| rdfs:comment | - Alvin Dark was a famous 20th century American baseball player. He was on the New York Giants roster. In 2366, Doctor Paul Stubbs remembered a baseball game that Alvin Dark participated in with the words: "Lockman on first, Dark on second, Thomson at the plate, Branca on the mound." (TNG: "Evolution" )
- Dark attended LSU, in 1942 and was a football standout there as well as a great baseball player. During WWII he transferred through the V-12 program to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (then SLI) in Lafayette Louisiana, where he once again showed his baseball skills batting .461 in 1944. His football skills were evident there as well as he quarterbacked SLI to an undefeated season in 1943 and a New Year's Day victory in the Oil Bowl. This led to his getting drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. However after serving in Asia during the war he came home and chose his first love, baseball.
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| abstract | - Alvin Dark was a famous 20th century American baseball player. He was on the New York Giants roster. In 2366, Doctor Paul Stubbs remembered a baseball game that Alvin Dark participated in with the words: "Lockman on first, Dark on second, Thomson at the plate, Branca on the mound." (TNG: "Evolution" )
- Dark attended LSU, in 1942 and was a football standout there as well as a great baseball player. During WWII he transferred through the V-12 program to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (then SLI) in Lafayette Louisiana, where he once again showed his baseball skills batting .461 in 1944. His football skills were evident there as well as he quarterbacked SLI to an undefeated season in 1943 and a New Year's Day victory in the Oil Bowl. This led to his getting drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. However after serving in Asia during the war he came home and chose his first love, baseball. He was named the MLB Rookie of the Year and finished third in the MVP voting in 1948 after playing a vital part of the Braves' unlikely run to the pennant, their first since 1914; but he hit only .167 in the World Series loss to the Cleveland Indians. He was traded after the 1949 season, which turned out to be one of the best trades in Giants history and one of the worst in Braves history. Dark was immediately named team captain by manager Leo Durocher, and had several great seasons in New York. In 1951 he batted .303 with 114 runs and a league-leading 41 doubles as the Giants won their first pennant in 14 years; he hit .417 in the World Series against the New York Yankees, including a 3-run home run in Game 1, though the Giants lost in six games. He followed up with seasons hitting .301 and .300 in 1952-53, scoring 126 runs with 23 home runs and 41 doubles in the latter season. In 1954 he batted .293 with 20 home runs and was fifth in the MVP voting as the Giants won another pennant; in the World Series against the heavily favored Indians, he batted .412 with a hit in every game, and the Giants pulled off an astonishing sweep to win their first championship since 1933. He was the NL's starting shortstop for the All-Star game in 1951, 1952, and 1954. In 1955 he was awarded the first Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, given to the player who best exemplified Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field. In June 1956 he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in a nine-player deal; he continued to hit well, and led the NL in putouts and double plays for the third time in 1957. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in May 1958, batting .295 over the remainder of the season and .264 in 1959; with Ernie Banks at shortstop, the Cubs shifted Dark to third base, where he remained in his last seasons. In January 1960 he was traded with two other players to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Richie Ashburn; after hitting .242 in 55 games, he was traded back to the Braves (now in Milwaukee) in June, and hit .298 in his final 50 games. On October 31 of that year, he was traded back to the Giants (who had moved to San Francisco two years earlier), who wanted him as their new manager rather than as a player. Dark retired with a .289 career batting average, 2089 hits, 1064 runs and 757 runs batted in over 1828 games played. According to baseball writer Bill James, he may have lost a Hall of Fame career due to his debut being delayed by his military service during World War II.
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