Alan Weston
by Jeff Green
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Alan Weston, from Greenville, IL, played 15 seasons with two teams (Philadelphia and Buffalo). The Hall of Famer missed 1943 to 1945 for military service making his lifetime accomplishments all the more impressive. The 3B finished his career within the 10 ten all time for Doubles at 501 and RBIs with 1356.
However, his career is far more broad in spectrum than just the two top ten all time finishes. For instance if we look at the top 50 all-time leaders we find that Weston lands on the list 11 times! Perhaps his most impressive stat was #16 all-time batter WAR at 81.09, which is an average of 5.4 per season. Imagine if he had not left for military service, which theoretically would have placed him in the top 5 WAR for batters all time! Weston ended his career with 2528 hits, 224 home runs, 1321 runs, and 1178 walks (14th all time).
He led the league in numerous categories over the years including GS 6 times, PA 7 times, hits 8 times, Total Bases 6 times, 2b 9 times, HR 3 times, RBIs 7 times, Runs 5 times, BB 4 times, Batting Avg 4 times, OBP 6 times, SLG 2 times, and WAR 7 seasons.
In the process he won the MVP award in 1942 and finished 3rd or above another 3 times. He was a 10 time All Star. His crowning accomplishment was that he won a championship in 1946 with Philadelphia and in doing so was named Championship Series MVP!
Despite his achievements Weston was a family man who deeply enjoyed spending time giving back to the community and waxing and waning philosophically over good bourbon. He didn’t possess the leadership qualities of some greats, however his lead with his play on and off the field. Weston currently volunteers at a local High School as a baseball coach in his home town of Greenville, IL.