Charlie Maxwell, a two-time All-Star outfielder who tied a major league record by hitting home runs in four straight at-bats while playing for the Detroit Tigers in May 1959, died Friday in Pawpaw, Michigan. 97.
His death was announced by Adams Funeral Home in Paw Paw.
Maxwell, a left-handed hitter, was only 5 feet 11 inches tall and 185 pounds, but he used his strong arm and strong wrists to hit 148 home runs and 532 RBIs over 14 seasons in the American League. Four different teams. He was also an outstanding left fielder who committed only 21 errors in his career. However, he never played for a pennant-winning club.
He was selected to the 1956 AL All-Star team, hitting a career-high .326, and was selected again in 1957.
Maxwell’s fourth home run in an afternoon came on May 3, 1959, when the Tigers faced the Yankees in a Sunday doubleheader at Briggs Stadium in Detroit (later renamed Tiger Stadium). His most notable achievements include Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. To date, there are more than 12 players who have hit four home runs in a row.
Maxwell, leading off in the seventh inning of the first game (his final at-bat of the game), drove Don Larson’s fastball deep into the upper right field.
In Game 2, Maxwell came out in the first inning and hit a home run to the bottom right field against Duke Mars, scoring two runs.
After hitting a walk (an unofficial at-bat for the record), he hit his third home run of the afternoon, this one off Johnny Kucks’ home run to center field in the fourth inning with two runners on base.
Zach Monroe’s fourth straight home run in the seventh inning came with the bases empty when Maxwell hit a changeup into the right-center stands.
Sports writer Hal Middlesworth wrote in The Detroit Free Press:
Forty years later, Maxwell told Michigan’s Kalamazoo Gazette, “It felt like a home run was about to hit, but the most important thing to me was that we won both games.”
He hit 31 home runs and had 95 RBI in 1959.
“Charlie Maxwell always terrified us.” These are the words of former Yankees standout and NBC broadcaster Tony Kubek. “He was a very smart, dead-on hitter who studied pitchers and used Briggs Stadium and Yankee Stadium to his advantage.”
Charles Richard Maxwell was born on April 8, 1927, in the southwestern Michigan city of Lawton, one of three children of Tom and Isa Maxwell. He played basketball and baseball in high school and then in the semi-pro Kalamazoo City League.
He pitched at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo before being drafted into the Army in September 1945. After two years of military service, he signed with the Red Sox. After playing in the minor league system, he debuted with Boston in late September 1950. The first three home runs of his career (and his only home run of the 1951 season) came as a pinch hitter toward future Hall of Famer Bob Feller. , Bob Lemon, and Satchel Page.
However, the Red Sox used Ted Williams, one of the best hitters in baseball, as a left fielder. In center field is Joe DiMaggio’s younger brother Dom, and in right field is outstanding hitter Al Jarira. Maxwell rarely broke into Boston’s everyday lineup, and was then sold to the Orioles in November 1954. However, he appeared in only four games for Baltimore before being waived and claimed by the Tigers in May 1955.
While playing for Detroit, Maxwell lived with his wife, Goldie Ann, in a Michigan town once settled by Native Americans, earning him the nickname Paw Paw.
He was also known as Sunday Charlie because he hit 12 of his 31 home runs on Sundays in the 1959 season. He hit 40 of his 148 career home runs on Sunday. His customary outfield teammates were future Hall of Famers right fielder Al Kaline and center fielder Bill Tuttle.
Maxwell was traded to the White Sox in June 1962. He hit .296 with 9 home runs for the Sox that season, including 5 home runs on Sunday. In a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, he had three hits, one of which was a grand slam against the Tigers.
He retired from baseball in May 1964 after being released by Chicago, appearing in 1,133 games with a career batting average of .264 and 532 runs scored.
Maxwell, who remained in Paw Paw, a town of about 3,000 people, worked at an auto supply company. A monument bearing his image was erected in a city park, and the Paw Paw Brewing Company named “Mr. sunday.” This is an ale that pays homage to him.
Maxwell’s survivors include his sons, Charles Jr. and Jeffrey; his daughters Cindy Goldberg and Kelle Dillon; 14 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2021.
In a 2013 interview with The Holland Sentinel in Michigan, Maxwell was asked whether players of his era used performance-enhancing substances. “We had no money to buy anything,” he said. “We only earned $4 a day on the road for food.”
