We remember Forrest Harrill Burgess who was born in Caroleen, North Carolina, on this day in 1927. He died in 1991.
We know him as Smoky Burgess, a career .295 hitter in 1,691 games.
He broke with the Cubs in 1949 and was traded to the Phillies in 1951. Burgess hit .316 in 327 games for the Phillies & made the NL All-Star team in 1954 and 1955. He posted a .368 batting average in ‘54, but he did not have enough at-bats to qualify. Later, he played with the Pirates and the 1960 World Series.
Burgess would have benefited from the DH rule. Who knows how many more hits or even batting titles he would have won?