Paw," (given by the Detroit Tigers announcer Van Patrick because of Maxwell's unusually-named hometown of Paw Paw, Michigan) and "Smokey." He was also sometimes known as "The People's Choice" due to his friendliness with fans and his pregame entertaining of busloads of kids (known as the Knothole Gang) seated in the leftfield stands on Saturdays, including catching fly balls behind his back, or between his legs, and then tossing them to the youngsters.
WIKI:
Charles Richard Maxwell (April 8, 1927 – December 27, 2024), sometimes known as "Sunday Charlie", "The Sabbath Slugger", and "Paw Paw", was a left-handed American baseball player who played principally as a left fielder. A native of Michigan, he played professional baseball for 18 seasons, including 14 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox (1950–52, 1954), Baltimore Orioles (1955), Detroit Tigers (1955–62) and Chicago White Sox (1962–64).
Maxwell was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, he finished among the American League (AL) leaders with a .534 slugging percentage (third in the AL behind Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams); a .326 batting average (fourth in AL behind Mantle, Williams, and Detroit teammate Harvey Kuenn); a .414 on-base percentage (fourth in the AL); and 96 runs (fourth in the AL). He led all American League outfielders in fielding percentage in 1957 (.997) and 1960 (.996), committing only one error in each year. He also finished among the top five home run hitters in the American League in 1956 (28) and 1959 (31).
For his 14 years in the major leagues, Maxwell compiled a .264 batting average, a .360 on-base percentage, and a .451 slugging percentage with 148 home runs, 484 walks, and 532 RBIs. He appeared in 1,133 games, including 781 in left field, 56 in right field, and 43 at first base. He posted a .988 career fielding percentage.
"Sunday Charlie"
Maxwell became known as "Sunday Charlie", sometimes the "Sabbath Slugger", due to his propensity for hitting home runs on Sundays. The nickname was bestowed in 1959 when Maxwell hit 12 of his 31 home runs (38.7%) on Sundays. The peak of Maxwell's Sunday slugging success came on May 3, 1949, in a doubleheader sweep of the New York Yankees, before a crowd of 43,438. After missing 10 days with a broken finger, Maxwell returned to the lineup and hit four home runs in consecutive at bats: a solo home run into the upper deck of right field against Don Larsen in the seventh inning of the first game; a two-run shot against Duke Maas in the first inning of the second game; a 400-foot three-run shot off the facing of the centerfield bleachers against Johnny Kucks in the fourth inning of the second game; and a 415-foot solo home run into the lower centerfield bleachers against Zach Monroe in the seventh inning of the second game. After Maxwell's fourth shot, the crowd reaction was described as "pandemonium." He joined Ted Williams Bill Nicholson, Hank Greenberg, Jimmy Foxx, and Lou Gehrig as the only modern major leaguers to hit home runs in four consecutive official at bats.Over the course of his career, Maxwell hit 40 of his 148 home runs (27%) on Sundays. When asked how he was able to hit so many home runs on Sundays, Maxwell replied, "I don't know how but I sure wish I could find out so I cold do it on the other days of the week."
Maxwell's other nicknames included "The South Paw From Paw Paw," (given by the Detroit Tigers announcer Van Patrick because of Maxwell's unusually-named hometown of Paw Paw, Michigan) and "Smokey." He was also sometimes known as "The People's Choice" due to his friendliness with fans and his pregame entertaining of busloads of kids (known as the Knothole Gang) seated in the leftfield stands on Saturdays, including catching fly balls behind his back, or between his legs, and then tossing them to the youngsters.
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